Culture Camp- Part 1

William and TG at the Alaska Native Heritage Center

This is going to be a few posts because I took a LOT of photos.

Last month, my children and I had a chance to go to a culture camp. If you're not indigenous, culture camps are a way to learn about our heritage from Elders and people who live a traditional life. This one was a mixed culture camp, centering on Traditional Foods for the various indigenous people from Alaska. We were really excited about it.

It took place at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. This is definitely a place you should visit if you're ever in Anchorage. They have a village area set up in the back of the museum with the various building structures used by the tribes up here. The grounds grow a lot of plants that are used traditionally for food and medicines. It's educational and interesting and they focus on creating opportunities for Native peoples. There are young interns who do presentations, and there is dancing and indigenous artists selling beautiful things.

My family is Tanana Athabaskan. We come from the interior, even though my children and I have lived in Anchorage our whole lives. If you have younger children, you may be watching Molly of Denali with them. Molly is Athabaskan too.

The first day of camp, a whole bunch of us were processing salmon for canning. So we went straight to work. TG, William and I were in the classroom a little early, so we helped the teacher set up.

Salmon is preserved in a lot of ways, and canning is a modern one and important. We learned how to pack salmon into jars, why our teacher preferred jars to cans and we cut and packed up a lot of salmon.

TG processing salmon

At the end of the day, I asked TG and William if they had fun. They had worked, listened to a presentation on safe canning methods, and we walked around the museum some. I also got myself a pair of baleen hair sticks from one of the artists on side.

They both agreed it was a whole lot of fun. 

The qaspeq that TG is wearing is one that belonged to her grandmother. It's about 50 years old. You can get my free qaspeq coloing page here-Qaspeq/Kuspuk Coloring Page. 

A couple days later, we got to work on canning the fish. 

The salmon was packed into the jars raw. You can see what it looks like before and after canning in this photo. Canning it cooks it, and the bones soften so much that they can be eaten. A good source calcium!!  Canning can also be used to preserve other meats using a pressure canner. Our local extension service has instructions for canning walrus!! Becky told us how she made her canned moose stew. 

We also had a class on safety procedures. That was good. TG won a water bottle in that class and she was really happy. 

I missed a class on plants because I had an appointment. TG and William took extensive notes and enjoyed the class a lot. They both came home with jars of yarrow salve from that class. 

The plant class I did take, taught by Meda DeWitt was about nettles. We went out and picked some nettles, and stripped them. We learned about how to use the seeds to make a tincture, how to use the leaves for tea and food, and then made a simple hand-spun twine using the fiber. 

Then we got a presentation from Chef Sean Sherman. That was fantastic. If you don't know who Chef Sherman is- he is a James W. Beard award winning chef with a passion and vision for indigenous foods. He is also known as the Sioux Chef. 

I went totally fangirl when I found out he was going to be here! A couple friends of mine from Minnesota who had been to some of his presentations told me how much I was going to enjoy it. 

An Elder gifted him with some muktuk (whale fat and skin) that he shared. It was the first time that my children had tried muktuk. It was not the last time that week they had muktuk. They both loved it. Chef Sherman said it tasted like the sea. 

Chef Sean Sherman sharing muktuk. 

His vision is wonderful. It's about creating new recipes and learning the old recipes. Finding how which foods have been traditionally harvested in various regions, wild foods, foraged foods. He wants to empower indigenous people to set up businesses both for supply and finished products such as restaurants. It is an exciting vision and you can find out more at The Sioux Chef and NATIFS.

If you're interested in Chef Sean Sherman's book, you can buy it using the link below. Amazon affiliate links won't affect your price, and the small commission they pay helps fund this page.

SEED Lab- Repairing a very special box that was damaged in the earthquake

Anchorage Museum won a competition for a Public Art Challenge from Bloomberg Philanthropies. 5 cities got 1 million dollars each for the challenge. Ours is the SEED Lab.

"SEED Lab, a center to bring artists, designers, engineers and community members together to propose solutions to climate change and related challenges." 

Today, as part of their opening ceremonies, they had a community workshop for repairing things. There was a lot going on. Screen printing, rubber boot repair, repairing poetry,  and the thing that caught my eye- repairing pottery.

In the earthquake, one of my mom's favorite boxes got it's lid broken. I saved the pieces, unsure what to do with them.

I was so happy to be repairing the piece that I didn't get the name of the woman who helped me. Whoops. Bad blogger!

But!! Also good blogger, because I'm going to explain how it was repaired!

This is what was there. They had a few pieces from thrift stores for people to break and learn how to repair using a method inspired by kintsugi- the Japanese art of repairing with gold.

This is the lid to my mom's box. 5 pieces, all there! Isn't that pretty and happy?

If you're going to try this- you'll need:

• 5 minute epoxy- double syringe type (available in any hardware department) 
• Mica or Pearl Ex Powder Pigments (affiliate link - like these Jacquard Pearl Ex Powder Pigments 32 color set ) 
• something to mix the epoxy on- scrap of cardboard, disposable plate, etc
• craft sticks
• soft brush
• deep bowl or pan with uncooked rice to hold pieces
• rubbing alcohol
• cotton swabs
• craft knife

Now the disadvantage to this method is it's decorative only. Don't use it for anything that comes in contact with food. If you're using it for a fruit or candy bowl- line the bowl or use only wrapped candies. 

Advantage- it will work with glass, color availability and it's very affordable and easy. You can also practice with thrifted pieces. 

Figure out which edges you're going to put together first. Clean them with the alcohol and cotton swab to make sure no skin oils or dirt are on them. 

Put a small amount of the epoxy on your mixing surface- about the size of a nickle. You'll only do a little bit at a time because of the short open working time of the epoxy when mixed.Mix in a very small amount of the pearl powder or mica- about 1/8th of a teaspoon. 

Use the craft stick to spread a small amount on both edges you're connecting. Then line them up and press them together. A bit of the epoxy will ooze out. it's supposed to. Hold until they are tacky enough to hold together, put them into the rice to hold it. Make sure your glued seam isn't in the rice! 

After a few minutes, about 3 or 4 on a warm day or about 6 on a cold day like today, use the brush to sweep some of the powder over the oozed seam of epoxy. Let it set a few more minutes.

In a couple hours, use the craft knife to clean up any blobs. I had to cut off a few blobs on the bottom so the lid would fit properly on the box. 

Now with this piece, I did 2 sections of 2 pieces each. Also while I was working on it, we got a visitor to the table who was watching and asking questions! I told him the  history of the piece. That my mom had brought it with her when she came up to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer. It's Anchorage's Mayor Ethan Berkowitz!! (see my lid in the rice behind him?) 

The job I did wasn't perfectly neat, but it was, for me, perfectly right. When I showed it to William and TG (who were at a comic book convention and that's another post)- they were both very happy. They both said they want me to teach them this method to repair things. I'm glad they are happy with how it turned out. It's their history too. 

They were also upcycling shirts with fantastic silkscreens by local artists. I had one put on the back of the jacket I was wearing that says "Seeding Change" (I'll get a photo later) and did this shirt that I know TG is going to "borrow" at some point with a gorgeous salmon print. 

It was a very fun day. 

Glacier Day Cruise- lots of photos

One thing about living in Alaska is that there is literally a new gorgeous photo opportunity around every corner. I live in a postcard, surrounded by mountains and National Parks. When you get out of Anchorage, that's even more true. My husband and I took a short vacation to Seward to take one of the last day cruises of the year with Major Marine Tours.

There are some things that I didn't take photos of- like I saw a couple puffins in the water and just wanted to enjoy that moment, same with the Dall's porpoises playing by the boat.

Major Marine Tours has a partnership with the National Park Service, so we had someone from there who was very knowledgeable about Chugach National Park, the history, the animals and the trees in the area. That was wonderful and if you are ever in Alaska, I can't recommend this experience enough- it's educational and beautiful. You get to see places that don't have power lines, cell towers or buildings for as far as the eye can see, it's just Alaska. Built by nature in all it's beauty.

I took 300 pictures. Narrowing it down to just a few was hard, but I hope you'll enjoy them.

We started driving down the highway at 6:00 to Seward, which means we got to watch the dawn coming over the mountains.

 The whole highway is a scenic bypass. You will drive by mountains, through valleys, and by large lakes. It's a gorgeous drive.

I took this photo through the windshield because the fog tracing across the road was so neat looking. There was virtually no traffic.

This is the small boat harbor in Seward, Alaska

And this is the catamaran that was used on our cruise. In the middle of tourist season, they use larger boats, but this was perfect for the number of passengers. The name of the boat is the Melissa Ann.

While we were in the harbor waiting to leave, we watched an otter. It was the first sea mammal we saw.

The next couple of photos are examples of the type of scenery there is- I took a lot of photos of scenery and narrowing it down was hard.

Then we saw Steller sea lions and heard them "roar".

So many glaciers. It was hard to choose photos of those because there were a lot. 

Check out that glacier blue! 

Mountain goat climbing and eating on a rock face. 

My husband took this photo of harbor seals and I like it better than my own photos. He caught them all looking at his camera! Click to enlarge. It's worth it.

More of that "I live in a postcard" scenery. 

It's impossible to get any more Alaskan than a bald eagle flying over a glacier. 

Seagulls. Because my best friend loves seagulls and I need to get a picture of them for her. 

Like I said, I took hundreds of photos, and it was hard choosing the ones to post. But here's an extra from our drive back into Anchorage. 

Catching Up with June

June gets to be really busy really fast. With festivals and fairs, and with things growing in the garden and other stuff that needs to be done. The photo above is from Pride Fest 2014. The woman to The Amazing Turnip Girl's left is Daphne DoAll LaChores- a short film about her was nominated for an Emmy in the Cultural category, and you can see that here. If you've never been to your local Pride Fest- it can be a whole lot of fun. It's been a family event for us since TG was very little, and it's something she looks forward to every year. The last couple of years, instead of having a parade, there is an Equality March, and TG dressed up like the Doctor and painted that sign to carry.

More Amazing Turnip Girl! This time at our local ren faire. The first day, even though she didn't know it, was a PIRATE theme. She had decided on her costume without knowledge of that, and closet cosplayed Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time. For people as seriously non-cosplay as I am- closet cosplay is when you put together a costume using what you have on hand, and what's in your closet rather than going all out for an exact replica. The hook is made from a plastic cup, a "gigantic twist tie" (I didn't see it, that's what she told me), layers and layers of the ends of various rolls of Duck tape, and spray painted. 

The newest of my swatch dolls. Recently Spoonflower let people who ordered one of their knit fabrics try a swatch of their performance pique. I really love this stuff for swatch dolls, it prints gorgeously, and it's very soft feeling. A little trickier to sew, but worth the extra care. You can get this swatch here.

Today was dandelions- but what we did was gather seeds.

Just wrapped our fingers around the puff balls, pull, dump the little seeds and fluff into a gallon zip bag. Then after we had denuded a lot of dandelions of fluff and gotten some very odd looks from the neighbors- I brought the bag inside, closed it tight, and just started playing with it. Rolling it in my fingers, rubbing it, and shaking it. After a bit I wound up with about a 1/4 cup of seed defluffed. So now we are going to try sprouting the seeds. Also, somehow I wound up covered in dandelion fluff.

OH!!! and the BIG news!!!

Look look!!! Pre-orders are available now on Amazon, and the books are coming out in November and December.

Affiliate links help pay for this site, and seeing these ordered would also be personal exciting. Really.

So how is your month going?

Mountains- Photo post

 

The photo above is my son, right after he said "I'm glad I live in Anchorage, Alaska." Because sometimes we say things that are obvious. We are very glad to live here!

Yesterday, we went to Flattop. If you're ever in Anchorage, Flattop is worth the trip. Even if you don't hike. If you do hike, the bottom part of the trail is fairly easy. The top part of the trail isn't as well groomed and can be icy even in June but the main part of the trail is hiked by parents with small children and people walking dogs regularly.. If you don't hike, bring a picnic lunch and enjoy some of the most gorgeous views in the Anchorage area. It's a 5 dollar parking fee, and you drive past the zoo on O'Malley, and keep driving until you start seeing signs pointing you towards Glen Alps/Flattop, then just follow the signs.

After you park, you'll see outhouses, a ranger station and a set of stairs. The stairs take you to the trailhead. Because of the grade, I wasn't able to do it yesterday, my knees were hurting a little too much from gardening. But the Turnip Girl and William enjoyed climbing up on a gorgeous day to a place there was still snow on the ground.
Click the images for larger views!
For me? Well, opposite the stairs, there is a shorter path that's a very easy grade and marked with a log fence. You walk up that path, and there is a spot with a bench. If no one else is sitting there, you can have your picnic there, looking over the whole city. Which was very, very hazy because of cottonwood trees and dust yesterday. Keep walking that path, and you find a big compass rose.

Around the compass rose are wood strips at irregular intervals.

Follow the strips and you find names of mountains, the distance to them, and their elevation. So working around the side that wasn't affected by the haze over Anchorage there was Wolverine Peak. 

O'Malley Peak

The Wedge

Ptarmigan Peak (Ptarmigan is our state bird!)

And Flattop!

And come fall, this is one of the best places to go blueberry picking. Yum!!

I hope you enjoyed this photo post. It was a really lovely outing with my family.