Changing my, and my Family's Life Forever....

[paulandashia]

Hubby and Myself have been thinking a lot about moving out in the middle of Bum Fudge Egypt.
We live in Alaska, and remote land is dirt cheap.
We are tired of dealing with people, tired of living in a city, (and we live in a remote town on an acre of land with plenty of room.!!!)
Here is what we were thinking.

Selling our home, and buying as many Acres as we can find, as far away from people as we can find. Land that is Accessible by Horseback, on foot, on a snow machine, or perhaps a 4-wheeler. But somewhere where there is no roads. No people.
Moving back into a big town and living in a small apartment with our 2 children for about 2-3 years.
First year, go out there, and cut down a lot of trees so they can season, and we can build a log cabin out of them.
While the trees are getting seasoned, over the course of 2 years, complete the following:

Start clearing land for hay planting.
Start on a large garden for Vegetables.
Build Corrals for horses and goats.
Make shelters to keep animals safe from rain and snow.
Build Chicken coop with a small run.
Build a small barn for animal feed and general storage.
Build a shed for wood storage close to where the cabin will be.
Build an Out-House.
Build a Food-Storage hole (Underground) for summers.
Start purchasing tools for necessary daily living (pitchforks, shovels, hammers, hatchets, axes, guns, wood stove for cooking and heat, etc)
Start working on a water well between the animal pens and the house.
Purchase windows bathtub, etc for the house.
Build a LARGE smoker to smoke meat and fish.
Buy a LOT of Canning jars for food preservation.
Purchase a few apple trees.
Once trees season start working on the house.
Once livable (does not have to be completed), move out there in the early spring, and continue to work on it.
Meanwhile start planting in the garden, as well as planting feed for the animals...
Purchase only a few animals (2 horses, 2 milk goats, and chickens (which we already have).
Purchase enough feed for the animals to feed them until we can start harvest our own...
Purchase more horses, goats, ducks, turkeys, chickens, etc.
And many more things...

Yearly:
We would travel to town to sell animal hides, meat, and other things (jelly, jams, preserves, goat kids, chickens, etc).
Pay our yearly taxes, and purchase a LOT of Salt, Sugar, and Flour, as well as clothes for the year ahead.
The kids will need to be home schooled, will need to get books. Lots and Lots of books!
We will have no electricity, no running water, no septic, no TV, no phone, no Internet, Etc.
We want to have a few horses (for transport), chickens (for obvious reasons), and a few goats (for meat, milk, cheese, butter, etc)
We will also be hunting and fishing regularly.
We will have to harvest Hay, Vegetables, etc.


We are aware that we will be working from dusk til dawn every day.
We are aware that instead of worrying about people hurting our children, or cars hitting them, we will have to worry about bears, wolves, coyotes, wolverines, etc...
We know it will be hard living.

But we also both know that neither of us wants to continue to live the way we do.
We are capable of so much more...
We want more for our children.
We want to teach them hard work, responsibility, loyalty, and the meaning of family.

With us working and being away from each other, our children would be raised by strangers in the Daycare Business. I don't want that for them.



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What are your guyses opinions on Living off the Land?


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[KellyHM]

Ok, here are the potential problems I see right off the bat:

What if you or one of your kids has a serious accident/injury. How long will it take you to get them somewhere or someone to get to you? What about in the winter when there are blizzards?

Do you think your kids will be socialized enough having only family around? Or will this make it difficult for them to integrate back into the "real world" when they're older if this is what they choose to do?

I think it sounds like a good idea in general if that's what you want, but there are probably issues that you aren't thinking about yet.

 

[Blackbird]

My opinion?

Go to the sister site Sufficient Self (you can find the link at the very bottom of this page)

 

[mom'sfolly]

Alaska offers correspondence school through the state for children who live too remote for schools. Even farm folks I know in Alaska do not grow enough to feed their animals over the winter. Maybe sugar beets would work.

One of my sister's best friends lived remotely for a few years, a hike or boat in location. However, they were within a 1/2-1 hour boat ride to Juneau, and the hike in wasn't terribly long. Even so, when their children became school age, this was too much. They also had a small wind mill, a generator, a solar or propane fridge and, I believe a septic tank and running water. I think this may be more work and hardship than you anticipate. I would recommend borrowing a cabin for the summer, and finding out if you can stand to be together, without anyone else, with no internet, TV or even light for 24/7 for months on end.

I don't understand why the outhouse and no running water. If you are drilling a well, plumb the house, run the gray water out to the to the garden. At -20, no one wants to deal with their period or a case of stomach flu without a commode.

I don't think small barn would not hold enough hay for a full winter, a basement on the cabin could be made from logs (as my home in Haines) and provide you with a root cellar that you don't have to go outdoors for. I don't think you would need a large smokehouse, huge plantations only had 10 X 10 buildings.

But here are some of the more serious concerns:

How are you going to plant, plow, harvest and hay? Do you drive a tractor in, or a small vehicle to do multiple jobs? How much fuel do you need?

How will you contact people in case of emergencies? How much training will you have to handle emergencies, especially with children, in a place where the weather can keep planes from flying. What will you use for birth control? Wasilla is within driving distance of Anchorage, and a real ER; being 3 hours away on a good flying day is something else entirely.

Do you know what the per acre veggie yeild is in the area you are looking at? How much grazing land you need for a couple/three goats and a few horses.

I think really talking to people who do subsistance living in Alaska will give you a far better perspective than anyone from the lower 48 can give you. Find a place to live this way for a short period, to find out if you are cut out for it. Cabin fever isn't just a made up story! As far as Alaska goes, you are living in the 'burbs. The mere fact that you can drive out of Wasilla is extraordinary for many Alaskans.

 

[arabianequine]

How are you gonna get "water" to bathe, drink, for the animals, to grow garden and for the hay?

 

[agnes_day]

i would try living that lifestyle for a few months before jumping in headfirst. also, it sounds like a dismal sort of upbringing for children that are not already used to it.

 

[friskebluegills]

Hi, This sounds exactly what my husband always talks about wanting to do. We of coarse never will, but I can let him dream right

How old are your kids? Have you been able to talk to them about it? If it was me, my biggest concern would be about the kids. I know you and your husband are sick of dealing with people, but your kids may really enjoy the company of other children. I have 2 kids and they only have to go to daycare the couple days a week that I work and they absolutely love being around the other kids. Plus even if you and your husband both work, expecially if it's both 1st shift, your only away from your kids for about 8 hours. You still have 16 hours with them, and if they're not already in school they will be soon and will be gone that amount of time anyways. If you guys are able to financially do this, why not just buy a place with acreage outside of town so you can still get away, but be close enough to the city for hospitals and stuff. I've never been to Alaska, but I would assume you could do that anyways

It sounds pretty risky and like it would be a lot of work, but if it's what you and your husband think is right for your family go for it. I would just make sure to get running water and a toilet, the other people are absolutly right about that stuff. I would also try and plan out the next 15 or so winters, because I know they are long there and dark and any size of a house is going to feel small with 2 kids in it. Another thing to maybe think about is, will it push your kids away. As soon as they turn 18 or even before they might run off to the big city because of the situation they were put in, and may hold it against you. Good luck, keep us posted on what you decide.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I don't know if the climate would let you grow all that stuff every year. Even at that, some years your hay crop would fail, and you'd have to buy hay for the animals. That's expensive. I think it's expensive because it's hard to grow locally and has to be brought in.

I don't think jam and baby goats will bring in enough money. I think most of the people who do that wind up working somewhere near their cabin.

I think the best thing is not to talk to people who are doing it, but to people who were doing it and quit. Find out the mistakes people make and avoid those. If you talk to people who are loving it you won't get a balanced view.

I'd also wonder if the kids would actually like it. Kids tend to like to have friends they can go visit. They like being around someone who's not their brother, sister or mom and dad.

 

[oesdog]

My Dh also dreams of this kind of thing but we would never do it really because we have kids with disabilities and that is hard to cope with in a remote place.

When my Hubby describes it, it is like this fantastic fantasy. - Then reality bites and I think to myself yeah right??? We will sell our lovely home and move to the top of Scotland in the middle nowhere, we will have a massive load of land to farm with animals and all the rest and it will be great for a fortnight! Then he will pop his clogs and leave me living like a hurmit for EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Thats when I wake up!!!!!!!!! Look out the window and thank God for PEOPLE, CARS, HOUSES, SHOPS AND THE LOCAL PUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oesdog - Be sure its what you really really really want and that your kids will get the best life possible from it?????????????????? I think you need to be very certain in an emergency you can GET HELP!!!!!!!!!

 

[Goose and Fig]

Well- we have been doing the TN version of your plan for 3 1/2years. It's not the physical labor that's hard- it's being away from people you love & rely on, and completely fending for yourselves. The more time I spend in "the boonies", the more I feel that the culture itself is hostile. Nature- no problem! Need a mechanic? You're SOL!

If you do go ahead- be sure to invest in your own mill.