Tag: locavore

Growing, Gathering, Hunting, and Fishing for Your Food is Part of the Challenge—Eating it is the Other

 

One of the things I’ve long been curious about is how much food Alaskans grow, hunt, fish and gather and why they do it. This fall, I interviewed Jeff Yacevich, 38, who along with his wife, Laura Guiterrez, 40, is committed to getting much of his food from the land. They live in a cabin tucked away in a somewhat swampy spruce forest on permafrost in Goldstream Valley.

Jeff in red sweatshirt next to fenced garden full of brassicas

They estimate that each year they put up about 20 gallons of blueberries, 10 gallons of cranberries, and a couple of gallons of cloudberries, if they can find them. They aim to hunt for most of their meat, although in recent years they have purchased half a pig for bacon. They also fish for salmon and about 20 pike each year. 

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Want to Grow More Food? First, Make a Plan!

 

There are so many reasons to grow more of your own food. It’s healthy, it can improve your food security, and it it can be highly rewarding. If you’re hoping to ramp up your production to make a bona fide contribution to your diet, first make a plan.

Containers of Raspberries, strawberries, saskatoons, currants and rhubarb harvested in late summer.

I created a completely customizable Google Sheet to help you do this. Based on the size of your family and preferences for various vegetables and berries, the sheet will help you calculate how much row and square footage you’ll need to grow enough food to reach your desired goals. You’ll have to make a copy of the sheet or download the sheet to enter your numbers and you will need a google account. Continue reading

One Family’s Extraordinary Commitment to Grow, Gather, Hunt, and Fish for most of their Food in Interior Alaska and to Help Others do the Same

 

When some Alaskans retire, they head south for warmer, easier, sunnier lives. They take their stories and their adventures of Alaska life and that’s enough. But Terry and Paul Reichardt are different. They’ve ramped up what they’ve done for decades – wresting nearly all of their food from the Alaska landscape.

While it’s not unusual for Alaskans to hunt, gather, fish and grow their own food, it is unusual for a family to obtain most of their food this way, especially while working demanding jobs. Paul Reichardt was a chemistry professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks starting in 1972 and the provost from 1998-2007, and Terry Reichardt founded and ran Love In The Name of Christ for 16 years.

Terry Riechardt poses with two baskets of vegetables from her garden.

Terry Riechardt and the bounty from her garden. Photo courtesy of Terry Reichardt

When the Reichardts settled in the hills above Goldstream Valley in 1973, they grew their own food, in part, to save money. And because it was something Terry had always done. Their garden adapted to the needs and demands of a growing family. Less time meant more weeds, but three kids meant a lot of extra helping hands. Continue reading