New mechanic opens shop
Aviation mechanic Michael Ford started Ripinski Mechanical, a new automotive repair business.
Ford trained at UAA Fairbanks in aviation mechanics. He earned certifications in airframe and power plant aviation. He has experience in hydraulic systems, carburetors and magnetos.
“I can do oil changes, tune-ups, that type of stuff,” Ford said. “I do a fair bit of electrical stuff and small engine repair and general maintenance that can keep vehicles in tip-top shape. I like to take my time and be meticulous, but the work that I turn out is high quality. Attention to detail is the name of my game.”
Ford charges $95 an hour. He can be reached at 303-0332 or [email protected].
Ford can also service airplanes.
New management at Dusty Trails
Dusty Trails Apartments has a new manager. Former Haines resident Marita Hartmann returned home to take over.
Hartmann returned to Haines from Ashville, North Carolina where she worked in real estate selling tiny homes.
“I love it. I was born for this,” Hartmann said. “I have a degree in real estate. This was one of my main career goals, to manage multi-residential property.”
Hartmann lived in the Lower 48 for the past 17 years, and moved back to Haines in December. She took over management of Dusty Trails on Jan. 1.
Dusty Trails Apartments is a 32-unit government subsidized housing complex. Rent is calculated based on residents’ income—a monthly cost of roughly 1/3 of the renter’s income after any exemptions.
Hartmann said all the units are filled up, but there is a waiting list.
“Anyone can apply and they’ll be put on the waiting list. Priority is given to the most need,” Hartmann said. “We’re always looking for larger families to go into our three bedroom and two-bedroom units. Right now I have an abundance of single people but I’m always looking for a family.”
A family consists of a household of more than three people.
Microgreens business sprouts
Shannon Caton grows nutritious, environmentally friendly and tasty greens for Haines as Pride Microgreens.
Caton said she started her business about 6 months ago after living in Haines for four years. She grows a variety of microgreens using a method called pure farming. All the crops are grown indoors without soil, pesticides or fertilizer, or the need to chase off wildlife.
“This is no-harm farming. It’s all done indoors in my home. It’s organic, good and clean microgreens,” Caton said.
She defined a microgreen as a seed and a leaf, whereas a sprout is a seed with just a root. Caton grows alfalfa, kale, broccoli, radish, mung beans and spicy mix, and wheat grass and barley grass on request. She said she uses USDA organic and non-GMO seeds and beans.
Her microgreens are packaged in glass jars that can be cleaned and reused. “It’s just not healthy to keep reusing plastic,” Caton said. She charges most microgreens by the ounce; alfalfa is $1 and all others are $3 per ounce.
She said microgreens can be used in cooking almost any way someone would use normal broccoli, radishes or kale.
“We eat them raw with our dinner as a side salad instead of chopping up lettuce and tomatoes that are diluted nutrition,” Caton said.
Microgreens can also be used in tacos, on pizza, sautéed and put in stir fry or other dishes. She said the wheat grass is often used for juicing. The barley grass can be dried and ground down to make bread, or fed to chickens as barley biscuits.
“Chickens love to eat the entire plant. It is excellent environmental enrichment for them to scratch, forage and peck while the ground is frozen,” Caton said.
To order microgreens, visit Caton’s Pride Microgreens Facebook page, or call at 767-5554. Caton said she also advertises in town and in the CVN.
ROV illuminates the depths
Searching for sunken wreckage? Inspecting bridge footings? Need to retrieve a body? Tod Sebens’ Alaska ROV Services can help. Sebens’ business uses a remote- operated vehicle for a variety of marine applications. The machine is equipped with four motors, sonar and a metal detector. It can reach depths of 1,000 feet,
“The ROV has forward and reverse video cameras, LED lighting, a retrieval arm and a mechanical arm that can open and close,” Sebens said.
The unit also has side-scanning sonar that can search for objects at a width of 2,400 feet per pass, along with a GPS chart plotting function that maps the search area.
Sebens said the unit can be used for marine research, intake and out-fall inspections, archeology, boat salvage, pen stock inspections among other uses.
“Our goal is to aid individuals, companies, law enforcement and search and rescue agencies in the location and recovery of drowning victims, retrieval of evidence used in crimes, deep-water research and inspections and pretty much anything else that is beyond normal diving capabilities,” Sebens said.
Sebens said he’s offering his services statewide. He recently completed a short training session in Massachusetts to learn how to use the side-scanning sonar.
Visit alaskarovservices.com to learn more