AGHVELEK CHRIS_APASSINGOK COMMUNITY_MEMBER EVAN_STRASSBURG GLYNDARIL HAZEL_STRASSBURG INA_KOONOOKA JAIRUS JAMEY_JOSEPH JAZMINE JODY JULIA MADELINE_DAUGHTER MADELINE_DEREPENTIGNY MAN MARCELLA NALU_DANIELLE_APASSINGOK TERRANCE_STRASSBURG TIG JODY Today, Jamey and I are gonna go upriver, looking for birds, waterfowl. In the springtime, ducks are a really essential part of our diet. JAMEY JOSEPH We first pulled in we saw one goose fly over so there's probably some back here in these openings in the water back there. Sure hate to waste a good BB shot on a little duck. I want birds with more meat on em'. JODY Babe just shoot 'cause like last winter, we didn't get BLEEP. Like, let's not be picky. JAMEY JOSEPH Sure are bossy, huh? JODY We don't have time to mess around. JAMEY JOSEPH We'll just float along this edge huh, babe? JODY I'm feeling luckier on that edge. JAMEY JOSEPH Okay. Here comes a duck. He turned, they saw us, dang it. We should have parked further back in the willows. JODY We're out of moose meat. We don't have fish cause we couldn't fish the last 2 years so, be really nice to get some birds to have some fresh meat. JODY Instead of just spam. Right there. JAMEY JOSEPH Got it. JODY Good job, babe. JAMEY JOSEPH It dove into the grass. Oh, yeah. There it is, right there, babe. You see it, straight ahead. Good eye. JODY Oh, yeah. Want me to go grab it? JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah. Well, there's a half, half pot of soup. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK We're very lucky to be who we are as native people and be able to do that not many people can do around the world. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK You got the 20 gauge? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK What other gun you bringing? 243? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Do you want it on this Honda? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yes. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Okay. CHRIS APASSINGOK We're gonna be going to "Qenaghaak". My 17 miles camp down the west coast. CHRIS APASSINGOK Hopefully, we run into lots of seals and birds so we can get some hunting done. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Yeah, I'm excited to go out with my brother, his girlfriend, and my nephew. Are Ina and baby almost ready? CHRIS APASSINGOK Uh-huh. INA KOONOOKA You're not good? INA KOONOOKA Your first trip to camp, yeah. It's gonna be beautiful. Yeah. CHRIS APASSINGOK It's important for him to go to camp at, uh, right now, so he can learn things at a young age. We learn by observation. We're kinda concerned about the trail and how long we're gonna take to get down there. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK It's gonna be real muddy. And it's gonna be a long drive. Are we ready? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. Normally, I'd travel to camp within, uh, who knows how fast I go, probably too fast for others. Gonna have to slow down a lot 'cause I'm with my son and gotta take it easy on the road with him. INA KOONOOKA I'm tired. It's taking longer than expected. CHRIS APASSINGOK My dad used to take me out when I was a little baby. And now I have to experience what my dad experienced. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I never really when to camp growing up. Going out with my brother, we can butt heads sometimes. It's just, he's my brother. CHRIS APASSINGOK All right. We made it. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Finally. Oh, where are you? INA KOONOOKA Yeah? CHRIS APASSINGOK It's cool going out with my sister to have company out hunting. INA KOONOOKA Look at. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Your Apa Takeva built this cabin. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Apa. CHRIS APASSINGOK Hopefully, we'll all get along and have a fun time. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Hopefully, we don't kill each other. MARCELLA This truly is God's country. It's a beauty that's indescribable. This is a beauty that has to be experienced first-hand. MARCELLA Welcome to paradise. GLYNDARIL Right? GLYNDARIL Oh, look at the water. MARCELLA So today we are gonna set out a net to try and get some fish. We are hoping to get some beautiful bright reds. A sockeye salmon, which is a fav around here. Oh, look it, a seal! GLYNDARIL Oh. See it, Tinky? Right there. JAIRUS Yeah. MARCELLA Hey, that's a cute one. He's plumpy. GLYNDARIL Woo-hoo. MARCELLA Early spring going into summer, that's usually when the reds hit. GLYNDARIL Land. Park. MARCELLA This is our first time, together going out and set the net as husband and wife or as a family. GLYNDARIL Jaz, I need your help. GLYNDARIL We're gonna pull this net, into the skiff, and then we're going to tie it off to that rock over there. MARCELLA I was never having to be responsible to deal with fish really growing up because, you know, I had a bunch of brothers. I had my dad, my mom used to always do that. And it's just the fact I used to get sea sick, so. Very important you keep the corks on one side and the lead line on one side. But, you know, turns out, I'm a natural, ha. Bout ready to set this thing? GLYNDARIL Yeah. What is the most important thing about setting a net? JAIRUS Uh, tying it to a rock. GLYNDARIL That is important. But the most important thing is the tide. If you come here and you're too late for the tide, then you're fishing for nothing. The tide waits for no man, right? JAIRUS The tide waits for no man. MARCELLA Hold on, slow down. Turn more, maybe. I don't have any doubts when it comes to my husband doing things for the first time. GLYNDARIL We're stuck. MARCELLA You're in gear. MARCELLA Probably that line in the prop, babe. I'm not holding onto it, so you got all the slack. I believe in him, 100%. GLYNDARIL We're, we're clear. MARCELLA Look it! GLYNDARIL Got a fish already. JoJo look! MARCELLA Look it. You see the fish? GLYNDARIL You see the way the line is shaking? JAIRUS Yes! MARCELLA Is that cool? Yeah! Got three of them, look it. GLYNDARIL We already got dinner. MARCELLA Got four of them. GLYNDARIL Four. All right, that's two. JAIRUS At least we got some fish! GLYNDARIL Yep, I'm with you on that, Tinky. GLYNDARIL Some nice reds to start the day, right? Woo, there we go. My wife is the native one. I learned from her family. I learned from all them. This goes back in. It's something you can't just learn in school. MARCELLA We're gonna have to watch out for seals now. 'Cause remember the seals are gonna want the fish too. GLYNDARIL These seals aren't gonna steal our fish, not these ones anyway. JAIRUS Nope. TIG This is a wild, dangerous country. Gotta respect it. The country will respect you back. EVAN STRASSBURG Whoa! HAZEL STRASSBURG Hi, beaver. TERRANCE STRASSBURG That's a big beaver. TIG Oh, yeah. I gotta go up to my uncle's cabin. I left some of my tools up there. TIG And these tools I'm gonna need for the construction of this, uh, fence making that we'll be doing here on Memorials Day. TERRANCE STRASSBURG I'm getting up front. TIG Country is transitioning from snow to water. The river starts going out, the ice gets rotten. The land is waking up. Let's go grab some tools. HAZEL STRASSBURG Looks weird without snow. TIG Whoa. Look at this you guys. Your guys sled. That bear definitely didn't like it for some reason. Tore it up. Yeah. There's been a bear here. The bear is gonna be your most dangerous animal. The black bear and the grizzly bear. TERRANCE STRASSBURG Plastic all over. HAZEL STRASSBURG Geez. TIG Wow, they chewed the crap outta this. When they come out in the spring, you know, they slept for 9 months. They're starving, they're hungry. Just a little black bear. EVAN STRASSBURG How did you tell it was a black bear? TIG Oh, by the little paw print on there. The shape of the paw print. Black bears are kind of a smaller, rounder track. The grizzly bear is gonna be bigger and a little more elongated. You can see some of the tracks on the door. Another one right here, you can see his paws. TERRANCE STRASSBURG Dad, there's a claw mark right here. Long. TIG Oh, yeah. TERRANCE STRASSBURG He dented it right here. Holy cow. TIG All right, back up. Grizzly's gotten in last year. Tore up the whole house. TIG Well, looks, looks good in the house. I just gotta gather up some of my tools for the upcoming Memorial Day. Gonna need these tools when we work on the fences. Out here in Allakaket on Memorial Day weekend, it means a lot to us. HAZEL STRASSBURG This all the stuff we're bringing home? TIG Yep. We all gather at the hall and we build fences to honor the loved ones from the community that have passed. Oh, put that drill in there too. TERRANCE STRASSBURG Okay. TIG We all come together, there's a community, pitch in together. Work as a big family pretty much. Thank you, boys. One of my main goals is trying to teach my kids the tradition and culture. And this is a big part of our tradition and culture. Let's head home, it's time to go to work. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Growing up, I didn't do much with the cultural stuff. When I moved away, I started feeling that empty feeling that I needed to be in my village. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK What's wrong? INA KOONOOKA He's feeling hot again. CHRIS APASSINGOK Once we go to bed, my son started getting sick. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK What are you guys gonna do? CHRIS APASSINGOK I'm gonna bring him home. You could wait here. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Are you sure? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. We are pretty far from home and, uh, gotta bring him back before anything, uh, gets worse with his body conditions. He's probably having a little fever. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Bye, love. You'll be okay. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I love you. Don't drive like a dummy. Bye, baby. My brother, he'll be here in a few hours but now's a good opportunity to go for a seal hunt. The waves are crashing in here right now so, good opportunity for the seals to come in. And now we sit here and wait until a seal pops up. Growing up, I didn't really like to do anything subsistence. Now that I've grown older, I actually love it and it's an adrenalin rush. And at the same time, I get to hunt for my family and our community. [singing Yup'ik] NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK This is a seal blind, we call them Nengki, in Yup'ik. My dad built this one. [singing Yup'ik] Just being out here makes me think of him. When I sit out here with my dad, when we're waiting for a very long time he'll say. "Come on seals." Hoping for them to come a little quicker. So, I'll say it in my head sometimes. Just a bird. False alarm. Kinda wishing my dad was here. Catching my first seal off the land would be such a cool thing for him to see and I think he'd be really happy. Come on seals. JODY I'm a part of the land and the land is a part of me. It's just innate. JODY Are we going to that slough that's your shortcut in high water? JAMEY JOSEPH No, we're going to fish slough. JODY Oh, okay. JODY Tonight, I hope that we're able to get some geese. Geese are really good eating and also a lot bigger bird. Hoping we see a lot more birds and that we're a lot more successful. That's my prayer for tonight. JAMEY JOSEPH Wow, that is nice. JODY It's midnight, you know? JAMEY JOSEPH The midnight sun right there. JODY I love summer. Summertime in Alaska is when all the life is back and everyone is out making the most of the daylight before it gets dark again. JODY Look babe. JAMEY JOSEPH Wow, it's just so much drift out there. JODY The willows are so thick, it'd be hard to get through them but. JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah, this boat is too big for it. JODY Baby, wait! JAMEY JOSEPH Nope, we're hung up. This one, we're just gonna end up fighting it all the way. Yeah, we better just turn around and go back out to an island. So, we'll just back up the motors all the way up, babe? JODY Yeah. JAMEY JOSEPH Okay. All right. Put the motor down and drive me forward a little bit more. JODY Okay, moving forward. JAMEY JOSEPH All right. Okay. JODY Yeah, my work is done. JODY Nap time. JAMEY JOSEPH There's a goose! Doggone it. The only goose we saw and it flew away. JODY Babe, get ready for those ducks. Get em', baby. Get em', get em', get em', get em'. JAMEY JOSEPH Uh-oh. Jam. JODY There we go. JAMEY JOSEPH I lost it. JODY I think I see it, its bobbing. JAMEY JOSEPH Watch your step, babe. Got it? JODY Got it. JAMEY JOSEPH We got two ducks now. Enough for a pot of soup. JODY Ducks are a really nice change in diet. And the ducks also have a little more fat in the meat. And so that is always nice. I grew up on the banks of the Yukon. The river is essential to our way of life and our identity. It's just like the blood that flows in our body. The Yukon provided for our ancestors. It's just this ever-powerful presence in my life. I'm feeling lucky over there babe. JAMEY JOSEPH All right. You know, we subsist on a seasonal thing. You can go back on the lakes and the ducks and geese just coming in. It's just that time of year to where your body's craving it. JODY Oh, there's some baby. Look, over there, ducks. JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah, I got one. That's a wigeon. They're tasty. Good flavor to them. JODY I'm happy we'll be eating duck soup tomorrow. TIG You can't go and pick up a book and read about how our people used to live. Our history is passed down from generation to generation. It has been for thousands of years. TIG All right, so seven foot by thirty six and a half. TIG So seven foot cut straight cut and then. COMMUNITY MEMBER I'm, I'm glad you went to school. TIG One month of carpentry, that's it. TIG Up here in Allakaket, when, uh, somebody passes away. Family, they gather material to build the fence. We put em' together and bring it to the cemetery. Put this fence on top of the gravesite. This is the one time of the year where we go up to the cemetery and we visit our loved ones. Well, these four better be real straight. COMMUNITY MEMBER Yup. TIG It's a sacred place, the cemetery. We don't go there whenever we feel like it. COMMUNITY MEMBER This one looks good, compared to these two. TIG It's what our elders taught us and that's one of the traditions we carry on right there. Pretty straight. The whole town is come together. Everybody's chipping in and helping. That's just the way we work out here. You know, something goes on, community comes together, and we all get it done as one. This wider one's first for the pickets? COMMUNITY MEMBER Yeah. TIG Okay. And what would these ones be for? COMMUNITY MEMBER That's the ones for the rafters. TIG Okay. Let's go get this one squared away. There's some master carpenters here that you know been doing carpentry all their life. And these older guys are showing us younger men what to do. COMMUNITY MEMBER Go towards Dennis. TIG Yup, towards Dennis. COMMUNITY MEMBER Hold the rings. Yup, right there. TIG 'Cause at some point in time, it's gonna be us. The younger generation that's gonna be teaching our younger generation this types of stuff. No, I don't want to quit but here, I'm gonna hand it over. EVAN STRASSBURG This is fun. EVAN STRASSBURG I've never tried painting before. TIG This friendly guy from the community, his name is Sean Burgon. And he was an awesome guy. He was, you know, a big staple of our community. Whenever something like this was going on, he'd definitely be here helping out, you know. He's gonna be really missed. There's a real famous basketball team, and their colors is gold and purple. And that was his favorite basketball team, the Lakers. Good job Mar, little perfectionist, huh? Tomorrow morning, we're gonna get these all together and start making our way to the cemetery with them all. I think this is an amazing way to show respect for the ones that's passed. MARCELLA There are some people that have that strong cultural root to want to thrive and take on the traditions and the Alutiiq culture. GLYNDARIL Okay. Hey ya'll, scoot over here. Let's go head out over to where the net is. MARCELLA Vroom, vroom. MARCELLA Our subsistence way of life. MARCELLA Obtaining food to put away is very much determined on the weather and the climate around us. GLYNDARIL Pull it up. JAIRUS Dad! There's the other fish I saw! A seal daddy. JAZMINE AMODO-WHITE Seal. JAIRUS I saw a seal over there. GLYNDARIL Right over there. MARCELLA He's just gonna be pestering us now. GLYNDARIL Oh, yeah. He sees the net. He's like, I'm waiting, I'm ready for dinner. The moment you start catching fish in your net. GLYNDARIL It's gonna be the seals verses us. Seal, he's beelining. It's a race. Who's gonna win? The seals know, that's their dinner bell. All right, let's go back to the beach. Any sense of urgency comes more around summertime. Because summers in a way are short. So, this is the time where you gotta get your fish. You gotta make sure everything's prepared for the winter. MARCELLA Look it, we got five more fish. GLYNDARIL One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine lovely little fish. MARCELLA Good catch so far for guys! GLYNDARIL One of ya'll needs to hang out on the rock, watch out for the seal and watch out for fish. JAIRUS Ok, I will. MARCELLA One of the fish already got bit. GLYNDARIL But it's okay, we saved him. There's always going to be seals around. Okay, where are we gonna put these at? Right in the water? MARCELLA Yep. Put them right here in the shore, I don't want them to sit in the sun too long. GLYNDARIL What happens if they sit in the sun? MARCELLA They just start cooking. GLYNDARIL Oh, and you want to be the one to cook them, not mother nature, right? MARCELLA Absolutely. You help me hold the string babe? JAIRUS Seal! Right by the net! MARCELLA Oh my gosh! JAZMINE AMODO-WHITE He went over the line! GLYNDARIL Oh, he went over! Oh, that's not good. GLYNDARIL Oh, jeez. He's checking out net for us. MARCELLA Think we should go ahead and pull the net now, there's too much seal out here. We got enough fish. GLYNDARIL All right. Learning from my wife's culture. There it is. MARCELLA Okay. GLYNDARIL The one thing they pride themselves on is not taking more than what you need. JAIRUS Oh, look at this baby one. MARCELLA All right bub, we could head on to the island to go get some eggs then come back and cook us up a meal. GLYNDARIL Yeah, sounds like a plan. MARCELLA A sense of success is a great feeling. Well, at the end of the day we brought in 21 fish, that's not bad for one outing. TIG Every time we lose an elder, we're losing a lot of tradition. We're losing a lot of stories. We lose a lot when we lose an elder. TIG This one's about 300 pounds . 100 pounds of paint. Watch your head don't go. Oh, oh, watch your foot, Cordy. TIG Today we have all these fences finished up and we put this fence on top of the gravesite. Head down, watch your hand. Kind of clear it off, we set down the flowers and everything. It's a big process but as a community it's just a small hurdle for us and honor the ones that have passed. Yeah, that looks good there. We did you up good there buddy. We did you up there good. They're gonna, uh, burn food for the ones that passed right now. TIG We offer our food for the spirits. JULIA [speaking Denaakk'e] Go soo' hun yoo'ooghe konelyoyh kkaa detlehne do'eelt'aa, JULIA [speaking Denaakk'e] Dehoon go daa'en he? hoozoonh ts'e huyaan' hoogh'o. JULIA [speaking Denaakk'e] Konel yooghe kkaa tlaa detlege goo soo dohee?t'aa'aa, aan?e. TIG Aan?e. We burn food in the fire, the smoke goes to the sky and it feeds the people that have passed. TIG Baasee'. MAN Baasee'. TIG Thank you, Auntie. That was just a beautiful ceremony that we put on for the loved ones. My brother died on December 23rd, two days before Christmas. Christmas day I woke up, I watched my kids unwrap their presents and I came to the cemetery, and I started digging the grave for my brother. That was my Christmas present for that year, I get to bury my only brother. My sisters were lucky, they got two brothers. Me, I only had one brother. That was all I had. This is the one time of the year where I can actually go visit my brother over there in the cemetery. He died way too young. One of the elders told me, "You know, that kind of guys, they don't last too long." He used to piss a lot of guys off cause he'd walk up with his big belly. Just look out of shape. Yeah, they'd tease him about his big belly. "Whoa, look at that big belly bro, how the hell you gonna get into snowshoe racing." Crack up, "Oh, I'll do all right." He'd get in, he'd win it. My bad bro, I shouldn't have teased you like that. I always miss him, I think about him a lot. All right brother, I'll see you again next year. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I'm learning it all on my own, in different ways, trying to get to know our people better. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Come on, seals. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I'm about ready to just target practice on a frickin' bird. Oh, right there. I see a seal. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Come on, come back up. Where'd he go, where'd he go, where'd he go? I'm gonna move. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK BLEEP. Come on, come back up. Think I lost him. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK How was the drive? CHRIS APASSINGOK It was good. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I BLEEP missed a seal. CHRIS APASSINGOK Oh, where? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK It was right here, and I missed it real close. CHRIS APASSINGOK It's kind of cool to see my sister hunting alone and, uh, she almost got a seal. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Just a few minutes ago, before you got in. CHRIS APASSINGOK There's gonna be more. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK How's baby doing? CHRIS APASSINGOK He's, uh, doing good, but he's real tired looking. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK His fever is down though? CHRIS APASSINGOK Hey. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK What? Are you the boy who called seal? CHRIS APASSINGOK Family's most important to us. But the conditions are real good for seal hunting right now and, uh, in Gambell if you don't subsistence hunt you can't eat off of anything. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK We're gonna target practice, see if my sights off. I shot above when I was aiming in the middle. CHRIS APASSINGOK How far? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Just right above the paint but. What the heck, Agra? CHRIS APASSINGOK Go down three clicks. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK What the heck? It shot down and to the left. I think you gotta put this one, one click back maybe. CHRIS APASSINGOK Okay. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK There? CHRIS APASSINGOK Uh-hmm. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I hit it. CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK So, it wasn't just me. That's why, that's probably why I was missing. CHRIS APASSINGOK Now that, uh, her rifles targeted in, she's gonna be able to hit something now. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Ugh. I want fresh seal meat. CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Should I race you to the first seal. CHRIS APASSINGOK My sister, she's not really home all the time. Pretty much get to only stay with her couple weeks, once a year. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Cause we can't miss it again. CHRIS APASSINGOK It's good to have her home. CHRIS APASSINGOK Come on, big one. There's a seal coming up close. All right, it's gonna come up right here, start aiming. Right there. Look. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK It's too far for us to shoot now. Ugh. Seal hunting from the land is not easy. We need the right conditions. Looks like the tide's already coming back in. We could go fishing or something. CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Aatakqun. MARCELLA My husband, my children, they're my motivation. They're my push to make what I want happen. GLYNDARIL You guys ready? GLYNDARIL Wanna come get some eggs. We'll cruise right up this hill, start looking down. MARCELLA We're going to look for seagull eggs. You guys be sure to keep your guy's heads down, don't step on any of the eggs or nests. GLYNDARIL Yes. MARCELLA Responsibility is taught at a young age around here. JAZMINE AMODO-WHITE I found three. MARCELLA Oh, sweet. GLYNDARIL Awesome. MARCELLA It's important to teach my children what they can harvest from the land. That's the way I want to raise my children. GLYNDARIL We got three right here. MARCELLA Remember, just grab two outta the nest. Just leave the one. GLYNDARIL It's so warm, you can still feel the heat. Like they were just hatched. MARCELLA You know how come we only leave one egg behind Tinky? JAIRUS So it can get more in it? MARCELLA Yea, so the birds will um lay more eggs in that nest. Seagull eggs, they are a delicacy of ours. There's a few islands around here that we harvest from. GLYNDARIL Oh. JAIRUS Look what I found mommy. MARCELLA Yeah! Good job! GLYNDARIL There you go, thank you. Hands on learning, that's the best way to learn. MARCELLA Kids, you finding anymore? JAIRUS No. MARCELLA It's pretty empty over here. No more over that way either? GLYNDARIL Nope, no more. MARCELLA How many eggs do we have? GLYNDARIL Fifteen. MARCELLA Oh, that's plenty. GLYNDARIL All right. MARCELLA Well, let's head back to the boat. JODY A lot of the challenges we deal with are results of colonization, but for families to break the cycle and still raise our kids in our traditional way of life, is really powerful. JODY See our refrigerator. JAMEY JOSEPH There's our fridge right here where we cool stuff down. JODY I feel like every season, there's something for us to do. JAMEY JOSEPH Good. JODY We get more water that way. JAMEY JOSEPH All right. And there's our honeymoon spot right there. We like to sleep right next to the creek and listen to the creek at night when you fall asleep. It's nice honeymoon spot, you like that huh? JODY Hmm. Every season there's like a different animal or plant to harvest. The land provides us with a lot. JAMEY JOSEPH Okay. JAMEY JOSEPH All right. Here we go, ducks from last night. I plucked em', gutted em'. So right now I'm going to quarter them, get them ready for some soup cause we do have Jody's cousin and her husband and daughter, they're gonna. They'll be here tonight. The smell of the feathers when I'm scorching it and burning it always brings back childhood memories of, you know, springtime. You know, it's springtime when you smell feathers. People scorching ducks and geese and its, makes my mouth water. The smell of it. The other side. JODY Coralee! Coralee! I can't find my, uh,, female dog Coralee who just had puppies. And one puppy's missing and so she. Just weird. One of the things I worry about is, there's falcons that nest across the river and we always have the eagle that flies over at 1100 every morning, hunting. There's owls and all kinds of predators. Coralee! JODY Coralee! Oh, there she is. Coralee, what the heck? Come on. Well, you freaked me out, Coralee. That gave me a scare. Our dogs are just like family members. You really got yourself buried under there. I got you food. They're well taken care of. You never want to lose your dogs. JODY Oh geez, that's way back there. Jame. Could you help me. Could you just lift it up, I can get the puppy? JAMEY JOSEPH I don't want to set it back down on her though, might be kind of heavy. JODY Well, I'll reach it, just. JAMEY JOSEPH Okay, ready? Got it? JODY Pretty puppy. JAMEY JOSEPH Momma's favorite. JODY Yeah. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I have some nuts we could put on our fishing rods for weights cause it's pretty windy out. Hopefully, we can catch some salmon since we didn't have any luck with the seals. CHRIS APASSINGOK Oh. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Ugly weather, man! Seal hunting is all year round', but salmon fishing is seasonal. First cast. Ah, my line. Mine got wrapped. CHRIS APASSINGOK Ah, damn. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Hey, Algae CHRIS APASSINGOK Huh? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK You think they're gonna bite? CHRIS APASSINGOK No, it's too windy. Moving all the dirt off the bottom. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK With this wind and the rain, it's not good for fishing, so it's not worth it. CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah, I'm done. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK No seals and no fish, that's just our luck today. The weather changes rapidly here. CHRIS APASSINGOK Come back on a nicer day, huh? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK At camp we don't have any cell service or Wi-Fi or anyway to check the forecast, so the way we do it is, you look at the sky. My turn? Go in. Even if we didn't get anything. It's always nice spending time with my brother. That's a seven. So, I win. JODY Hi. JODY We're glad you made it. JODY We've been so happy all day. Do you remember coming here before? MADELINE DAUGHTER Uh-uh. JODY No? And as the edges just get golden you turn it. Every Saturday my mom always made a bunch of homemade frybread and, you know, we'd always have like beans or moose soup with frybread. Our culture, really is our medicine, you know. MADELINE DEREPENTIGNY I think the way to bring back culture is to live it. So, just having a conversation, my daughter hears what we're talking about. There's just a lot of strength being built there. JODY Yeah, good medicine. MADELINE DEREPENTIGNY Uh-huh. JODY Yeah. TIG I'd like to thank the community of Allakaket. What a beautiful place, we come from and we live. You know, this is a town that's full of culture and tradition. You know, that was my first time ever helping put together a fence. There's carpenters from around town helped me, and showed me and guild me and I appreciate that. COMMUNITY MEMBER I'm grateful. COMMUNITY MEMBER All of you helped, uh. COMMUNITY MEMBER Put the fences up and, uh, especially for my two brothers. TIG Doing stuff like this as a community, it's a good way to keep our community strong. It shows our elders, they don't have to be worried that when they're gone, these traditions and cultures aren't gonna be left behind. We're very strong community, very strong people. Very proud to be, be from Allakaket. TIG Enaa Baasee'. Our culture and tradition is in good hands. JODY There's certain things in our life that are just good medicine for us. Come eat you guys, dinners done. Being around certain people. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Oh, hi handsome. CHRIS APASSINGOK Boo. JODY Being out on the land. GLYNDARIL First fish of the season, gotta cook it up on the beach. JODY Breathing the fresh air. MARCELLA We got fish, the seal got fish, ha-ha. GLYNDARIL Everybody's gonna eat today. JODY It makes me a better person. JODY That's just the life that I choose. INA KOONOOKA Oh. JODY That's the life that I strive for. MARCELLA Is that yummy? GLYNDARIL Hmm. Uh-hmm. MARCELLA Yeah. JODY There's a lot of medicine all around us. A lot of beauty. First duck soup of the year. Really hits the spot. MADELINE DEREPENTIGNY Uh-hmm. JAMEY JOSEPH Oh, yeah. JODY Just really thankful for all of that. CHRIS APASSINGOK The tundra is a really big part of the land out here. I like to go out riding. There's a lot of salmonberries, blue berries. There's a lot of greens you can pick off of. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I bet I'm gonna find one lucky berry. Growing up I didn't really do much with our hunting and picking berries. CHRIS APASSINGOK They're still hard. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK They're almost ready. Last year, when I moved away, I missed all the food. The singing and dancing. It's just beautiful. Being a part of this place is, is beautiful. Probably another week or so, huh? INA KOONOOKA My son, he's certainly a very playful little boy. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK [speaking Akuzipik] INA KOONOOKA I can see him looking up to his father and wanting to be a subsistence hunter for everyone in the village. AGHVELEK [inaudible] INA KOONOOKA Uh-hmm. AGHVELEK [inaudible] INA KOONOOKA Definitely see him becoming a strong, successful hunter. CHRIS APASSINGOK Come on. Got a long time of, uh, camping with him, ahead of us.