 Kahiltna
Birchworks is
a
family
run
Alaskan
business
-
a
true
cottage
industry
and
Alaska's
largest
producer
of
pure Alaska
birch
syrup.
Alaska birch syrup is one of the rarest gourmet food products in the world, and one of the most difficult to produce. (see About Birch Syrup). Dulce Ben-East, Michael East, and partner, Sally Freund have operated the Alaskan "sugarbush", producing pure birch syrup, at the East Homestead - 35 miles off the Alaska road system at Quiet Lake - since 1990. The following video was filmed and produced at our homestead in spring of 2007 by Tom Pi - one of our very talented "sap suckers". Take time to enjoy it! Dulce and Michael have aptly named their birch syrup "Kahiltna Gold". "Kahiltna" is an Athabascan word meaning "from the source". The Source refers to Denali,also an Athabascan word, meaning "the great one". The birch trees from which we draw sap for our birch syrup obtain their water from this source. This source, so far from human habitation, is pure and clean - as is the air, making Kahiltna Gold pure birch syrup free of pesticides, herbicides, and other pollutants. As of our 2008 harvest, our pure birch syrup and our birch breakfast syrup are certified organic. Access to the our homestead is by float or ski plane, depending on the season or, in winter, overland 32 miles by snowmachine - through vast forests of birch and spruce and across frozen swamps, lakes, and rivers. We haul all our supplies, equipment, materials, food, fuel and helpers for the birch syrup harvest to the homestead by one of these methods.
 Kahiltna
Birchworks has grown over its
20-year existence. While originally
tapping 200 trees, to produce our first "crop" of birch syrup in 1990, we tapped 4300 trees this spring. Read about This Year's Harvest and Dulce's Blog The Easts follow the birch syrup best practices and production standards of the Alaska Birch Syrupmakers' Association, founded in 1993. Dulce has been president of ABSA for the past three years, and Michael is the current president. Dulce writes: "Determined to maintain our Alaskan lifestyle, we challenge ourselves to make a living by using the abundant resources at hand - birch trees - in a sustainable manner. Though we now spend a good portion of the year at our Palmer, Alaska kitchen and "roadhouse" as we like to call it, we escape to our homestead whenever possible, and spend the spring harvest among our birch trees. Due to the wonders of our solar panels and communications technology we have fixed-wireless phone service and a trusty fax machine. Some time soon we'll get satellite for internet, so we can spend more time at the home we love.
I think many of our problems and frustrations as human beings result from our artificial separation from Nature in modern life. Though our life is at times more difficult than it would be if we were connected to Alaska's road system, the inconveniences are more than compensated when we return to the woods in winter after our time in town. We are awed at the depth of the silence, the milkyway in all its splendor, the shimmering aurora, and the light of the full moon across the snow. Though we sometimes have cause to wonder, this is the time that our hard work pays off and we know it is worth it. email
us at admin@alaskabirchsyrup.com or Link to our story from NPR Radio: All Things Considered - Alaska Sap Suckers 
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Quiet Lake, where we live part-time and have produced our birch syrup for 20 years, is a
small lake nestled in the center
of Alaska’s
Susitna Valley, the vast river
valley extending south of the
Alaska Range. It lies just a half
mile from the Kahiltna River that
flows from the Kahiltna Glacier,
40 miles to the north, on the
south flank of Denali. Denali,
commonly referred to as Mt. Mckinley,
is North America's highest peak.
Many climbers begin and end their
ascent of Denali at base camp
on the Kahiltna glacier. The Kahiltna
River is traditionally a gold
mining area; gold miners have
staked claims along this river
for decades hoping to make their
fortune. Our birch syrup is our "Kahiltna Gold".
"Both
our lifestyle and our business
depend greatly on Nature - a force
much greater than ourselves. Weather
determines the length and general
success of our syrup season, our
access to our home, method and
expense of hauling necessary supplies,
our ability to get to the post
office or to town when necessary.
Because of this, we are very much
in tune with the natural rhythms
of the seasons and keep a detailed
log of events such as freeze-up,
ice thickness on the lake, first
snow, "break-up" (the
spring thaw when the lake is no
longer land-able and the rivers
no longer cross-able), first sap
in the birches, and appearance
of the leaves, signaling the end
of the sap harvest. "So,
we have a great respect for and
deference to Nature, and often
must bend to her will. Though
this sometimes causes a feeling
of powerlessness, it is at the
same time spiritually empowering
to feel the strength of Nature
so intensely, and in feeling fully
connected to it, so very much
a part of that rhythm. | ||
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$49.00 | ||
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