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  • Things I have learned living in the Yukon

    “Big sky country”, “land the the midnight sun”, these are a couple of references you may hear when talking to someone about the Yukon Territory.

    They say everything is bigger in Texas right? Well, I would one up you on that and challenge you to come take a look up here just south of the Alaska border. You’re gonna find a lot of everything likes to be on the big side. Whether that’s the sun, moon and stars. The animals here or ego people carry, you’ll find it all. Along with that, you will find big, rugged beauty of a country. Mingled with the stories of the people who have loved it and conquered it, but also the blood and ghost of those it overcame.

    A deep respect for the land and its ability is needed to live here. If the sun and long heated days don’t kill you, the eight months of winter will. This is not a place to challenge or fight. You must learn the ways of the land, the harshness, and the life giving aspects. And with that, learn to balance them for your own benefit…your own survival.

    If you have ever lived in Kansas or Texas, you know heat. The kind that stifles the air so hot you have no relief breathing it in. The only way I can describe the heat here is; “intense”. How is it that way up here in the North, the hottest days of summer remind me more of Texas heat, than anywhere else I’ve been, I don’t know. But you better not doubt it, the cool breeze that can come along at any given time will only deceive you more into thinking the sun isn’t beating down on you when really, that is its sly tactics to get you. To throw you to the ground with heat stroke without you even knowing it. But the next thing you know, it’s raining for a couple weeks and now you’re trying to keeping the flood waters from washing out your home, your roads, your work place. Your fording a swollen and raging creek that you crossed this morning but failed to get your vehicle back across. It sits stalled in the water, moved by the merciless pressure, sweeping away whatever precious contents you may have left in there. Mud and gunk cling to everything and make the mosquitoes, bigger than you’ve seen, only multiply with every passing day. Once too hot to work through the 23 plus hours of day light, now cold, and damp. Drenched down to your bones.

    But you wake up, the birds are singing and the air is clean, clear and crisp. There’s something different that captures you here. A little bit of your soul maybe. You can’t place it, but you’ll never be the same.

    The land is vast and rough, but the sunrises surround you, the darkness of night, so thick in winter that you could cut it. Then come the northern lights, dancing all around you, brighter and more active and straight above you as though they might come right down to you. You see, for such a harsh place, the charm of it has to be engulfing, breathtaking…capturing a little piece of you forever. Or else you would never stay or come back.

    I’ve learned, through gathering info and stories from the locals and “sourdoughs”, little tips and tricks and downright survival skills to at least start off. I by no means would go out and try to rough it in the middle of no where by myself. But you gotta start gathering the info for when you do. If you stay here for any length of time, there’s a high change you may have to. Prepare, or prepare to fail. And failing here, very well could cost you your life.

    The interesting thing about this land is its spirit. That’s the only way I can describe it. Its almost like it has a personality of its own and that’s why it fights everyone and everything so hard. The animals have had to adapt to it, becoming tougher, rougher and being able to withstand the polar opposite effects of the weather.

    You kind of have to be ready for anything, no matter where you’re going. Number one; you WILL need multiple tires for your vehicle, and you’ll probably get stuck on the side of the road at least once. There probably won’t be any cell service and you will have to wait for someone to stop. Unfortunately not a lot of people do that anymore, so you could be there a while. This has happened to me twice, both times trying to leave the Yukon. Once for my brothers wedding, and another time to leave for the winter. What to take away from that? Well, make sure that in the summer, you have extra clothes, water, fire starter and snacks. And ALWAYS have blankets in your vehicle in the Yukon. Even in the dead of summer. Two spare tires are not a bad idea either. Some of the local people believe that once you’re here, the Yukon will try to keep you here. That there is a curse to keep you away from the rest of the world and a tie to pull you back if you do go. I don’t know about the curses, but I do know that the spiritual activity in the country is thicker and more prevalent than any place I have ever been. If you aren’t a believer in that kind of thing, you will be after spending any good amount of time here. It is extremely interesting, caution calling and life changing.

    I appreciate this place and what I have and am learning from it. To step back and be present because you actually have to in the weeks of winter that can be anywhere from -10 to – 60 Celsius. I have experienced -54 at it’s coldest. All I can say is believe the thermometer because also unlike anywhere I’ve been before, the cold is different. It’s so dry that -54 doesn’t actually feel that bad. Or so you think. Then, you take your dog out to go for a walk and pee, and before you know it, you’ve only walked a half a block and you’re having to tell your brain to make your legs move. You got that cold and didn’t even know it. That is how easy it is to die in the cold here. My advice would be not to push it. You cannot be a smart ass and make it here. And if you do, it will be after you’ve had a couple harsh learning curves from the weather itself. Unless it’s warmer than -25, If I’m going out for anything more than an arm of firewood, I have found it’s best to bundle up. The other thing is that the weather can change so quickly here that it’s better to be prepared than surprised.

    So there are a couple things. Important things. There are multiple others, probably that I could make a long list of. Maybe I will one day. I find that if your are looking for it here, this land will teach you something new every day.

  • Hello!!

    Welcome Here! I am so happy you found your way over to my little corner of the earth. If you’re wondering what this is all about, welcome to the party! I am having some of the same questions.

    First, “let me introduce myself”.

    As you have probably seen already, my name is Cheyenna, aka Chey, aka Shay. And to those who cannot remember my name, I take no offence, and will also respond to “hey you” in a dyer circumstances.

    I grew up in northern British Columbia, a sleepy little spot on the road called Fort Nelson. Nothing exciting or noteworthy about that place and no, I do not live there anymore. But it was a part of the story of this blog coming to life!

    You see, I have always loved writing. It started out as notes I would put in my dad’s lunch box every night before bed so he would have a nice reminder he was loved every day. As I grew out of that, I started journaling. I always loved a good writing challenge in school, and later in college would stay up all night writing, rewriting and editing my work because once I was in the groove, I would always come up with better ideas than the last revision. I loved creative writing as a kid and even as a teen would write short stories that never got finished.

    Back to the point of this introduction… As a child before my writing skills were found, I also learned that I like making things with my hands. And in this case, it was making bread. Of course later it turned into dancing in the kitchen whenever I would get the house to myself (rare occurrence with six siblings), clean the house and, make dinner, and bake a dessert.

    At six years old, in Fort Nelson B.C. my mom taught me to make bread. It turned into my chore as a kid because we really didn’t have any animals to chore on until later in my teen years.

    So I made bread. At first it was just the ingredients, stirring and mixing and kneading as far as I could, but my little arms would get tired and my mom would usually have to get it to its finished state to rise. Then she would later shape and bake the loaves because my hands were too small to hold a loaf amount of dough without it falling one side to another and breaking. I was so disappointed and tried and tried. After a while I was able to do it myself as well.

    Some how I think that instilled in me a heart that loves to serve people. Not just food but food too because social gatherings or entertaining guests usually seems to include a meal or treat of some kind.

    What never fit in my world though, was the timing or personality. Or so i thought. I am NOT a foodie. I do not think about food all day, or what I am going to make or eat next, UNLESS I have to plan a meal because I’m feeding someone else. Then I must plan or nothing will happen and then I have a hungry or hangry individual wondering why I didn’t make dinner. So in that sense yeah, I do think of food a-lot. But for myself, I’m happy to stick to smoothies and do other things that I like.

    Don’t get me wrong I love a good meal. But when you’re working outside or managing a ranch or on a roll with something, having to stop and eat can be such a waste of time! Throws off my groove!

    But when the tables are turned and I get to entertain or feed a table of people, I am happy to have my space in the kitchen and create. Maybe it’s all that in the end, creating.

    For now though, I want to share the recipes and moments that have given me the joy of gathering people in one place. When someone says “wow that was really good” it’s nice. So I want to share those with you so you can come along on the journey as well and make your own story.

    And the magic of the bread recipe my mom taught me, over 20 years ago now, is one that has been a life saver in so many scenarios. Its not just loaf bread or dinner rolls. It can be whole wheat Hamburger buns, or sandwich bread. It can be made into cinnamon roll dough or pizza rolls/pinwheels, fry bread, monkey bread, bread pudding base and cheese rolls. You can use it for so many things and make it your own along the way. I did.

    So here, after that long introduction, I will share the recipe that started me in the kitchen.

    My Mom’s Bread Dough Recipe

    •3 cups warm water or milk

    •1/4 cup oil or melted butter

    •1/4 cup sugar or honey

    •Splash of lemon juice (optional)

    •2 eggs (can be made without, def better with)

    •Splash of molasses (optional)

    •3 TBS yeast

    •3-5  cups of white flour

    •1 1/2 TBS salt

    •3-5 cups of whole wheat flour

    With warm water/milk in a bowl, add oil or butter, sugar/honey, splash of lemon juice and eggs. If you want to add molasses, I would do it here. I usually give this a little whip so that the eggs are broken and stirred in.  I then add the yeast and sprinkle it over the surface. Leave it sit about 5 minutes or until you see the yeast really activating. Then I gently start stirring in the beginning of my flour. Try to get it to a nice sticky dough texture, add the salt and then put the remaining flour in and stir. I usually have to finish bread dough off by kneading it with my hands for a bit as it helps with elasticity in the dough. You don’t want it to dry but I usually find that if it’s sticking to my hands too much, I need more four because it won’t hold itself when it comes to loaves and buns, never mind trying to roll it out for something else. It is a little bit of a figure out what works best for you at that point.

    Cover with a clean hand towel and make sure its in a warmish place. Let rise for 15-20 minutes, punch down and let rise again 15-30 until fluffy and light. Always gage bread dough by whether it fills back out if you poke it little. If it doesn’t at the second rise, your loaves will most likely not rise as the yeast is no longer active. Sometimes if I’m using a weaker yeast I will just do one rise in the bowl and one in the pan. But you may have to feel it out. The temperature of your house will be a factor as well. Bread dough ideally rises at a temperature between 24°C and 26°C,  this range allows for optimal yeast activity while still developing good flavour without rising too quickly. 

    At this point, after your choice of rising temperatures and timeframe, I once again punch the dough down and the form my loaves or buns, or roll it out flat for rolls. But that will be another post.

    Cover again with a towel and let rise 30-45 mins.

    Bake at 360-375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-45 mins or until golden brown. If I want them to be fancy, I will paint melted butter on the tops of the loaves and bunches when they come out of the oven.

    Leave them to sit for 5-15 minutes before carefully pulling out/off pans to cool or serve fresh!

    Enjoy!!

    I hope this recipe can become a family favourite for you like it has for me. I adapt it and even flunk it still to this day. But when I follow the instructions in my head, I end up with really nice bread.

    And please, if you have questions, or new ideas, feel free to reach out! I would love to hear from you!