Just thinking...Tiny House Homesteading?

I have some friends here in Maine that moved in with an elderly woman and took care of her for two years...lived rent free and were deeded 5 acre parcel upon her death so they were able to work(install well septic)/plant that piece until her death. They bought a used trailer 16*80ft(I think) for a few thousand $$, poured a slab on the south side of trailer and added an entry room with woodstove.....lots of cold storage under a trailer!

There are lots of older folks around that would relish the thought of someone young, strong and trustworthy moving in and helping out....my husband and I are looking into splitting up our household so he can care for his mom and I for my folks....it really sucks.

Lots of well meaning suggestions but Alaska is a bit different. Girdwood has few if any repos and house trailers are not cheap anywhere in Alaska. The economy hasnt been affected much up here except in the tourism industry. If you store food or things as suggested under the trailer covered by a tarp you will have all kinds of animal visitors tearing it apart including bears. This is a state where its the law in most communities that you have to keep your garbage cans inside or locked in bear proof containers.

Try fishing, hunting, foraging and gathering. Girdwood is close to prime fishing, berry picking, moose hunting etc. You also could make a weekend trek to the coast for muscles, clams, crab, limpets, sea lettuce, etc. and if you want a small chest freezer rent a storage unit with an outlet, buy a used 6 cu foot freezer and go to town. If you have to store edibles outside your trailer hang it from a tree. Also, look into a Jaccard or similar butane canister store; they are single burner but cook hot and have a pizo ignition so they are painless to use and work great indoors or out (they are what chefs use to cook your omelet during Sunday brunch and we have ditched our old Colemen white gas stove).

Enjoy your freedom and the homesteading will come to you when you settle down.

Are you making enough money doing freelance writing NOW? cuz if you're not, your'e better off picking up other skills than trying to make that work in at least the near future(esp in this "new economy", unless you're an absolute golden child of spectacular talent...in which case you would be already raking in the bucks, or at least "enough"). Freelance is a hard row to hoe, like they always say, "don't quit your day job"--it's feast or famine, most likely famine. Really, get a job.

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5-star double-rated astronavagatrix earth girl

those fema trailers were going really really really cheap this summer..in the hundreds

Scrounging in Alaska is different than in the lower 48... I daresay freecycle or craigslist have 1% of the free stuff that us 'lower' folks have offered. Free trailer houses are always being offered... houses for free to be moved or torn down are offered... but in AK, things are different. The ten years I worked there, I found little in the way of scroungables. Most of the nearby folks never gave up their excess, and any treasure need not be 'listed', as there were too many friends ready to scarf it up.

If you live in Alaska, you're looking at trees as your main building material. You still need roofing... from town.

I had associations with many alternative lifestyle folks.... they accepted their poverty in exchange for their alternativeness... eventually they realized to stay fed through the winter months they needed to apply their hands to labor. AKA work. I daresay Girdwood is one of the last places that I'd go, if looking for work. Unless you work ski resorts (Girdwood still has the resort, I assume). Way too many Alternativistas. Move out in the summer to one of the Parks and work for the Parks, or the concessionaires... work the winter at Girdwood's ski slopes. Or fishing or construction.

I don't know about you, but I find I can concentrate on mental activities, like writing, with a full belly. Work till the snows fall (which of course, it may be too late this year), then sit back and live off your grubstake and write away.

Good luck to ya...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Whenever I get land of my own, here's something I've been thinking about for storage space:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It...rden-Shed.aspx

I've thought about getting a large shed that looks like a mini-cabin and using it to live in.

We have a tiny house, about 252 sq-ft, with a family of five. Homesteading is definitely possible in a small space. Little house in the big woods here:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2007/10...y-cottage.html
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2009/06...e-step_26.html
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/labels/Tiny%20Cottage.html

The last link loads very slowly to do the large graphics and length.

Cheers,

-Walter

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Root cellar.

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"We spend money we don't have on things we don't need to create impressions that won't last on people we don't care about."
~T.Jackson

My site.

Have you heard of the Crow Creek Mine? It's located pretty close to you. If you want some first hand tips on homesteading with no refridgeration and not much storage space I suggest talking with the owners of Crow Creek.

Lovely area, Girdwood. I wish we would have been able to spend more time there.

You wouldn't have happened to be working in the road crew during the construction last September would you? We met a really nice young lady and chatted with her for a while during our wait to be escorted through the construction area.

I have a pretty diverse list of skills, actually, and currently work 7 days a week, up to 12 hours a day, saving up cash stores for winter and eventual down-payment on property. When I say freelancing, I don't strictly mean writing. I do PR, advertising, graphic design, some book keeping, marketing, et cetera. I'm currently making most of my money answering phones and running a small office for a friend through the end of the season, and still have time to work on my freelance projects.

I definitely "have a job".

Well good then! You didn't make that clear in your previous posts, and you mentioned "what if" you wrote freelancingly to get your money while being a migrant homesteader.

I would still diversify your skills even more. If you want to stay in Alaska, if I were you I'd pick up some of the seasonal processing skills, or work in a Nat Park like Texican said. I confess I'd probably have fun being a beer wench. So, just saying, your skillset as listed are still kinda narrow. Never ever pass up the opportunity to learn a new skill!!! Nothing different than what I tell my own kids. For instance, my son is 19, preparing for college (wants to do biochem). He ALSO can clean carpets with the professional giant steam machine, do trim and woodfloor carpentry, has been working at a winery bottling, and playing his guitar on a streetcorner(and got $$$$$), etc.

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5-star double-rated astronavagatrix earth girl

I moved to Girdwood 2 years ago after spending a couple of summers working in Denali. Much prefer the "real town" feel to the insanity of the Parks. I have a good network here, know everybody in town, have plenty of work available to me. More than I can, or care to, keep up with really.

And actually, as far as "scroungables" it's not that bad. Check the Craigslist (Anchorage, I noticed they just added the other regions and they aren't well used yet,) and there are always lots of things being given away. Alaskaslist.com is another one that has become popular this year. I sometimes do wish I had a stable location here because I could easily put up a greenhouse with all the windows and scrap lumber people are giving away! Folks are constantly upgrading and casting off their old things and because waste disposal can be expensive here and there still is a mentality of waste not want not, people are generous with the items they no longer need. I got the trailer I live in on a trade for ad space in the newspaper I was running because the former owners no longer used it and didn't want it in their yard! I also got some awesome windows in deep sashes for free off Craigslist that worked great as cold frames in the garden I keep on a friend's lot. (And my dog, I got her for free off Craigslist, too!)

I have found that work is easy to find wherever I go because I do everything from computer work to waiting tables and cooking and my writing is a constant supplement and tends to float me between other work. My problem is most definitely not money or work. I guess I should go back and re-read my original post, since that seems to have become a common thread through all this. I live in a little trailer parked behind a friend's business in Girdwood, AK because it is beautiful and I like it here, but I am not prepared to settle here for good. (Outrageously expensive, small lots, too often overcast.) It is my indecisiveness that keeps me nomadic, not my lack of funds or work, though I tend to prefer to live simply, enjoy the outdoors, and work less as opposed to the other way around.

Until I do find the property I want to purchase and "settle" on, however, I want to be able to practice as many homesteading techniques as possible with the set up I have.

I've looked around at what I can do with my space and what I have actually already been doing:

I set up a couple of gardens with friends and help them tend and care for them and in return get fresh foods and lots of practice gardening without the commitment of buying or even renting land.

I keep some herbs and tiny Red Robin tomatoes (6" plants that get LOADED with little tomatoes) in and around my trailer.

Lately I've found myself going over to a friend's house to cook once a week. She hates to cook, so enjoys the meal and we make a night of it and I get some food cooked up. I can then keep it in the fridge at work for lunches through the week.

I've started organizing and eliminating my belongings, narrowing it down to just what I actually really need and use. I feel like for me, at this point in my life, my goal is to have no more clothes and shoes than can easily fit in my camping pack. I have a long way to go on that one. I might bend the rules and allow a bit more bulk for my heavy winter gear. Donating a lot of read books and magazines to the library.

Asked a couple of friends if I could trade out some preserves or other finished products for use of their kitchen and canning set-ups. I imagine it will work out much the same way as with the friend whose kitchen I use for cooking. Almost a social get-together. Offering to bring the wine tends to work well for this. High-bush cranberries and blueberries are out en force, and the Salmon Berries should be about ready.

Also borrowed a smoker from a friend that is going to be in Africa for the next three weeks. The Silvers are running down in Hope and I'm told you can make quick work of getting your limit, so I'm planning a trip for this week.

All the spawned out dead fish along the creeks in town are making me think fish emulsion for the garden...have to figure that one out.


Wow, I got really long winded.

DH set us up an outdoor kitchen on our screened porch so that we can keep heat out of our house in the hot, humid GA summers. We cook and can on a 3-burner propane cooker and have a 110 volt electric oven that was purchased by a plant in town to heat things in in the mechanical department, but the oven didn't get hot enough, so they were going to throw it away and FIL brought it to us instead of throwing it in the dumpster. I waterbath can and pressure can on the 3-burner propane cooker. I have canned over 400 jars and am still using the first 20lb cylinder of propane. We got our stove at a farm supply store for $39. You could set up a similar kitchen outside your small trailer and can whatever you want to. I even pressure can meat. You just have to adjust the propane at the beginning to get the jiggler on top of the pressure canner jiggling properly. It would not cost you much to get set up and will provide you lots of security in processing your own food.

There was a "Homestead Sitter Wanted " link on the forum a while back you might want to look into that.

homestead is where the heart is

Where down here are you "eyeing" to move to?

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You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.

Here's a thought...... Can you barter a spare room or even a large closet from a trusted friend? That would give you storage space for whatever you want to store. Home canned foods, extra clothing, canning equipment, etc.

If memory serves, you aren't planning to take the trailer with you when you move. If you can barter the storage space now, that'll let you do a lot of things now that you can't do otherwise. When you get ready to leave, I'm reasonably sure there'll be a market for the practical things you have in storage that you don't want to take with you. Just depends on your mode of transportation when you leave.

Barter with your friend who doesn't like to cook to use her kitchen for canning. Since she doesn't cook, bet she'd jump at the chance to have some home canned "heat and eat" on her pantry shelves. Split the cost of supplies 50/50. She provides the kitchen, you provide the work. That may work out better than bartering with friends who are already canning. That is unless you want to learn from them. Otherwise, chances are just when you need to use their kitchen for canning, they'll be needing it, too. Heck you might be able to get that spare room or closet from her, which would make it more convenient for you. That is providing you trust her with regards to your property.

Hope some of these thoughts help further.

Lee

I don't have any more ideas to add, just wanted to say thanks as some of the ideas mentioned are helpful to me, also.

Kathleen

I have not read this thread yet, but your post reminded me of living in "Howies Hotel"' that was basically a studio apartment.

There was not much room, and so we stored things in boxes. the boxes went under the table, and a table cloth hid it. There WAS room for our feet, mond, but there was also room for boxes.

I do not think that I would try to store canned good there, much, but how about dried food? A dehydrator would fit on the counter, and the dried food would not take up much room.

If you stayed in Alaska, could you freeze food?

In Siberia, some people had a sun porch and in the winter they kept their frozen food there. They would bring in the chunks as they were desired and when the meat was HALF-thawed they would cut it with a hacksaw. Then what was left of the meat went back onto the porch to re-freeze.

Our ancestors had tiny homes. They coped by having barns and by having root cellars UNDER the house.

You sound like me, about 15 years ago.

Nothing like living in a circus like Denali, to enjoy a quieter spot, such as Girdwood.

Couldn't agree more, about working less and enjoying life more. When I work, I want to maximize my income, so I can enjoy the periods in between jobs. One of the reasons I set up a homestead was to put the land 'to work' feeding me. Investments I make on the land pay me back greater than any bank account.

Glad to see the scroungable situation has improved!

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming