Bush living with a family (Kenai, Homer: for sale, home, school district)

[Music_Man]

I've seen lots of couples move up here(even to Anchorage) and the wife can't stand the cold dark winters and leave with or with out the husband. SAD seems to effect women more then men?

[keyman51]

Im not sure, but I think some women tend to be more interested in being close to family members, being more connected with the rest of the country, indoor entertainment, getting dressed up. I think some women have a harder time with the cold too, or just not willing to take it. I know men that come up here for months at a time without their wives. I could understand it a little if she had a good job that may have a retirement, but for me I felt that following my husband was just part of the deal and learning something new.

[Music_Man]

Originally Posted by keyman51

Im not sure, but I think some women tend to be more interested in being close to family members, being more connected with the rest of the country, indoor entertainment, getting dressed up. I think some women have a harder time with the cold too, or just not willing to take it. I know men that come up here for months at a time without their wives. I could understand it a little if she had a good job that may have a retirement, but for me I felt that following my husband was just part of the deal and learning something new.

Well good for you. I have seen more SAD problems than the others that you stated. A lot of the ones you stated will keep them from coming in the first place.

[MouseBandit]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Their "homestead" is profitable because of the show. Most of the things they do only make financial sense if a television production team is subsidising it. You can grow, hunt, raise or build almost anything here...if you're willing to dump enough time and money into it. But at that point it's an expensive hobby, not a living. The opposite of a living, really.

When it comes to what I see going on at the kilcher homestead, I think a huge part of the success there is because of the existing infrastructure they have. I don't think they're so much throwing lots of cash into the projects they're filming, but they already have incredible logistical resources that make most any project feasible. Excavator, tractors, sawmill, that freaking barge ship thing, the vehicle graveyard, omgoodness! They probably spend a good amount each year on gas and diesel, but I see a lot of their projects being put together with 50 years worth of stuff laying around, and home-milled lumber from their own trees. I sure don't resent them that advantage, I admire the multi-generational thing they're doing and respect the blessings that it is providing them.

Now for us, we'd have to throw a lot of cash up front into resources and logistics, and yes, in the short term it would certainly be less expensive to buy local produce vs build our own gardens, or raising meat, or a hundred other endeavors. But perhaps, over time, the investments would pay off. And there is, for us at least, some intrinsic value in producing what we can of our own needs.

That said, it'll take way more experience and research and probably being up there to figure out where the time, and money, is best invested. I absolutely agree with that! Gathering may very well be many times more valuable than growing. Hunting than raising. I'm excited to figure that sort if thing out!

[MouseBandit]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

And I honestly don't think there are any true bush communities on the Kenai Peninsula. As in:



I've lived all over the state with the exception of Western Alaska and anywhere north of FBs, write for several Alaska-based publications, and I've never run into these "quite a few small communities" via research or otherwise.



Sure they do, out in Western Alaska and some parts of the interior (although it's my understanding that most of the villages are shrinking) and sprinkled here and there elsewhere. Most people don't consider it an either/or proposition, though. Plenty of people live the lifestyle you say you're seeking, but they aren't doing it off-road in any great numbers. I think there are less people than you imagine actually living completely off-road full time with families. Not that you can't do it, but there just aren't plenty of bush communities out there to choose from. There are plenty of places between completely off-the-grid and Seattle or Anchorage, btw.

As far as people moving to Alaska and spec. and not making it, I see many of them every fall when they come to my business to hit me up for enough work to buy a plane or ferry ticket home. I've also seen plenty of people move up with a bit of money, start businesses or get jobs, and bail several years later. By the same token, I've seen people come up with nothing and build a really good life.

Yes, I can see you're right about the Kenai peninsula. That was the original area we had focused on for our "first stop", but I definitely don't see it as being bush living. Maybe remote enough, as someone was saying about caribou lake, but not what I meant when I said bush living. I'm still learning so much, probably even my own definitions of terms is evolving though, lol.

I think i would be looking at north and east of anchorage for what I was envisioning as bush living, but not north slope. And there very well may not be many communities out there, that's what I'm trying to learn about. If the list is short, I would absolutely love and appreciate some names of places to start researching! I've got a few floating in my head: nenana, McCarthy, chitna (I think that's it), wiseman, eagle, McGrath, Manley hot springs, ft Yukon. Basically, im going off the dots on my milepost map and the couple of tv shows I follow, lol.

I think one of the things I'm looking for, that I was thinking "the bush" would supply, is that "end of the road" location. No one driving past our place on their way to their place. No close neighbors (for me, that means a mile or two away). No "town" for 10-30 miles. And the whole vibe and honestly, the challenge, of being far enough out, where it's significantly easier to stay out there than to "run to town". Now you are very likely right that I can meet most all my lifestyle goals on the road system, and it's very possible I can find a place that would meet my version of remote too. Researching the different specific "towns" will help me figure that out. I don't really think I'll get that kind of remoteness around homer, not unless we went off the road system.

We absolutely will be keeping a very solid chunk of cash available for Plan B, lol! That's simply not negotiable. We have no desire to come up and freeze to death in the bush the first year, nor to be stuck up there because we failed to save a few grand for getting home (that's a rough figure, don't blast me)!

[MouseBandit]

Originally Posted by boulder2015

Yes exactly. You better keep enough money in the bank to leave alaska if necessary. Also you mentioned "investment income"? Is that a guaranteed thing like an annuity, trust, or something? Better be a lot if your main income will be your husbands odd jobs.

Forget you ever saw those tv shows. Complete bs all the way around. the state gov helps subsidize those shows for tourism. Many of the actors live in condos in LA and just fly up to film

Also, as many people have recommended over time on this board: Maine. Its like alaska lite. Lots of nature, beauty, and isolation. But goods are cheaper and you are only a few hours to world class hospitals. Still a rugged place to live, but wont kill the newbie as easily as AK.

I probably should start a thread dedicated to costs and budgeting. I'm figuring we will eventually have $20k annually in passive income coming in, but to be honest, I've done nothing more than a mental check-list of expenses, and those are based on a combination of what I hope our lifestyle can provide, and I pay down here for basic goods.

Just for a super general ballpark reference, what would you suggest be a baseline budget for a family living on the road system, out of town, on the kenai peninsula? Assume the home and vehicles are paid for, no debt. Sincere effort and infrastructure put into providing as much as possible of food needs, with enough allowance to buy food in semi annual supply runs from anchorage.

[Metlakatla]

OK, I’m just going to be blunt. Outside of the Native villages in Western and Northwestern Alaska, there just aren’t many true bush communities. Although your subjective definition is somewhat of a moving target, you've specified more than once that you want to be off-road. Most of the places listed as floating in your head are on the road system. You've asked us to name other places. There isn't much to name. You can insist all you want that there must be many off-road communities with little churches, bars, a general store, and monthly mail runs, but there just aren't. (I own property in Nenana, and last checked, there was a road to the community.)

The one that probably comes closest to what you want is McGrath, but population is declining there for a reason. You might consider Haines, but you'll probably decide after you look at it on a map that it's not suited to your purposes.

While it's certainly true that after you build up certain infrastructure, your RIO may increase, but I don't know how raising animals for meat in Alaska could ever be cost-effective unless you're raising them in enough quantity to be able to sell most of the meat, and even so... Home gardens generally don't produce enough in most parts of the state to make any significant dent in household food costs. Nothing wrong with gardening, but you'll need to balance it with putting up fish and berries in the summer (both of these provide significantly more bang for your time than growing a garden.)

As far as budgets, I won't be putting my financial information on C-D, but 20K per year for six people in Alaska just hell no.

[MouseBandit]

If $20k is a no-way, what would be a maybe-it'd-work? Would you be comfortable giving me expense or budget categories, especially areas you think I'm likely to overlook or underestimate?

I'm not trying to be obstinate, I'm just trying to gather info. I don't really want to insist that there are many off-road communities, I'm more hoping for an estimate, like if you say you can only think of 5, that tells me a lot. Please don't think I don't respect your experience and knowledge, it's the reason i post and read this forum! If you say there's only 5 or 10 or whatever that you can think of, I'll accept that as a highly accurate estimate, and get to researching them. I'll probably know pretty quickly if there's any point in continuing researching any of them, or if I'll be most likely living outside a road-town, lol.

When I throw out an assumption, it doesn't help me much to say I'm way off base, and it'll never work. It helps me tons to give me factual details, so I can learn where my assumptions are wrong, by how much, and what the real situation is. Then I can start framing new, related (but probably still wildly incorrect) assumptions and questions. :-). I haven't yet come up with any better way to research from down here, although as in all areas, I'm open to concrete ideas and suggestions!

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by MouseBandit

If $20k is a no-way, what would be a maybe-it'd-work? Would you be comfortable giving me expense or budget categories, especially areas you think I'm likely to overlook or underestimate?

I have no idea of what would work for your family; I just know that 20K per year is a ridiculously low amount for a family of six to try to survive on, especially in Alaska.

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

You've asked us to name other places. There isn't much to name. You can insist all you want that there must be many off-road communities with little churches, bars, a general store, and monthly mail runs, but there just aren't. (I own property in Nenana, and last checked, there was a road to the community.)

I was going to comment on that a while back and forgot... Like Met says, Those types of towns just aren't out there. Why? Well because you've got to make a living, and there's just nothing to support an economy in a place like that.