My favorite acquisitions from the Rural Energy Conference

I usually revel in conference schwag--fancy pens! Notepads! Mini screwdriver/USB memory stick combos! Refrigerator magnets!--but at this one, my two favorite acquisitions were this:


And this:


The former I observed in creation out of the corner of my eye during one of the talks. The guy sitting next to me was doodling... that... and when he was done, I admired it, and he gave it to me. I love how it's so unmistakably Alaskan, with the permafrost-stunted black spruce clinging to the creek bed.

The latter, I picked up from among the sundry brochures on gardening and home canning--how to protect your tomatoes against aphids, how to discourage moose from stealing your cabbage, how and when is best to fertilize carrots, etc, etc--offered by UAF's Cooperative Extension Service. Like the cooperative extension services of many land grant universities, UAF's is friendly, accessible, and always ready to foist literature upon you. I must say, this one is the most... oddly specific (pint jars!) and Alaskan (walrus!) of any I had ever seen.

Edited to add: Unseasonable brrrrrrr continues throughout the state.