Pulling up roots and setting sights for POW Island (Homer: to buy, square footage)

[stiffnecked]

Got off the steroids. Now, one day a week I self medicate, on a slow drip.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c359/akbushcop/patronbag.jpg (broken link)

[GrammasCabin]

This has been the most entertaining thread I've seen in a long long time. I'd be reppin' ya Met but I guess it's not your turn

I think everyone wanting to move to POW should bring their goats and cows and sheep and any other livestock they can pack up here. POW has more trophy-size black bears than all of Canada or the US. They'l be waking up soon... and they're hungry.

[RobbyVG]

I visited POW Island this last fall. I was very interested in POW as a place to live. I am an Iraq Veteran and my wife can handle anything I can. We thought the place was very... well, home. We love rain (water), we love the forests and coast and can appreciate some violent weather here and there. The people we met were very friendly. We stayed at the Trophy Inn.

Through Island Realty and on our own we looked at property after property. We have both learned to be guarded and cynical.... but we really loved the place. We want to move to POW Island to aid us in self sufficiency, weather, water, isolation, beauty.

I am well aware that bears live there. News Flash: Bears live in other states in the US and many of us have encountered them. You folks ever heard of Livestock Guardians (Canines)? Do you think Alaska is the only state that has bears?

I see a lot of xenophobia from "natives" on here - yet... when I was there... I did not feel that at all.

On this forum you folks say the soil is acidic - and it is. Did you know there are one or two things you can add to to the soil to neutralize that acidity and grow things? You seem to think that if you did not think of it that it is not possible.

Goats can live there just fine - they simply need a few livestock guardians - livestock guardians bred to protect livestock from bears, wolves, etc. Anyone who has critized having goats in the POW area - please respond saying you have or have had livestock guardians to protect your livestock. For myself I've seen domesticated chickens on the island. Chickens can defend against bears and goats cannot? Really?

After spending time there, this forum gives me a very different and xenophobic impression. As a War Veteran, all I wanted to do is move there, have a self sufficient private life and live with my best friend and spouse. This general climate and area has been her dream. I'm not a slick person wanting to change things or populate the area with my voice. I simply want a good community to live in that is truly rural, small and kind.

I live in Arizona at the moment and I hate this area because people are violently xenophobic. This is an angry area full of angry people. I don't want this. My Sales tax is over 10% and people hate anyone that isn't from within 10 miles of here. Every other car here seems to be a Sheriff's vehicle. Way too many. That is the industry here - traffic cams and a lot of cops/Sheriffs giving fines, fees, tickets, arresting people for the same.

I'd hope even you forum folks wouldn't act so xenophobic. I've lived in many states and been to many countries and been shot at for it. Don't act like you have what it takes and no one else does. That makes you full of it and you know it.

[gobrien]

I had no idea POW was such a popular place to move to all of a sudden. Is there a property tax there?

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by gobrien

I had no idea POW was such a popular place to move to all of a sudden. Is there a property tax there?

All these brand new members registering to tell about their plans for showing PoW how to do agriculture right. Astonishing, really

[gobrien]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

All these brand new members registering to tell about their plans for showing PoW how to do agriculture right. Astonishing, really

I know! When will Paxson be the new hotspot?

[RobbyVG]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

All these brand new members registering to tell about their plans for showing PoW how to do agriculture right. Astonishing, really

Who told anyone how to do their own agriculture?

[Metlakatla]

Good Heavens. Another POW expert.

G -- some areas have property tax and some do not. Property on the island is fairly expensive anymore, though, and the Ketchikan Borough keeps trying to incorporate some areas so they can get their mitts on the property tax it would generate.

On this forum you folks say the soil is acidic - and it is. Did you know there are one or two things you can add to to the soil to neutralize that acidity and grow things? You seem to think that if you did not think of it that it is not possible.

Did you know it can rain up to 10 inches a day on the island?

No one said gardens weren't possible on POW. GC does a great job in Wrangell, but I think most of her stuff is container-grown.

You can have a garden on POW. You can have goats. You could probably even have elephants or an entire circus. You can also spend all of your time and money babying those things along and calling yourself "self-sufficient" as a way to play at a lifestyle.

You can grow all your own potatoes, peas and a couple of other things on POW; no one ever said that it couldn't be done. What was said -- and I'll say it again because it's the truth and you can call it xenophobic till the cows come home (or until they're eaten by bears on their way home) but European agricultural practices don't work in peat-moss bogs. That's just the truth, but if you want to hide behind personal slams and silly accusations any time someone tells you something that you don't want to hear, well -- good luck to you. Beyond that, I won't touch your comments about xenophobia, except to reiterate that you're just using it as a crutch because you've read things here that don't fit in with your fantasy of what Alaska is.

As far as "livestock guardians," dogs are pretty good at keeping bears away, especially the little yippy ones that yap all the time. Bears don't care much for noise. But saying that "all that is needed" to have goats on POW is a few livestock guardians indicates a plan to free-range. That isn't going to work out too well in most POW neighborhoods. You might not have to worry much about bears that way, but you'll have to worry about something a bit more deadly. Anyone planning to free-range goats, sheep, tilapia or zebras and guard them with bear dogs will be well advised to train those dogs well in herding and make sure they know where your land ends and someone else's begins.

So while you're neutralizing your acid ( I have a degree in botany and am somewhat aware that this can be done) and training your bear dogs to guard your goats and thinking that you're living the dream, the rest of us will be fishing. And we'll see whose freezer is the fullest at the end of the season.

[RedJacket]

Still #1 on the island known as Prince of Wales.


Creedence Clearwater Revival: Who'll Stop The Rain - YouTube

[Metlakatla]

For myself I've seen domesticated chickens on the island. Chickens can defend against bears and goats cannot? Really?

Sure. Chickens can be kept in smallish pens. Can goats?

Let's talk a little bit more about livestock guardians and self-sufficiency, shall we? The OP here seems to want to find a way to live as inexpensively as possible; fair enough. It costs us about $70 a week to keep our livestock guardians in food. There are various vet bills and other expenses involved as well. If I were going to keep goats as a way to get milk and cheese, the costs of feeding and caring for livestock guardians wouldn't make that a very sound financial decision. For $300 a month, you can buy all the milk and cheese you need. Of course that isn't self-sufficient, but it's better than going broke because the livestock guardians are eating you out of house and home all for the sake of a bit of milk and cheese. Not to mention that the goats themselves are going to eat every berry bush in site. I'd rather have the berries, but that's just me.


A lot of the things that some people want to do in the name of being self-sufficient are things that don't make much financial sense. That's what I mean about going against the grain of nature. If I only had a certain amount of time to put up fruit for the winter -- and in Alaska, that's exactly what you've got, just a little bit of time -- it would be more time-and-cost-effective to go out and pick berries than to spend that time babying along a scraggly little garden. Last summer, there were three good salmon berry picking days. Two days after the berries ripened, they were gone. It rained. Hard. And knocked them all off the bushes.

Not that I'm advising people not to garden. Personally, I'll never eat store-bought potatoes again, thanks to Gramma's Cabin. I'm just advising people to go with what works in the area in which they are living rather than trying to make enough changes in their environment so that they can grow or raise things that just aren't very adaptable to the region. Potatoes grow well in Alaska; you can grow them in a pile of brush.

As far as living-room fish farming projects, I'd say that the time, money and effort is better spent on actually fishing. I'm not sure what the yield is on the average living-room fish farm, but I'm guessing that you can top that with one day of fishing once you qualify for a subsistence permit.