Using Foraged Food

Back in September when Niki was here, we foraged a lot of food. We picked abundant low-bush cranberries, rosehips and crabapples. I found the perfect recipe on Pinterest to make with all three them!

Over at The Backyard Forager I found this gem, Cranberry, Rosehip & Crabapple chutney. It’s amazing and very simple to make. One variation I made was to leave the rosehip seeds in and then put the cooked mixture through a ricer to make a smooth sauce. So much simpler than seeding those little hips.

It’s amazing with turkey.

Cooking the chutney.

I cannot wait to use it to top a latke with cream cheese & smoked salmon, it’s gonna be delicious!

I bet it’s wonderful on top of salmon croquettes too.

It’s going on some grilled chicken soon.

The possibilities are endless.

I can’t tell how good it feels to eat delicious food that you foraged yourself. Alaska feeds us so well.

Head over to The Backyard Forager, there’s a plethora of information there, recipes, online classes, and much more.

Advertisement

Harvest Season

We spent Sunday morning foraging. Niki, Mo, Thing 1 & I. City Hall has some crab apple trees and an abundance of rosehips that we harvested for jelly making.

Loaded little crab apple tree.

While there we enjoyed each other’s company and solved all the world’s problems. We also enjoyed the flower beds and various different trees planted around the premises.

Dusty Miller in the Soldotna City Hall flower garden.

We found a large patch of wild roses and harvested a nice amount of rosehips. Thing 1 had a good time practicing plant identification for her Botany class.

We harvested enough crab apples for jelly, cider, sauce… You get the idea

Cut leaf weeping Birch.

Also enough to share with others. Part of the joy of wildcrafting is sharing with others.

Some ornamental foundation shrubs.

More flowers at City Hall.

Another bed relatively untouched by the frost.

We also had to harvest our own plants. Lil Bit planted several herbs for her Botany class last year. They did very well and we’ve enjoyed fresh basil, cilantro and parsley this summer.

Lil Bit’s parsley she grew from seed. Harvested to use in our matzo ball soup for Sukkot.

Alas, Old Man Winter is knocking at the door. Time to harvest as much as we can. Hoping for another cranberry picking soon. And a moose.

And afterwards we went for coffee.

#aklife #foraging #wildcrafting #bounty

A Great Day…

To pick berries, with my Solstice Sisters.

Sunshine, a little wind. Glorious big low bush cranberries. A few blueberries left and a good batch of crow berries too.

Children running amuck. Playing with their friends like they just saw each other yesterday.

Also a great day for a campfire on the beach. Roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, drinking a little homemade rhubarb wine. Enjoying the beach with my buddies.

• 

  With the sun right in our eyes.

• 

  Roasting the wieners

• 

  Roasting my tootsies.

• 

  Tide rolling out.

• 

  A little hazy but nice weather.

Friends make every day a great day.

#aklife #solsticesistersak #beachplease

A Day in the Life of These Alaska People

No work for me today so the kids and I spent some time outdoors. We took a little walk to the sawmill. Little Mister wanted to go help Dad at work. So we leashed up Panda and went for a walk. Once there, Lil Mister went to work shoveling sawdust while Panda explored these new surroundings.

Doggie supervisor, note ear protection in Lil Mister’s ears. Safety First!

Then Lil Bit and I went berry picking for more lingonberries. And a botany lesson for good measure.

The start of our berry harvest and an unusual uprooted tree stump.

Just a regular day.

Making a solar print.

We got about one cup of berries this time, they are slowing down. Might get out once more for a few more. We’ll freeze these for making cranberry nut bread for Thanksgiving dinner.

#alaskalife

#lovealaska

#wildcrafting