June 23

Today was another long day of work. The first task was putting in the subsistence net so we can hopefully catch some fresh fish to eat. A subsistence net is a long net that is put out for personal use, not commercial. The top of the net has a line of buoys that floats the net, and the bottom of the net has what’s called a lead line. This is a piece of line with lead inside so the bottom of the net sinks. The net was first tied to some rocks on shore to act as an anchor. Then Ginger drove the skiff out to sea as the net was released into the water. Once we had reach the end of the buoy line, an anchor was attached to the lead line and this was dropped into the water. The final step was to attach a buoy line to the end of the net so other boats know where the end of the net is. 

My next project was transplanting tansy to the raspberry patch. Raspberries like tansy so hopefully this helps them grow. 

Tansy plant at the base of some raspberry bushes.

After the tansy was transplanted I attached plumber’s tape to the railing of one of the cabins on the homestead because it was becoming unsteady. Four screws were placed on each strip of wire of which there were two. 

Plumber's taping being secured to the railing.

The final task of the day was starting to repair the stairs leading to the main house. Some of the stairs were rotten and unsafe for walking. First, I cleared spruce needles from the crevices of the stairs which is what holds moisture that rots the wood. Then, I had to take off the stairs that rotted so they could be repaired. This was a lot harder than I expected because some of the screws were so worn down the drill couldn’t pull them out. After that I cleared all the needles from underneath the stairs. The rest of the repairs will have to wait until another day. 

Stairs after the rotten boards were removed.

All the projects today had me pretty tired, so after helping Bentley learn his letters and making cornbread for our dinner, I called it a night.