Sallie Dodd Butters and Milly went to high school together at Gill School in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Sallie has lived in Homer for the last 35 years. She came to Alaska as a singer with Hobo Jack for the summer, liked it and stayed.
On Saturday, July 25, we joined with many local Alaskans in celebrating Sallie’s birthday at her home in Homer. Her home is known affectionately as Motley Farm. Sallie has held this party every year to also honor her wedding anniversary. The love of her life, her husband Dayton, died last February.
We moved our camper into her side yard on Friday morning. We met a lot of Sallie’s neighbors as they stopped over to say hello, share a beer and/or smoke some weed. In Alaska, personal growing and smoking of marijuana is tolerated.
We helped Sallie, her daughter Kimmy and her son Ezra, get her place ready for the party. Kimmy and Ezra both live in Wasilla. We dined out at Wasabi’s Restaurant with Sallie and Kimmy for great Friday evening seafood.
The party started around 2 pm and lasted all day. There were people in her kitchen when we went to bed at midnight. People dropped in when they could. They usually brought some type of food.
Sallie is quite the character. She raises much of her own vegtables in gardens that surround the house. She also sells eggs from her chickens. Recently, She finally got running water in the house.
She lives what appears to be a simple life, close to the environment with neighbors helping each other. She seems to know just about everyone. She gets involved in local political activity. Recently, she helped lead the fight against Sara Palin and the state’s attempt to facilitate Alaskan city annexation of nearby property. Sallie lives about 7 miles from center of Homer. Her home is not taxed by Homer. She does pay Borough taxes.
Sallie’s house is full of “stuff”. She is a pack rat! She has all kinds of “interesting” stuff packed into every cranny of her home.
After church on Sunday, we went to Sourdough Cafe for an excellent lunch. Fred had eaten an great breakfast there. Then we went to a HOMER NPR benefit Musical Festival on the lawn. It was fun watching all the locals, young and old, listen and dance to the rock bands which changed every hour. Part of the festival was broadcast on KBBS live. During that part of program, the head of Homer wished Sallie Dodd Butters a Happy Birthday! It was a good day for a change after the last several days of rain but we forgot out camera.