How To Pickle Quail Eggs And Other Notes From Interior Alaska
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July/August 1972
By Melinda Le Fleur
Quail eggs aren't the only warm season goodies we have in Alaska. After a wicked winter which broke many retards for snowfall and cold weather, it's hard to believe the summer could be so hot and lush. We're enjoying the first harvest of fireweed honey, and it's lovely. The garden's about to burst forth . . . believe it or not, corn grows here! A special strain has been developed for Interior Alaska.
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Unfortunately, though, it's already time to get serious about the next long winter. We'll be butchering our pits this September (late fall comes early here), and hope to be able to write later about all the pork procedures. We're going to got into the whole thing. . . rendering lard, smoking meat, making headcheese and, possibly, tanning a pigskin. With two hogs, 100 fryers, three geese, the yearly moose (which dresses out at about 800 lbs.) and a dozen or so fresh salmon, our winter protein supply will be ample. Usually, we take advantage of the great terms on subsistence fishing licenses here and net salmon ourselves. This summer, however, we haven't been able to leave the animals long enough for a fishing trip . . . so we'll buy our salmon at an Indian fishwheel for $1 apiece.
We'll also buy 200 lbs. of spuds, which are very inexpensive if you buy seconds ("seconds" means they'll still have dirt clinging to them). Potatoes are a successful farming venture here and don't have to be imported. We hope to get into building a root cellar for storing the potatoes and our other foodstuffs.
Lastly, we're in the process of constructing a shelter for the animals. it'll be crude but warm, the exterior walls constructed of free slab wood from a nearby lumber mill. We'll use it to winter the birds and our dairy goat, who's going to kid in January.
Well, I've digressed considerably since the quail eggs. Got to go now, but hope to write again soon and share some ramblings about berries, mushrooms, jerky, winter clothing; the art of running a vehicle at - 50 degrees, how we treated our goat when she had a chewed up udder, and more of our experiences in the middle of Alaska.
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