Fall means hunting and berry picking on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. KYUK’s Petra Harpak talked to Esther Green, one of the oldest ladies out picking on the tundra.
Petra Harpak: “And you're still picking berries?”
Esther Green: “Yes.”
P: “Wow, you’re so young.”
E: “Oh really? Oh thank you. My mind never feel old, my mind stay young and I think it goes with every other elder.”
Green is eighty years old, and over the years she’s seen a lot change on the Delta. She is worried that next summer’s berry harvest will not be as plentiful as this summer’s. She says that it’s getting harder to predict because the weather has changed over the years.
E: “The weather condition is the one we have to use for guide, weather condition. And it’s been cold. Many, many years ago when I was young growing up, our summers used to be nice and hot. How many years now, 10 years now, inside of that, it’s so different; it’s getting cold.”
You can hear more of Esther Green’s discussion with Petra Harpak on Coffee at KYUK on September 21, 2018.
