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Life in Alaska


AKwelder

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On 6/3/2017 at 2:10 PM, AKwelder said:

I think Troy would prefer a more modern market? This Dairy is located in Delta Junction Alaska, google earth it, very primitive

 

Central Alaska is surrounded by mountains and has a lot of rivers that are full of silt.  Topsoil is hard to come by, but the best of it is in this dairies area, I have 2 inches and they have several feet.  Some places  near that dairy have 20 feet.

Normal rain/snow is just more than a desert, but the water tables in the flats and valleys is measured in only a few feet, Fairbanks is only 10 foot above the water table most years, and if its wet it may be one foot. Soil temps have been getting better but are still cool and prevent most crops from flourishing.  Corn and soy beans don't mature, barley and some potatoes excell,  and peonies are delayed enough to make a niche market.

The areas near the mountains are windy, like where this dairy is, but further into the interior wind is not common, we have cold dry winters and long dry summers (normally, but it is always changing).  Roads are uncommon, and the majority of the land is inexcessable  by normall means.  

 

Enough for now

Might be better to milk the snow there! 

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That dairy has had trouble iirc in the past.  And I am 100% sure they cant find workers.  Heck guys in Cali cant get workers.  Here it's tiiiight too.  If you could get it set up running 3 robots and 200 hd be fun.  But the 8 month dark.....

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3 minutes ago, TroyDairy said:

That dairy has had trouble iirc in the past.  And I am 100% sure they cant find workers.  Heck guys in Cali cant get workers.  Here it's tiiiight too.  If you could get it set up running 3 robots and 200 hd be fun.  But the 8 month dark.....

And no corn for silage, maybe field peas, but very limited forage.   

 

But yes, robots and less volume so it would work for one family would be great.   

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On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 0:46 PM, AKwelder said:

Yep,  I counted the other day, 319 are up, when I went out and burned the chick weed there were more up than when I counted.  

 

Hauling water again today, I need a bigger tank

You have any desire for a Hol-Car genset with an air cooled Wisconsin 4cyl prime mover?   

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17 minutes ago, Baradium said:

You have any desire for a Hol-Car genset with an air cooled Wisconsin 4cyl prime mover?   

May be, give me a text,  

 

ex-military unit? One lung?

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3 minutes ago, AKwelder said:

May be, give me a text,  

 

ex-military unit? One lung?

4 cylinder.    It looks pretty darn old, but also looks like it's not military and probably very low hours.   My guess is it's a 5000 watt or 5500 watt unit, I have only seen pictures. I'll send a text

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peonies are coming up

 

IMG_4056.jpg.a9d94742181162860f026c504009790e.jpg

 

Mailman brought my shipment from Webb's so i could put the sickle mower back together, between that and the garden tractor i mowed the ditches, and got it cleaned up.  We have turned dry now, very dry, and hot.   i think we may have hit a record of 92 yesterday, so things are changing fast.  let me see if i can get some more pictures

 

 

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AKwelder,  here's a bit of what went on yesterday with us.  We had to close the road for a while due to the visibility from the smoke.    I ended up driving the Transtar II firetruck on this one.  You can see it in the facebook video (the lower of the two videos).    I ended up getting repositioned shortly after this video towards the head of the fire on the south end of the road where we concentrated on making sure it didn't make it across the highway. 


 

 

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Dang there buddy, glad it came out alright,

 

thank you for your service

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And we are getting rain, so that should make things better.

 

but now they are saying 1-1/2 inches.  Weather guessing, 

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4 hours ago, AKwelder said:

And we are getting rain, so that should make things better.

 

but now they are saying 1-1/2 inches.  Weather guessing, 

I had a lot of plans to get things done today, but after picking up the 4 bottom plow I won at the auction, I'm soaking wet and not sure I'll get anything else actually accomplished.   I need to grow something I can harvest in the rain....

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16 minutes ago, Baradium said:

I had a lot of plans to get things done today, but after picking up the 4 bottom plow I won at the auction, I'm soaking wet and not sure I'll get anything else actually accomplished.   I need to grow something I can harvest in the rain....

Yep, I ran the disc on some ruts yesterday.  Now I couldn't even get the tractor onto that ground it got so wet.  What a swing, forest fires on Friday, BBQ at the neighbors last night and the fire service was going overhead for some fire, and it is drowning today

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1 hour ago, AKwelder said:

Yep, I ran the disc on some ruts yesterday.  Now I couldn't even get the tractor onto that ground it got so wet.  What a swing, forest fires on Friday, BBQ at the neighbors last night and the fire service was going overhead for some fire, and it is drowning today

 

Yeah, weather here is crazy.  There's not really an in between.  Either we're soaked or extreme fire danger.   

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Going fishing gents, dip netting on the Copper River,  see ya in a few days. 

 

 

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fishing photos

 

Loaded and ready to leave

IMG_4057.jpg.599b3cb377f6ff149a1426e2d83779f9.jpg

 

 

 

Pictures of the road

 

IMG_4058.jpg.a71fb96f04933900cc7c131d77431a23.jpg

 

first catch

P1010058.jpg.71b84240b3e6b8349c6a39b848ce85d9.jpg

 

 

Diner

 

P1010061.jpg.7f5a1841ca653a01b4ff7fef803cf476.jpg

 

 

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P1010059.jpg.4719ee78113015336273b124842393b0.jpg

P1010056.jpg.d91c0bf13e28a7f208b79b8cf57a97a3.jpg

 

Dip netting in the canyon

P1010050.jpg.635e963a1e9d4c0dcd310c6cd3879368.jpg

 

Fish Wheel

P1010046.jpg.2a791224f461c691880f2ed91fc4ac46.jpg

 

Salmon Roe

 

IMG_4065.jpg.f4d0853cae0fa510b000974f2637a99d.jpg

 

Up stream view on a nice day

 

IMG_4059.jpg.d34c5e63c1d9741e49290dd8beeabff5.jpg

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yours truly 

P1010078.jpg.a403257331afe3c5c67ff58f6d876dd3.jpg

 

From the Bow

 

P1010044.jpg.bd5af75ff87448da30d6de3883d294bc.jpg

 

Copper River Valley

 

P1010080.jpg.ee423d0dc3c0d65a43edf8c3d79f1fd7.jpg

 

Home with a few

 

IMG_4070.jpg.738e4018276d3461fef7821c9f890d41.jpg

 

My boy helping assemble the new smoker

 

IMG_4068.jpg.8e7e7638bc505e8cc389e2f363606872.jpg

 

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out of order, but the bridge when we left, 35 mile sustained winds and all heck was coming un-corked

 

P1010082.jpg.ff2777cf44fe324eb79212b5e2ada448.jpg

 

The miss cutting and smoking reds

 

IMG_4069.jpg.d72d2aa23fba36e3ecb651c392a4f454.jpg

 

we have 14 pints of smoked salmon in the pressure cooker as i sit and write this, the smoker has more going and the we cut up the kings into nice pieces and vacuum packed them for freezing.  A very Long few days, but a blast. hope you all enjoy 

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39 minutes ago, poor farmer/logger said:

Wow you guys won't go hungry for a while anyways lol. Nice little break for you I'm sure. 

Those smokers sure make some tasty meals. Pellets are sure expensive here though. 

It sure was fun, we still were good for 60 fish each but time and the weather had run out.  

It sure is hard to spend that much on a smoker, but they work and I would have spent more by the time I had built something.  We are already thinking about doing some ribs and a few other things

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1 hour ago, ihfarmer1586 said:

Looks like a riot, I'm only a little jealous...  Nice way to get some healthy food for your family! 

Sure was, and your right, it was great food.  

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1 hour ago, Baradium said:

That is nice, but it is not for me.

 

 

you get the tiller home yet?  Or is it still to wet?

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