Pulling up roots and setting sights for POW Island (Ketchikan: sales, neighborhoods)

[Skinnyguy]

Best watch out sweet brown will bbq your tilapia and then all will be left is moose ba!!s. you guys have a great sense of humor hope to have a brew with you some day.

[Metlakatla]

Maybe if you're buying, Skinny, because Stiff is so cheap that he squeaks and I don't pay for drinks because I'm so flippin' arrogant that I feel that purchasing cocktails for me is the job of the little people. I'm not sure, though; I'm guessing you may be one of those environmental types what with dragging up goats and farming fish in your living room and all. And don't be getting any bright ideas about setting up a moonshine still on POW -- we don't take kindly to anyone trying to horn in on our -- I mean to anyone trying to corrupt our citizens with the evils of drink.

[Skinnyguy]

With moose balls and dragging goats sounds like i dont need a still. You guys know how to party . Throw in fish farming in the living room and we got ourselves a shin dig. I hope stiff keeps it down so we dont wake the bears.

[Skinnyguy]

I am just playing but actually looking for property on pow. Been there as a teenager and would
Love to get back. Seems like a better place for my kids, not sure about the schools only cause i dont know but need to sell my house and move. What are the schools like?

[Skinnyguy]

As far as the feed store i got his number off the island news online and he seemed to be a real down to earth person. He gave some good advice and i believe he was in klawock. I dont know if you have any experience with livestock metlakatla but i am really just trying to see what works. My family means the world to me and would love to see what works.Here in the lower 48, at least where i am from goats are not that uncommon and whether i want to bring them with us is not an easy choice. Please if you have any experience comment if not then dont.

[Metlakatla]

The schools are rotten. The children all bring their goats to school.

There is no feed store in Klawock. There's a guy and his wife who run it out of their home, I guess, and I seem to recall that they were living over in Hollis. I think I bought some raspberry bushes from him last year. They sell mostly dog food, but they quit carrying the kind we like to feed ours, but if they're the same people, they used to even deliver it to us.

Ummm........we need to discuss this sentence:

Please if you have any experience comment if not then dont.

Particularly the last two words. I will comment on whatever the hell I see fit to comment on, and that is in no way negotiable.

Of all livestock animals, I'd say that goats are the ones that have the best chance of survival on POW. I'm not sure whether it's worth it. We thought about getting some last year and decided against it because they'd be eating up all the berries and my flowers.

Whether you bring the goats with you or not is going to depend on the type of land that you buy and the size of your lot. You probably already know that it really isn't good for goats to be confined to small areas, so unless you've got acreage that you can somehow fence, the goats may be better off staying in the lower 48.

I'd suggest that you speak further with the feed store guy, because it sounds like he's successful at having goats on the island. Ask him how much land you'll need and what kind of feed he has available to supplement that. Although I know the difference between an antelope and a goat, I'm really no expert on them; my earlier comments were more specific to livestock in general. I come from a quite strong agricultural background, by the way, but I know far more about horses and cattle than I do about goats. I have, however, seen a lot of animals suffer on POW because of the stupidity of humans.

[gobrien]

Oddly enough, when people do comment on what they know about POW, they are disregarded over and over to the point of frustration. If someone were to tell me that I was wrong about my hometown in my area of expertise I think I would get really annoyed.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by gobrien

Oddly enough, when people do comment on what they know about POW, they are disregarded over and over to the point of frustration. If someone were to tell me that I was wrong about my hometown in my area of expertise I think I would get really annoyed.

Yes, it does get rather annoying, especially when they throw questionable internet-gleaned quasi information at you "prove" that you are wrong...but on the other hand, so many people these days are looking for a "safe place", somewhere where they can survive if the economy goes to hell or whatever, and POW is often one of the places that they look at. It can be done, of course, but European-based agricultural methods don't work on the island, and those wanting to live as self-sufficiently as possible need to think outside of that particular box.

When most people think about self-sufficiency, one of the first things that comes to mind is growing a big garden, but in many parts of Alaska, the time and energy that it takes to do so is better spent wildcrafting. You just get more that way for your time, and time is at a premium in Alaska. Summers are short, and those who want to "live off the land" need to work with the land rather than against it.

I've seen so many people move up with a set way in their minds about how it's going to be. The OP here mentioned that her political convictions attract her to Alaska, but you know as well as I do that Alaska isn't the neocon haven that some in the lower forty-eight believe it to be, and that different regions of the state vary on political leanings. SE is not Sarah Palin's Alaska; it's light blue. We like our Senator Lisa and we have little use for Joe Miller, the Kansas carpetbagging clown. Or at least that's what voting records show. Politics really aren't discussed much among friends and neighbors. I've known my neighbor since we were teenagers, and I have no idea how he votes. It just doesn't seem to be as important there as it does in other places.

My advice to anyone wanting to move up is to take it slowly and adapt to the area rather than thinking it will adapt to you, because it most likely won't. The way to "live off the land," no matter where you're at, is to work with what the land has to offer -- most European-based agricultural practices work directly against what POW has to offer.

BTW, the deer tend to be a big larger on POW for some reason than in other parts of SE.

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

My advice to anyone wanting to move up is to take it slowly and adapt to the area rather than thinking it will adapt to you, because it most likely won't.

that's the shizzle!!!

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

that's the shizzle!!!

What the hell is wrong with you? Shizzle? WTH? Are you all hopped up on meds tonight? LOL. That was hilarious.