It’s that time of year again…It’s 35 degrees tonight, there is still snow on the ground, we are bundled up and cheering away. It’s softball, Alaska style! My daughter, Nicole is playing on the varsity squad as a sophomore for Houston High School here in the Mat-Su Valley. We are playing Colony High (Palmer) starting at 6:00 for the junior ... Read More »
It’s Easter Sunday. What better way to celebrate than whipping up a batch of Alaska Chicks Vodka. Why do we call it Alaska Chicks Vodka? It’s simple really, we use vodka that is distilled right here in Alaska and we use Peep’s marshmallow chicks. How do you make it? 1 large Mason Jar 3/4 bottle of Frostbite Alaska Vodka 8 ... Read More »
This past weekend my son Tyler and I participated in the Nome Sign 40 race. It is a 40 mile race over the orginal Iditarod trail to the Nome sign and back. It starts on Knik Lake in the heart of Redingtonville. There is more mushing history in the first two miles of this race than probably anywhere in the ... Read More »
It was Christmas Eve and we ran out of propane at Forto’s Fort in Alaska. It has been -20 degrees or worse for more than a month and we frankly forgot to wade through deep snow to check the level on the propane tank. We let it run out. Our fault. A delivery was made on Christmas Eve and the ... Read More »
Our show offerings at our little Internet radio station, Dog Works Radio, keep getting better and better. We currently host four shows; our flagship Dog Works Radio, Mushing Radio that is both on the web as well as a studio here in Alaska, the Gypsy Musher with my good friend Hugh Neff, and a brand new one, The Sibe Vibe ... Read More »
Right around Iditarod time up here in Alaska I approached a small community radio station and asked them if they would be interested in airing a show about our state sport, Mushing, and in particular, the Iditarod. The station manager asked me to submit a show proposal and he would take a listen. To my surprise, a couple days later ... Read More »
Hey Guys and Gals, its that time of year again– The glorious over-exuberant, hyper-manic Christmas shopping season! If you are like me and love to lavish our loved ones, friends, and family with gifts and hate going to the mall to fight the traffic…. Hey wait a minute, now that I am living in the middle of no-where in the ... Read More »
Well, here we are again on the psycho circus, otherwise known as the cattle train to the great white north. This time it is a rare treat. I’m on one of the few combi planes in the Alaska Airlines fleet. It is unique in that it the front of the plane is loaded with cargo–most likely people’s impulse purchaes from ... Read More »
It has been a busy summer here at the Fort. We filled our freezer the smoked red salmon, we built a greenhouse and picked over a gallon and a half of blueberries to make jelly, BBQ sauce, muffins and more. Today I want to share a recipe that we found online and modified for our use. It took all of ... Read More »
This past weekend we took the Jeep for a road trip over Hatcher Pass from the Willow side. After stopping off at Willow Hardware for a lug wrench (just in case) and filling up for gas at the Townsite Foodmart we were on our way on a beautiful Alaskan summer day! We stopped off at “the sign” for Nicole to ... Read More »
Robert Forto