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Nov 18, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
The manner in which we deal with death in our homogenized modern culture is quite strange. when you start to think about it. After thousands and thousands of years of living side by side with death and accepting it as something natural and undeniable and necessary, much like the changing of the seasons, we as a human race are now in a place, at least in the dominant western society, where we seem to have disassociated life from death.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
If I’m being honest, I tend to enjoy the lead-up to Christmas a lot more than the main event. By the time December 25th actually rolls around I’m generally tired of the holiday songs playing in the stores since Halloween, the novelty of the fresh snow has worn off and I feel ready to start the new year already.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
Many associate foraging for wild medicines and foods mainly with the snow-free months of the year, but there are actually several very resilient plants that are here for us even when the north wind has blown off the last of the autumn leaves and snow has begun to fall. In fact, it almost feels like these hardy plants are here for us by design just when we need them most.
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Oct 7, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber |Newest Edition
“Smile and the world smiles with you”In 1963, a commercial artist from Worcester, Mass. named Harvey Ball created the iconic and now world-famous smiley face. An insurance company had hired him to come up with an image to increase employee morale. Apparently the drawing took 10 minutes to complete and he was paid $45 for his work.
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Sep 23, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
I was reading the other day about what causes leaves to change colour in the fall. While I already knew that it was the shorter days and cooler temperatures that trigger the transformation and cause the chlorophyll in the leaves to break down, making the green colour disappear, I was surprised to learn that many of the gorgeous hues we associate with autumn were actually always there; we just couldn’t see them.
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Sep 9, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
Of all the places I’ve been fortunate enough to have lived so far, in my life, the Southern Lakes Region of the Yukon has always felt most like home. There are countless reasons why I love it so much here: the mountains, the people, the forest, the quiet … but I think it’s the lakes themselves that I feel connected to most. When I return, after some time away, I never feel like I am truly home again until I go out into the forest and walk down by the lake.
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Aug 26, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
No matter how much I love , with its stunning colours, brisk mornings and golden afternoons, there’s a sadness that comes with the end of summer. I remember all the things that I had hoped to do (and didn’t) and the days I let pass by without fully appreciating the preciousness of each moment. In the Yukon you never really know when the last really “summer-y” day of the year will be. Some years the summer end early and other years it drags on into a gorgeous fall.
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Aug 12, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
What the Yukon lacks in fruit trees it makes up for with berries. Strawberries, saskatoons, haskaps, raspberries, currants, blueberries, mossberries, cranberries, rosehips—there’s so much abundance growing all around us. It’s one of my favourite things about living here. Around mid summer I basically turn into a bear and can be found making my rounds outside most days nibbling on some kind of berry or another.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
It’s easy to love the warm and sunny days of summer. After all, what’s not to like about ice cream in cones, short sleeves and balmy breezes. But what about the rainy, grey parts of summer that include the wet and damp days that mean more bugs and less days out at the lake swimming and working on your tan? Here’s a few reasons why you may want to give them a chance too:The Coziness: A moody rainy day calls for a cup of hot chocolate, a bowl of soup and your favourite sweater.
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Jul 15, 2024 | 
whatsupyukon.com | Jessica Surber
It’s a warm Yukon summer afternoon and thirty or more people are gathered outside of the Visitor Information Centre in Whitehorse. Some are tourists here on vacation and others are locals, like myself, taking a break from their regular Thursday. I’m here to go on a walk with Amber Berard-Althouse, a proud Tlingit woman and member of Kluane First Nation. I don’t really know what to expect but I’m curious and hoping to maybe learn something new on this gorgeous sun-shiny day.
