I’ve always lived where it’s hot and rain is there and gone in a flash. I planned my gardens around heat loving plants with low water needs. Moving to South Central Alaska’s rainforest environment has been a huge adjustment for me. I didn’t expect it to be so hard to adapt to this area and it’s more… interesting challenges. Continue reading “Trials Of Living In A Rainforest Environment”
I don’t want to make an entire post complaining, but being pregnant while starting a homestead has brought some interesting challenges. My pregnancy is only supposed to last another month (yay!) so we’re really feeling rushed on our timeline to get certain things done. Like our 12 x 12 extension to our studio shed. We really need that extra space to live comfortably out here with another person, no matter how tiny.
We will be staying in a friend’s cabin directly after birth for awhile though. It’s closer to town and has some amenities like running water that will make adjusting to having a newborn a little easier for Kyle and I. Staying there will also give him more time to work on our extension and making it winter ready before bringing our daughter home. I’m really glad that we’ve met so many amazing people in this area. And I’m extremely grateful to our friends for offering us their place for as long as we need it. Continue reading “Pregnancy And Homesteading”
This week, Kyle and I have both had to slow down. Kyle pulled a muscle in his back lifting logs, and I’ve strained something in my shoulder. It’s definitely making life out here that much harder. We’ve been taking it easy for the last week, trying not to make the injuries worse, and it’s hit home that we could really be in trouble if we hurt ourselves. Everything is done by hand here, so being out of commission causes a lot of setbacks in our plans. And so much of what we do out here is dangerous, like falling trees! Continue reading “Safety Around The Homestead”
I thought I’d lay out some thoughts behind why we decided to homestead here over anywhere else. As I mentioned in my very first post, part of our decision to move to Alaska came from Alaskan off-grid reality TV. Kyle and I both knew that those programs showed an overly romanticized version of homesteading in Alaska. But so many people living our dream here made us hopeful that we could make it too. We did a lot of research before buying our little piece of land, and there were just way too many pros in moving to Alaska for us to try to homestead in Washington.
Really, the tiniest things bring us joy. Not that we weren’t happy before, but with the time and effort that everything requires now, we are that much more appreciative of things.
Things like clean laundry make us ridiculously happy. It’s so easy to take for granted when you have a washer and dryer. Just load it up, push a button and walk away. Now it takes time to wash, wring (Amazon), rinse, wring again, and hang up to dry. And one day of sun and wind will make you ecstatic after 3 days of hanging clothes, only to have it start raining the minute everything is up.
We find ourselves laughing more, talking more, and actually saying the words “that makes me happy” and “I appreciate that”. There is more joy and sense of accomplishment in our lives since we moved off grid. Wanting to be happy and live life on our terms is why we came out here in the first place, and knowing we made the right decision makes everything just that much better.
You must be logged in to post a comment.