The Zeiger Family Homestead Blog

To recap the plan, we are renovating our off the grid power in the following ways:

Replace our current lead acid battery bank with a nickel iron battery (see Power Shift: A New/Old Battery Bank)
Replace the solar panels with a higher wattage array (see Power Shift: Increasing Our Energy Independence)
Reduce reliance on the H40 wind generator
Find a lighter, more reliable, lower output wind generator to eventually replace the H40 as it wears out
Remove the Winco wind generator, which we no longer use (see D’Oh!)

This change in power means a change in perspective.

Here comes the sun . . . . (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

Along with cherries (see Cherry Blossom Time) and a host of wildflowers, the nagoon berries are blooming in the dooryard.

Nagoon berries may be the most sought-after berry in Alaska. Kind of like a trailing raspberry, nagoons grow in ground cover height plants that generally offer up a single berry. They’re not very common, especially in Southeast Alaska. Those who find patches tend to keep them secret for the most part.

Nagoon berry blossoms in the “homestead” dooryard (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

So, it’s pretty special to have a bunch of them growing right here in our yard, a few steps from the front door. It’d be even more special if they ever bore fruit, but as far as we know, they never have. They thrive in all other ways. The patch expands each year as more and more plants grow. Their lovely blossoms brighten our home at this time of year. But, for some unknown reason, we don’t get any berries.

I guess, since none of us have ever tasted a nagoon berry, we don’t know what we’re missing. For us, the blossoms are the main attraction until something changes, if it ever does, and we start getting fruit from them.

Shifting Power, Shifting Perspective

Nagoon Berries in Bloom

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