Thursday, April 9, 2009







Don't forget your toothbrush!


Check out the date...




Fish vertebrate in among the strewned nets...


Cork net float...


starting to warm up...i can almost taste the strawberries already



I don't think any of us were ready for all that sun...such a beautiful, refreshing day...



A large, rather oddly shaped log washed up onshore, underwater long enough for these little fellows to culture its surface...


Getting used to wearing a collar...


Otter Cove...Pscific Ocean...huge loud waves...all sorts of stuff washed up on the beach...



the mainland in the background...(sentinel peak to the left)



Ikatan Bay
This area is known for its abundance of wild strawberries in late summer...and look! A tree!


One of a hand full of buildings still standing...nice to know that if the weather got too bad to travel, we'd have a place to stay the night somewhat out of the elements...



So hard to leave the skiff out of site...we packed the radio just incase...

A stellar sea lion that kept swimming back and forth...spraying mist about three feet high each time she serviced...both parties kept checking each other out as we made our way up the beach to hike over to otter cove...



You can see how the town of "False Pass" was named...Isanotski straight is directly in the middle....



Took a trip south, approximately four miles to Ikatan Penninsula, an abandoned cannery site. Here you can see the old pilings.


Ginormous cinnamon buns...we ate these three for days!

Friday, February 27, 2009


The soil temperature of the lowest terrace in the greehouse...we shall see how the new fertilizer mix (poultry manure, compost, and seaweed/shells) heats things up in the next week or so. On a sunny day the greenhouse air temperature gets high enough to have to open the door and windows to vent, as high as 100 degrees. Not exactly a bad place to do some work.

Lettuce newly germinated under the lights...what amazing information seeds hold...this is not sterile soil but it was light enough to work, also I figure that those seedlings that succumbed to damping off is kind of like survival of the fittest, I have already gotten rid of the more disease succeptable seedlings...but new potting soil should be arriving soon to germinate the rest of the seeds with...spring is just around the corner!!!

along with what we are growing in the windows up at the main house.

the seaweed, kelp, and shells are ready to mix into the newly workable soils along with plenty of poultry manure, compost, and gypsum...you can still see the remaining kale...we covered their roots with a little extra soil and straw (from the tundra/beach, no seed heads!) and cover them loosely when there is a danger of a heavy frost....last day of Februrary and so far so good....they are very hearty plants, one just has to keep up with them so they don't bolt...which is exactly what they are going to do when they start growing more in a month or so yet, it has and will provide us with greens until things get going this spring...


After a good rinse in the beautifully clean, cold, fresh water...


One can even find vital trace nutrients to replace those lost in last years growing season in the garden and greenhouse!


and even these strange, sausagey, looking creatures...harbour seals and cormorants on whirl point reef...the seals have a "white" stage in the winter months that ranges in intensity with each individual seal. We tried to get as close as we could with out sending them back into the water. The stellar sea lions will become more numerous soon, in a month or two.


Fun character wood to work in the shop with...


You can find all sorts of interesting things on the beaches, like this caribou skull that washed up in the bight near the house. I have yet to find a whole glass net float, but I have found walrus ivory and whale bones to name a few items...

Including these guys...back from near extinction


All walks of life take advantage of the low tides...


All sorts of starfish...they were much more robust looking earlier in the season...they have slowly been turning more and more greyish white, kind of like us...almost transparent.


Chiton on Stonewall reef...approximately 3-4" long, 1.5 "wide, eight segmented plates...very hard to release their suction on the rocks...