Walking the Path of Subsistence

Many of the people in the village live by subsistence, or living off the land through hunting and gathering. The other day our pastor called my husband up and asked him to help him set nets in the river for fish. My husband took our s son while I was in school to help set nets. They had fun chopping holes in the ice of the river to put nets in to catch fish. The next day they went back and pulled the nets. They caught a TON of She fish. I don't know what their technical name is, that is what all the people in the village call them. The pastor gave my husband two fish for all of his help. My husband came home and put them on our porch until we could get around to cleaning them.

Here are the two beauties waiting to get cleaned.

Later, after dinner we decided it was time to clean them so we could get them out of the snow before the local dogs came to eat them. I started cleaning the first fish while Glen was doing the dishes. Good set up, huh?

I couldn't believe how much blood those fish had in them when I cut into them. I never really thought that fish had much blood, but apparently they do! When I was pulling the guts out, I must have cut into the stomach because small fish came tumbling out onto the table from the stomach. Some were partially digested while some look like they just got swallowed before our fish was caught! Yum!

Growing up we rarely went fishing, maybe once or twice in my childhood, and we never ate what we caught. It was strictly catch and release. I had never cleaned a fish until we moved up here. Thankfully our neighbors took us under their wing and showed me how to clean a fish. Now I feel much more comfortable cleaning the fish. There is something deeply satisfying about catching and preparing your own meat and fish. It really helps you feel in touch with your surroundings!

Till my next adventure...
Jacqueline