I wasn't prepared to post tonight but wow - did anyone else watch Discovery Channel's first episode of  "Alaska: The Last Frontier"?  I normally never post links to video or tv since I myself find some of the stuff droning on about being "green" and "sustainable" to be lacking in any true substance and I just get annoyed by all the "talk but no walk", but these folks are the real deal - no running water, 600 acres of wild frontier, plenty of hunting and firewood and smart parents and children.  Unfortunately, I spent the first part of the episode flipping through magazines and not really paying attention, (my expectations of reality shows have soured the past few years!) but after what caught my attention the latter part I will definitely be going back to watch it in its entirety!  This family is truly self sustainable on large acreage in Alaska, and after the real-deal humane and heartfelt butchering scene where they butcher the 17 year old family milk cow in order to save the meat since it surely wouldn't make it through the winter, I feel so much joy in that there really are regular people out there practicing real world ethics, not just for the sake of "appearance".  Sometimes I get very frustrated by the portrayal of "tv & magazine ethics" and just long for real world stories, that's why I like homesteading blogs :)  Anyway, check your listings, I'm sure they will rerun it,  or find out if you can watch it online, I haven't checked yet, but do it quickly since I'm sure some organization will try to get this off the air (we know who).  As a family who has ties to both Alaska and Minnesota, I found this show to be very true to a harsh northern get-it-all done quick, summer's short, hunting/homesteading/hard work kind of life, and the family portrayed look like some of the most sane people I've seen yet on a tv reality show, I'm sure America's typical tv audience will not appreciate it though, right?!







Interestingly enough, I found out just now the featured family is the singer Jewel's extended family, with the patriarch of the family in the show being her father.

A Quiet Christmas

Although we were sad to not be traveling home to Minnesota this year, there is always this to be thankful for...

At least we weren't part of the throng of cars trying to leave the Beach last week!

Instead, I used up a lot of my home canned tomatoes and sauce, peppers and onions to make a big batch of chili.  Low stress, and we ate off it all weekend!  The kids were very happy to see that Santa could still find them even here in Virginia LOL.

Yesterday we had a great day out riding on some of the nearby trails.

The weather was a fantastic 48º, perfect for riding.  I'm hoping those higher temps will stay away for awhile now, I don't care for warm winters at all -  it was 76º last Thursday!

It's raining and windy today so I'm using the time to catch up on the extra helping of laundry Santa seems to have left me, but am hoping to get sewing or reading this week, and to go out and check to see if the greens I planted are going to do anything.  The past couple plantings didn't work out at all, with either rain washing the seeds away, or having them sprout in nice 55 degree temps only to have them yell "uncle" when the next few days rose to almost 80.  I'm giving up for the remainder of the season out there and will be planning for springtime instead very soon!  Hope you all had a great holiday!