WHERE WOULD YOU GO... to build a remote cabin and live off the land? (Homer: gardening, move)

[blueflames50]

Originally Posted by richelles

It sounds as if some people must talk to them self quite a lot which standing alone isn't so bad. However when those people get into an argument with them self there is always the possibility they might lose that argument. And can you imagine what kind of therapy some one who talks to them self, argues with them self, and loses those arguments would need? So is there any chance they could be told they need self therapy? What if then they didn't get along with their new therapist? And then if they were out in bush Alaska living off the land and were confronted with such a problem how would they bill Medicare? (Just asking)

well now.....hopefully two of the three of the persons self make up are arguing and the third person of self... balances the reasoning....if all are in disagreement ...look out!! hahaha Me,Myself,I...fight! ahahhaa

[bortstc37]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Pretty much what Glitch said about "living off the land" and he touched on a point that most people don't even consider. If you want to be as self sufficient as possible in Alaska, you need to learn and practise wild harvesting tecniques. Personally I'd rather have a freezer full of bags of berries and beach greens than garden produce, though both are good. When I lived in Alaska year round, there was only so much time in the summer, and wild harvesting was a better investment in that time than working a garden.

I go to the grocery store a lot less and pay less for food in Alaska than I do here in the -48.

this is very true.
my wife and i picked about 20 gallons of berries this past summer/fall. you never have to buy fruit or jam!
if you know what greens are good, you can do the same for some vegetables, but wild greens do not store as well.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

this is very true.
my wife and i picked about 20 gallons of berries this past summer/fall. you never have to buy fruit or jam!
if you know what greens are good, you can do the same for some vegetables, but wild greens do not store as well.

That may be true, but you do have to buy the sugar, pectin, and canning wax or mason jars if you want to keep that fruit or make that jam. People who have no experience canning, smoking, or preserving food should not even consider attempting to "live off the land."

Leafy greens are always seasonal. I know of no way to preserve them so they would be edible months later. Although, I have had mixed success preserving fiddlehead ferns by blanching them for about 2 minutes in salted boiling water, then putting them in a zip lock bag and freezing them. However, there are lots of other vegetables that can be preserved, such as tubers, legumes, squash, corn, etc.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by Glitch

That may be true, but you do have to buy the sugar, pectin, and canning wax or mason jars if you want to keep that fruit or make that jam. People who have no experience canning, smoking, or preserving food should not even consider attempting to "live off the land."

Leafy greens are always seasonal. I know of no way to preserve them so they would be edible months later. Although, I have had mixed success preserving fiddlehead ferns by blanching them for about 2 minutes in salted boiling water, then putting them in a zip lock bag and freezing them. However, there are lots of other vegetables that can be preserved, such as tubers, legumes, squash, corn, etc.

You can make it without pectin. You could tap birch trees and boil the sap down until it's just sugar (yes I know, time, fuel and labor intensive and not particularly practical, but doable just the same). Of course that still leaves needing jars...

Potatoes have got to be the most practical of vegetables for Northern areas. The right varieties store all winter in a root cellar and they grow just fine in short, cool summers. A person could live off potatoes a long time if needed.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

You can make it without pectin. You could tap birch trees and boil the sap down until it's just sugar (yes I know, time, fuel and labor intensive and not particularly practical, but doable just the same). Of course that still leaves needing jars...

That is outside of my skillset.

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

Potatoes have got to be the most practical of vegetables for Northern areas. The right varieties store all winter in a root cellar and they grow just fine in short, cool summers.

I agree, potatoes are very handy. They are easy to grow, easy to store, and if you are feeling REALLY energetic (if you are making your own sugar from birch sap, then this is definitely for you), you can make your own flour.

Some of the local potatoes grown in the Palmer and Mat-Su Valley areas can be real monsters. Two to three pound Alaskan Russet potatoes are not uncommon.

[gobrien]

Originally Posted by Glitch

That may be true, but you do have to buy the sugar, pectin, and canning wax or mason jars if you want to keep that fruit or make that jam. People who have no experience canning, smoking, or preserving food should not even consider attempting to "live off the land."

Leafy greens are always seasonal. I know of no way to preserve them so they would be edible months later. Although, I have had mixed success preserving fiddlehead ferns by blanching them for about 2 minutes in salted boiling water, then putting them in a zip lock bag and freezing them. However, there are lots of other vegetables that can be preserved, such as tubers, legumes, squash, corn, etc.

My dad always blanched and froze the spinich, kale and swiss chard from the garden, but of course that would not work for salad greens.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by Glitch

That is outside of my skillset.



I agree, potatoes are very handy. They are easy to grow, easy to store, and if you are feeling REALLY energetic (if you are making your own sugar from birch sap, then this is definitely for you), you can make your own flour.

Some of the local potatoes grown in the Palmer and Mat-Su Valley areas can be real monsters. Two to three pound Alaskan Russet potatoes are not uncommon.

Those are monsters. I figure I did good when I get 1 pound taters.

One of the few benefits of my current location are the maples for sugar...it only takes roughly 40 gallons of sap versus somewhere around 100 of birch to get to syrup, more when you make sugar out of it...

[bortstc37]

i've grown some pretty decent potatoes out here on the seward peninsula. and i agree about their usefulness!

as for sugar, beets are a pretty reliable source, and they can grow well in alaska. one of my neighbors makes birch syrup from time to time (not a whole lot of birch trees around, though). too labor intensive for me, i think. and you can use bunchberries in place of pectin, or just use a larger proportion of underripe berries. if sugar and pectin weren't readily available, i personally wouldn't bother with all of that just to have some jam- i'd just freeze a bunch more berries. it's also kind of handy that nobody picks crowberries or lowbush cranberries until after the first frost anyway...

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by gobrien

My dad always blanched and froze the spinich, kale and swiss chard from the garden, but of course that would not work for salad greens.

Exactly. Blanche, vacuum seal, and freeze. I have a bunch of beach greens that I did this way that are still good. Having a flash freezer helps. You can also pickle them.

As for berries, I don't can them at all. Vacuum seal and freeze.

[GrammasCabin]

Goose tongue and beach asparagus can up beautifully, keep their crunch even!
But everything can be blanched and froze or dehydrated. I dehydrate all the new edible greens, nettles, berry leaves, rose hips & roots & mix it all up for my wintertime back-of-the-woodstove pot of tea. Everybody loves it & always want to know what kind of tea I buy.
Whether it's a cold, the flu, a cut or burn, any minor ailment - there's no need for the drugstore. I just grab a bottle of the appropriate tincture or cream I put up when the medicine plants are ready.

As for berries, I make that a full time job month of August. As we speak there are 15 gallon baggies stuffed in the freezer, I canned 75 quarts of juice juice for drinking and so far there's 20 gallons of blueberry wine to get through the year. One daughter's got 8 teenagers, the other one 4. They both got 3 cases of gramma's jam and a bottle of wine for Christmas. I picked 10 five-gallon buckets of blueberries last summer. 2 grandkids sold $600 worth of blueberries at $20 a gallon. Yes, it's a full time job from spring thaw 'til freez-up and more work than you can imagine. But SO WORTH IT!