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Hey everyone! So, our plans to move are progressing, and we have our basic plan in place, namely a move to near Homer, out a ways, do a little homesteading, a little subsistence, a little working for cash.
Building up skills and getting acclimatized, building confidence. If you haven't read my previous threads, we currently live on SW Oregon, homeschool our 4 kids, mostly homestead, still have power hook up, but alternatives for most systems, so sometimes we throw the switch for a few days just to keep it real, lol. We will be coming up with enough funds to buy our land and have a couple years living expenses covered.
We are now starting to research the logistics of living remotely with small children, since that is our ultimate goal. The kids are now ages 4-8, all pretty scrappy and competent, getting more skills all the time.
So, I have a basic idea of what I'd like our lifestyle to look like. Whether or not that's realistic in the bush, I need to figure out! Please feel free to give me concrete suggestions, facts, experiences, reality check etc. on my ideas!
My first and biggest question though is how to transport the entire family together when you don't have roads or your own plane. We nearly bought a property high up in the siskiyou mountains of Oregon last year but the last few miles in were snowmobile only, and we just couldn't figure out how to get 2 adults and 4 kids in one snowmobile. Since then, I've seen some things that look like side-by-side snowmobiles, or maybe they had tracks? Could they, or something else, seat 2 or more people, and pull a sled with 3-4 kids? Any hope for hauling gear too?
And related question, I'm thinking it would almost be an emergency only situation for everyone to leave the homestead together at the same time, right? Someone has to stay home to tend fires, livestock, right? So this would hopefully be only a semi-annual or emergency consideration, to transport the whole family at once, right?
Raising small livestock: why is this so difficult? Keeping them warm and fed and watered are the big tasks, right? I'm picturing a multi-critter small barn, so they're keeping each other warm. Rabbits, chickens, other fowl, goats. Feed would be an issue requiring planning, I know. I can't imagine that I'd want to pay for and transport in 9-months of animal feed, lol. And I realize that growing grains outside in the short summer isn't reliable. I've experimented down here (SW Oregon) with lots of alternative feeds, from growing microgreens (wheatgrass, sunflower greens, etc), to raising worms in the rabbit poop and feeding worms to chickens, to raising crickets,and even maggots, lol. They all had thei challenges,but if I can keep a small barn above freezing temps with animal body heat, I think it could at least be good supplement, and lower outside feed costs. Livestock will add to the water burden, I know that. So how big a deal that would be will depend heavily in where we choose and what the water source is. What temperature ranges do you all have experience raising different types of small livestock at, and what challenges did you have at those temps? What would be the outside limits on temps that you'd try to raise different livestock at? Like, you raised chickens at steady 0 degrees, and their combs were always freezing but it was doable. You wouldn't try it at 20-blow though. As an example. 😀
Water. That is going to be my biggest challenge I think. I come from the land of bountiful water. We are currently on a spring with two wells for backup. I would love to find a property that has a spring, and I know there are properties like this outside homer, but I haven't researched any other areas yet, so I don't know if that's even possible.
What is bush? Is simply living off road, like on the trail system, considered bush? Or is bush considered to be more like fly-in only? How remote can one get when its only on the trail system? For example, most of my research so far has focused around homer. So I know you can buy land out by caribou lake, but I don't think that's really considered bush. And it doesn't seem very remote, as there would be plenty of other potential homeowners around the lake and within, say, 5-10 miles. Or is it even feasible to be so remote that you won't have neighbors within 5-10 miles?
Supply trips: when those in the bush do supply trips, is there usually a structure near the community landing strips to temporarily shelter the supplies, while the folks shuttle it all to their property? Or does the plane land, shove it off, and wave bye bye, lol? Do most folks do annual or semi-annual supply runs? Do most "communities" have airstrips? I guess I'm assuming this is how trips are done. If there are trails that connect up with a road, are there reasonable safe places to leave vehicles at the junction?
Kind of random: does LP propane stop working at very low temps? My backup systems have always been propane, but it occurred to me it might freeze or something. What about generator fuels? Diesel or gas? What sort of logistics are there when hauling out a generator or other motorized equipment in zero degree or 20-below temps? I'm sure you'd have to externally warm it up before it'd start, right?
Are there different regional medevac insurance providers, or just a couple big ones statewide? I will need to get costs for that, as I'm sure it's prudent to have.
Greenhouses: why are high tunnels so high? Why not just 8-10' high? Is there any reason growing in raised beds in (or out of) high tunnels wouldn't work decently? I know in many areas the soil conditions suck for gardening, but raised beds work well down here. Does anyone do hot composting up there? I know it's done in the lower 48 at temps down to zero and some below, but would it still stay sufficiently hot at 20-below or worse? Besides high tunnel, soil/compost, and basic seeds and tools, what would the big initial investments for a good gardening set up be? How warm can you keep those high tunnels at the end of season, when its hitting zero outside? (Without supplemental heat.). Anyone do greenhouses attached to livestock barns to circulate the heat?
food preservation: where do you store your home-canned food? I can't really picture a root cellar in permafrost. or is most produce dehydrated instead of canned because of that?
Resources: I'll be looking for books and videos about dick pronneke, but any resources you can direct me to for family living in the bush would be awesome!
What am I not addressing? Long term, there'd probably be seasonal work offsite for the husband, although as time goes by, we will have more investment income coming in, so hopefully the need will decrease. And of course hopefully we will get more skilled at providing more of our own needs. I'll be looking at compiling a list of different bush communities to start looking at, and figuring out more what we don't yet know, lol.
As far as regions, the SE is a draw because of the seafood abundance, but honestly, the rain is a negative. Heavy snow is definitely looking better to us right now, for working outdoors, winter travel, and just beauty and we love it. The interior sounds much harder to acquire subsistence foods, though. Trapping sounds like an awesome skill to learn (no, I don't expect to make a living off it, lol!), if property were selected with the caribou migration routes in mind, that might help, but I'm guessing they can vary quite a bit year to year, right? Are there many places where you can live in high snow country, but travel within a day to good subsistence salmon fishing, netting, etc? I don't think the NW would be a region for us. Brooks range sounds dreamy, but I'm thinking its way out of our skill level, lol. Wrangell - St. Elias looks beautiful, but I have researched nothing there yet.
Thank you all in advance for your input! Let the research begin!
Why would you even want to live without community when you have children? Children and other people are hard wired to be social animals -- four kids, no socialization, no peers = disaster, especially after they hit the teenage years. But, your kids, your life. I'm not sure what "bush communities" you think there are on the Kenai Peninsula; maybe people could give you better advice if you names a few you're interested in.
Dick Pronneke had regular shipments of food flown in (by a friend who didn't charge him for the service).
You're going to have to haul in soil to even think about growing any of your own food, especially if you want to live "high up in snow country." It cost me $400 in soil for a little 6 by 8 hobby plot last year.
Quote:
and we just couldn't figure out how to get 2 adults and 4 kids in one snowmobile.
Please tell me you're joking.
Unlike Southern Oregon, much of the Alaska outback is a swamp. Loading down a snowmachine increases your chances of falling through the snow into water. You don't have to be over a lake or river for this to happen. With the planet heating up, the time of the year with relatively stable snow and consistent freezing temperatures is decreasing; thus more chances for mishaps on snowmachines. Falling through the snow is often fatal.
You can haul supplies using a snowmachine during certain times of the year, but hauling kids on a sled -- smh.
I don't know what kind of bush communities you think are out there besides the interior Native villages. If you're looking at OTC land and seeing subdivisions, don't mistake those for communities.
I'd had propane heat freeze up at about -25. Not fun when the thermometer's heading toward -45 and the inside of the windows start gaining ice within minutes. But I lived on the road system then and had no problem making it to a toasty motel.
There used to be a forum called Alaska Homesteading or some such, but it completely died because the participants moved back to the grid.
Your last thread sounded somewhat realistic.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 11-05-2016 at 03:54 PM..
Living full time out by caribou lake full time with a family would be pretty adventurous and extreme by itself without the need to go any further. I don't think there's too many people living full time out there.
No neighbors within 5-10 miles is going to be tough to find unless you have a lot of money or are very very remote.
I fantasize about remote bush living as much as the next guy but having a community somewhat nearby is nice, especially with a family.
A lot of people up here have the dick pronneke dream. However, reality constraints prevent a lot of people from doing this, so a lot of people have semi-remote properties and cabins that they can visit for extended periods of time and then return closer to town for daily living when needed.
You have to start off somewhat near a community anyways. So if I was you, I would look for a still very private and larger homestead on the road system outside of a town that you're happy with. After my feet got wet, I'd then begin to look for a more remote property and work my way into it, occasionally spending more and more time out there.
A trail access property would be a better bet than a fly in only property if you must go the remote route, simply for logistic reasons.
If I was looking for remote property to live on full time, it would be on a river, outside of an existing village. That way I could come and go fairly easily and still have a semblance of a community not too far away.
Transporting 2 adults and 4 kids on a snowmachine one mile, would be easy. 2 adults on the machine and the 4 kids getting pulled behind in a freight sled. That property would also be considered pretty much on the road system up here or "semi-remote" at best.
Good luck.
ETA: My favorite Alaskan lifestyle is the people who live right in town in cool walkable type towns such as homer. Then they have all the toys and planes to go exploring Alaska on their free time and possibly a get away cabin to visit regularly. Best of both worlds.
Last edited by 6.7traveler; 11-05-2016 at 03:56 PM..
There's a lot of property on the end of the road system in Alaska that by lower 48 standards would be considered quite remote/isolated. With kids I'd worry a bit about medical emergencies. Oh and one snowmobile is really no snowmobile when it breaks down on you. Have two. If you can't survive the walk out when the sled breaks down you're too far out for your skill level. I don't keep animals because of the problems with leaving them. Bees are all the livestock I'll consider anymore (work doing wildland firefighting takes me away for weeks at a time these days though)
We are now starting to research the logistics of living remotely with small children, since that is our ultimate goal. The kids are now ages 4-8, all pretty scrappy and competent, getting more skills all the time.
So, I have a basic idea of what I'd like our lifestyle to look like. Whether or not that's realistic in the bush, I need to figure out! Please feel free to give me concrete suggestions, facts, experiences, reality check etc. on my ideas!
Let's get something straight. It sounds like you want to live completely isolated in the bush? Not in a village?
My first and biggest question though is how to transport the entire family together when you don't have roads or your own plane. We nearly bought a property high up in the siskiyou mountains of Oregon last year but the last few miles in were snowmobile only, and we just couldn't figure out how to get 2 adults and 4 kids in one snowmobile. Since then, I've seen some things that look like side-by-side snowmobiles, or maybe they had tracks? Could they, or something else, seat 2 or more people, and pull a sled with 3-4 kids? Any hope for hauling gear too?
Your question is kind of hard to answer. Snow isn't always on the ground. You would need multiple ATVs. 4 wheeler or argo type, and snowmachine. Snow rots, and when you are traveling on rotten snow, the possibility of life threatening accidents increase. Plane transport may be impossible depending on your terrain, or it may be miles away. You would need multiple ATVs. If you only have one, what happens if it breaks? You will need back ups. What happens if it sinks or gets stuck? How are you going to pull it out?
And related question, I'm thinking it would almost be an emergency only situation for everyone to leave the homestead together at the same time, right? Someone has to stay home to tend fires, livestock, right? So this would hopefully be only a semi-annual or emergency consideration, to transport the whole family at once, right? That would be your call.
Raising small livestock: why is this so difficult? Keeping them warm and fed and watered are the big tasks, right? I'm picturing a multi-critter small barn, so they're keeping each other warm. Rabbits, chickens, other fowl, goats. Feed would be an issue requiring planning, I know. I can't imagine that I'd want to pay for and transport in 9-months of animal feed, lol. And I realize that growing grains outside in the short summer isn't reliable. I've experimented down here (SW Oregon) with lots of alternative feeds, from growing microgreens (wheatgrass, sunflower greens, etc), to raising worms in the rabbit poop and feeding worms to chickens, to raising crickets,and even maggots, lol. They all had thei challenges,but if I can keep a small barn above freezing temps with animal body heat, I think it could at least be good supplement, and lower outside feed costs. Livestock will add to the water burden, I know that. So how big a deal that would be will depend heavily in where we choose and what the water source is. What temperature ranges do you all have experience raising different types of small livestock at, and what challenges did you have at those temps? What would be the outside limits on temps that you'd try to raise different livestock at? Like, you raised chickens at steady 0 degrees, and their combs were always freezing but it was doable. You wouldn't try it at 20-blow though. As an example. 😀
Logistics and the environment. The cost to bring your feed in increases exponientiently the further you are from the road. Road is high, hub is higher, villages are even higher, what you are thinking is even higher than a village.
Water. That is going to be my biggest challenge I think. I come from the land of bountiful water. We are currently on a spring with two wells for backup. I would love to find a property that has a spring, and I know there are properties like this outside homer, but I haven't researched any other areas yet, so I don't know if that's even possible.
Water out here can be dangerous. Lots of sulfer, minerals, and hard water is common. Good luck with finding good water that you can get to year round. I have had my coffee freeze in an insulated thermos from my house to the school...a walk that was less than 50 yds.
What is bush? Is simply living off road, like on the trail system, considered bush? Or is bush considered to be more like fly-in only? How remote can one get when its only on the trail system? For example, most of my research so far has focused around homer. So I know you can buy land out by caribou lake, but I don't think that's really considered bush. And it doesn't seem very remote, as there would be plenty of other potential homeowners around the lake and within, say, 5-10 miles. Or is it even feasible to be so remote that you won't have neighbors within 5-10 miles?
Technically the bush is considered anything without road access. However there are different levels of bush living.
Supply trips: when those in the bush do supply trips, is there usually a structure near the community landing strips to temporarily shelter the supplies, while the folks shuttle it all to their property? Or does the plane land, shove it off, and wave bye bye, lol? Do most folks do annual or semi-annual supply runs? Do most "communities" have airstrips? I guess I'm assuming this is how trips are done. If there are trails that connect up with a road, are there reasonable safe places to leave vehicles at the junction?
We use the internet for many of our supply trips, but before we moved to the hub, we would do 6 month trips to Anchorage and participate in gorilla shopping.
Kind of random: does LP propane stop working at very low temps? My backup systems have always been propane, but it occurred to me it might freeze or something. What about generator fuels? Diesel or gas? What sort of logistics are there when hauling out a generator or other motorized equipment in zero degree or 20-below temps? I'm sure you'd have to externally warm it up before it'd start, right?
Propane isn't nearly as effective in cold temps.I have started snowmachines at -30 but it wasn't easy. There is a point that gas will freeze and cause damage to you if it gets on you. Research those temps. Believe it or not, once it gets below -25 the only movement you will see is absolutely neccessary movement.
Are there different regional medevac insurance providers, or just a couple big ones statewide? I will need to get costs for that, as I'm sure it's prudent to have.
medevac insurance can be had, however unless you have a landing strip that they can land on, it won't do you any good. Our cost is $125/year for the whole household. Very affordable and they cover whatever your regular insurance doesn't. However, what it sounds like you want to do this option won't be available to you.
Greenhouses: why are high tunnels so high? Why not just 8-10' high? Is there any reason growing in raised beds in (or out of) high tunnels wouldn't work decently? I know in many areas the soil conditions suck for gardening, but raised beds work well down here. Does anyone do hot composting up there? I know it's done in the lower 48 at temps down to zero and some below, but would it still stay sufficiently hot at 20-below or worse? Besides high tunnel, soil/compost, and basic seeds and tools, what would the big initial investments for a good gardening set up be? How warm can you keep those high tunnels at the end of season, when its hitting zero outside? (Without supplemental heat.). Anyone do greenhouses attached to livestock barns to circulate the heat?
I hope you have a very large savings built up. You will stop growing around 40 degrees more than likely. September is the end of growing season for most people.
food preservation: where do you store your home-canned food? I can't really picture a root cellar in permafrost. or is most produce dehydrated instead of canned because of that?
I have zero canned veggies. Only dehydrated.
Resources: I'll be looking for books and videos about dick pronneke, but any resources you can direct me to for family living in the bush would be awesome!
I wouldn't use Dick as an example. He had no kids, he had friends that brought him food. He did some neat stuff, but totally different, than what you want to do.
What am I not addressing? Long term, there'd probably be seasonal work offsite for the husband, although as time goes by, we will have more investment income coming in, so hopefully the need will decrease. And of course hopefully we will get more skilled at providing more of our own needs. I'll be looking at compiling a list of different bush communities to start looking at, and figuring out more what we don't yet know, lol.
I don't think you understand the cost to get into the bush, where there isn't a regular scheduled flight. It cost us $6-700 per person to get to our hub with 3 scheduled flights. If I was to charter a flight it would cost me $5k roughly. A 1 hour flight on a beaver will cost you about $2k because you have to pay for the return leg. Think about that. That beaver is one of the largest planes that people use to access remote land. It has a 1200 lb capacity. Your family will be close to that weight limit alone.
As far as regions, the SE is a draw because of the seafood abundance, but honestly, the rain is a negative. Heavy snow is definitely looking better to us right now, for working outdoors, winter travel, and just beauty and we love it. The interior sounds much harder to acquire subsistence foods, though. Trapping sounds like an awesome skill to learn (no, I don't expect to make a living off it, lol!), if property were selected with the caribou migration routes in mind, that might help, but I'm guessing they can vary quite a bit year to year, right? Are there many places where you can live in high snow country, but travel within a day to good subsistence salmon fishing, netting, etc? I don't think the NW would be a region for us. Brooks range sounds dreamy, but I'm thinking its way out of our skill level, lol. Wrangell - St. Elias looks beautiful, but I have researched nothing there yet.
There are some areas with great salmon, but the farther away from the salt you get, the more likely to have spawned out salmon, also know that not all salmon are equal. On the Yukon we couldn't catch kings, and reds didn't travel up the Yukon. I was limited to chum and silvers, and the silvers weren't plentiful. Where I am at now, I can catch all five species, but the chum here, isn't nearly as good as the chum on the Yukon. Caribou are mobile and they are a challenge to harvest, unless you know them. They also aren't all over the state, and there are regulations on harvesting. Read the hunting regs.
Thank you all in advance for your input! Let the research begin!
Metlakatla -
Living entirely without community forever isnt really the plan, I should have been more careful in how I word that. But in our personal experiences, lots of outside interaction and friendships can be overrated, especially for younger kids. Yes, as they reach the teenage years, needs will shift. For now, and the next 3-4 years, I think we'll be good with the amount of socialization we get now, which isn't huge, lol.
My questions about communities and airstrips reflect my questions about what the different types of communities there are out there. I imagine quite a few small communities exist, with maybe a weekly or monthly mail run, a general store and a bar, maybe a community church. I don't know, which is why I ask.
My questions about composting and up front gardening investment costs were in direct relation to the soil costs. Compost can provide a very good volume of growing medium, but I think you'd have to be able to hot compost year round to get much volume per year. Initial costs would include enough soil coming in to get started. Honestly $400 in soil for 6x8, depending on how deep you went, doesn't seem terribly outrageous. I'm guessing though that didn't include transport costs!
As to snowmachine transportation, no, I'm not joking about needing to figure out how to transport my family via snowmachine. That seems to be the primary transportation method for off-road in winter. I didn't say I was going to strap kids to my back and all of us pile in one machine, lol. Clearly, I said it wouldn't work. So we are looking at other snow-capable machines that will transport more people. I know there's a rig called an Argo, or something like that, with enclosed cab for 2, plus a flatbed on back. It's probably very spendy. I have seen snow machines that look like side by sides, do you know what they're called? I am pretty sure there's a solution to transporting 6 individuals at knee, over snow, without dying. Constructive suggestions are always welcome. ��
What methods of transporting children in winter would you recommend? I do believe that there are still families with kids living outside the towns and off the road systems. They must have developed techniques for travel.
I have very little idea of what bush communities are out there, which is why I asked for resource suggestions! I hear names like Tanana, McCarthy, I can't think of the others now, but suggestions for remote places would be awesome!
I guess I should have been more clear that I wouldn't be relying on propane for heat, or anything else. I just was curious how it performed at very low temps. That is good to know that it starts having trouble at -25.
So I do believe that plenty of people still live in the bush, or off-grid, or remotely in Alaska, and don't die, and don't give up and move to anchorage or Seattle. ��. I bet some of them even do it with kids, lol. I don't think it is an outlandish concept to think we could do that one day. And we won't get anywhere without researching first. I'm really looking for facts about how things work, what costs I can expect for my ideas, etc. the $600 for soul, that was an excellent piece of information! Better if I know of that's 3" deep or 12" deep, lol, but a start! Telling me that hauling kids in a sled must be a joke is less helpful. Telling me how children are transported on snow trails is helpful.
The homer plan is obviously pretty realistic. With some major adjustment to the weather, it will be pretty much like homesteading here, lol. Safeway down the road, woodstove, load the kids in the suburban to go check the mail. That's why it's the starter plan, lol. But it's sure not the end goal!
Living near town and medical care is definitely the start up plan. Thus far we have done good with not needing emergency care, or much of any medical care, for kids, but obviously it's a risk. Husband and I are both pretty good at basic first aid, and basic emergency care, but appendicitis happens, lol.
Snowmachines, atvs, freight sleds, etc: recommendations for how many and any other considerations would be awesome! Right now, I would definitely see two of each, two sleds for stuff, and maybe a backup?
I think living somewhere that is accessible by trail is probably going to be our best bet, but at this stage of research I sure don't want to rule out other scenarios. The costs to fly in and out sure do seem high, so that might be more an empty -nester plan after kids are grown, lol! Or learn to fly!
Haolejohn: I'm not yet sure exactly what we want for total isolation vs being on the trail, etc. I guess ideal, dream scenario would be to own 80-160 acres of our own, with no full time neighbors for a couple of miles, and not many at that radius! Not saying that's the plan, just the ideal. I do know we wouldn't want to be "in" a village, at least what I've seen like that. Streets with rows of houses, like town. Definitely don't want that. Have a village or community like that be our "center of operations", sure, yes. Where we go to be social, make friends, check mail, buy a little something, whatever.
For transportation, my rough understanding is that winter travel is good, summer travel can be rough depending on where you are, since trails are harder on atv than snowmachines. And break up can me no travel for a month or two. Is that a realistic expectation?
I am definitely gonna google gorilla shopping, lol! My imagination is running wild!
We don't expect to grow enough veggies to supply all our winter needs. There will be ongoing outside income, and potentially side gigs up there, or seasonal work. There will still be food purchases, for sure. I'll start doing more dehydrating now, to get prepped for using that in cooking. I hadn't thought until today of canned /jars of food freezing, and needing to dedicate house space to that. Doable but not ideal. We will be coming with the expectation to be investing in significant infrastructure the first couple of years. That's expected with any new homestead anywhere, just more expensive up there, haha, and steeper learning curve. Our raised beds here at this new homestead took about $800 in outside compost and that was for 2 beds, 4x8 each. Growing into or through September is what I expected, without some form of heated greenhouse. AIt'd be awesome to find a property with the infrastructure we want already in place, but then we will be paying a higher purchase price, so either way, we gotta pay for it, lol.
If we were to purchase a property that was fly-in only, the transportation costs would have to be nailed down, probably doubled for safety margin, and then budgeted into the annual budget. Long term, It certainly wouldn't be a cheaper way to live, no matter how cheap the land was initially.
Good info on the different salmon harvest potentials, thank you! In our minds, salmon definitely plays a big part in the food source!
Thank you guys for the suggestions and things to consider! Keep it coming!
I do know about composting, and I also know (a lot) about bears. No, the $400 wasn't that outrageous, but it was for a hobby plot, not to feed a family. We got some kale and some broccoli. My point wasn't that it was a lot of money to spend, simply that would could have gotten a much better ROI spending the $400 simply buying the produce from someone else.
I'm not going to do your research about hauling kids via snowmachine for you -- just giving you a heads up that it's often a pretty dangerous thing to do due to the often swampy terrain in many parts of the state. One snowmachine for six people is one of the most unrealistic things I've ever heard regarding bush living. A larger, heavier snow vehicle isn't something I'd personally do. Just get everyone their own snowmachine and let the smaller kids ride with you or your husband until they're old enough to handle their own. Most kids off the road system are transported via plane, btw.
Hauling kids in a sled behind a snowmachine is a joke and I really don't care if you think it's helpful or not. It's especially dangerous in places that get a great deal of freeze-and-thaw during the course of the winter, and with temperatures heating up all over the state, that's a pretty valid concern. And it was around $400 for the soil, not $600 for the soul (cheap soul lol), but I'm not sure of the specifics such as how deeply it was dug. Couple feet, maybe. Maybe more.
Depending on where you land, ATV travel during summer may not be realistic. Much of Alaska is too swampy for that, and if you're looking at remote OTC land, well, much of that is only accessible via private plane or private charter.
I think that there are less people living in the bush with kids than you think. I'm excluding the interior and western Native villages in this. You've expressed interest in living on the Kenai Peninsula, but the communities you've mentioned are nowhere near that. You can Google something like "small communities on the Kenai," but I'm pretty sure the vast majority of the population there lives on the road system. I honestly think you could find what you're looking for without giving up road access. I also think you might really like the McGrath area.
I am very familiar with southern Oregon, and there is no part of it that is comparable in any way to any part of Alaska. Seriously, start out near Homer or whoever it is that interests you the most and go from there.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 11-05-2016 at 05:41 PM..
Something that would be super helpful to me, is if you all could say where you live, or have lived, in your responses. First, it gives me a reference point to consider what your neck of the woods was/is like, and second it gives me more communities to research! Thanks!!
And sorry for the typos. Kids crawling all over me, haha!
I know of a property outside of Homer that the lady may be interested in selling, I could put you in touch with her of your super serious. It 160 acres on the top of a mountain and about a mile and a half down a "road" that you won't be driving a car down for 6+ months so you have to park and ATV/snow machine/ cross country ski in. You can drive to the front door in the summer when it's dry. It's very private and very beautiful. Has a main log house and a few smaller cabins. It would be worth a million dollars if the road situation was different.
I don't live in the Bush. I live about 20 miles outside of Delta Junction and have a few neighbors in a mile radius. They are all self sufficient, homesteading type people. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. I only have 10 acres but it might as well be 100 as there's no direct neighbors and lots of public land nearby. I love giant parcels of land too, but 5 acres in AK goes a lot further than 5 acres in the lower 48.
If you want to farm, Delta is the place to be. There's a 75 acre farm with a 10x48 steel building, a good 40 foot well. 8 acres in brome and 10 acres fenced. All for $55k. I may buy it myself if I can scrounge up the $. Try getting 40+ acres in homer. It will be much more $. Lots of farmers in Delta.
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