Sponsor Chuck, get good stuff!

Tonight's addition: a smaller size antler swan...it could be yours, hanging on your wall, Subsistence art at it's finest!

 So a run down...sponsoring Chuck can get you a larger antler swan or a jar of delicious fireweed honey. Sponsor a dog and you get a picture of the dog and a dog bootie!

Fireweed Honey!

For a $25 donation to Chuck's Iditarod, you can have jar of delicious Fireweed Honey shipped to your door!!

Bringing home the bacon (salmon)

Chuck and two of the boys are busting their humps fishing this summer. We have one fishery here and have a limited ability to maintain fish so the openings are controlled by flight availability. This summer fisherman are pulling all-nighters, fishing from 9pm-5am or 8pm-2am. Our salmon (chum, otherwise known as "kita", the cute marketing name) weight about 8#'s each and the price is .40 a pound.

A day in the life...

During the summer I (Tracey) am here at Ivik, 30 miles outside of town, taking care of dogs. That involves checking a subsistence net for pike, sheefish, whitefish or salmon to cook for the dogs. When weather and a busy schedule allows I run the dogs on my un-tippable amazing dog sled Chuck made. It glides over the tussocks and through the mucky puddles. I don't get enough miles to make a big difference on the dogs, but work on some leader training, line manners with the young ones and keep them happier and quieter in the dog yard. The when we start in August we aren't starting from zero, at least they've been getting a little exercise.

Puppies need to be tended, socialized and walked everyday, which Bailey does most of. Then there is the host of other things to do...lots of gathering of food, putting food away for the long winter, and getting ready for another busy year of training dogs!

Sponsor your favorite dog!

Check out the awesome dogs on Chuck's Iditarod team and pick your favorite! Donate $50 here or on Facebook, or by mail at P.O. Box 746, Kotzebue, AK 99752 and get a picture of the dog and a dog bootie!!

The summer season

Summer is in full swing here at Iviq Adventures Kennel! It's a busy subsistence time of the year, hunting for bearded seals, taking care of the meat and oil, picking greens, checking a net for fish, cooking fish for the dogs, tending the garden, raising puppies, running the dogs on the tundra when it's cool enough...always something to do! Chuck is busy getting ready to do some commercial fishing with Falcon and Talon, we are expecting another good run of chum salmon here this year.

A little about us...

Chuck and I (Tracey) live 30 miles outside of Kotzebue, with daughter Bailey and boys Talon and Falcon that join us in the summer. We have lived here, at Ivik, full time for 8 years. Chuck has been commercial fishing in the summers. This year the boys will join him out on the water. During the school year I travel into Kotzebue and the surrounding villages to work for the local school district as an occupational therapist about a week a month or so. Bailey joins me and spends some time in school. The rest of the time, we are here at Ivik, homeschooling, training dogs and staying pretty busy subsisting in general.

Chuck has been dog mushing for 35 years. He last ran the Iditarod in 1991. This past year he ran the K300 after a 20 year break. We have been breeding dogs for the past 8-10 years and  have been fortunate to get some help from various top mushers as well as locating some of Chuck's old lines. The result is some fantastic dogs that we are hoping get a shot at the Iditarod this coming year.

First Post!

Hello everyone...welcome to our brand new blog...just getting started, more to come!