Winter Preps to Raise Food in Alaska + Recipe - Bubbles and Squeak

(My book, Log Cabin Reflections, is available on Amazon.  Each chapter includes pictures of our off-grid, off-road life in remote Alaska.)

Buddy preparing to haul

We live in USDA Zone 3b, which means that not only is our growing season short, but also winter temperatures can plummet to -35 F.  Still, we do have a number of hardy perennials plants (like berries, rhubarb, and horseradish) but obviously fewer perennials than warmer climates enjoy.

To maximize food growth in summer, I start almost all annual (and desired perennial) plants in the winter, some outside, and some in.

Winter sowing:  This practice is so easy and low maintenance that it almost does not sound feasible, but it does indeed results in healthy plants.  It works best for seeds that need cold stratification (a period of several cold weeks before warming up) and for those that like to sprout in cool spring weather.  To winter sow, I save plastic vinegar and distilled water jugs, slice them around the middle except for a hinge near the handle, fill with about 4 inches of soil, water it with a soil nutrient/root stimulater, sow the seeds and then leave the jugs outside, tied to a banister post so they will not blow away in a heavy wind.  In the spring, when the air warms up, I water the soil lightly and the seeds sprout!  

This method works beautifully for cabbage, onions, garlic, and spinach.  For flowers, it has worked well for valerian, delphinium, lupines.  For some reason, I did not have success with poppies or yarrow.

An alternative that can be done in warm weather, is to store damp seeds in a baggy in the refrigerator for several weeks.  I have done this, too, but the sprouts were so delicate that they did not transplant well for me. 

 

Testing germination:  Seeds age out.  If stored in a cool, dry, dark location, most can be expected to last for 3 years, but beyond that is a gift not to be presumed.  People living in humid and hot environments may find that their seeds age out faster than mine.

Cabin on a sunny winter morning

Last winter, I was determined to get rid of dead seeds, so as not expect that a packet was viable.  I separated and test germinated the oldest packages (2016 - 2019).  To do so, I dampened a paper napkin cut in half, rolled ten seeds into it and inserted this bolus shaped napkin in a small baggy which I labelled with seed name and the average range of germination timing.  Ten seeds makes it easy to extrapolate to the percentage of viable seeds in the packet.  All six varieties of peppers were dead as were the cucumbers and onions.  Beans rotted in the damp.  Some of the seeds of two varieties of rhubarb germinated, as did corn, beets, radishes, one of the tomato packages and one of the tomatillo packages, and to my surprise, watermelon.  I gave all the dead seeds to the chickens as a winter snack. 

From now on, I will do this every winter, to ensure that I have seeds on hand that will produce a good crop.  Those that are dead I can reorder in time for a snowmachine delivery for March-April starts indoors.    

Germinating in a cold oven: I set almost all of my little seed pots in a cold gas oven.  The pilot light keeps the interior a more consistent, toasty temperature than my wood heated home offers, in the mid '70s, which is a germination temperature enjoyed by most seeds.  In side by side comparisons, the seeds that start in the oven sprout several days ahead of their comrades outside the oven. This location is also good for seeds that require darkness to sprout, like cilantro.

Mini-greenhouse:  In a corner of my cabin, I have a 4 shelf mini-greenhouse (6ft h x 3ft w x 2ft d) covered with a plastic sheath with two zippers on the front.  Each shelf has two grow lights.  This environment stays warmer and more humid than the southern windows, where I used to start seeds.  I always sow slow germinating plants, like oregano, in February, as well as fast growing greens that we can enjoy as small, fresh salads or sandwich toppings by early March.  As with the winter sowing, I always add a root stimulator to the soil or water.  One caution is that the plastic can make the environment humid enough to encourage the growth of gray, fluffy mold on the surface of the soil.  To mitigate that, I roll the plastic front “door” up over the top of the structure during daylight hours and close it up at night. 

Challenges:

1.    This year, I dug up the annual herbs before the gardens froze and brought them inside, hoping that they would overwinter in the mini-greenhouse.  However, I found that even with the grow lights on for about 8 hours they did not thrive.  They prefer 12+ hours of light.  The result was not worth the effort, so I dried the remaining leaves, put the pots outside and will seed them again in February.

2.  A mistake that I often make is to start plants too early because I am so eager.  This results in leggy plants that are weak when transplanted outside.  One year, my potato plants lay sideways on the ground!

     Every gardener has his or her hacks and a history of hits and misses.  These are a few that work for me so that I can utilize the cold and lazy months of winter to get a head start on a fast and furious summer of food production.

 RRECIPE:  Bubbles and Squeak

Bubbles and Squeak – what an evocative name for left overs!  This side dish or entrée is mentioned in British texts as far back as the 1700s.  It is a tasty way to use up a combination of leftover mashed potatoes, vegetables, and bits of meat. (Note:  if you like this recipe, check out Irish Colcannon, which is similar, but adds milk.)          

Melt 6 oz butter in a large, flat pan.

Sautee ½ cup chopped or diced onion and garlic to taste, about 3 minutes.

Add 2 cups of mashed potatoes.  Thoroughly saturate with the melted butter.

Add 1 cup chopped, raw, green vegetables and mix in well with the potato.  Cabbage is traditional, but any leafy green or diced broccoli will work nicely.  Mix in any cooked, chopped meat, if desired, like ham or sausage.

At this point, decide whether you want the final product to be loose or individual patties.

If the former, warm through and serve, as a hash.

If the latter, shape the food into patties and chill for an hour or more, then fry in additional oil, pressing down on the patties to crisp up the cooking surface, and then flip, press, cook, and then serve. 

Bubbles and Squeak is tasty either way.  The only difference is texture and presentation.

Radical Life Change- From Southern City to Rural Alaska

My book, Log Cabin Reflections, is available on Amazon.  Each chapter includes pictures of our off-grid, off-road life in remote Alaska.

 

About 15 years ago, my husband and I embarked on a radical shift in our lifestyle.

Our first of two fine outhouses

 

We moved from a high-rise urban condo in Houston, TX to a 2 room log cabin in Alaska… with an outhouse.

Because there are no roads where we live, we sold our Mercedes and Honda and bought snowmachines (called snowmobiles in the Lower 48) to travel 3.5 hours to the closest community, and a plane, with floats and skis, to fly there in 20 minutes.  However, twice a year, when the lake transitions from water to ice, we have no transportation at all.

Instead of weekly trips to the supermarket and restaurants, I raise and forage 65 foods.  We make most foods and cleaning supplies from scratch, such as dog treats, shampoo, home remedies, beer, wine and bread.

Since we live so remotely, we receive none of the municipal utilities or services that I took for granted in a city.  To heat our home and tub, we cut 10 cords of firewood each year.  For water, we were on a 3 year wait list to have a company dig a well , because they had to get enough customers on our side of 2 rivers to justify transporting their heavy and valuable equipment across frozen water and snowy landscapes by sled.   For our modest electricity needs, which top out at 2000 watts, my husband built a 120 foot tower for a 1 kw wind turbine and several solar panels that we supplement with 4 hours of a small generator on snowy or rainy days.  

How and why did we do this?

Freshly hand-cut spruce boards

In the early 2000’s,  we made the decision to live very intentionally.  We started to scrutinize all aspects of our lives.  How did we want to spend our time and money?  Which people did we really value?  What was the overhead of charities we supported?  I asked healthcare providers why I needed this or that test or procedure.  It was liberating to purge clothes we did not wear, books we would not read again, sports equipment gathering dust. We donated our TVs.  I got rid of many chemicals and small appliances and furniture.  

Through this process, it was obvious that we could live in a much smaller home, with no debt.  We could do without a lot of business networking, socializing, and THINGS. We saved time and money and space. 

 

When my husband got serious about moving to Alaska, I was quite intimidated.                                   

There was nothing in my background that prepared me for this rigorously, self-reliant lifestyle.  I was a mediocre Girl Scout.  I am still afraid of daddy long legs. 

So I climbed a STEEP learning curve to gain skills and knowledge.I created a curriculum of courses I needed to learn and, in person and on-line,  took courses in permaculture, master gardening, master naturalist, furniture building, herbalism, ethnobotany, wine and beer making, mushroom foraging, the chemistry of medicinal plants (that one was HARD! for me).   I sought out mentors on the many skills I lacked.     

 

Bad weather overhead, no flying

Emotionally, I was equally challenged.  I felt overwhelmed by doing everything ourselves, such as clearing space, with hand and gas powered tools, in virgin forest for a cabin, a garden, a shed, an outhouse.  At first, I was intimidated by the silence, in which self-recriminations bubbled up, without all the noise and entertainment of a city to keep them at bay.  

But over time, this intentionality changed me. As I gained competence and confidence, I developed a stronger sense of agency in my own life.  There is no one-upsmanship, or keeping up with Joneses or virtue signaling living like this.  I cut wood, tote water every day.  My routines have shifted.  I read the weather to determine when to plant or harvest or travel.  Instead of favorite neighbors, I have favorite trees that I look forward to seeing throughout the year as I walk the property, and favorite bushes that pop up out of our deep snow after a season hidden beneath. 

Living very simply and self-reliantly has granted me the gifts of personal humility and awe of the strengths and generosity of Nature and has taught me a thing or two about myself, as well.

 

 Find my book for $5 on Kindle here,  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZN1FZR9/ref=sr_1_1

How to Build an Outhouse

 Please find my most recent post here, about how to build an outhouse: https://survivalblog.com/2023/10/01/build-outhouse-mrs-alaska/ 

 

The following photos are of our two outhouses.  The one with the moon and moose paddle door handle is the new one.   The other one was built in about 2009. 

 

I am honored to have it featured on SurvivalBlog.com, which, every day, offers informative articles of interest to people who want to live intentionally, and self-reliantly.  It includes product reviews, recipes, historical anecdotes, snippets of news from the Redoubt states, and a huge variety of articles, including interesting interviews with people who have "bugged out" to rural locations and describe the strengths and weaknesses of their preparations (See "Owner Retreats" section).  If you are interested in the content of my blog, I recommend www.survivalblog.com to your attention. 

Find my book for $5 on Kindle here,  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZN1FZR9/ref=sr_1_1

Bountiful Berry Harvest in Alaska + Recipe for BBQ sauce with berries

Sadly, 2023 was “the summer that wasn’t.” The Land of the Midnight Sun was, instead, the Land of the Midnight Rain and Mid-day Rain.  One friend quipped that his location only had three rains - but one lasted 28 days!  In fact, local weather reporters said that this has been the coolest summer since 2008.  The temperature was not as much of a problem as all the rainy and overcast days. For us, I think the longest stretch of consecutive, sunny days was 4, and those were few and far between.  

 For someone who tries to raise a lot of our own food, this was a sad state of affairs. My vegetable gardens were pretty much useless.  Seeds, seedlings, and bulbs rotted in the ground, and those that grew were leggy and thin.  Cauliflower and broccoli never set heads.  Sunflowers never flowered.  Even the plants protected from rain in the greenhouse, were underwhelming. 

Fortunately, though, 6 different herbs did well on a covered porch, so I dried or infused them in cooking oils and we harvested GALLONS of berries which love this ecosystem in sun or rain.  Yea!

Our manual food mill

Our boreal forest has acidic soil, from the spruce trees.  So berry bushes are common under story plants.  Wild raspberry bushes grow in such dense stands that I have to cut them back with a weed whacking blade to create a path or to encourage anything else to grow in that area.  I love wild high bush cranberries, though, and nurture hundreds of those plants, pruning dead branches and suckers, culling weak ones to give healthy ones room to grow.  Some of the plants now tower above the “normal” height as slim trees.  Little blueberry bushes hug the lake shore.  We kayak to gather a handful at a time.  Even our dog likes to eat those berries right off the bushes.    

In addition to enjoying the wild berries, I have planted many others, such as haskaps, red, white, and black currants, raspberries, saskatoons, gooseberries, and strawberries. I enjoy their flowers, foliage, and of course, the tasty fruit, which range from sweetest (saskatoons and strawberries) to tartest (currants and cranberries).  All of them are chock full of vitamins and anti-oxidants.

By various preservation methods, we enjoy them throughout the year.  Those without big seeds are the easiest to use.  Some, I freeze whole, to pop into pancakes, pies, or muffins or snow ice cream in winter.  Others I store in vinegar.  Most I pressure can for shelf stable juice, jam, jelly, chutney, and other concoctions, like barbecue sauce (See recipe below).  

The first harvest of the year is haskaps from five bushes that line the south side of our cabin. 

About a gallon of currant juice

They range in size from 6x5x4 to 3x3x4 ft.  The fruits have a knobby, elongated shape, like one’s little finger, with dark blue-purple skin.  They taste like a cross between a blackberry and a concord grape.  After eating our fill straight from the bush, we harvested about 1 ½ gallons, mostly for a delicious jam.  I love it with corn pancakes. 

Domestic raspberries spread as prolifically as their wild brethren.  My original 15 canes now fill 4 rows, about 14 feet long, each, plus scattered other plots, plus all the canes I have given away to friends or yanked out of adjacent gardens that they invaded.  We harvested about 6 gallons and finally stopped because the rain battered the remaining fruit.  We use this bountiful harvest in various ways.  Bryan recently made a batch of beer with 5 lbs of raspberries.  I add some to a batch of pinot noir (that I make from a kit of concentrated pinot noir juice - Fontana brand, about $69 to make 6 gallons).  I make many jars of spicy barbeque sauce this time of year with one berry or another.  This year: raspberry. 

None of the currant recipes I find on line seem to bother about the many seeds, but the variety we planted has lots of them for the size of the berry, and since they are bigger than raspberry seeds, I do not like them in a final product.  High-bush cranberries, too, have a large, flat seed.  So both of these berries I process into juice, syrup, or jelly, netting 4:1 yield – that is 4 gallon of fruit yields 1 gallon of fruit. 

The procedure of separating the fruit from the seeds involves several steps, several counter tops, and makes a mess, so I prefer to harvest many gallons over several days, freeze them, and then set aside several hours to process the fruit, and then pressure can it.    

Red currant bushes

When I started out, I poured raw berries into the hopper but the act of grinding squirted juice all over the kitchen.  Since then, I heat the berries in a big pot first, to pop the skins.  Then I let the pot cool overnight.  The next morning, after breakfast,  I assemble the food mill and clamp it to the kitchen table, next to several rags and two big bowls.  In the sink, I place a cheese cloth lined colander over a large pot.  I ladle the juicy berries into the top hopper and start manually turning a metal arm that draws  the fruit down into the grinder.  The juice pours into one bowl, while a pulpy, seedy bolus is extruded out into a second bowl.    

Our food mill came with several grinders, each with different sized holes with helpful usage labels like “salsa”, “berries” and “apples.”  However, we found that the “berry” grinder cannot handle the seeds of the cranberries and currants.  They clog the mechanism to a full stop, which we then have to dismantle, clean, and reassemble.  A MESS.  So we use the “salsa” grinder which does not clog, but allows a lot of seeds to escape into the juice bowl.  Now what?  After I process the fruit, I pour the seedy juice through the large cheese cloth lined colander in the sink.  Then I squeeze out as much of the juice as I can into the pot.  When I have hens, I feed them the pulp and seeds.  When I don't, I dump them in a location where a future bush might be a pleasant addition. Major clean up of sink, table, floor, pots, bowls, and mechanisms ensue.   

When I have accumulated about 2 gallons of juice, it is time to pressure can it in order to make it shelf stable for future enjoyment or for gifts.  For my size canner, I sterilize 7 quarts or 14 cups of glass mason jars in hot water in the pressure canner while heating the juice on another burner.  I ladle hot juice into hot jars, screw the lid onto the canner, and process for about 15 minutes.  Easy.  If I want to make jam or jelly, I mix a 1:2 ratio of sugar to juice and bring to a gentle boil, cooking it down to thicken it.  With a candy thermometer, I endeavor to get the temperature to about 220 F.  If all goes well, the mixture will thicken into jam.  If not, I have fruit syrup.  What’s not to like?  I also enjoy drinking the sweetened juice hot or cold.

 When I was a single mom, I looked at those small, expensive plastic containers of berries with envy.  On occasions when I bought one or two, my boys and I devoured them in a minute.  I feel so fortunate now, to live in a setting where so many delectable berries grow so prolifically… even in such a cold and dreary summer, when little else did.

RECIPE:  SPICY BARBEQUE SAUCE WITH BERRIES

I make this is large batches.  The recipe below is for a small batch, in case you would like to try it out and tweak it for your tastebuds.

Beer: 1 cup

Vinegar: 1 cup

Molasses: 1 cup

Berries:  1 cup of mashed raspberries or 1 cup of currant or cranberry juice  (Blackberries would be good, too)

Tomato paste:  1 6 oz can

Chipotle in adobe sauce:  1 pepper, chopped, and a tablespoon or so of sauce

Add herbs and spices of choice.  I add coffee and cloves to “darken” the flavor, several cloves of garlic, and chili powder. 

Enjoy.

Find my book for $5 on Kindle here,  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZN1FZR9/ref=sr_1_1

Utilities Costs at a Remote, Off-Grid Home

 Please see my most recent post here, in which I calculate the cost of electricity, water, mail, and other utilities that we had to build for ourselves 40 miles from the nearest road in Alaska.  

I am honored to have it featured on SurvivalBlog.com, which, every day, offers informative articles of interest to people who want to live intentionally, and self-reliantly.  It includes product reviews, recipes, historical anecdotes, snippets of news from the Redoubt states, and a huge variety of articles, including interesting interviews with people who have "bugged out" to rural locations and describe the strengths and weaknesses of their preparations.  If you are interested in my blog, I heartily recommend www.survivalblog.com to your attention.

Find my book for $5 on Kindle here,  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZN1FZR9/ref=sr_1_1