My Moon

A Little Gardening and Canning Alaska Style

My younger sister, Brittany, lives in Fairbanks, which from Colorado, is a 5 hour flight away.  Last weekend, I packed up my 5 year old son, Luca and myself, and we headed north.  Very far north.  Fairbanks is now in the summer solstice, which means the sun barely sets and its' residents spend much of the time preparing for winter.  

Food is very expensive in Fairbanks.   I saw a watermelon at the supermarket for $10.  Because the city is so remote and the growing season is so short, people spend a lot of time canning goods in the summer months.  My sister canned her Kenai caught Salmon a few weekends before and was ready to dill some cucumbers and jam some blueberries when we arrived.  Luca and I had quite the adventure and Alaska experience. 

My sister planted her first garden this year.  Pretty impressive.

Brittany, with waders on, went into the water and used these nets to catch salmon in the Kenai Peninsula. The fish would swim into them and be scooped up!

Our first blueberry picking adventure.

Inspired by my sister's friend, who is building his own home by himself, Luca constructed his own chair to take with him.  And yes, we painted it and brought it back to Pueblo!

Summer: Day 2

Digging in the school's garden today and picking radishes that are big, fat, red and a little spicy.  I love seeing little hands get dirty!

How to bring about awareness of walkability to little ones

More often than not, if you are like me, many places that I go everyday are not accessible or safe to walk to with small children.  The bus routes aren't direct.  The school is too far away.  The library and post office are spaced far apart.  The way we've designed our cities often makes it too danergous to venture out on foot with small children.  So we are in our cars.  In my case, the mini-van.  

But that doesn't mean we can't start talking to our children about walkability, liveability and the built enviornment concepts.  One game I play with my children is "I spy with my little eyes..."  We look for people walking, biking or using public transportation.  Also, we look for sidewalks, bus stops, signs and crosswalks.  It's a great way to bring about awareness of other modes of transportation, the way our urban landscape is working (or not) and how it is designed.  I'll often ask the kids, does that look safe?  Why or why not?  Where do you think the people are going getting on the bus? 

Can you see the crosswalk or do you think it needs to be repainted?  Is the street wide or narrow?  Are the cars going fast or slow?  Is the sidewalk close to the street or is there a tree line?   Are there people walking around here?  Why or why not?  

Bringing about awareness to these issues is an important step and a great way for children (and parents) to start thinking about walkability concepts.