Tapping the Birch Trees

Every spring we tap the birch trees.  Sometime in April, the sun warms the vascular systems of our boreal forest and the sap begins to rise from the roots.  It is a sure sign that the season has turned.  

In springs past we have tried boiling the sap down for birch syrup.  Where maple syrup requires 20-40 gallons of sap for a gallon of syrup, at least 80 gallons of birch sap is required.  The sugar content is lower, and it scalds more easily.  Besides, I grew up in Maine and nothing will ever beat thick amber maple syrup on my pancakes and oatmeal! 

Many folks hereabouts will drink the sap to help prevent (or lessen the severity of) spring allergies once the pollen hits.  It works like a charm.  Fortunately, our family is free of springtime allergies.

So why do we haul gallon upon gallon of birch sap in from the woods?  Why do we fill growlers and pitchers and half our fridge with the stuff?  

Because it is delightful.  It is one of the best spring tonics I know.  Nettle infusions run a very close second.  The trees draw up minerals from deep in the glacial deposits that pass for soil in this land.  They draw up water and filter it.  When drunk, the sap feels revitalizing, rejuvenating.  It is like liquid sunshine and fresh breezes and the smell of melting snow and the joy of things growing.  In a bottle, a bucket, a glass.  And you can drink it.  I call that magic.  

For the duration of the sap run, we switch out our drinking water with sap.  This year, I'm particularly grateful for it.  I'm a breastfeeding mom, and my daughter is EBF (that's lactation lingo for exclusively breastfed).  It means that my hydration is not only for me (and hydration affects sleep and appetite and metabolism and immune function and #allthethings), but it is also for her.  My milk requires lots of water.  I try to drink 4 quarts a day of water in addition to whatever other beverages I imbibe.  That's a gallon of water a day.  And honestly?  I'm a little bored of water right now.  Enter sap, slightly sweet, wonderfully crisp, like the water ladled from the magic well in the fairy tales of my childhood.  Blissful hydration.

Its not just me and other woodswomen who touts the benefits of drinking the spring sap run either! Coconut water is all the craze currently in health conscious fitness circles, because of its superior hydration and the perfect blend of electrolytes and minerals.  Did you know that coconut water has actually been used in place of plasma (blood) transfusions in emergency situations?  Way cool.  
Anyhow, there are actually companies (in Finland and elsewhere) selling bottled birch sap as superior hydration for the health conscious fitness crowd.  Google it, you'll see!

Have you ever tapped trees?  Do you drink sap?  Love syrup?  Tel me about it in the comments.

Turn the tap

Fairbanks was hit by early-onset winter this week.  Just shy of 20 inches of wet snow after a week of rain left the roads a mess and felled countless trees.  Over 10,000 homes were without power and many still are.  It is times like these when I most appreciate the fact that our home's systems rely entirely on us.  That our powerline is a 20 foot cable from the connex to the house.  Grid failures don't affect us. Of course there are times when we pay our own dues.  We were without power from February through June of this year as we worked on the generator and got it back in shape.

Its a luxury, for sure and for certain, to be able to turn on light and heat and music at the flip of a switch or the press of a button.

But what has made this week THAT MUCH MORE amazing?  What luxury I am absolutely reveling in??  

We have running water.

We have HOT running water.

It has been over two years since I have been able to take a shower in my bathroom, wash a load of clothes in my washer, or turn the tap in the kitchen.  I can now do all of these things!  Seriously.  There's this metal tube that curves out over my kitchen sink.  And when I turn this metal handle next to it, water comes out.  If I turn this other metal handle and wait a few moments... HOT water comes out of it.  It is insanely amazing.

The Darlin'Man fixed what was wrong with the pipes connecting the well to the house, and then he fixed the hot water heater.  My father-in-law installed a small propane heater in the bathroom, which has meant that not only can this increasingly-pregnant and increasingly-sore mama shower after a long day...  she can also luxuriate in a hot bath in a warm room!

Folks, this is both magical and revolutionary to life-as-we-know-it.  Hot baths or even better, epsom salt baths or bubble baths have become my absolutely favorite go-to therapeutic tool.  As this last month of pregnancy begins to creep along, I cannot even tell you how essential soaking in hot water has become!  And now I can.  In my own home.  I'm so, so grateful.

Here's to tea lights, lavender oil, rose petals and a tub of hot water!  Pure bliss.

What is your favorite self care ritual?

Salmon Blessings

Darlin'Man and dipnet

Every year we go down to Chitina on the Copper River and dipnet for salmon.  Its exhausting.  And a whole lot of fun.  The Copper River is a great wide roiling band of silty water power that cuts through the wild.  And every year the salmon return, swimming somehow upstream against a current that will tow a man under in moments.  The Darlin'Man along with our good friend Maple of Maple&Me made the long trek down and back in just under 48 hours whilst, conforming to traditional gender roles, we womenfolk stayed home.  Hanging off the side of a shale cliff just isn't quite the best idea for a 16 month old and this pregnant lady gracefully bowed out of the prospect.  Then we all pitched in to process the fish.  Even the littlest one, who was a champ wiping down everything in reach with her own paper towel!  

Filleting

We do our best to waste as little as possible: fish are filleted, then scraped for canning, then carcasses are boiled down for chowder stock or frozen to feed chickens. 

They are a precious natural resource we are so fortunate to have access to, but more even than that they are sacred. We are what we eat. Literally. Foodstuffs are the building blocks of the body. Analysis of your tissues will turn up genetic markers that speak to your diet.  Yoga calls the physical form the anamayakosha , the food body. 

When approached with reverence, the relationship between eater and eaten is a sacred one.  I feel and I honor this connection with the plants in my garden, with the chickens and moose and caribou that come to our freezer.  But for me this sacred relationship is most tender, most intimate with salmon.  Before each trip to Chitina I spend some time in meditation, I journey to the spirits of the salmon, and I renew my gratitude. My love. I feel a kinship with them.  They also happen to be one of the best sources of nutrition on this planet!  

Fillets

And let me assure you, fresh never-frozen copper river red salmon is incredible.  Grilled with just a hint of lemon or salt and pepper.  Divine.