Harvest and Alaska – two thoughts that don’t always go together, but those of us who know better are perfectly aware that the land of the midnight sun is a perfect place to gather a bountiful harvest.

This month as we prepare to open the Princess Lodges across the state and prepare for increased visitors at our Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, we take this time to reconnect with the local farmers, brewers and tree sap harvesters (yes, you read right) who provide us with produce and other Alaska grown goods.

The Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge began offering locally harvested Alaska produce as part of the Alaska Grown movement three years ago. This will be the first year the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is offering the locally grown salad greens, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, potatoes and herbs and more. At just the Fairbanks location alone, we will go through 16,000 heads of Romaine lettuce this summer. So you can imagine the forethought that has to go into placing these orders – a process that began this winter when we were planning our summer menus with these farmers in mind. Beyond the local produce, this year’s menus will also feature a totally separate gluten-free menu and a variety of options to make regular menu items gluten free as well.

We also sat down this month to get our first taste of the Glacier Brewhouse Denali Red, a beer that was brewed exclusively for Princess Lodges. We can assure you this will be a go–to brew for all the beer lovers visiting our lodges.

Finally, we touched based with the very busy people at Kahiltna Birchworks to place our orders. Dulce (yes, as in Spanish for sweet) and her husband Michael are hard at work as we write this, collecting coveted birch sap from their forest of birches just outside Talkeetna. The sap is turned into syrup used as a glaze for our salmon and as breakfast syrup. We are also setting aside a few bottles for you to buy in the lodge gift shops.

We’re in full swing at the five Princess Lodges around the state and it is quickly starting to look, feel and taste a whole lot like summer.