Book Review: “The Firecracker Boys” by Dan O’Neill

Project Chariot

Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and… Point Hope? You might initially think that the book “The Firecracker Boys” doesn’t have anything to do with gardening in Alaska. Yet it has everything to do with gardening in Alaska. How can you safely garden anywhere if the soil is contaminated with radioactive material? Can you imagine having to test your soil for radioactive material? If Edward Teller had his way, several atomic bombs would have been set off in various locations in Alaska, and people would have had to worry about large Read More …

Farming on the Livingston Homestead in Cold Bay, Alaska

Farming on the Livingston Homestead in Cold Bay, Alaska In this short article, I recall what it was like to farm on my family’s homestead in Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. The Move to Cold Bay My family moved to Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula in 1961. My father served as a machine gunner and radio technician during World War II, and was stationed at Blinn Lake near the town of Cold Bay in the 1950s. He must have liked Cold Bay because after the Army he joined Read More …