Wildcrafting. Verb. The practice of harvesting plants from their natural, or ‘wild’ habitat, primarily for food or medicinal purposes. Also called foraging.
Wild crafting has been a way of life for me but since moving to Alaska it has gained significance. Foraging is a cultural practice here as Native Alaskans have been doing for eons. Plus there are simply so many edible things here in the wild. From spruce needles to mushrooms (multiple edible species), flowers and teas and berries. Oh the berries.
It’s autumn here and that means lingonberries, or as the locals refer to them, low bush cranberries are ready.
Britannica.com says this about the Lingonberry, (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), also called cowberry, foxberry, or rock cranberry, small creeping plant of the heath family (Ericaceae), related to the blueberry and cranberry. And they are delicious.
I’ve been checking them since moose hunting to see if they were ready and finally they are. We’ve had a few good hard frosts and that always makes them sweeter!
My berry buddy, Lil Mister, came along and we went exploring. He’s a good berry picker and with his lower-to-the-ground perspective, finds many that I miss!
My favorite parts of berry picking are the conversations which span the entirety of the 6 year old imagination, and that little hand slipping into mine and strolling hand in hand with my littlest one. It just melts my heart.
With this batch we’re going to try our first attempt at cranberry cordial. I’m using this recipe as my guide, but I reduced the sugar by half.
Now the hard part, waiting for it to macerate!
#aklife
#wildcrafting
Lil Mister was in charge of Panda Bear. She has a sweater because she gets cold.
Eating the fruits of her labor.
The dinning hall.
Fishing was restricted again this year, we could only fish one tide a day. (Due to lowered king salmon returns.) This allowed for a slower pace but it significantly reduced our overall catch. None of us limited out. Most of us got enough to get us through the year, we hope. You never know year to year how much you’re going to actually go through. Some years we eat way more salmon than others. It definitely is a staple in our diet.
And then there’s the card and board games. I found “Joe Name It” at the thrift store this year and it was a lot of laughs. 
Hmmm…. 
Arts & crafts time. They made jelly fish.
Then there’s the friends who come to visit and bring their little puppers. 
And not so little puppers. Burt still has that puppy demeanor even tho he’s as big as a horse.
Once in a while there’s even time for laying down on the job. It’s a hard life Mr. Jimmy! 
There’s always time for good food though. We do eat well at fish camp. Mo is the “Kitchen Queen”.
These enchiladas were amazeballs.
Dessert even. Oy I ate too much.
Dean does a damned fine job of grilling. He usually works all day then comes down to the beach at night. He can sure cook up some delicious food even after working a full day.
This year was a bit overcast and drizzling so the camp stove was a must. We enjoyed its warmth under our dry canopy.
This old fire pit of Niki’s sure has been handy. One bent leg gets propped up in a rock. And a salvaged oven rack with two pieces of rebar makes a nice cooking surface. Hey, we’re Alaskans, we make do.
The kids are always up for a wienie roast. Which is good for when camp isn’t set up and we have no kitchen. 
Putting the nets away for the night. We pull them, stretch them out and flag repairs, Jane takes the time to carefully mend each one, then we gather and store the nets up beach. Get up the next day and start over again.
Here’s to having a warm, dry kitchen out of the wind. L’chaim!
And that’s a wrap. Another year in the books. Smoked salmon and plain jarred salmon adorn our pantry shelves. Life is good.
Alaska on my mind... 