[chrisxweaver]

Im 17 And I want to homestead in Alaska. I already in a way have a urban homestead I have been growing fruits and vegtables for the past 4+ years so I could say for my area and climate I have a good greenthumb. Aprox. 8 months ago I got chickens for eggs and have had them ever since. I just recently bought 6 cornish rocks from tractor supply for meat And for the experince and knowledge of taking a animals life for more than fun or protection (which ive never done fyi I dont come from a homesteading family or hunting family). I started homeschooling so I could focus more on what I want to do and be more self taught in real life things, I still get a full high school diploma if your wondering. My biggest problem is money I solve this by selling on ebay you might be saying well your not going to make any money doing that get a job! Oh but contraire On a normal basis since im homeschooled I can just hop in my car and go to swap meets, yard sales, estate sales, etc. and buy and resell. and I can make on average $2000-$4000 a month. but that doesnt include ebay fees shipping and cost of buying items gas and so on. I also have 2 other little work jobs that make $200 a month. But that still isnt enough tbh its a good start but not nearly enough since just started going full time ebay 2 months ago. Also I am saving any old tools from my garage that I may need and just storing them in my room. Should I grab the nails and screws? They are old so I dont know how reliable they are. I am also very self taught and am planning on taking a welding class and maybe a wood working class. When I need to make something i dont liketo just go to te store and buy things I like to just find stuff in my backyard and use them. I am also exercising buying something that is a future investment or something I will need in the future. For example ive knly bought a couple things but when I process my chickens im going to need a knife so I bought a havalon piranta that has detachable blades so I will have 11 extra blades that will last me a long time 3-4+ years depending how many times I process a animal. I also picked up a leatherman charge alx that was on ebay for alot cheaper that normal brand new and everything that will literly last me 10+ years. So am I on the right track?

 

[painterswife]

Yes, you are trying things and seeing what works at a young age. Bravo

 

[haypoint]

Watch the movie, "Into the Wild" based on true story and the movie "Never Cry Wolf".

I homesteaded in northern Michigan and found it to be tough. Alaska cold is brutal. Land near the cities is costly. Soil is often low in nutrients.

I have a friend that raised her children near Denali, while her husband taught at university.
I have another friend raised in very rural northern Michigan, that moved to Alaska. His wife teaches school and he grew a construction company. Complains about the months of near total darkness.
Another friend and his wife went to Alaska. Since she's Black, was able to land a government job as a minority, but Cal was teaching part time at a University, cleaning fish at a cannery and barely making ends meet. Eventually, he hauls bicyclists, canoeists and kayakers to drop off points, then has a campfire going when they reach their destination. Not steady work.
Forget ebay, shipping costs will create a financial disadvantage. Forget Yard Saleing, not that much extra stuff gets hauled there by residents.
Raising hens or meat chickens is so hard, weasels, fox, owls and the high cost of imported feed are great challenges.
The lure of Alaska has sent many hearty souls northward. After a few grueling years, most come back.
I'd suggest a less drastic location.

 

[Shrek]

Member Sourdough is located in Alaska and could probably offer you some first person advice. From what I have read of his posts about Alaska he has been up there 20 to 30 years I think.

He visits this part of HT fairly regularly. Maybe he will see this thread on his next read of homesteading question and offer you some advice from what he has learned living there.

 

[andrew3d]

I would advise you to get a partner. For many, that would be a spouse. It is foolish to live in remote wilderness alone.
And nothing comes free. I understand a gallon of milk is $8.00 in Alaska. I think you will need substantial cash.
How about taking another look at the upper half of Michigan? It might be a bit easier.

 

[wy_white_wolf]

You might look into an Alaska homesteading or sustainable living internship. Such as http://roundrivercommunity.org/. Google can find several more. You'd learn form those that are doing it and find out if the isolation of Alaska is really what you want. That would also give you access to cheap land.

Good luck and I do believe you are following the right path.

WWW

 

[AmericanStand]

I'd look into ebay shipping costs.
But the big ebay problem if you live In Remote Alaska will be finding stuff to sell.
At your age I can't see anything that would prevent you From putting 3 grand in your pocket and heading off to Alaska to see what you think.
When you get there spend a grand on a Craigslist car and live in it while you wander.
If you don't stay put it on a commission lot and go.

 

[emdeengee]

I live east of Alaska in just as cold and wild a territory. You are young but you have spirit and are willing to learn. The right track for homesteading is to take your time and develop yourself, your income earning ability and of course your homesteading skills. Can you bake bread? Cook on wood stove? Chop and split enough cords of wood to last the 7 or 8 months worth that you will need. Have you ever chopped down a tree?

No matter where you homestead you will have to have an income - even if you get the land for free which rarely if ever happens.

An education/trade in something that is needed in Alaska would be my suggestion for your main current goal. Anywhere from 2 to 5 years of an investment in this is not a lot of time to give to your dream and meanwhile you can learn more homesteading skills.

My husband went back to school and became a water quality scientist which is a job that is highly required for the placer gold mining, industry, hard rock mining and all the environmental stuff you could ever think of including climate change - which really does exist and is especially apparent in the north. His two assistants both have university degrees but one is also a carpenter (cabinet maker and building houses) and the other has a diploma in permaculture and is now studying to be a Naturopath. She went to Costa Rico twice to work on farms as a volunteer and learned everything she needs to know to raise crops and livestock.

We have friends who are from Australia and homestead but he is a helicopter pilot. Another friend was a French submariner and now homesteads and runs a cafe in Dawson. Another is an expert in permafrost construction and repair and travels all over the world. Another couple are teachers and placer gold miners. They live on their claim.

You can have all you want but not all at the same time.

 

[FarmboyBill]

Hows your dad feel bout you copping all the tools you want and putting them in your room.
As said, go find someone to teach you about cutting firewood.
See IF you can rent your own place in town, which is where I suppose you are right now, WITH A BIG YARD, and learn to grow intensive gardens. Learn how to can what you grow. Raise rabbits and butcher them. Keep going with your chickens. There are goats that don't bleat. Don't know what kind of milkers they are, BUT, if they aren't, and you can sneak one in your back yard, goat meat is GREAT.
There are vids bout a dad with his son and 2 DDs who did that off a hwy in Calif, and raise a humongous amount of veggies and have chickens. They sell to restaurants, and can their own food. learn to drive an OLD tractor, then learn how to use it in farming/gardening. Dosnt have to be a big one. A H JD or a C Farmall, or C Allis Chalmers or 60 Oliver or 22 Massey Harris will do all you want in a garden, AND if you restore them or keep the restored look they came with when you bought one of them, If it dosnt work out for you, you can sell them easily and shouldn't lose much money if any.
AND
As someone has said, you need a partner. Things can go wrong, and when they do, they can do so in a blink of an eye. U cut your leg with a chain saw, OR a tree falls on you, OR a rear wheel of a tractor falls into a hole and you bounce off. My brother was killed by my dad when he fell of the fender of a iron wheeled Allis Chalmers WC and a spade lug went through his heart. Happened in 2 seconds likely.
ALSO, a partner is someone you can bounce ideas off of, someone who sees a thing in a different angle. Someone to watch TV with and comment on what your seeing, Someone to play games with on LONG winter nights. Theres a lot to Farming/Gardening/Homesteading, and it takes a lifetime to learn, and by the time your old and think you have learned it all, which you have, BUT you find you've forgotten a large part of what you've learned, so your constantly either learning or relearning stuff.
Upi say that you have the potential of earning $2Gs a month. I take it that you havnt done that yet. Theres likely 2 doz things farmers/gardeners/homesteaders could do to make good money, but [email protected] of them don't do it, or do it enough to make serious money. WHY< It takes money to make money. It also takes ALOT of fails in an endeavor to finally learn how to do it right, and most don't have the fortitude OR the mondy to keep on keeping on till they get it right, so they fold, and just kick along making just enough to get by.
REMEMBER
IF It was easy, most people would do it. It isn't.

 

[emdeengee]

One way to get a lot of experience in areas that will be useful to you is to volunteer your labour or to find someone who is willing to teach you things. We worked on all kinds of farms and in orchards and vineyards as volunteers. We were lucky in that we had family, neighbours and friends who were willing to teach us about gardening, fishing and how to take down trees and turn them into firewood and even how to sew and knit. Irrigation and sewage control was also a subject worth learning about. Family and neighbours who taught us all about preserving - canning, drying, smoking etc - and also how to cook and bake everything from scratch. One of our neighbours was the most amazing gardener. Maria could grow anything and she was always grafting new fruit trees.

There are many great books on the market concerning stocking up and preserving and they certainly serve as references but when you have hands on experience it really makes a difference in the learning process. My husband learned all the food skills right along with me and I learned all the forestry and farming skills right along with him. Both of us have our stronger skills which we do tend to do more of but variety is also interesting.

You are young and have time to learn a lot before committing to the full time and full sized life and everything you learn in advance will serve you well. But unless you have an inheritance or pension you will still have to earn an income in the years that it will take you to become self sufficient or earn your living through homesteading so it really is important to have a trade or profession that is needed for the area where you want to live.

 

[FarmboyBill]

Getting on U TUBES and searching out the areas you need boning up on, and the varied ways that people do them will help you ALOT.

 

[confederatemule]

Why go North? It seems to me that buying 20, or so, acres in the southern part of the United States would be a lot more profitable, and easier, to homestead. Although I do not like to see all of the northern city dwellers coming South and trying to turn us into something other than Southerners.

 

[FarmboyBill]

Oklas a great area also.

 

[Terpodion]

My best advice is to listen to what people here are telling you despite how this may conflict with the way you feel. Put your ego aside. Homesteading in Alaska is far more difficult than you can possibly imagine.

 

[Fishindude]

I'd suggest getting seasonal work with a fishing & hunting outfitter first to see how you like remote Alaska living and all of the work associated with it. should be quite a few of these jobs available if you put some feelers out.

 

[Roachven7]

You might look into an Alaska homesteading or sustainable living internship. Such as http://roundrivercommunity.org/. Google can find several more. You'd learn form those that are doing it and find out if the isolation of Alaska is really what you want. That would also give you access to cheap land.

Good luck and I do believe you are following the right path.

WWW

Ditto on what white-wolf said. You can learn a lot from hands on experience helping others out. There are plenty of homesteads out there looking for help. I should know, we are always looking for help out here and we're happy to feed, house and teach people who help us out. I lived on a friends homestead just down the road from here for a few years before we bought our place. I learned a lot there.

Where are you from anyhow chrisxweaver? And why do you want to go to Alaska? What part of Alaska do you want to go to? The coast? The interior? Southeast? What kind of life do you want to live there? Remote in a roadless wilderness, or near a town or city? I'm certainly not trying to say you shouldn't go to Alaska, I'm just curious to hear your reasons and more about what homesteading in Alaska means to you. I'm from Illinois and I spent a couple months in Alaska to consider homesteading there. I was mostly around Fairbanks and Homer. I ended up in settling down Northeastern MN (which is notably colder and snowier than many parts of Alaska) where I live now. There are still parts of the lower 48 that are just as wild as Alaska.

I found that round river community website last year and I really admire what they are doing. If I would have found out about them 10 years ago, I would have headed out there for one of their internships. Who knows, maybe I would still be in Alaska if I would have found them. It sounds similar to the way my family and I homestead although we are quite a bit less remote. If you decide you are looking to learn about northern homesteading a little closer to home, look us up and message us. As I mentioned we're always looking for help.

Keep following the dream.....

Steven George
www.roachpics.shutterfly.com
www.youtube.com/user/Roachven
www.ic.org/directory/long-haul/
www.workaway.info/618479233977-en.html

 

[Roachven7]

Forgot to mention.... I second what others said about needing a partner, but I would take that a step further and say that you need a community. Don't even think about going it alone.... I don't know how Dick Proenneke did it, but I know there aren't many people out there like him.

 

[imauspilot]

Im 17 And I want to homestead in Alaska. I already in a way have a urban homestead I have been growing fruits and vegtables for the past 4+ years so I could say for my area and climate I have a good greenthumb. Aprox. 8 months ago I got chickens for eggs and have had them ever since. I just recently bought 6 cornish rocks from tractor supply for meat And for the experince and knowledge of taking a animals life for more than fun or protection (which ive never done fyi I dont come from a homesteading family or hunting family). I started homeschooling so I could focus more on what I want to do and be more self taught in real life things, I still get a full high school diploma if your wondering. My biggest problem is money I solve this by selling on ebay you might be saying well your not going to make any money doing that get a job! Oh but contraire On a normal basis since im homeschooled I can just hop in my car and go to swap meets, yard sales, estate sales, etc. and buy and resell. and I can make on average $2000-$4000 a month. but that doesnt include ebay fees shipping and cost of buying items gas and so on. I also have 2 other little work jobs that make $200 a month. But that still isnt enough tbh its a good start but not nearly enough since just started going full time ebay 2 months ago. Also I am saving any old tools from my garage that I may need and just storing them in my room. Should I grab the nails and screws? They are old so I dont know how reliable they are. I am also very self taught and am planning on taking a welding class and maybe a wood working class. When I need to make something i dont liketo just go to te store and buy things I like to just find stuff in my backyard and use them. I am also exercising buying something that is a future investment or something I will need in the future. For example ive knly bought a couple things but when I process my chickens im going to need a knife so I bought a havalon piranta that has detachable blades so I will have 11 extra blades that will last me a long time 3-4+ years depending how many times I process a animal. I also picked up a leatherman charge alx that was on ebay for alot cheaper that normal brand new and everything that will literly last me 10+ years. So am I on the right track?

I live in Delta Junction, AK with my wife on our homestead. Find me on Facebook under Mark Matthews, and PM for help as you need it. Hope this helps.

 

[Forcast]

Yep I'd think about live in a closer not so deadly degree place to practice being self reliant. Cause if you mess up in -50 or 110 degrees your dead. If you mess up in Pennsylvania in the Spring time you can write a blog on what not to do. Dont get second chances in Alaska or Death Valley.

 

[JerryJimmy]

- I thought your post here was mighty encouraging, Chris Weaver. You're just about the only 17 year old I've ever heard say something like that. Sounds like you're well on your way, getting good experience gardening and butchering. Keep dreaming.