Living Life Alaskan

Words and Photos: Kim Nesbitt

By KAVU

July 14^th, 2020

New Home

I’ve been guiding in Southeast Alaska for four years now, and when the pandemic hit, the thought of a summer without the Alaskan wilderness I’ve come to love was a scary thought.

So I made the last-minute decision to get on a flight and figure it out from there. I had no idea this would become my home! No roads in or out of the Alaskan State Capital, an isolated community within a fjord, surrounded by glaciers, islands, and the world’s largest intact temperate rain forest sounded like the perfect place to ride out a pandemic.

Busy Livin'

I’m slowly learning how to be a full-time Alaskan. I’ve got the dress code down.... but that’s only a small part.

Alaskans live off the land... and not just by fishing.

Arriving in spring, I can forage for spruce tips to make an herbal salt, a simple syrup for locally-sourced gin, and just eat them straight off the Sitka Spruce trees they’re growing on!

Trail running, I stop to grab some spruce tips to utilize later in some herbed salt that, take it from me, is pretty amazing on a fresh-caught king salmon.

The same cannot be said for Devil’s Club! While the sprouts also make a delicious simple syrup and candied sprouts are a delicious treat, you have to watch out for the spines!

Kelp is one of my favorite “new to me” foods. I’ve eaten nori in Japan, but the thought of eating the stipe of bull kelp pickled or in a hot sauce or as a salsa on my chips was foreign to me until not too long ago.

I love the idea of yanking a huge seaweed out of the water for a snack! And sometimes you get the bonus of herring eggs!

Moving to the North during a Pandemic

Alaskan residents seem to be well-suited for a pandemic. We take care of each other in our small, isolated community, and try to more commonly live off the land than I might in the lower 48.