2013 Locavore Lessons

Lesson #1: Living Local [In Sitka] is not possible without friends.  This is a part of the way God designed us to live in community and relying on friends, both old and new, played into my locavore journey substantially!

The twins and I spent one morning picking huckleberries at Totem Park which was really fun.  While we were there, our friends, Mallory & Nancy came along and they picked and hiked along with us for more than an hour, not keeping any of the harvest for themselves!  Nancy also pointed out some "chicken of the woods" growing on a tree that is pictured in the bottom right quadrant. 

At one point on the walk home I was just so hungry that the twins and I stopped and ate all of our berries right there!  They tasted soo good but I was sad that I didn't save ANY for the next day or to share with Cliff.  However, when we got home, my friend, Yvonne had left a huge 2 pint container of huckleberries on my porch that she had picked for me!

Also in this photo (above) is local water from the artisian well in the Nalgene bottles, homegrown mint from my friend, Nicki, as well as my homegrown rosemary, basil & sage.

Cliff and I do not hunt or fish, so if we are going to enjoy the bounty of Baranof Island, we are at the mercy of our friends to share their hard work with us.  Oh how thankful we are! Our freezer has never been without fish or venison in it. 

Thanks to Kent for the venison backstrap (wow!!), breakfast sausage & Roast!

Thanks to Bob & Miles for the Coho that I stir fried with broccoli, snap peas, beets.

My new friend, Ellen, grilled the king salmon (pictured above, bottom left) piled high with vegetables and herbs especially for Jasmine, Kari and I when we gathered one night for our locavore dinner!

Kari prepared baked beets (wrapped simply in aluminum foil and baked at 350 for 45-60 minutes) that were phenomenal!  We have since enjoyed them at home in place of a baked potato.

Our friends, Jim & Lesa opened their chicken coop to me, allowing me to stop by everyday and check for eggs, which was exciting and delicious! (And a little scary, I have to admit!) I hope we get chickens someday!

Look at the difference between this store bought egg with the lighter yolk (right) and the homegrown eggs from Jim & Lesa (left) with the deep yellow yolk. Fascinating!

The #1 ingredient I missed in my diet during my locavore challenge was fat.  Olive oil, coconut oil and butter were welcome additions back into my diet when my challenge ended. Crystal Light lemonade was a close second, I love crystal light!

Lori Adams, a friend of mine that runs Down To Earth, an amazing, local u-pick garden provided me with a ton of great vegetables that our whole family enjoyed all week.  This was a huge part of my lunch & daytime snacks as was the smoked salmon from our friend, Chuck.

Turnips, kohlrabi (a first for me!), celery, beets, onions, carrots, one tiny, spiny cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, fennel & rainbow chard were among the vegetables our family ate.  It took me forever to wash and chop all the veggies and I realized how spoiled I am buying pre-washed veggies at the store!

Smoked salmon & beach asparagus!

Another lesson learned was where to access local foods in Sitka.  There were several sources I knew about in general but to actually utilize the sources has made it much more likely for me to use again!