A two and half drive north of Anchorage, Talkeetna is the image most of us have of quintessential Alaska.  It’s something like we saw on the TV series ‘Northern Exposure’ with quaint wooden homes built to withstand the cold and even a moose or two walking down the main street. 

If the moose don’t appear ‘in the flesh’ they are not far from the thoughts of Talkeetna locals and you’ll see them in some form or another in front of every shop, restaurant or bar in town!  There’s even an annual Moose Dropping Festival in July that’s as much fun as it sounds.

As interesting as this little town is, its main attractions are nearby so consider these three top Talkeetna travel tips and enjoy the best that Talkeetna has to offer.

Tip 1

On a clear day, Talkeetna has the best views if Mt McKinnley (also known as Denali), the tallest mountain in North America.  This standout draw-card in the Denali National Park is so high that it creates its own weather system.

Even though in good weather, you can see Denali clearly from Talkeetna, make certain to take a flightseeing trip around this incredible mountain for breathtaking scenery and an ‘up close and personal’ encounter.  There is more than one aviation company in town but we took one of the first K2 Aviation flights one spring and saw bears appearing from their winter hibernation on snow covered ridges below.

Tip 2

North of Talkeetna is true Alaskan wilderness.  A train journey into this part of the world is likely to be on one of the last flag stop train runs in the world.  One summer, we shared part of our ride to and from Hurricane at the end of this train line with locals who live in the wilderness there.

These colorful individuals were either returning home with supplies or traveling to town to collect them.  They flagged the train down at one of the 7 stops along this route, threw their rifles and other gear on board and made use of the only transport available to anywhere.  The spectacular views of Hurricane Creek nearly three hundred feet below the bridge that spans it along with sightings of bear, moose and bald eagles were close ‘seconds’ to our encounter with the locals on a most unusual Talkeetna travel rail experience.

Tip 3

Roughly translated from the Athabascan language, Talkeetna means ‘where three rivers meet’.  There are many outdoor options available on these rivers and Talkeetna travel visitors can select from white water rafting, fishing or even more laid back natural history float trips.  You can discover salmon spawning areas, view old miner’s cabins and spot local flora and fauna.  If you prefer, catch salmon or ride whitewater in the canyons of this part of the Alaskan Bush.  Some day-long rafting adventures include a helicopter flight to the beginning of your river journey.

There’s always more to do at a place as unique as Talkeetna but our experience has shown us that these are the top three Talkeetna travel tips worth following.  Enjoy Talkeetna as much as we have!

Warm regards

Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

If you’ve enjoyed these Talkeetna travel tips and would like more information about the other faces of Alaska travel, go to my website at www.alaskatravel4U

In the average moderate-sized suburban property there is unlikely to be much choice about the soil of your vegetable garden but there will probably be a good deal of choice as to its exposure and convenience. These are important considerations the vegetable garden layout of a productive veggie garden.

Convenience

Always select a spot near at hand with easy of access.  A difference of only a few hundred yards may seem nothing, but if you are depending largely upon spare moments for working in your garden and growing vegetables there, convenient access is very important.  When you’ve had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass, will you understand the benefit of a convenient vegetable garden location.

Exposure

Of up-most importance when planning your vegetable garden layout is consideration of the best exposure that will yield you delicious vegetables all summer over many years.  Pick out the ‘earliest’ spot in a plot sloping a little to the south or east that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late.  Keep it out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds. 

If a building, or even an old fence, protects it from this direction, your garden will be helped along, as an early start is a large factor toward vegetable growing success.  If it is not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, will do this. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is worth considering.

Soil

You are unlikely to find ideal garden soil ready for use anywhere in your garden but you can improve the quality and productiveness of all except the very worst of soils in small home vegetable gardens.  Soil that is almost pure sand, as well as uncultivated heavy and mucky soil can be treated over time so that they yield tremendous crops.  So do not be discouraged about your soil. 

Proper treatment of this is much more important, and a garden-patch of average run-down soil will produce much more for the energetic and careful gardener than the richest spot not cultivated well.  Even with a carefully planned vegetable garden layout, take all the time that preparing your soil will entail before investing any time in planting and cultivating your vegetables.

Warm regards

 Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is from a family of successful gardeners and grows delicious organic vegetables year round. To discover more about the most effective vegetable garden layout, read Vegetable Garden Layout- Where to Place Your Vegetables on my website http://www.vegetablegarden4u.com

For a comprehensive beginners guide to gardening including information about vegetable gardening take a look at Easy Gardening for Beginners.

While adventuring ‘on the road’ one Aussie fall, we discover that as long as you have some time up your sleeve, Australia road travel is the very best way to see this country and a great way to meet the people who live there.

Day 3

This morning our Australia road travel adventure takes us into our third state, New South Wales.  Pick ups in Australia are called ‘utes’ abbreviated (like much of the Australian language) from ‘utility truck’ and when we arrive at Denliquin we notice a ute atop a pole.  We learn that Australia’s annual ‘ute muster’ is held here.  Must get that next time!  We move on to Junee where we are taken aback by the main street which looks like its come straight out of the late nineteenth century.  Cootamundra is close by and the local pub there serves the biggest steaks we’ve eaten for years!

Day 4

Instead of heading up and over the Blue Mountains we travel a little north across rolling hills, past happier fatter sheep and paddocks of lush green wheat to the inland town of Orange in the New South Wales rural heartland.  We spend a day in Orange (no orange groves in sight) and enjoy some wine tasting (yes another wine district) that afternoon.

Day 5

The Blue Mountains are spectacular and yes, very blue.  The bluey haze from the mountain tops seems to go on forever.  We spend the day winding through mountain villages lit up by the red, orange and yellow of fall leaves not seen in warmer parts of this country where native trees display none of this dramatic change. 

We stop for afternoon coffee at Katoomba near some rock formations called 'The Three Sisters' and reflect on our 5 day Australia road travel.  We decide that this was by far the best way to see the countryside and meet local Aussies between these cities.  We will always remember the guys at Tailem Bend who offered advice about our newly cracked windscreen and made us laugh.  If we’d taken a plane we would have missed them and the Aussie farmer we saw ploughing his paddock after sunset on a tractor with lights.  We’d never have seen the kangaroos hop along side us at dusk or heard the locals regale their ‘yarns’ over a beer in every country pub we called in to. 

We’re glad we decided on this Australia road travel adventure.  We could have taken longer and should have but the lure of Bondi Beach and the Sydney Opera House had us heading to Sydney before the end of Day 5.

Warm regards

Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Rowena French has traveled Australia extensively, exploring much of this vast and very diverse country. If you’d like to read about Part 1 of our Australia Road Travel Adventure – 5 Days from Adelaide to Sydney go to our website at www.AustraliaTravel4U

When you become an aging baby boomer you find many good reasons to learn about the value of discovering ways to increase metabolism.  Some of these appear in the form of fat cells around your hips or stomach or as sagging muscle tone in most places!

Tony and I instigated a physical check up a couple of years back.  After recovering from the shock of learning that we were more unfit and overweight than we had allowed ourselves to believe, we took action in an effort to improve our lifestyle and extend our lives.  We started a daily walk, or run and interval training circuits.  We love the benefits of these and discovered these to be one of the most effective ways to increase metabolism.

But Tony was pleased to learn more from our doctor about including muscle building as part of our regular exercise regime.

'Why?’ I asked, imagining an over-developed Amazon about to take over my body.

‘Because’, came the reply ‘A pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat and if you have more muscle on your body, you will simply burn more calories as a result.’

As I wasn’t born with a rapid metabolism guzzling body, I need to work at maintaining a healthy weight, so with assurances that I would look better not bigger I agreed to build my muscles.  I wanted more muscle than fat.

We already owned a great muscle building guide called ‘Definition’ by well known fitness expert Dr Joyce Vendral.  Her updated DVD’s are even better.  We purchased inexpensive dumb bells and followed her easy program as part of our daily routine.

We started slowly and gradually increased our muscle building challenges. The great benefit for us was that once we started to build muscle our bodies did start burning more calories.  They had to, even while we slept, or went to a movie, or read a book. It was like putting our calorie-burning metabolism program on autopilot.

Yes we still enjoy cardiovascular exercise, because that’s ultimately how our body is going to burn existing fat.  But we’ve found that muscle building is one of the valuable ways to increase metabolism.

If two aging baby boomers can enjoy the metabolic benefits of a muscle building program any one can.  Muscle building has exponential benefits too.  The more fat you transform into muscle, the more calories you’ll burn simply to maintain that new muscle and the cycle goes on and on!

If you build muscle and then leave it alone, over time, the muscle fibers will weaken and you’ll lose that wonderful calorie-burning factory.  But that’s no problem, because all you need to do is to re-include some muscle building in your exercise routine and gradually re-build it. Go on, buy the dumb bells and get started.  You’ll love the results! 

Warm regards  

Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

If you’d like read more information about the benefits of muscle building as a way to increase metabolism and promote weight loss, go to our website www.Boost Metabolism for Part 1 of Muscle Building – Effective Ways to Increase Metabolism

A recent article from the Sun Herald newspaper in Sydney Australia reflects a healthy move in the right direction for the environment and vegetable gardening there.

It seems that Kindergarten students from the inner city Crown Street Public School are learning about sustainable vegetable gardening practices by growing pumpkins.  These unusual instructional tools are being used in the Kindergarten Garden as part of this school’s participation in Australia’s Second National Junior Landcare Pumpkin Challenge.  This initiative is likely to attract around 15,000 Australian schools and their students to produce their own organic food.

Sixty thousand vegetable garden seeds of the pumpkin variety have been sent to schools and individuals in response to their registration for this event.

Schools and student groups have been directed to visit the Landcare Challenge website every month and record details of the weight of their pumpkin.  As pumpkins grow to substantial sizes they maintain the interest of these young gardeners across the competition.

Back home, we are nearing the time to harvest our pumpkins after their summer growing season.  Pumpkin vegetable garden seeds planted around from March to May are nearly ready for harvesting.  Many of these roast well, or make great winter soups and mash!  

Boston Squash can be grown in small areas and keep for a long time.  Its skin changes to deep orange towards the end of summer.

Burgess Vine Buttercup is one of the most popular and sweeter squashes.   A dark green in color, it has a paler green button on its under size.  Another seed variety that grows on compact vines this is also suitable for a smaller garden.

Waltham Butternut is a better version of the well known butternut squash.  Necks of these butternuts are wider and straighter, there is less seed space and their flesh is thicker.  They store well and stay firm when cooked.  No more watery steamed butternut and they are great in pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Acorn Squash Originally from Ohio, this is another long lasting squash, full of flavor and able to be grown even across short summers.  It can be cooked in a variety of dishes but nothing beats cutting them in half and roasting them slowly.  Try this!

Pumpkin Halloween Seeds, best planted across March are great for making lanterns or for pumpkin pie.  Keep them in a dry, cool spot and they will keep well until the end of the year.

So as the Aussie Kindergarten kids are having fun planting their pumpkin vegetable garden seeds to learn about sustainability in their part of the world, we’re entering our pumpkin and squash harvest season.  If you missed out on planting these seeds this spring/summer makes sure you buy some in preparation for next year.

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is from a family of successful gardeners and grows delicious organic vegetables year round. Want to learn more about how to grow great veggies? Go to my website www.vegetablegardens4U

When traveling Down Under we find its best to adopt the policy of ‘When in Australia, Do as the Aussies Do’. These Australia travel tips reflect what the Aussies ‘do’ in their country even in the ‘outback’ where you are most likely to encounter Australia’s wildlife in its natural environment. 

Road Travel. Aussies travel on the left hand side of the road.   Obtain an International License if your own license is not likely to be accepted.  Hitch hiking is illegal and dangerous so don’t!  Speed limits are 100-110 kph on highways and 50-60kph in towns and cities. Take care when entering a flow of traffic that will come from the opposite direction to what you generally expect.

Watch out for kangaroos hopping across country roads especially at dawn and dusk when they are most active.  Keep an eye out for them sitting on roads where they like to enjoy the warmth of the bitumen during winter.  If a kangaroo hops in front of you while you’re traveling at high speed, don’t swerve to miss it.  A head on hit is likely be a safer outcome than ‘rolling’ your car as you leave the road.

Avoid leaving young children in a locked car in hot weather as dehydration commonly occurs in this situation.  Take care to ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’ every two hours to avoid driver fatigue.

Another important Australia travel tips relates to safety in the ‘bush’ or ‘outback’.  Avoid traveling on outback roads without others who know the area well or at least with a reliable means of communication.  Australia’s outback is vast and being stranded if you break down in an isolated area is just not worth the risk. 

Banks and Shops. There is some limit to the number of shops open on Sundays in Australia.  Most tourist centers provide 7 day trading.

Banks open between 9 am and 4pm Monday through Friday.  Most towns have automatic teller machines for 24/7 transactions. There are facilities in all cities for changing foreign currency.

Safety. Protect your skin by wearing 30+sunscreen, especially in summer as well as a sunhat and protective clothing.

Aussie beaches are some of the best in the world but to stay safe when you visit them follow beach safety rules and only swim at patrolled beaches and between flagged areas where local lifesavers patrol daily.  Avoid swimming in northern Australia because of the presence of marine stingers (box jellyfish) October–June. Only swim in stinger protected beaches. To avoid the painful and sometimes fatal sting of well camouflaged stonefish, always wear thick sole shoes when walking on a reef or in shallow waters.

Air Travel to Australia is a long flight.  Reduce the impact of this by either requesting a seat with extra leg room near exit doors if possible, moving around the plane often or even by breaking the journey with a stop-over in Hawaii or even Fiji.  A stop-over will ensure that you arrive fresh and ready to start your vacation here having minimized the effects of jet lag.

Warm regards

Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Rowena French has traveled Australia extensively, exploring much of this vast and very diverse country. If you’d like other Australia travel tips to help you plan your vacation here, go to our website www.AustraliaTravel4U

We’ve traveled to spectacular Alaska a number of times and learned the hard way about how to be selective when packing our Alaska luggage. This is our list of core essentials that we’ve found accommodates space and weight for Alaskan purchases on our journey home.

Alaska Luggage Packing List

2 prs jeans

1 pr shorts

4 long sleeved t-shirts

2 short sleeved t-shirts

5 prs socks

Underwear

Sweater

Sunglasses

Warm jacket, scarf, gloves and woolen cap (for glacier cruises)

Water proof jacket and pants (for off shore fishing trips)

Cotton sun hat

Leather walking shoes/Runners

Walking sandals

Toiletries

Small Hairdryer

PJ’s

camera

Buy on Arrival

Mosquito repellent

Sun cream

Overseas travelers can buy a cheap hairdryer or bring an adapter with their own

Take a camera that you’ve has plenty of practice using. Alaska is a photographers paradise but ‘photo opportunities’ come and go quickly so you don’t want to be caught trying to focus a new camera as a moose heads across the road and out of sight!

Buy bear repellent (pepper spray is popular) when you arrive in Alaska if you plan an extensive walking and camping vacation. Make sure you get a copy of the National Parks and Wildlife’s excellent bear safety pamphlet as well and be well prepared for every aspect of your safety.

Take light weight rainproof pants and top if you plan to visit southern Alaska where it rains frequently in summer or even if you take a fishing trip off the coast when it may rain.

Buy a bottle of Mosquito repellent when you travel to Alaska in summer. Mosquitoes thrive in the wet or receding snow in warm Alaskan summers and they’re big! Alaskans call the mosquito their ‘state bird’.  We were surprised at how they were so silent so include repellent in our luggage as soon as you arrive.

Err on the side of taking less rather than more clothes or other gear if you are uncertain about the best luggage to take. Clothes are generally inexpensive and easy to locate in supermarkets and other outlets in Alaska . Anchorage stores have a wide selection of sports gear for hunting and fishing. Better to take less Alaska luggage than get stuck lugging around its dead weight for your whole trip.

Always take an equivalent to our trusty 'blue bag' as carry on luggage during long planes journeys or for the many day cruises, rail trips or short plane flights you can take during your Alaska vacation. Our blue bag is the most used of all our luggage and travels everywhere with us!

Warm regards

Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

If you’d like more information about how to keep your Alaskan luggage light with plenty of room for reminders of your Alaskan vacation, read How to Pack Alaska Luggage and Avoid Excess Baggage Costs Part 1 on my website at www.alaskatravel4U

The process of creating vegetable gardening compost is the same as creating compost for any garden. Gardening compost is a cheap, healthy organic fertilizer relished by the best veggie gardens. It helps soil hold more water and assists you to produce successful organic vegetable crops. To create organic gardening compost for your vegetable garden, follow these easy steps.

Find a shaded part of your vegetable garden protected from hot winds for your gardening compost pile. Make sure it has a cement or solid sand base. Edge your pile with cement blocks or timber planks and divide it into three bins to make the composting process efficient. Each bin should have a floor area of around 12 square feet and be about 3 feet high. One is for new material, another for material to be turned and the other for completed compost.

Begin the pile by spreading your compost material 6-8 inches high. This material can include grass clippings, leaves and other garden waste. Dust with agricultural lime and a handful of complete fertilizer containing nitrogen.

Cover with a layer of garden soil and repeat this layering process until it is about 3 feet in height. Turn the heap every two to three weeks with a digging fork or shovel to assist with the decomposition of your gardening compost. Turning allows the pile to cool and aerates providing the microbes working in it some fresh air. Not all microbes (bacteria and fungi) need air to survive, but those in your compost pile do.

Water a little after turning but make sure not to over water as compost heaps work best with the right amount of moisture. To this end, cover the compost bins with Hessian or even an old piece of carpet to avoid the effect of heavy rain.

Watch the temperature of your compost pile as it can get very warm and should not exceed a temperature of 150F. Your finished compost should be ready for use after about three turns in around 8-10 weeks when it’s warm. The composting process will take longer in cooler weather.Distribute the compost 2-3 inches over your vegetable garden and turn it into the topsoil.

To save the time it takes to establish a compost pile of your own, you might consider buying a ready made compost bin (ranging from around $100- $300) or in a smaller garden or even a patio garden, a less expensive compost pale (approx $29-$39). Whether you build or buy your compost piles, know that gardening compost is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly organic fertilizer for your vegetable garden.

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is from a family of successful gardeners and grows delicious organic vegetables year round. Want to learn more about how to grow great veggies? Go to my website www.vegetablegardens4U

I’ve traveled to Alaska many times and enjoyed different cruises there often. This is largely because so much of Alaska's impressive scenery can be viewed from the water.  Some of the most appealing cruises take a day and these generally run daily from May to September from Alaska’s coastal towns. They are guided by well informed locals and compact in length.  All you need to do is book early, arrive on time and sit back and enjoy unique viewings only available from a boat!

An Alaska day cruise whale watching around Resurrection Bay and further off the coast of Seward is likely to provide close up views of wildlife and sea creatures for most of the day. Cruise goers are often treated to sights of orca (killer whales), humpback whales or grey whales and even to sightings of Stella sea lions, bird rookeries, puffins, eagles, and even porpoise and sea otters. Puffins are amazing creatures only venturing on to land to nest. They can dive underwater for up to one minute and this is a sight worth seeing!

An Alaska day cruise from the town of Valdez through the edge of Prince William Sound can see you exploring the spectacle of the Columbia Glacier.  This is Alaska's largest tidewater glacier and is well worth visiting.  Columbia and the nearby Mears Glacier both feature active calving along their faces. As a result a large number of floating ice bergs move in and around nearby waters across the warmer months of each year. Regardless of the time of the year, always take warm clothes on this day cruise as glaciers have a substantial impact on the surrounding air temperature.

Alaskan wild life features in these glacier day cruises as this is the habitat of whales, sea lions, puffins, seals, sea otters, eagles, goats, bears and other land and sea creatures. As Valdez endured the Alaskan earthquake of ’64 and the ’89 oil spill a 6.5 hour day cruise in the pristine waters surrounding this interesting town always include historical information around these events.

Further south, consider taking an Alaska day cruise from Juneau to the spectacular fjord Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier there.  Be prepared for a long day (8.5 hours) as traveling to the Taku inlet from Juneau takes a while. It is well worth traveling the distance and this part of the journey is made interesting as it follows the migrating pathway of whales along Alaska’s coastline. Viewing these creatures breaching and tail waving is common.

The rest of the trip is breathtaking as well. Waterfalls, bears, mountain goats, seals, sharp glacier-ravaged cliffs, deep teal colored waters and the striking contrast of white ice flows and then the calving glacier – up close and very real, stimulate all the senses in this very unique experience. There is nothing quite like a day cruise to Tracy Arm!

An Alaska day cruise is often an experience not able to be replicated on large cruise liners because if the navigation maneuverability of smaller cruise vessels. So consider one or even each of these Alaska day cruises when you visit.  You will remember them as highlights of your vacation. For more information about Alaskan cruising go to my website http://www.alaskacruisetravel4u.com/

Warm regards Rowena French

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Rowena French has enjoyed a life-time love affair with Alaska, returning often, ‘just once more’, to experience another aspect of this spectacular part of the world.