I posted this photo on Twitter and someone called it a Sant-o-Lantern which I thought was pretty funny.

This is why Halloween pumpkins last a good long time in Tok, Alaska…

Got a good cold-weather photo from your neck of the woods? Share a link with us!

It is so warm here this holiday season, like 15 below to zero degrees. I’m not even wearing a hat or gloves most days. Last year this time I was afraid to carry my toddler out to the car for fear her lungs would freeze in the 60 below and colder weather.

But there is still snow everywhere and will be for months. And months.

Here are a few scenes from “downtown Tok” this past weekend.

That last pic was around 10:45 a.m. with the sun just coming up over the mountains in the distance. It may not be cold here, but boy it sure is dark.

How are you faring this winter?

Now we’re having the weather I remember from our first months here in Tok. Tomorrow – Winter Soltice – will also mark exactly a year that we’ve been here. Finally getting my “Tok Legs” which is an awful lot like sea legs. Takes a lot of getting used to, there are moments of unrest, and then it all feels like no big deal. Then you get out of Tok and realize once again how very different things are here, for better or for worse.

With cold, comes new anecdotes about the cold – things that may seem quite normal and typical to most Tokites, but believe me they are not normal or typical for many others. My latest fun Tok Winter Pics are of the frost and ice forming on the inside of our windows today. Keep in mind we have 12 inch thick walls and two layers of windows!

In my daughter’s room, we had lined all of her teddy bears on the window sill, and they were all stuck to the windows. After some tugging and a little bit of teddy bear fur left behind, all bears were wrapped in blankets (after the requisite teddy bear operations to minimize frostbite).

We’ve just ordered some wood for the first time and plan to light our wood stove for the first time as soon as the wood arrives. Now THAT will be cozy and warm.

How are YOU faring on this fine winter’s day?

Did you hear…

• A new hair salon is opening up soon in Tok? Anyone want to open up a coffee shop/bookstore, too? With wifi?
• The Parent Committee for Head Start is having a raffle? Fly-in fishing trip’s the main prize.
• If you’re looking for Pampered Chef or Mary Kay products, see Shauna Lee. Order before end of the month and The Tok School Science dept will get a portion of sales for their fundraiser.
• Today was Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge’s annual Christmas Bird Count. Did you participate?
• Wed. Dec 16 @ 7pm is the book club held in the Refuge kitchen. They’ll be discussing the book, “Oil Spill” by Sharon Bushell. Even if you haven’t read it yet, they invite you to join the discussion.

Got a tidbit to share? Happy to post it on this blog (no charge)!

Winter is here. At 20 degrees most of the morning, I know this is just a taste of what is to come, however, I’m already shivering. There was frost on the ground this morning. The rhubarb in the backyard garden are drooping, the peas are bitter. Luckily, the sun is out and bright now to warm the greenhouse and the hoards of green tomatoes, but we should really bring those in to ripen in the basement.

And as yet another sign of summer: the big orange produce truck is here today but gone for the rest of the year, not to return until next summer. Yes, the produce truck is here, and while I’m a new and loyal convert to Gene’s veggie truck, he doesn’t have fruit or a few other items that the big truck carries so I think you can get a nice supply of produce by frequenting both places.

The produce truck folks said they MIGHT be here tomorrow (Wednesday) morning as well – depends on how their supplies hold out after today.

Today, I picked up sweet onions, a bag of apples, some nice-looking plums, some large tomotoes and two acorn squash. I almost bought a few jalapenos to make homemade salsa and am still contemplating going back for those, however, that means lots of chopping work ahead, and this cold weather is making me feel so lazy.

How is the pending winter making you feel? How have you prepared for a winter without easily accessible fresh fruits and veggies?

I know people think Tok is really small, too small for much of anything of interest. How wrong they are. But one thing that Tok doesn’t have is a flea market or farmers market, and I’m thinking that might be a good thing to have, don’t you?

Just got back from Denver where my friend’s neighborhood association puts together a weekly farmers market during the summer months. That’s right – NEIGHBORHOOD. I can’t imagine her neighborhood has more people than Tok’s population, even if it is a Denver neighborhood.

The market featured a few fresh produce stands but consisted mostly of local businesses selling their wares. There were several bakeries, a winery (Bonacquisti Wines trucks in grapes from Grand Junction area – I tried their Syrah Grenache, and it was tasty), several homemade soap makers, special vinegars, a jam maker, eco products, a massage therapist giving free 10 minute sessions, a coloring station for kids, a jewelry maker, and a Thai restaurant stand.

Highland Farmer’s Market…

Why can’t Tok have something like this? Folks could sell eggs, jams, baked goods, used books, excess from abundant vegetable gardens, essential oils, crafts, art. Local folks could play music. I know Delta Junction has one, but that’s quite a drive when we don’t have to leave here to get the same kind of thing.

The Big Orange Truck with California fruits and veggies will be here one more time this month. Wouldn’t it be fun to have everyone with something to sell set up their own tables and turn the lot next to the Husky into an impromptu marketplace? We’ve got so many sugar and snow snap peas and a ton of rhubarb that is still good. Heck, I could get really ambitious and make some rhubarb crisps. And we have several boxes of books we could sell or trade.

What do you think of a little flea/farmers market in Tok? Would you participate, and if so, what would you offer?

Listen to an interview with Leah Harmon of CV Farms.

There is only one more month to go on the CV Farms produce truck run so watch this blog for announcements of their arrival in August. The July produce was phenomenal. The peaches were out-of-this-world delicious and the cherries were great.

We also got plums which are almost ready to eat, a super sweet cantalope, amazing tomatoes, a healthy green bell pepper and good looking zucchini and yellow squash as well as a squat buttercup squash. I practically cried tears of joy seeing this exquisite produce.

The husband/wife team drive their semi from Montana to California to pick up the produce and then heads up to Alaska, making a number of stops. They used to mostly pass through Tok before, but have made it a definite stop this year, and I’m so grateful.

And now for some produce beauty shots…

After August, how are we going to get a nice fresh variety of produce in Tok? Open to all ideas!

We had so many radishes this summer that I’ve been searching for ways to prepare them. Tonight, I decided to roast them along with some beets, a little onion, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and then right before taking them out of the oven, some soy sauce and roasted sesame seeds. Inspired by this recipe.

The nice thing about mixing the radishes with the beets is that the beets add sweetness while the radishes add savory spice.

We also harvested some sugar snow peas, lambsquarter, zucchini, spinach and swiss chard.

For dinner, we sauteed them together with onion, butter, fresh oregano and thyme and a dash of soy sauce. Delish!

How have you been preparing your home-grown produce?

I’d love to lay claim to these two culinary creations, however, the first is my husband’s dish and the second was made by my awesome girlfriend while I was on the phone.

Introducing…Caribou Stroganoff! Caribou cooked over the fire pit, frozen, thawed, and sliced in a creamy sauce. The side dish? Lambsquarter steamed.

And a Rhubarb Crisp ala mode, rhubarb from our backyard garden. Crisp made with gluten-free flour blend that’s on sale at the Tok General Store.

I’m getting braver about baking and think I can muster up some rhubarb dishes and even some radish ones.

What have you been baking lately?