Hello from the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself Here' started by Carol, Nov 6, 2015.

  1. Carol

    Carol New Member

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    Hi everyone - I have been studying & reading everything I could find on Permaculature after I watched Geoff's video on Greening the Desert last year. It took me quite awhile on the internet to find out where this all started. I finally found Bill Mollison's name and became fascinated with the subject when I read a free booklet online that was transcribed from one of his training courses. I also found some videos of lectures he gave in a training course. There is so much information, it is absolutely amazing. Then I ordered books & have been reading those.

    I had already purchased 10 wooded acres near Anchor Point about 4 years ago and was not sure what I was going to do with it, so I'm totally delighted that I found out about Permaculture BEFORE I started working on it. The interesting part is, I've always wanted to do something like this but didn't have enough information on how to go about it. So now I am living in a 24' yurt (made by local artisans) and planted a bunch of trees I ordered last spring. I really wasn't prepared for all the work but am happy I got started at least. Plan on having a full garden next year & want to build some cob/straw bale structures here. The only electricity I have is from a generator & a small solar charger, I have no sewer or septic & no well. But I am having a LOT of fun and have plans to get a full solar set-up, get large rainwater containers (we have plenty of rain) and use composting & above ground septic for waste.

    I have just about retired from my bookkeeping business so I can live the way I want to and I am so grateful that Mr. Mollison put his heart & soul into this idea, to get people involved & help rescue us from our certain self-destruction.

    I will put some photos up here as soon as I get a chance, so you can see my property. I live way off the grid, so have bears & moose wandering through. The bears only dug up a few trees because I used fish bone meal to plant some flower bulbs around the base of the trees - oh well, lesson learned! But I re-planted them & they don't seem to be harmed by it. It's the moose that have eaten tops off some of my trees, so I have a bit of work to do before planting more of them. I read that deer don't like brush piles, so I am thinking the moose will be the same & am going to surround my trees with that.

    All for now - but glad to be part of this group.

    Carol Christie
     
  2. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi Carol and welcome!
    I got to spend some time exploring the Kenai a few years back (daughter was living in Anchorage) ... what a beautiful area.
    With little electricity I imagine that your internet access is in town?
    My daughter calls moose "swamp donkeys". Are your bears black or grizzly?
    Looking forward to seeing your pics and hearing about your adventures. With the long summer sunshine, your gardens will be awesome.
     
  3. Carol

    Carol New Member

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    Thank you - yes, the Kenai area is beautiful - I grew up around Anchorage but was out for quite a few years & just returned to Alaska in 2010. I decided I wanted to live in a warmer area & this is it. MUCH milder than Anchorage, or Wasilla, where I've also lived.

    Right - no internet or anything at my place - I'm at the library right now. It's 12 miles into town.

    Swamp donkey is an interesting appellation for them. They definitely have a mind of their own & don't care if you don't like them eating your vegetables, flowers or trees. I'll have to figure out how to keep them fed too, so they'll leave my stuff alone. That's one of the reasons I want to work on this property. There actually is not enough of the right type of shrubs for them so they keep killing off all the young birches that start growing. Consequently, it's mostly Spruce left. But the beetle bark infestation some years ago killed off a lot of Spruce so there are open areas I can plant trees in without destroying any live ones.

    We have both black & grizzly - haven't actually seen them but their prints are very clear & I heard them outside my yurt at night several times. One growled at me when I banged on the wall inside because I heard him knock over some of my food cans. Luckily, he wasn't able to get them open. But now that it's freezing well, the bears have gone to sleep it seems. Only moose now.

    Yup, long hours of sun is good, but I am also working on a way to heat the area up more for certain plants, so I'll bring that subject up in another thread, later.

    Carol

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  4. gypsymaja

    gypsymaja New Member

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    Greetings Carol!!
    How exciting to find someone interested in permaculture on the Kenai Peninsula!!
    I'm working on my future plan to spend summers in Alaska...and today just had the inspiration to Google Permaculture Kenai Peninsula...to hopefully find SOMEONE who either had or was starting a permaculture farmstead....and voila!!...there you were!!
    I set-net commercial salmon fished near Ninilchik with the ex-in-laws for 10 summers...so Alaska is in my BLOOD!!
    I currently help various friends and family members around OK, TX, KS and NM... along with the World Hunger Relief farm in Waco, TX...with their gardens throughout the year...and thought developing a plan to help all of them for 6 months (maybe November-April) in the lower 48 and then helping in Alaska for 6 months (May-October) would be the BEST of both worlds!!!
    I'm new to permaculture...but VERY EXCITED about it!! I'm trying to inspire all of the folks with gardens I help with to move in that direction...and all NEW gardens I hope will be in that philosophy.
    I'm taking a permaculture design course in NE Missouri in September...and am looking for a reasonably priced Earthworks course for sometime after that....
    Happy farmsteading to you!!
    Denise
     

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