Goats and Berries

Reposted from my September 2023 newsletter, edited for this platform.

One afternoon I decided to search for Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) along Turnagain Arm. They tend to swim up the arm in large pods, especially in September and October. In my quest to find the Belugas I also found Mountain Goats (Oreamnos americanus)!

I quickly got my scope out and sketched the distant figures. They're actually quite large animals, weighing an average of 180-280 pounds.

The goats were so far away, up high on rocky slopes, and I was pretty much at sea level; even with my scope they appeared tiny.

That distant, tiny visual can be an advantage for sketching. It eliminates details and allows focus and understanding of the form.

The gestural stick figures, at the top of that page, are a great way to get the basic form of an animal down in a few strokes. It might not seem like it, but this can contribute to a larger, final piece.

Mountain Goats are related to the Musk Ox, who were featured in my August newsletter. They live in very different habitats, however; Musk Ox on arctic tundra, Mountain Goats on the high, broken mountain ranges of northwestern North America.

For those twenty or so minutes observing and sketching the goats, my entire nervous system relaxed. My heart was happy and content that my world intersected with theirs for a small blip in time.

And Belugas were present, too. Sadly the temperature dropped and the wind picked up in severity. Time to pack up and warm up.

Earlier in the month, I went into the mountains to find what plant was creating giant mats of beautiful red all over the slopes.

I found it. Arctous alpina, Alpine Bearberry!

Growing on the same slopes were a few other berry species: Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), Alaska Blueberry (Vaccinium alaskanum), and Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea).

Cool fact about Alaska's berries: the National Institutes of Health found that the antioxidants in Alaska's berries are much higher compared to the same species found in the lower 48.

Berry season in Alaska is a serious thing.

Harvesting berries, like hunting and fishing, are a way of life for Alaskans. It is a subsistence lifestyle woven into the fabric of life in city and remote community life alike.

Everyone gets in the action! Late July through September you'll find the slopes and tundra dotted with individuals, friends, and families crouched low to the ground, buckets nearby being filled with a variety of berry species destined for jams, breads, and pies.

A traditional dish called Akutaq (pronounced a-goo-duk) – a Yupik phrase meaning "mix them together – is a frozen dessert. Ingredients are moose or caribou meat and fat, white fish or seal oil, wild berries, and ice.

In 2019, when we were in Juneau, Sean plucked several gallons of berries one afternoon with a few colleagues. Those berries lasted us for weeks! My favorite recipe from those berries is called Bear Poop Pie. It was the most delicious berry pie I had ever had.

Sadly, I cannot find the recipe online anymore, but this is a close substitute, although we used a variety of wild berries - salmonberry, thimbleberry, blueberry, and both black- and red raspberry.

I hate to borrow an overused phrase but it's true... winter's coming, and quickly. Sean and I went out for a hike yesterday in the Front Range and came into snowfall and wild, icy winds. We were walking toward Windy Gap...go figure.

A few days earlier a bear was spotted (not by us) digging up a den (or ground squirrels, hard to tell) in the next valley over from where we were.

We've settled into our own little den. A smaller but lovely apartment with a fireplace. I think we are ready to manage the long winter.

We won't be sleeping winter away, though. We'll be out playing and investigating in whatever amount of daylight we get!