Raised Bed Project...Complete!

I've been wanting to install some raised beds on our spare lot for quite a while, but never found the time.  Thanks to the COVID shutdown, I was able to take some time between teleconferences to get the job done.


Timbers purchased, cut to size, and stained with a weather sealer. Great opportunity for the boys to get some manual labor as a break from their 'school-from-home' routine.


Stained and ready to haul up to the build site.


This is where I had measured out the space for three raised beds, near the bluff's edge on our empty lot.  The bluff gets plenty of sunshine during the growing season, even with the few trees I left standing.


Landscaping fabric laid out.


First bed started, ready to drive the rebar spikes.


First bed complete.


Second bed started.


Grayson pre-drilling for the timber-lok fasteners (we had to purchase wet timber, which needed some pre-drilling to prevent binding).


Sinking the fasteners.


Last bed started.  Here Landon swings the 16-pound hammer to drive the spikes.


Grayson driving the spikes.


Doing what I do best....telling other people what to do!


Getting ready to drive the last spike.


Did I drive it down with just one swing?  Well, there's evidently no photo evidence, so I'll just say, "Yeah, let's go with that."


Beds completed.


I lined the sides with hi-density plastic, to keep the pressure-treated timber from leaching into the soil, but left the bottom open to allow drainage through the landscaping fabric.  We trimmed the bottom edges of the plastic just enough to keep soil from pushing out the bottom sides of the bed frame.  Then we weighted down the plastic-fabric overlap with a mix of new-cut and old-rotting wood from past trees cut down on the lot. It will provide some decaying matter beneath the soil to help raise the temperature, buffer it from the frozen ground, and reduce the amount of compost/soil we have to add this first year. The beds are 18 inches high, not because we needed 18 inches of soil depth, but because we wanted to be able to sit comfortably on the edge of the beds to work the vegetable plants, without having to stoop over.


Where the boys are standing I plan to build a 2-bay compost bin, or maybe another smaller square raised bed.  Haven't decided for sure.  The tree behind Landon was one I decided to keep, and it prevented a fourth bed for now.


We used pea gravel as a covering over the fabric around the beds, but didn't get enough, so we'll have to pick some more up or have it delivered in the next few weeks.


Surveying her new gardening area.


One more project down, now we move to the next few projects: Gazebo greenhouse (which will be located just off to the right of this picture), compost bins, then I think I'd like to build a small Alaskan cache, and fill it with a small water tank - which will elevate the water to provide gravity-fed pressure for watering the garden, while also keeping it hidden in the cache so it looks nice.  There's no electric or water on this lot, so we'll be either running a hose from the house to the elevated tank, or bringing the water in on the back of a side-by-side (which is a good excuse to finally get a side-by-side, right?).  The cache can also be set up to catch/store rainwater, if we go that route.


Standing about where the greenhouse will go. Thought about putting it on the bluff's edge, but believe it or not, this bluff's edge gets a little too hot in the Summer, and I'd rather not need to run the fan in the greenhouse 24/7, especially since it will run off a solar panel - so we'll place the greenhouse back a little ways from the edge where it gets a little shade but will still get plenty of sunlight. Plus, our fire pit is on the bluff's edge, and I don't want the boys (or me) catching the greenhouse on fire! More pics to follow once we get the greenhouse up.


With the virus shutting down all the barber shops, we finally convinced the boys to let us give them a proper shearing.






Heidi perched on the deck to watch the shearing, probably out of concern that she might be next!


With clinics opening back up, Landon got his braces off.  He had braces for 2 yrs and 3 months!


Our annual Easter picture.  Hope everyone is doing well out there and enjoying Spring. Social distancing is kinda the normal way of life in Alaska, so other than working from home and no school - we feel like not too much has changed here.

As Winter Turns to Spring...

Winter turning to Spring in Alaska.  This picture was in February, when it was still frigid cold.


We saw -21 deg F this Winter, which is about normal for February.


Lots of snow this winter.






But not too much snow for Grayson to work on his Bball skills


In February, Grayson decided to make Buffy some monster cookies just after she entered hospice care at home.


Buffy had made me monster cookies each time I deployed.  They were usually crumbs by the time they reached me in the Middle East, but I ate every crumb.  We couldn't find Buffy's recipe, so Grayson tried one off the internet that said they would stay moist through the mail....but they turned out fairly dry right out of the oven.


But Buffy received them, and sent us back pictures when she got them (with a glass of milk to make up for how dry they were).


Dino walks on the surface of his favorite swimming hole, all frozen over.


Dino's heated water bowl...it's under there somewhere, I promise.


As the temperatures warmed, Heidi began to prowl the yard again.


This old fella visited us the other night. I like how it looks like he has a white mustache.


Heidi, stalking voles from one moose hoofprint to another.


As the quarantine started, we continued trying new cookies. These aren't monster cookies like Buffy's were, but they still tasted good, and we figured out how to make them more moist than our last attempt.


Easter service, streamed lived and watched from our living room.


Quarantine campfire, complete with s'mores.


Also served the purpose of burning off our spruce beetle-killed trees, to prevent the beetle larvae from spreading.


Hay Flats starting to "Spring" up.


In preparation for May gardening, I decided to do indoor starts this April.


Tomatoes, beets, peas, beans, cucumbers, melons and onions.


I hadn't tried starting the garden indoors before, but our ever-increasing sunlight really makes the sprouts jump up quick. Now I need to hope for an early last-frost so i can get these in the ground soon.  I may have overdid the number of plants as well....used 7 of these flats, which means I might need to build a few more raised beds than I had planned this year.


Landon finished his BPA work in February, and they went out in style in tuxedos.


Our favorite Asian restaurant now sells KGB sushi rolls.....yeah, we have quite a few Russians living in Alaska!


In January our contractor finished the beam/pier replacement in the crawlspace.  The house had to be lifted on hydraulic jacks to swap out the beams, and part of a wall removed to bring in the new beams.  He replaced the old 4x10 solid beams with 4x12 Glulam engineered beams, and we beefed up the piers as well.  After spending a couple of weekends installing and sealing new vapor barrier, our structural repairs are now complete.  Still have drywall patching, painting, windows and other cosmetic damage left to finish, but it's nice to finally have the structural repairs complete.


Here's damage to one of the old beams we replaced.


Lots of movement and shaking during the earthquake cracked and deformed the old beams.  The Glulams 'should' hold up better in future earthquakes, but we hope we don't have to find out!

Lots of moose moved around the house this winter, nice to have these cameras to warn us before we walk out the door!