Tomato Anxiety....and other random spring things.

By Nasugraq Rainey Hopson

My little plants, trying to survive me.

Which leads me to think it might be some sort of deficiency.  The weird part is that whatever it is is is only happening to my spoon tomato plants.  Every time I google the ailment it leaves me more confused that anything.  I've made a very diluted mix of epsom salt and aspirin and have sprayed in on a few plants to see if that does anything. I did notice that these plants also grew incredibly tall and wobbly, despite my lowered lights, and they were the only ones to grow that way. 

I feel like such a noob! all nervous and twitchy and confused. 

I also have a plastic bin filled with a mix of random types of tomato plants.  I have been snipping the smaller weaker and slow to germinate ones as they have grown.  It feels like a gladiator ring, with me as the emperor, as I watch an incredibly slow fight to the death.  I know I should thin them more but I feel so guilty that I have to do it in the first place.  Next week I'm going to try and separate the healthier ones and give them their own mini pots, and hope

Spring Time at the Gates of the Arctic.....

By Nasugraq Rainey Hopson

Lake Tulugaq has spots that never freeze at all during winter. My husband and his older brother got a caribou over the hill while I sat at the edge of the lake and tried my luck at fishing.

I was sipping my first morning cup of coffee, doing that weird blank just-got-out-of-bed stare out the window.  You know the type; unfocused, heavy lidded, morning limbo gaze that is almost as comfortable as the cup of coffee. 

After a minute or two I noticed something odd.  There was something sitting on the pristine snow right outside the window.  It had a weird texture.  An unrecognizable shape.  I stared at it for about five minutes, my mind was having trouble trying to name it.  To tell you the truth I was a tiny bit scared.  It was like seeing an alien, or a mermaid on a distant rock in the ocean, or maybe even odd mole on your foot.  It did not belong. 

I stared at it till the coffee was gone and the last sip at the bottom of the cup was ice cold.  My husband came in the kitchen and I glanced away for a moment to greet him...and when I turned back to resume my puzzled stare I instantly recognized it.  A laughed a bit nervously.  A flood of actual relief crested over me.  It was gravel.  Plain old stones peeking through melting snow.

Ah. Spring.   

Spring

An Arctic vegetable garden....the details of stage one.

By Nasugraq Rainey Hopson

Location:  The garden will be located behind our house.  I did find out that there was an elder that grew a  small vegetable garden here but she did it far out of town, to avoid the dust and exhaust.  We decided to use our back yard, which is protected by several buildings, some dense tall willows, and the luck of being shielded from the road by some neat tricks of the wind.  Since we have dried meat there we know that it gets good air circulation, sunlight galore, with very little contamination, which is a must.  Plus it will be closer to monitor and work on! 

Cold:  The cold is probably the biggest barrier.  The permafrost layer is not far beneath our feet, and this chills the earth so much that it will prevent or hamper most vegetable plants from growing.  So I will be using above ground warming techniques.  My husband is building several raised beds from wood, in which I will fill with soil from a fertile spot away from town that I know has escaped being contaminated by human beings.  The beds will be taller than what you usually see in most areas, at least