Local Food Reality in a Temperate Rainforest

I think it's important to recognize that our food production is limited in some ways, but then steam ahead full-force anyway. Almonds and avocados don't make sense. Okay, that's fine. Apples and kale don't make sense in South America--so what! There are two ways to look at it depending on how extreme you want to be. One, you can buy what you can't produce and work really hard to produce and gather what is available here. Two, you can choose to opt out of the things you can't produce, i.e. instead of buying oranges eat berries. I prefer a mix of the two scenarios. While I pick and store enough berries, apples, and rhubarb to supply us with various forms of fruit year-round, I'll admit that I love bananas and I'm not ashamed! I also know that I can't grow wheat for my bread or rice for my...rice. I'm okay with supporting farmers who can produce those things. What I don't like is paying someone to grow, package, and ship something that I can grow myself. I'd love to see the day when the grocery stores do the Juneau Sprout thing. I want to see Juneau kale in every store. Juneau chard. Juneau lettuce. Juneau rhubarb......

I stumbled upon a squirrel cache this week and was completely enamored by it. There were hundreds of pine cones piled against a fallen tree and at one end was a pile of the spent peelings. It really struck me how vulnerable we have made ourselves by always counting on the grocery store to be there...or for it to have food...or that we'll have money to buy food...or a way to get to the store......There really are so many ways it could all shatter and we could starve. It makes sense to have a cache, even if you don't fear the world collapsing. Why give up the ability of a squirrel?

 For my stash I:

Freeze: blueberries, rhubarb, kale, chard. spinach, smoked salmon, and any of the various meats from our hunting forays. We only eat wild meat, so in the fall we really get out and hunt. We also raise rabbits, which we freeze and eat fresh.




Dry: Apples, blueberry leather, meat, fish.


Can: Meat, whole blueberries, various goulash jams, beets.

And bypass preserving by the Live and Fresh Method!

Many things keep in the garden until October, and some things go beyond.  Rosemary, chives, oregano, and garlic tops can go in indoor pots. Kale, onions, and carrots stay put in the hoop houses outside, ALIVE AND WELL at New Years and beyond...Chicken eggs and rabbit meat year-round.

And realize that this is just a start! I've only had my garden for three summers and I feel like I haven't put much effort into trying to grow extra for preservation--this season preservation is one of my missions!

So what food can Juneau produce?

Here's my list of successes. Many of my failures I don't consider final, so I won't call them un-doable here. I'm sure other people have grown and gathered many other things in addition to these, so set up your own experiment!

Wild for the Gathering:

Deer, Moose, goat, ptarmigan, grouse, ducks, geese, salmon, trout, cod, halibut, crab, shrimp, bull whip kelp


Blueberries, strawberries, salmon berries, crow berries, cloud berries, currents, cranberries, and crab apples

Dandelions, chickweed, chicken of the woods






Cultivated:

Arugula, mustard greens, spinach, lettuce of many varieties, swiss chard, kale, beet greens, thyme, tarragon, cilantro, oregano, rosemary, nasturtiums (to eat), carrots, peas, onions, chives, bunching onions, string beans, beets, radishes, garlic, broccoli, brusselsprouts, cabbage, gooseberries, and sunflower sprouts. Limited success but showing promise for cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, asparagus, raspberries, and strawberries. 

Eggs, rabbit meat, turkey meat.




Look at all that food! If you eat a lot of each of these things you really can whittle away at your shopping cart. I eat salad pretty much every day from June to October and feel satisfied for the year. Why bother buying California lettuce for several winter salads a week when I just ate fresh homegrown salad every day for 5 months?! The change of fare is welcome by that point.

It doesn't take much space to get yourself eating locally either. Try a hanging basket of nasturtiums--you can eat the leaves and flowers in salads, burritos, or in dressings and sauces. A window box of lettuce goes a LONG way. A pot of garlic adds mild garlic flavor to anything and everything--just snip the greens as you need them. Anyone can find a berry in Juneau. Carry a mug and fill yourself up whenever you're out. It's amazing how a little can go such a long way in pancakes or muffins. Take little steps and before you know it you'll be running like a toddler. It's really that easy once you give it a try!