One of my big goals for the year is to find more sustainable food sources. The main reason for wanting this is that Cody and I live in an area of the world where food is seriously expensive. $20 for a gallon of milk, $17 for a tiny bag of coffee, and don’t even get me started on the cost of meat or produce (both of which arrive inconsistently or are of questionable quality). Our little bush store is great by bush standards but it is still a store in rural Alaska, so things take a long time to get here and are expensive to ship in.

Our village store.

Prior to this year, I had been a vegetarian, and occasional vegan, for over twenty years. However, when we moved to the Bush I decided to adopt a lifestyle of being a “tundratarian.” Some of you may be thinking, “what the heck is a tundratarian?!” Well, the term, which I lovingly stole from another teacher, just means that I only eat meat that comes directly from our village and the surrounding areas (aka – the tundra). When not in my village, I am still a dedicated vegetarian.

In our village, subsistence living is an integral part of native culture. For thousands of years, people have been living by subsistence means. The locals all hunt, fish, and gather. Cody and I have been trying to fully embrace this lifestyle, as it is much better for us and much cheaper. Cody has been a hunter and fisherman for his entire life, but I am newer to the game. Last year we successfully filled our freezer with fish (salmon, trout, and smelt), but this year we’d like to expand into waterfowl, moose, and caribou. Ideally, we’d like to purchase zero meat from outside sources.

On the non-meat side of subsistence living, we have other ideas too. Last year we did a ton of berry picking and collecting fireweed. Next year, I hope that we can learn to forage for other tundra plants to increase our stock. I would also like to find a way to grow some plants year-round in our home and/or the classroom. There is one woman in the community who had a functional greenhouse, but unfortunately the bears had a bit too much fun with it and the building is no longer there. Because of this, all of my gardening will have to be done indoors, but I think I can come up with some good and simple solutions.

Meanwhile, during the summer while we are away from the village, I will be helping my mother garden during my stay with her. I am also hoping to support some local farms this summer and buy much of our produce direct from the source, which is made easier by the fact that much of our time will be spent in the Midwest. I’m hoping to pick up some tips and tricks from my gardening family and friends that I can then take back to the village with me at the end of our travel extravaganza in August.