The Lost Arts; Food for a Year

by Tam Linsey

When I go to a party, I inevitably find myself surrounded by people who are intrigued by what I do. Not my writing (they are interested in that, too, but their eyes glaze over if I branch into plot points or characterization) but my other activities.

I am obsessed with food.

Growing, gathering, and preserving food.

Self-sufficiency.

That's a tall order for someone living in Alaska. Yet also a necessity, I think. We ship in over 90% of our food and other everyday supplies. If there were ever a worldwide - or even nationwide - catastrophe, the population up here could be in trouble. Several years back, an avalanche closed the road to Girdwood, a ski resort only a few miles north of Anchorage. This road is also the only road connecting Southcentral Alaska to the rest of the state. With no port, and bad weather keeping planes from flying, thousands of people trapped there were running out of food and fuel. Crews worked desperately to clear the highway, and luckily no one starved, but it was eye-opening.

The event was a microcosm for the entire state of Alaska.

Wall o' water around a zucchini plant

I raise as many vegetables as I can in our short summer. We officially have 75 growing days in my area, and are lucky if we hit eighty degrees even one day during a season. So cool weather crops do best, although I've been known to attempt corn and pole beans using season extenders. The broccoli in the freezer will last us the year, along with peas, Swiss chard, onions, carrots, potatoes, etc.

Seedlings  - yes, that is 2 feet of snow outside!

I start all my seedlings in the house in March, and use a greenhouse to grow tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers.

Kiwi fruit

I also have an orchard with apples and cherries I grafted myself, and a huge trellis of hardy kiwi vines (yes, you CAN grow fruit in Alaska!) I have a couple of experimental pear trees from the former Soviet Union seedling project, as well, but they have yet to produce fruit. And we love to go pick the wild berries growing all over the state.

An assortment of jarred foods

I make beer, cider, jam, tomato sauce, fermented pickles and sauerkraut. You name it, I may have tried to make it.

This past year, my son raised three hogs and a steer, which we butchered ourselves two weeks ago. Our two chest freezers are blessedly full. In the past, we’ve filled our freezer with everything from moose, to caribou, to mountain goat. Plus dozens of salmon we dip-net out of the Kenai River every year.

The Kenai River dip-net line

To me, this stuff is just ... everyday life. But people want to talk about it. Long past my husband's "wink-wink, nod-nod" that it is time to leave the party.

What do you find yourself talking about at a party?

© Tam Linsey, 2011. All rights reserved.