How to filet a Copper River Red - my new youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaYPXKoM5PA

Big Mother's Permission to Hunt & Fish

Thanks for all the comments lately, I've barely been able to log on for more than a few minutes at a stretch so I apologise for being so slow to answer. I keep getting emails that should be blog comments but these people don't want to deal with what they refer to as my "fans." Hehe. That last guy was a bit unsettled by those of you rushing to my defense and I think my enemies would prefer it that I be alone and defenseless in my opposition to their agenda. I got a long hate email the other day where I was chastised for everything from wasting my intellect to freezing my ass off in a tent in Alaska. I think I'll invite him to Camp Redington to put his money where his mouth is.

Went and bowed before Big Mother yesterday and recieved permission from her benevolancy to fill my freezer and shelves with food this winter. Got my permits for 1 moose and 2 caribou from BLM. Then I got my permit for the fishwheel from the National Park Service Wrangell St Elias Center (and the guy doing my paperwork was the same leader of the Watershed Leadership group who I told I oppose everything he stands for last month). Already got my subsistance hunting, trapping and fishing liscense from the State of Alaska, so last night I went grizzly bear hunting and we didn't see it until it was too dark to get a good shot. I was so nervous heading out, my first real hunt and I'm going for a bear... all the way down I was singing to myself songs from the musical Jesus Christ, Superstar. Going back tonight better equipped.

Camp Redington is going full swing in spite of the fact that we pretty much aren't open. Amanda came back for a week before her Alaska trip was over and she inspired everyone with her enthusiasm for life. I especially enjoyed hearing her stories. She's half Japanese and half Jewish Pole. Her grandparents on both sides were incarcerated during WWII. Her grandfather in Poland was trying to warn his family about the Nazis in 1937 and his family all ridiculed him for being a paranoid. Only 2 of them survived the Nazi invasion in 1939. She's a full blooded American and the part of her that is grateful to be one represents a slim hope to me. Whether the whole American diversity and mixed blood idea was part of the elite plot to take over the world or not, it can be our strength if we embrace and honor every culture whose children became Americans. My Norwegian grandmother, Pauline Anderson, was sold by her father to go be a bonded servant in Wisconsin when she was 14 years old. She remained until she was 21, and the Jewish family paid her a bonus when she got her walking papers. My grandmother used that money to bring her parents to America. My dad asked her once why she never ran away, and her reply was, "My father gave them his word that I would stay. The money they paid up front was used to feed my brothers and sisters." Many of our ancestors came to America seeking a better life for themselves and their descendents. Some of us descendents of those risktakers choose to honor their sacrifices. Ho.

Lots of help with raking the new gravel pad!

Amanda got me to try a raw salmon egg. They squirt all over the inside of your mouth when you bite them. She advises I eat them every day for the rest of my life, called it "brain food."

Fresh Alaska salmon eggs

Rene, newly ordained high priestess
of the Salmon Nation, rejoicing at the freezer alter

My bear

Bill and the Samoans at the Copper River Fishwheels

Tim's rock garden

Me picking wild sage and rosehips on McCarthy Road

Yes Rene, those are all for you!
(Don't I look tall? I'm on a pallet.)

Copper River Red Salmon turns YELLOW!!!

It seemed to get more color the longer it was in the sun.

Closeup of a yellow Copper River Red Salmon

Tim Redington holding a yellow Copper River Red

Yellow salmon next to normal looking red salmon

Tim found this yellow Copper River Red in the fishwheel this morning. He says he's never seen a red salmon turn yellow in all his 50 some years of commerical fishing in Alaska. Doubt we'll be eating this one. Haven't seen the inside yet, don't know if the flesh is yellow too. Tim plans to hand it over to a Fish and Game biologist, maybe they can tell us what happened to it. Pretty weird, and also pretty scary since SO many people and dogs depend on this fish to survive.