First Harvest in Alaska

August for many Pagans and Earth-Lovers in the Northern Hemisphere means the beginning of the harvest season. Fall is in the air and, in the words of House Stark, Winter is Coming. This is especially true for homesteaders in Alaska, even amateur ones like my family. Any desire to put away a gardened or foraged harvest starts in earnest now as the birch and cottonwood trees start turning golden and the rain begins to pour.

Blueberry Picking

We went blueberry picking as soon as we got word from fellow pickers that they were ripe. Like many Alaskans near Anchorage, we went north to Hatcher's Pass (an area that is also frequented for its great hiking and moose and bear hunting). Where the tree-line ends, we find fields of blueberries intermingled with lingon berries and crow berries. These can be hand picked or scooped up with a berry rake.

We picked about 3 gallons and intend to go back before the season ends, following the berries as they ripen from the bottom to the top of the mountain. All of these berries went into the freezer for future baked goods. We only just depleted our harvest from last year (I couldn't go then as I was literally waddling with my pregnant belly and hiking for berries was not going to happen).

Berry picking also means reading a couple of fun picture books to our little boy:
Blueberry Shoe: a story about a little boy picking blueberries in Alaska who loses his shoe and, upon finding it, sees the work of many native animals.
Jamberry: a popular children's book and one I believe my husband and I know by heart as we quoted it all through the picking and cleaning process. "One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry."
(links are to Goodreads and are not affiliated)

Salmon Run

Hunting season is opening but the salmon are also running, making it difficult for people like my husband to decide if they want to take time to go dip-netting to fill a freezer with salmon fillets or if they want to go grab the first moose of the season. Either way, meat for the freezer is always good. Salmon is a particularly loved fish in our home (my personal favorite) and this year is even more in demand as salmon is a great source of Omega 3's for our growing baby boy's brain - he loves salmon too!
Hubs has already gone fishing once but plans for a second trip as his catch wasn't as large as desired. I'm happy as a clam with the prospect of plenty of fish in the freeze.

Cherry Preserves

Our surprise harvest this year came in the form of a nearby gardener posting on a local buy-sell-trade page that he was selling his cherries, you-pick, for $4 a gallon. We jumped on it and after 2 visits had 5 gallons of sour cherries to freeze for future baked goods and to make into preserves.

Cherry Preserves Recipe

For those wonder - jelly is made from juice, jam from fruit and both jelly and jam are known as preserves. We made cherry jam:

• 4 cups Cherry fruit (we pitted our fruit by smashing it through a sieve that had holes big enough to allow fruit bits and juice through but not the pit)
• 1 box Pectin (we used Sure-Jell)
• 5 cups Sugar (there are sugar free recipes out there if you prefer)
• sterilized Mason jars

1. Pour fruit into a saucepan and bring to a boil. 
2. Add sugar and bring to a boil again, stirring. 
3. Let boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. 
4. Remove from heat. The recipe says to skim off foam and when I asked my mom-in-law about this she said its mostly for appearance. I did it, not sure if makes a difference though. 
5. Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to the rim (the part just under the screw top) or 1/4 inch from the top. 
6. Add the lids and screw on tightly. 
7. Place jars in your canner on a rack, making sure the water covers the jars about an inch or so. 
8. Cover and bring to a boil. 
9. Process 10 min then (carefully) remove jars and place on a towel to cool off. This is the part when the popping occurs. We usually leave them for some time, overnight a lot. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. If it didn't seal properly, I'm told you can reseal it with the canner or you can just use that jar of jelly first and put it in the fridge. 

Preparation for Fall

With fruit and fish in the freezer, we are looking at our garden and green house now. My pumpkins are steadily growing and I am working hard to harvest and dry my herbs - my chamomile is making me harvest nearly every other day and the mint and sage...I could harvest daily and not deplete at this point. Hoping to have a good batch of dried herbs, tinctures, and oils before we close up the green house for the coldest part of the year. More of nature's bounty to come.