It’s July in Southcentral Alaska, when the red salmon run thick in the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers in a desperate attempt to return to their birth locations to spawn and die. While they’re in a mad dash to reach the birth land, Alaskans from every walk of life are on the rivers trying to fill their freezers for another long winter. Salmon is a staple in this family’s diet. Last year alone we caught, processed, and ate roughly seventy salmon. We shared a handful with family in Missouri and another ten with a godmother in Seward, and we consumed all of the rest.

How do we eat so much salmon? One might wonder. Let me count the ways. Smoked, canned, baked, fried, and grilled. On a bed of lettuce with veggies straight from the garden, patted into salmon burgers and eaten with roasted root veggies, straight out of the smoker like jerky. I love salmon, I always have, and I hope that I always will.

I work on a commercial fishing boat on Mondays and Thursdays, traveling three to four hours by boat to our fishing grounds where myself and one other man unreel three shackles of net and wait for salmon to strike before reeling it back in and untangling the salmon to put in ice-filled brailer bags in the hull of the boat. (A great way to feed the storyteller/writer in me!) I sleep on the boat the night before, (great time to write) wake up around 6 to leave the harbor and don’t return until around 11 pm. It’s a long day, hard work too, for not a lot of pay. But it sure beats a desk job when it comes to adventure!

Since I don’t have a lot of time to go out and catch enough salmon to feed my family, not with the farm chores and family time- so I head to the river with my dipnet to stand on the shoreline with my long pole and net in the water alongside dozens of other Alaskan residents hoping to catch a few for the family.

I went dipnetting two nights ago with a new friend and we brought home around 28 in 3 hours. He kept four, I kept 24. After cleaning and vacuum packing them, our freezer is about 1/4 full will still plenty of room for either more reds, silvers, and/or moose. (God willing!) We have to leave room for berries and chicken, of course, and as these kids get bigger we will need a second chest freezer.

While it’s a busy time of year with little time for sleep and too little time for subsistence living and chores, I wouldn’t trade it for a million bucks. I love raising my kids this way, teaching them the various ways of living with the land and sea, watching them grow in their responsibilities and willingness while working alongside my best friend, wife, and lover to feed our family for the year to come. While millions of people starve around the world, many Alaskans are rich with the most valuable resource of all- fresh salmon. A resource worthy of protecting, respecting, and sharing with future generations.