A couple suggestions:

1. If you wait until around April 1 there is less of a chance of freezing especially if you insulate boxes. After May 1 there is very little chance of freezing.

2. The post office has told me to mark “perishable” on perishable shipments. I don’t know if that applies to mail coming from outside of Alaska– talk with your postmaster.

3. Look at weather forecasts– if you can get a long term forecast (7 days) that looks good, (not too cold and o.k. flying weather for western Alaska) that would be your best bet. Weather forecasts are always a gamble especially in Alaska. However if a big storm is heading towards western Alaska, I’d wait until it has blown through.

4. Usually it takes 5 to 10 days, depending on weather and destination, for stuff to arrive.

There can be some problems with fermenting. Some people (Bantus, I think) brewed their beer in iron pots and suffered from iron overload. A country doctor told me of treating a hippy (in the 60′s) who was suffering from lead poisoning. He did a home visit and discovered they were making prune wine (Prunes are abundant in oregon) in a discarded bath tub. Apparently the porcelain was chipped and the metal had a high lead level. The person who was suffering was an alcoholic, so he drank a lot of the wine.

Thank you for your comments.

Slightly OT here–long ago I wrote an article about historic food preservation. In the past there were issues with acid and copper pots–if you leave acidic fruits in them for too long there’s chemical reaction. I can’t imagine that anybody is still making their preserves in copper wash boilers (the Receptacle Of Choice long ago, apparently), but in the past people died from it. So how’s that for a trip down Memory Lane?

I’ve gone on line to see if I can find any problems related to home preserved jams and jellies. I am relieved to see that there is no “new problem.” (Who would have thought that we had to worry about salmonella in salad ingredients and commercial peanut butter?) The basic nature of jams with the high sugar content restricts growth of any microorganisms except mold. Probably an exception to restriction of accepting home preserves should be with jams and jellies only. Then these should be sealed with lids, not paraffin.

I again apologize for any misunderstanding and suggest the distributors (Ann and Victoria) consult with their extension agents and consider their list of acceptable foods.

I drive past roadsie vendors selling oranges on every trip to the PO. I have thought about sending a bag, also. There would be no food safety concern, but I also wonder about the temperature problem. The clerk at the PO said he used to send crates of fruits and vegetables to a mission in Sitka. He sent them parcel post and they were very appreciated.

As a dietitian I worry about the vitamin C in the native diet, and I would think that oranges would be of great benefit.

Maybe someone who has been in the shipping business would be able to help us on this.

â?¦â?¦ I couldnâ??t agree more with your statement. This woman and her side kick, Parnellâ?¦.they have no shame.

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Disrespect towards an elder is not to be tolerated. Never. When will Alaska be rid of this lamia that calls itself “governor?”