33 years ago, we made our first batch of birch syrup in a small wood-fired pan on the front porch at our Kahiltna River homestead. Though it was strong and dark – and probably slightly burnt – we decided it was unusual and good. We got better at it and grew to love it. Feeling…
Not to confuse the issue, we are trying to eliminate confusion on our runs of pure birch syrup. So, instead of “Reserve, FIRST run, Mid run, Late run” we are changing it to “Reserve, EARLY run, Mid run, and Late run.” Linguistically speaking it makes more sense, early run being the early part of the…
This October we are featuring our favorite of Alaska’s wild fruits, the cranberry. Cranberries in Alaska are plentiful and varied – and so are their names! It can be downright confusing but, from our point of view, we have three distinct wild cranberry fruits in Alaska. Lowbush cranberries, or lingonberries, are often plentiful in our…
LAST WEEKEND in Talkeetna, Friday-Sunday 10-6. Grab a jar of our fall specialty very limited edition- old fashioned birch apple butter, made on Sunday from the apples and crabapples at our “roadhouse”. And of course a good dose of birch syrup to sweeten. Get it while you can and enjoy the last of the ice…
In many ways this summer is an extraordinary one and I find myself trying to breathe through it, and my mask. We have somehow made it through July. While our usual steady stream of tourists slowed to barely a trickle, masked Alaskans are showing their support of small businesses and are filling our porch, enjoying…
In Alaska the snow is finally melting, and the sap has started to run in the birches. If you are in a northern clime, get out of the house and tap a few birch trees! Drink that sap! It’s the perfect spring tonic – full of electrolytes, minerals, and micro-nutrients. This is a rewarding activity…
Even though it’s snowing hard outside, somehow spring is in the air and we are starting to prepare for our 30th year tapping the birches. Sap harvest arrives every year along with the mud and mess of Alaska’s spring breakup. Enjoy this take on “breakup” in Alaska, and what it means to birch sap harvesters.…
Salmonberries From Birch to Berries – Summer 2018 comes to a close It’s August and our short Alaska summer is flying by! We have had a warm and sunny summer in Talkeetna, but the August rains have settled in the past few days. The gardens are thriving, the berry season is coming on and our…
Harvest 2018 has come to an end. We collected 123,000 gallons of sap and made 1,100 gallons of syrup in 22 days. It was a wet, cool season with abundant snow on the ground. This makes for a very high quality sap and syrup. Our crew is out in the woods pulling 11,000 taps and…
Our spring tree tapping will soon be underway–we have 10,500 trees to tap. We expect the sap to start flowing any day! Our crew has been out in the woods since early March preparing for the upcoming harvest. There is more daylight every day, and the nighttime temperatures are slowly creeping up. Most of the…