The Homestead

This homestead - 14 Mile Farm - is a place and a dream and a burgeoning way of life.  
It is our home.
We dream and work towards a life of sustenance, of permanence and growth, of cycles and seasons and living in place.  Of food and family.  Of harmony and the dance of interdependence.  Of reverence and joy and the messy beautiful experiments of life.
All on a south facing slope in the boreal forest north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Welcome.

We envision a future with gardens and bees and sheep and chickens and a cow and geese and pigs and a horse and rabbits and fruit trees and greenhouses and a barn and berries and children running everywhere.
Right now, we have 2 huskies, 2 cats, a feral raspberry patch, some flowers, 2 baby apple trees, one baby pear tree, 2 perennial beds, 4 garden beds and 2 compost piles.   
We're getting there.


7 comments:

  1. We just harvested gallons of bunchberries and I'm trying to figure out how to use them. I know they're high in pectin but how do you prepare them and how much do you use per cup of fruit, etc.? Thanks!

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    1. Hi Karleen! Thanks for stopping by! I've used bunchberries successfully in the place of commercial pectin for jam making. I'm trying to remember back, as I haven't actually made jam in the last year or so, since I noticed that we don't actually eat all that much of it! I'm still working on eating up some jam from 2 summers ago...
      As I recall, the best batch I made was a raspberry jam sweetened with honey... I'm pretty sure that it was about a quarter bunchberry/three quarter raspberry. I don't generally use specific measurements all that much, but I do remember thinking that bunchberries would be also good to stretch out a batch of jam. They carry the flavor of the other berries well, so you could probably do a half and half mix to make your other berries go farther...
      When I pick lingonberries (low bush cranberries - they're best after the first hard frost), I am sure to mix some bunchberries in with my harvest. I freeze them in quart bags and make cranberry sauces all winter. The inclusion of the bunchberries makes the sauce thicken nicely...
      Hope that helps!

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  2. Thanks so much! Do you extract the bunchberry seeds somehow?

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    1. I don't, but then I use my raspberries with their seeds too! I imagine that you could boil the bunchberries down in some water and/or simple syrup, then run it through a seive or some cheesecloth and then add that to the fruit?

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  3. We are over run with bunchberries here on our new 5 acre property just out of soldotna. That along with cloudberries, currants, lingonberries, and blueberries(if the bears leave any behind). I am excited for this jam season! I've always used banana in place of pectin in recipes but excited to find an alternative that's growing in my own backyard! Lingonberries are also high in pectin and my jam last year did not need any additions to stay thick, but I may go ahead and throw some bunchberries in to add a bit extra. My dad always says, its good jam if you can turn the jar upside down. Anyways, just wanted to say thanks for the bunchberry tip!

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    1. Hi Katina, and welcome to ALASKA! I've been to Soldotona once, but I've never spent much time there, I hope you enjoy your land! I love lingonberries... so much! We also have blueberries (just down the road) and sometimes I find a few currants in the woods, but not much. I think about cultivating them. One think about the more southern part of the state is the cloudberries! enjoy!
      I've got a 'label' going for lingonberries, if you want to check out some of my fave ways of eating them!

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  4. Do you happen to have a recipe for bunchberry jam ? or are they just used with other berries?

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