Update on 24 at 13 for the rec center post

Since last year when Reed had his birthday and did the "give 24 for the Rec Center" fund raiser there have been a ton of changes!  Phase IIa is complete and we now have heated bathrooms, storage, locker rooms, nurse station and referee rooms as well as a conference room and concessions area!  It really has been amazing!

Here is a shot of the front of the new addition to the Rec Center.  Beautiful. 

We have a lot of folks to thank for the additions including the Rasmusen Foundation who have given the last monies we need to complete phase II.  It will include a commercial kitchen, café style viewing area above the rink and meeting areas.  The photo above was taken by a graduate of Houston High School (our local school) - Thank you Robert!  Great job! 

 

Here is an indoor soccer practice at the Rec Center!  Giving great kids great things to do!

The Big Lake Lions Club Rec Center has been such a blessing to the community and continues to build great community as they build and grow the Rec Center! 

To find out more about the Rec Center go to www.biglakereccenter.com or to the Big Lake Lions Rec Center Face Book page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Lake-Lions-Recreation-Center/160418647401461

If you are ever in our area of Alaska make sure you stop in and say hi!  If you get a chance to thank your local Lions Club (or ours) please do so - they make such a difference!  Don't forget to get out and see what's happening at your local Rec or Community Center!  You'll find great things!

Amazing Amaryllis!

One of the most fantastic plants I have here at Wicked Raven is the Amaryllis!  One bulb I got three years ago from my folks as a "stocking stuffer" and one I got this year from my mother in law.  Both have bloomed at the same time!  They are beautiful!

 

 

This is the older plant and it has bloomed about twice a year.  Amaryllis like loose soil and not to have wet feet.  Make sure they have good drainage!

 

This is the newer one in a smaller pot and still blooming just beautifully!  This one was actually growing inside the box and seemed a little pale and sad but it perked right up when it got in the soil and light.  They don't seem to notice the lack of light (Alaska only has about 5 hours right now) as much as they mind being over watered.  About a month after the blooms have gone by the leaves start to die and come off.  Then the bulb goes dormant for a bit to recover.  Continue to water it as usual and when it is ready it will come right back out.  It WILL look like it is dead while it is resting.

 

Plant the bulb so that the "neck" sticks out of the soil about 3 inches and then just water and shine on - the bulb will do the rest!  I do use worm juice on the plants once a year and the one in the bigger pot has been transplanted once in the three years I have had it.  They don't mind being pot bound as long as its not long term.

 

You can often find these bulbs at the discount rack in the plant aisle in their boxes.  Don't worry if they are growing a bit when you get them - they will do just fine.  Fill your house with after Christmas joy and get yourself some Amayrillis! 

A little rain must fall - but in January?!!!

This is the weather in Alaska today - that Houston refers to Houston, Alaska!  Usually at this time of year we have -41 degrees below zero!  Not above zero!  I didn't wear a coat today to the school - just my regular clothes like it was summer or at least early spring!



These are pussy willows budding out (thank you Alicia McRoberts for the photo post).  In January in Alaska!  Is this proof that our global warming is working?  I don't know but now is not the time to have this happen!

Remember the 10" of snow I had on the porch rail?  All gone!  The three feet of snow on the cold frame?  Only about 6 inches now!  That might not be a bad thing since I was worried about the weight on the frame, but it is worrisome that our snow is going so fast that many of my plants will soon not be covered at all.  The plants under the eaves should be okay since the snow shedding off the roof has gone on them, but the ones in the Hugelkulture beds and in the meadow and the other beds may not fare as well.

All the kids are praying for snow so they can snowmachine and play in it, but I am praying for snow so that my strawberries won't all have to be replaced!  That happened a few years ago when we didn't get snow until December - they all froze out. 

On the plus side of not having a lot of snow - I was able to get into the greenhouse and do some work.  I have decided to do some rearranging so that all the tomatoes will live in the middle during the summer so they wont create so much shade and so that they will get better cross breeze.  Im also hoping that Ill find a happy place for the cucumbers.  Ill post pictures when the plan comes together, but it was really nice to be able to get out and play in the dirt for a bit.  Made me hungry for spring!

I have planted some kitchen herbs to help get me through and use in some healthy cooking.  I was also able to harvest two perfect lemons from the lemon tree, but the lemon tree is not seeming too happy right now.  Bare twigs and looking lifeless.  Ill let you know if it makes it through!

In Alaska it really is true that April showers bring May flowers (unless those showers are snow like last year), but I don't know what January showers bring - Ill keep you posted on that as we go towards (real) spring.

Waiting for Results

I  haven't posted much lately as there has been a lot going on in my world including Christmas, New Years, a Gramma visiting, a number of hockey events and trying to inventory my current seeds and see what I need!  On top of that over the past few weeks we have had a number of things crop up that were disconcerting, distracting, and caused much distress throughout the family.   Part of the problem is that we found out all in one day that my dad had to have a colonoscopy due to unexplained bleeding, my cousin was hospitalized for pancreatitis, and my uncle was diagnosed with Stage 1 non-hodgkins lymphoma.  While waiting to hear the results of the colonoscopy (which turned out not to be something horrible and dad will be okay), it got me to thinking about waiting for results!

We have to wait for results for just about everything but in farming even hobby farming, it seems, waiting for results is way, way more exciting and way, way less stressful than waiting for results of medical tests, scholastic tests or just about anything else on the planet!  Even though the waiting in farming is often much longer than  the waiting for results in medical tests, and the end result is often failure (at least in my world), the outcome of those results is almost always satisfying in some regard. 

No matter if I have success or failure with my farm tries, I have always learned something from it -sometimes what not to do!  But sometimes I learn how to do something great - like keeping the Mandarin tree alive through an infestation of white flies and a guinea pig who tried to climb the pot to eat it! 

The best thing that I have learned from waiting on plants or really anything on the farm is that waiting for results is not always a bad thing!  It gives us time to breathe in between projects, plantings, harvesting, and snow shoveling. It gives us time to think about other things that need our time, energy and passion, and it gives us the lesson of patience.  One of the most important lessons we can learn. 

Breathe. Wait. Results!