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May??

May 1, 2023 – 8:00 am
Posted in Alaska, Family
Tagged AK life, Family, friends, garden, melt, mud season, snow machining
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How is it possible? It seems like just yesterday we were snow machining and hauling loads of it away!

Signs of spring are very welcome! I’ve spotted Canada Geese flying in and Dean saw some Sandhill Cranes the other day. You can start to hear a few songs birds now and then but I’ve yet to spot a Robin. I’m behind on getting all of my Birch trees tapped, maybe today I’ll get another one or two done?

May is always a busy month physically but also emotionally as well. Besides the happy celebratory days like Mert’s birthday, Mother’s Day, a sweet little red-headed girl’s birthday and my Seester & John’s anniversary, it brings somber reminders of those we’ve lost as well.

Today would have been my step-brother Michael’s 54th birthday. Blessed memory.

My Grandmother’s, also of blessed memory, 97th birthday would have been on the 27th. She’s been gone for 18 years now.

We’ll celebrate the official end of the school year, although does it ever really end?? Ours just morphs into summer school and next year.

Memorial Day of course, somber for those remembering a loved one who paid the ultimate price for being an American. Whilst the rest of us kick off the summer season with joy. Both extremes of celebration wrapped up into one day.

All of the flowers watered by last months’s showers should begin to pop their blossoms. It’s time for some color other than white everywhere.

I hope your May is full of beauty and goodness. Soon, before we know it, fish camp will be here and my mantra begins… “winter is coming”!!

Sourdough Sunday: Tapping Birch Trees

April 30, 2023 – 7:47 pm
Posted in Alaska, food, Sourdough Sunday
Tagged AK life, birch, harvest, sap, tapping, water, wildcrafter, wildcrafting
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Last year Thing 1 wanted to try her hand at tapping Birch trees. We found that we all quite enjoyed the flavor of the fresh Birch sap/water so we’re at it again.

I actually found some time to tap one tree today and hopefully will tap a couple more over the next few days

I picked this nice Birch near our house.

You want a good sized healthy tree. We try for a 8-10 inch in diameter tree or larger. We also only tap an individual tree once then let it rest for a number of years before ever tapping again.

I drill a slightly upward angle with a drill bit close to the size of the small end of the tap. Going into the tree about an inch and a half or so. There’s plenty of instructions online of all the technical steps if you want those.

Once the hole is drilled you just hammer the tap into the tree until it’s secure. Hang your bucket and let it drip.

We check the progress frequently to see how fast the sap is flowing. Also, anxious-to-drink-the-sap kids go out and fill little glasses to sample. That’s the trouble with having a tapped tree so close to home!

After about 7 hours we had a good 3/4 of a gallon. We poured off two quarts and filled some freezable bottles for a cool summer treat. Tomorrow we’ll see how much more we get.

Drip, drip, drip.

Birch water is a great source of minerals and other good stuffs. Check it out! I’m not really a fan of the syrup yet, but I’d like to try Birch beer (non-alcoholic) and Birch ale this year, if we get enough sap. And of course filling up several freezer bottles and popsicles for summer!