With my husband and daughter finally returned from 5 weeks of commercial Salmon fishing, I was glad there were still lilacs blooming in the yard for them to enjoy. (yeah, in August, only in Alaska!) The fireweed has also come on strong this year. Whole hillsides are covered with jawdropping color...it makes driving a little hazardous, all this rubbernecking! It is one month of beautiful that cannot be equalled, and truly, one good reason to let your flower garden go to follow Mother Nature's whims... I took advantage of a Saturday morning off to play with flower jellys. I had just enough of the lilac blossoms for one very excellent batch
Of course, the fireweed will be blooming now for a couple of weeks, lots of opportunity to cash in, it will keep me occupied until the raspberries get here!
We are all working hard to put away a little extra for this winter, with the anticipation of a 'ripple effect' on the Homer economy over this next year. We have faired alright...at least as far as the bakery and it's supporters go. We are not nearly as desperate as those folks in the midwest, counting on big business to make their wage. It brings home a few interesting points of how we will sustain ourselves in the future... some of which have been explored in a couple of documentaries that have come out this year. One is an alaskan tale, called Eating Alaska by director Ellen Frankenstein. It is a humorous look at trying to eat the right thing, in the right place, at the right time. A special screening was shown here at the Homer Family Theater on Earth Day...it was a benefit for the Homer Farmers Market and the Fox River Cattlemen's Association (I totally have a crush on that guy!) We are lucky to have such great resources here in our little spot at the end of the road!
The other movie that is being shown nationally that covers this issue on a much broader (and SCARIER) scale is Food inc. . Writer Michael Ruhlman gives a heartfelt review on his blog and the New York Times called it the scariest movie of the year!
1 comment:
Hope you're getting some awesome family time. Those lilacs are AMAZING! My aunt used to make rose petal jam, and I loved it. I've never tried lilac, but I bet it tastes the essence of spring.
Will keep my eyes out for Eating Alaska. Gonna do some light canning when we return from our family beach trip. I so miss living in Oregon this time of year. Marionberries.....Mmmmm.
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