It's finally August, and the brief Arctic summer is already cooling off! The 24-hour daylight has gradually diminished. The sun currently sets around 11:40pm and rises again at 5:00am, leaving a couple hours of cold, dark twilight. I didn't realize how acclimated I had gotten to the constant daylight; a few nights ago on a particularly cold, dark, and somewhat stormy evening, I buried myself under blankets, shivering and wishing for the sun. I can hardly imagine how I'll feel in a few weeks!
Late July and August are also the perfect months to go berry-picking for blueberries, aqpik, and soon cranberries and crowberries. These tasty tundra treats are far superior to farmed berries in both flavor and nutrients, and there's plenty for everyone — even the wildlife! Bears generally avoid Kotzebue, but it seems like there's been a few reports of sightings since the berries have ripened...
We brought gallon-sized ziplocs, wore our knee-high boots in case of puddles and marsh, then headed to the hills outside of town. Tundra berries grow low to the ground, so at first I was worried I'd get a sore back from bending over. Eventually, I figured out I could simply find a good-sized patch, sit down in a dry spot, and pick as many as I wanted before moving on to the next patch. In the end, this probably wasn't the best method to gather as many as possible, but I didn't really have a recipe in mind so I wasn't too worried about meeting a berry-quota. The tundra tea (a plant that looks like rosemary with an orange stripe in it) smelled perfectly spicy and earthy, releasing lovely smells with every step.
We brought all the dogs, including Drift, River, and Raven (the rambunctious Alaska pup) who ran and played but never strayed too far. Once they realized we were picking berries, they watched our hands carefully to figure out just where they were coming from. It wasn't long before River was finding and picking her own berries. Raven never quite figured out how, but she did try to sneak her nose into our ziplocs when we weren't paying attention.
This hill outside of town has quickly become my favorite place to explore. All I have are my two feet and an NPS bike, so this hill is far enough to feel far from town, without having to make a whole day of it. On clear days like this one, you can see the mountains and hills in the distance, and the mouth of the Noatak River.
My roommate is a great baker, so she keeps a sourdough starter around. She used that starter to make blueberry sourdough pancakes. She also made a great wild berry crumble! Most of the locals pick gallons of wild berries to make into jams or freeze for later.
I’m hoping to go berry-picking again this weekend, if the weather stays good. Not only is it enjoyable and easy to do, the berries are also incredibly delicious.