One of my big goals for this year was for Cody and I to source more of our own food. While I did manage to put away some fireweed jelly for winter, I’ve been slacking on some of my normal activities because I’ve just been so busy. Thankfully, my husband has jumped in to save the day.

Waterfowl season is in full swing on the tundra and we happen to live in a huge bird migration area. Cody has been going out almost daily. He’s managed to get multiple ducks and geese. One of the ducks we traded for some caribou meat (score!) and we’ve given a couple of the geese away to other community members as trades for other items.

To hunt, Cody usually has to suit up with chest waders, boots, and a warm jacket. He then heads out on his four-wheeler and drives around the tundra looking for birds. They are ridiculously abundant here, so it really isn’t too super hard to find them. It is time consuming though because once you have located the birds you have to slog through the swampy tundra (hence the need for waders) to get close enough to shoot them and go get the ones you kill. After he kills them, he drives them back to our friends smoke house and he hangs them for about 24hrs. Once they’ve been in the smokehouse for a day he prepares them for the freezer.

Here’s where I’m hoping you lovely readers can help me. I’ve been a vegetarian almost my entire life and Cody isn’t exactly a master chef. Do any of you lovely people have good duck or goose recipes you can share with me? We are also hoping to get a crane (they a local favorite) and I’m proactively looking for a recipe for that as well. I’d love to hear suggestions!