Why doesn't it work anymore to "live off the land?"

[MouseBandit]

Hey guys, resurrecting this thread!

The husband has come around, and we are making the move!

I will be researching more on Delta Junction area and the Eastern interior, but at this point, we're focused on Homer and out East End Rd.

We won't be looking to be 100% or even necessarily 90% subsistence, but we do want to do as much as we can and keep striving for more. I *think* that in a coastal area, we could get to 70%.

Husband will be looking for work up there, but we'll be coming to purchase a property and home for cash, with a year or two of living-expenses in reserves, so immediate income isn't crucial, nor will long-term high-income be. I think I'll also be bringing up a couple of years worth of shelf-stable food stores.

Fish wheels won't be on our agenda, but having a boat and heading out into Katchemak Bay for fishing definitely will be. I need to do a bunch more research (on everything, LOL), but we'll be looking at figuring out if the net fishing is an option for subsistence in that area (I don't even know enough yet to know if I'm properly wording what I'm trying to say, haha).

We would anticipate a lot of salmon and halibut going on, and traveling to get moose, deer, and maybe (in my dreams, haha) caribou. Ptarmigan, pheasant, duck, any other wild fowl. Home grown chickens, and hopefully goats for eggs, meat, milk. If we had the right property, I would love to have a few head of cattle, but I would imagine unless you have serious acreage for hay, that it would be prohibitively expensive to feed them through the winter.

I'm already a big fan of canning, and can a lot of meat and veggies and fruits down here. Are used canning jars pretty readily available up there?

Bi-Annual trips to Anchorage or wherever is cheapest to get bulk pantry foods - oats, wheat, sugar, salt, etc. I'm an excellent "food storage" cook, so we are already used to eating meals made up of a lot of shelf-stable food, with some fresh and fermented things added in where possible. :-)

We will be looking for properties that have a high tunnel or greenhouse already on them. (Why do high tunnels need to be so high? Why not only like 8-10' high?) Raised bed gardens are what we've always run down here, and a lot of composting going on to help add to things. We would intend to continue those methods up there.

We will have some residual income the first few years, and the plan will be to have alaska-based income streams in place by the time that ends, to cover the cash needs, like property taxes, repairs and maintenance, vehicles, travel, foods we can't produce or procure, etc.

Husband is still doing civil construction, and could do residential or commercial if the opportunity presented itself up there. He's also a great mechanic, but less enthusiastic about it, haha. He's very smart and capable, leader kind of guy, so I anticipate that he'll find something, get up to speed, and make it work. Hopefully, things go as planned, and we won't need an incredibly high salary, especially with the home paid for, and kids being homeschooled.

I'm also wrapping up my licensing to be a tax preparer (in oregon you have to be licensed, I don't think so up there, but I haven't checked those details yet). I will be calling up the local tax prep offices in the area to see if they're anticipating needing any help next tax season. Eventually, I would love to have my own independent office, but I'm not sure how much of a market there would be. I think there's already 3-4 bookkeeping / tax offices in Homer. I would have a small existing group of Oregon clients that I would still be able to prepare returns for, from there. But a little side-gig of bookkeeping and tax preparation would be awesome.

Does anyone up there do bio-diesel (homemade) for their trucks? That's something that's done halfway regularly down here - old motor oil or cooking oil gets turned into biodiesel and there's some mods to make to the truck, but once you get your system down, it's pretty smooth. Are chainsaws something we should bring up with us, or are those like furniture - sell them here and buy used when we get up there? Hubby has a few saws that, of course, are like family to him, haha.

Oh and the wood heat - are the forests around Homer sufficient to go cut your own firewood for the winters? I doubt we'll find a piece of land large enough to have a sustainable woodlot, but I'm hoping there's permit-based woodcutting close by. We've always heated with wood heat, and will want to continue to do that.

Does Amazon Prime ship up there? (I know, I need to look that one up on my own, haha!)

Thanks for all the throught-provoking, guys! This has been a long road to the decision, but we are SO excited now!

MouseBandit

[riceme]

I've got to jump in the shower, so I only skimmed this post, but I'll reiterate what I said in the other thread about tools... best investment for someone who knows how to use them. I would keep the saw and all the tools, particularly if he has taken good care of them and it sounds like he has since they are "family."

Amazon Prime is a requirement for all Alaskans... You get issued your membership as soon as you cross the state line.