Preview Our ATLF Feature And Sunday’s Super-Sized Episode

Above is a sneak peek at Sunday’s “Two-hour mega episode” of Discovery Channel’s Alaska: The Last Frontier.

 We’re featuring the show in our December issue and had a nice chat with Eve Kilcher (above), who lives on a homestead with her husband Eivin, their children, Findlay and Sparrow Rose, and the family dog, Tonsai. We’ll post the full story next week, but here’s a preview of our conversation, when Eve talked about the new cookbook, Homestead Kitchen,  she and Eivin have written:

CC On the subject of food, you and Eivin just released a cookbook, Homestead Kitchen. We talked about how important it is for you and your family to eat organically. Is that what inspired you to write the cookbook, and how much does it mean to you to share the bounty of what’s in your backyard?

EK It is important to me to eat organically, but just as important to eat locally. Knowing where your food comes from and how it was raised or grown is one of the important messages we are trying to portray. It isn’t about a stamp that says organic; it is about quality and sustainability that goes beyond organic. This book was inspired by wanting to share our ethos on food and bring people’s attention to the origins of the food we put in in our bodies. It makes a huge difference in overall health of the individual and the earth. We cannot grow, forage or hunt everything we enjoy eating, but we try to do as much as we can ourselves or from our community. 

CC Is there a personal-favorite Alaska-inspired dish in the book, something that you, Eivin and the kids have enjoyed and has sentimental meaning for you? 

EK Many of the recipes in here are sentimental and well-loved by our family because they all have memories and stories tied to them. Bone-broth soup is a staple for us and is what our kids are raised on. It has so many of the vitamins and minerals you need that are very bioavailable. It also represents using all of the animal right down to the bone. Almost every time we sit down and eat this soup, Findlay pipes up with questions about this deer we are eating: “Where did it come from?” “How did it die?” “Did Mommy or Daddy shoot it?” “Was it a boy or a girl?” This inevitably inspires Eivin or I to tell the story of how it came to our table and how thankful we are to have it to eat. Of course, we tell Findlay the more soup he eats, the stronger he will become and the sooner he will be able to go hunting with us. Thus, his bowl is drained in minutes!