Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

    Several weeks back, perhaps more like three weeks ago, Jan, Liz and Autumn went to one of the local farms to pick strawberries.  Actually, it wasn't all that local, the farm was located probably twenty or more miles away, outside of Palmer. It was one of those U-pick places, where you go in and pay to pick your own produce, I suppose with the understanding that either the food you harvest yourself will be healthier and hopefully it will cost less. In the case of the strawberries, I believe they paid the handsome price of about ten dollars a quart. Not exactly a bargain. Add to the cost the gas it took to get there and back, and the bending down to root through the berries that others have already picked over, traipsing through the mud and dealing with mosquitos and other hungry vermin, those are some pretty expensive strawberries. I guess its the adventure of the whole process that is supposed to be memorable. I can't really relate. As far as being healthy goes, that'...

crab apples Weighing them on the scale Jen doing the tedious work of cutting them up After they're cooked Running them through the seive The final product   Several weeks ago, as I had mentioned, my daughter, Jen, and I went out on a rainy afternoon and raided the crab apple tree in front of our church. Last year it had actually fallen over because most of the branches were on one side of the tree, and a wind storm had knocked it over. Fortunately, our pastor is a tree person with the U. S. Forest Service, and there is an arborist out at the farm and with the help of some machinery, they managed to right it and secure it with ropes and stakes. They were so successful that the tree bore a bumper crop of fruit this year. I don't know what got into me, I guess that ancient desire to prepare for the upcoming winter, but in any event, I had a hankering for some crab apple jelly. I'm not even sure I've ever eaten crab apple jelly before, but none...

  I'm not sure what's happening in the rest of the country, but here in Hoonah a harvest of some of the fruits of the land have been taking place lately. Actually, all year long is harvest time here if you consider the different seasons each offers. In the spring, fishing for King Salmon and halibut are on a lot of people's minds. I believe that's when folks go out to get their seaweed from select spots as well. During a large ebb tide, when the water falls below the mean low water mark, or minus tide, certain rocks provide an anchor for a particular kind of seaweed that the natives have harvested for years. I understand that it's high in Iodine which I believe prevents goiters. "Look Ma, no goiters! I've been eating my seaweed." They dry it out and put it in freezer bags and put it in the freezer. I think they like to cook with it in soups and it's popular to have with herring eggs, another spring time favorite. The herring spawn on kel...

Frequently I don't have the slightest idea of what I'm going to write about until I sit down and start to do it. For me, writing the blog post isn't like sitting down in the morning and knowing that I'm going to have a bowl of corn flakes, and that for the next five or six days I'm going to sit down and have a bowl of corn flakes- unless of course the breakfast fairy shows up and magically produces a plate of ham and eggs. I like to take pictures of various things from wherever I'm at to possibly use for a post in the future. For today's post I was able to draw on some photos  I took several weeks ago.  The top picture is of Alaska's state flower the Forget-me-not. I love them. They grow wild all over the place and add a bit of beauty to a hillside or garden in the spring. Chances are, if you gave someone a bouquet of Forget-me-nots, they'd never forget you - even if they wanted to. Wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, t...