We have had to move a variety of gear from Anchorage down to Homer which took longer than expected. With summer roadwork on the Kenai Peninsula, we have been averaging 5 hours of driving per trip. The upside is that the scenery is spectacular all along the route.
Covid-19
As we expected, tourism is almost entirely composed of Alaskans. The town has been and remains cautious of the virus. Essential businesses are open but most insist on masks. A number of shops and restaurants have simply stayed closed for the season. The majority of open restaurants are takeout. We are on the Spit every day with our dogs. We are seeing few of the rental RV’s generally used by out of state visitors. Alaska is experiencing its own mini escalation of new cases which will make locals all the more leery. Fortunately Homer is not seeing much of the new cases.
The Spit
The Tustumena has been docked at the Spit since early June due to an outbreak that affected 28 of its crew and six passengers. It is scheduled to resume operations tomorrow.
Commercial fishing has been humming along as usual. We see daily catches come in to be unloaded and packed.
Chicks Arrive!
We picked up our baby chicks a few days ago. We got 14 birds split evenly between Buff Orpingtons and Black Australorps. Both birds are good cold weather species and prodigious egg layers. Can’t wait for the eggs to start rolling in!
We pick up our BCS tractor and implements today. Along with the tractor, we purchased a rotary plow, flail mower, precision depth roller, and a utility trailer. Now the field work begins.
We still have to decide which of the fields to setup this year. Based on that decision we can get one or two high tunnels going. We were originally going to use the NRCS program for the high tunnel purchases but may opt out for now. They will reimburse $4 per square foot but it comes with some strings. A stumbling block for us is that the high tunnel has to be used with 80% of the space for ground crops. We want to get into sprouts which do not qualify since they are grown above ground. We want land crops but for now will use outside beds. We may purchase another high tunnel next year with the program.
Be well & green dreams!
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