Securing Our Food | Chickens & Beekeeping in the Far North

The bees are buzzing and the chicks are chirping at the cabin. We welcome new life and continue to ensure our food security. The high tunnel is filling up fast, we take you on a quick tour see how the start of this year's vegetable garden is growing.

We appreciate you tagging along for our Alaskan adventure 😀

Thank you for watching and supporting our channel! 💙
- Eric & Arielle Illia

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒂 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞! 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲:

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Products used in this video:

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐚 -

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬 -

𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑙:
Simple Living Alaska
PO Box 506
Willow, AK 99688

[jasondolan]

My wife and I have watched your entire series. You’ve taught us more than you realize with these videos. Thanks!

[theturtledave]

Bo Sightings

1:15 - following mom and dad in the snow
1:31 - hanging out in the brush
4:50 - just chillin'

[apprentice]

Arielle in my greenhouse in Scotland I have blocks of plastic bottles filled with water. The water heats up during the day and gives the heat out overnight, enough to help reduce the risk of the temp dipping below freezing overnight. Your plants are all looking fabulous

[teresagaines]

When your corn starts it’s pollination cycle go through and shake the stalk to release the pollen over the corn and tassels. That’s what I do and I have large normal size cobs and corn.

[jennievpollard]

I was happy to hear that you will include more videos on your garden this year. I have always look forward to episodes on gardening and preserving food.

[Helenemonblogdefille]

It always makes me very happy when you upload a new video, and even more when it’s one like this one, with lots of homey stuff !

[jeffpeters]

With the corn pollination, when the plants get to have the tassels on top and the silks at the ears, every time you go into the high tunnel, walk along and give each plant a nice light but firm shake. that is what we always did and it worked great.

[PaullaWells]

Yay! I'm excited about more garden videos! Of course, I'm sure you know by now how much I appreciate your garden and your knowledge when it comes to gardening. You guys are also such an inspiration to me because you are able to do so well in Alaska which means I can do well here in southern Missouri. I'm also always impressed with the amount of food y'all put up. It's encouraging to me that I can do the same and I'm slowly working my way toward that goal.

[angelamarie]

Your chickens are absolutely beautiful and look so healthy. Other than that one mean hen that always wants to give Eric a good pecking...😂... they seem pretty chill too.

[billcollier]

This was a crazy day. My daughter had a seizure, fell out of bed, hurt her shoulder and neck. You have no idea how much I love your videos " all your videos". I grew up on a farm in central Michigan. I loved this video. It brought back wonderful memories. Thank you for your self reliant content.

[billlere]

You should try growing mums. They tolerate cooler weather. But they do need quite a bit of water until their roots go deeper. The right variety will winter well and come back strong. Your bees will love them.

[kristinfrancis]

Hi Ariel - I also keep bees and yes, you can take some frames of brood - along with the nurse bees that are on them - and place them in another hive. Just make sure the queen isn’t on any of those frames! 😀 nurse bees won’t leave the brood and they’ve never flown from the hive yet. And any worker bees will fly back home! Good luck!

[naturesmagik]

I love to listen to the mother hens talk to their babies.

[WeepingWillow]

Lol some of those hens look legit offended that you're checking on their babies. "Are you questioning my parenting skills?" But then I'm no chicken expert, so who knows? I love animals, their expressions are just so funny.

[tnwhitley]

Re:Bees, we had a large tree split in half & it was full of bees. Had a beekeeper come get them, he found two queens in a cocoon & put them each with the surrounding bees into a box each. His friend came & found another queen and did likewise. The next day 1/2 of the bees left swarmed out of the tree. Then there was still a huge group of bees on the entrance & inside the tree apparently with one last queen that also swarmed out of the tree leaving scavengers for the remaining honey. Sad that we lost the tree & the bees but wow it produced a lot of bees. They swarmed last year as well too.

[juliemcgugan]

I love tatsoi (the first way you said it is correct, ) and other Chinese green veg. Bok choi is also an excellent choice in a cold climate, esp if you start them inside, to get a bit more out of your growing season. Plus, they don’t need to be full-sized when you eat them and many people like having them small as ‘baby veg.’ Also try kailan (Chinese broccoli, ) wong bok (Chinese cabbage, ) and kang kong (Chinese water spinach, ) if you manage to get your hands on some seeds! They are great in soups and stir fries and I’m sure your animals will also like the leftovers. My two dogs also love their small portions Asian greens, although they love trying anything they see us eating! I blend up their portions of veggies, to maximize the amount of nutrients they absorb.

[amyriley]

I love seeing all the pollen on the bee's legs.

[jo-annjewett]

I love watching your garden grow. I have had big gardens in the past and a greenhouse. Now that I am 72 I don’t have all that energy to keep it up but I still have an herb garden and grow flowers and a few tomatoes and cucumbers because homegrown is so superior. Years ago I got certified as a master gardener and converted every possible area of our large yard into a growing space. Now I need to simplify the yard and eliminate garden beds. Around here it is impossible to find knowledgeable help.

[hoosierladyus]

The two little chicks looking at their mother when you changed her feed, were like, "Mom, you going to take that." We have a bird house on our breezeway and have never had a bird make a nest in it. Well this year they did and we have 3 little babies in it. I was so excited! I am truly an animal lover and I appreciate how well you both treat your animals.

[phungtransimplehappiness]

The bees era beautiful . Love your garden . I learned many thing and every your new content that you taught me more . Thank you so much