What time is it? It’s time for a small army of Sandhill cranes to hit Homer. They have arrived in force from their far reaches in the lower US.
The sandhill crane is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska’s Sandhills on the American Plains.
Summer is rolling in…
It’s been a long exceptionally snowy winter. Even at the time of this post, we have a good three or four feet of snow on the ground. Granted we are at 1,000 ft. altitude up on the Diamond Ridge above town. The Spit is clear. Highs are near 40 degrees so it is only a matter of time before this winter will be a distant memory.
The Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament had the Spit packed with several thousand people last weekend.
We are down on the Spit daily so we get a feel for activity there. There is a slow growing hum now preparing for summer season. It is obvious that locals are expecting a bigger tourist presence than last year. Let’s hope that is the case as a number of establishments went out of business due to Covid. On the bright side, our favorite restaurant is re-opening on the Spit. La Baleine Cafe is our all time go-to for Alaskan King crab sandwiches. This great group of folks have two adventure lodges at the foot of the glaciers and run a cooking school. The other top of our list is The Little Mermaid. Frankly there is so much good food in Homer that they are all contenders.
Change of Plans
We have had a lot of time this recent winter to think about the direction of our food production goals. After meeting with some local growers last summer, it was clear that Covid had seriously taken the wind out of their sails. The folks we met were all over producing and donating a sizeable amount of their vegetables. We are going to wait another year and see how this summer’s tourist season goes. At the least, we will become a homestead producing some of our own food and donating extra to charity. On the upside, that will mean more time for the Spit and fishing this summer. We will try to put a post out discussing our progression to this point and detail the considerations behind our decision to throttle back.
Be well & have a great summer!
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