Curt's Ponderings From The Bioshelter

When it comes to raising one’s own food there are certain times of the year that require more time and effort than others.   This is especially true in Alaska, because our winters are so long, and winter restricts so much outdoor activity.   So, springtime and early summer are busy times at our bioshelter home—and May is extra-busy. One of our goals in the bioshelter has been to try-out strategies to become more self-sufficient and less a part of the consumer culture.   Recently, this has meant focusing on how to produce more of our food, either through hunting and fishing or through small-scale gardening.   Now is the gardening season, so we are at it. The big task this week has been filling the garden boxes on our garage roof-deck.   This has been a bigger project than some might think, since it began last year with the harvesting of our own cottonwood trees, then continued by eventually finding a friend to mill the trees into lumber, then discovering a garden-saf

Yesterday really felt strange to me.   On the one hand it was a great afternoon to be outside.   The snow is gone, the ground is drying out, and the mosquitoes are not biting…much.   I found myself reveling in the work of cutting out some dead wood and making room for the new growth we are planning this year.   I almost never get to do brush-work when there is no snow and no mosquitoes.   What a day! On the other hand, I was doing this work with my Smith-and-Wesson .44 magnum handgun hanging on my hip.   You see, the day before yesterday our neighbor was attacked by an 800 lb grizzly bear .   The bears are particularly hungry this time of year, given that they haven’t had much to eat in six months, and that the salmon won’t be in our river for another six weeks.   The bear chased our neighbor down, clawed him up a bit and the, mercifully, left him alone.   As I enjoyed being outside preparing ground for permaculture-style gardening, it somehow seemed wrong to do with