My Father's Smokehouse

Filled with stories of family, food, and culture, and interwoven with personal recipes and photographs taken by the author, My Father's Smokehouse folds the reader into a beautiful island landscape. The smokehouse at Mickey's Fishcamp holds more than fish. It is filled with traditions, memories, and stories of a thriving Southeast Alaskan life—of a family's perseverance, of the wisdom of Sámi and Tlingit cultures, and of respect for Elders and their knowledge of the natural world. Mickey's Fishcamp is named after three generations of Prescott fishermen who commercially fished the waters of the Inside Passage, and is located near one of the oldest Tlingit settlements in Wrangell, Alaska. Here, next to the rainforest and sea, author Vivian Faith Prescott has found her place in the world. She is a student and teacher of the natural environment—harvesting spruce tips, berries, sea lettuce, and goose tongue and processing salmon, halibut, and hooligan—who combines traditional practices with modern knowledge. Heartwarming and introspective, My Father's Smokehouse tells one woman's stories of Traditional Knowledge that is learned and passed on, from one generation to the next.