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HOMER - Irene Tanape recalls speaking only Segtestun while she was growing up in Nanwalek. In fact, once when she approached a young English-speaking child to play, she didn't know anything to say in English other than, "Johnson and Johnson?"

"She nodded at me and we played," Tanape remembered. "I don't know where I learned that - Johnson and Johnson - but I thought it meant to play."

As summer work harvesting gardens and putting up fish continues at a good pace in this remote Kenai Peninsula village, Tanape and other elders pass on the stories of how things were done in the old days. The self-reliance of growing gardens and putting up winter food is especially significant in a year of high electrical and fuel costs.

"We didn't have refrigerators, so we salted, smoked or dried our fish the tamuuq and balik - and gathered up goose tongue (grasses)," Tanape said. "We ate bear, moose and seal."

Tanape was born in the village and delivered by midwife - like many of her 12 brothers and sisters. Her parents, Juanita and Sarge Kvasnikoff, were teachers at the Bureau of Indian Affairs School.

Tanapes sister, Kathy Brewster, also recalls the subsistence work that involved so many things, it took everyone doing their part to be successful.

"We cleaned the smokehouse and gardened - putting up food and picking berries," Brewster said. "There was always something to do."

Passing on knowledge of local plants and their different uses has become a deep interest for Brewster. Yarrow - dried and flaked into tea - is considered an antioxidant that flushes out a person's system.

Devil's club - boiled to a condensed mixture and taken only in small doses - is said to hold pain-healing properties to help with arthritis. Wild rhubarb and parsley are also harvested.

Historically, people generally had an abundant supply of food in this scenic spot by a lagoon that collects all species of salmon. An occasional bear, porcupine or moose - as well as plenty of shellfish - complemented village dinner tables through the decades.

Elders in Nanwalek gather for weekly meals at the Robert Kvasnikoff Community Center, and none of the food is supplied through government grant. Instead, the village provides the food, said Brewster, who oversees senior programs for the Nanwalek IRA Council. Currently, 25 youths work four-hour days putting up food. Vanessa Peterson, 15, showed the garden fenced off, its potatoes, cabbage, carrots and lettuce growing in neat rows.

"That's one of our projects. We also need to rebuild a smokehouse," Peterson said, gesturing toward a small building to the back of the garden.

Under the guidance of Emilie Swenning, the Summer Youth Program keeps 14- to 21-year-olds busy throughout the summer in a long list of tasks. The program is funded by North Pacific Rim Housing Authority, Chugach Alaska Corp. and Chugachmuit and Nanwalek IRA Council.

"They do beautification for the public buildings, subsistence gathering for the community and elders, and can salmon and pick berries for jam," Swenning said.

The idea is to pass along values for self-reliance, said Swenning, adding that "it has to happen."