As an Alaskan, wish you all the best. I don't live off grid, but there are a LOT of people who do. Looking forward to your adventures, just a warning. A lot people who come here, usually don't leave, or they leave then come back. Don't say I didn't warn you. Wish you all the best.
I didn't know 2 years ago that I'd have animals, a compost toilet, water from only the rain and a spring or that I'd have been living in a tent for a year. It all just happened. I knew I wanted chickens when it became evident we were going to move to raw land. I put doors on IBC tanks for predator proof housing, used temporary fencing for moving chickens around. Bought a bottle calf, made temporary shelters with pallets, collected rain water with the first structures we made, ran a $40 one hundred meter hose from the only structure on the property (a water tank for the spring water) to the main area we washed dishes and such in. We set up 4 pallets for the compost toilet, brought in wood chips, didn't even have a seat on the bucket for several months (that was quite annoying). Now 2 years later from when we first moved I'm building things to last and for what I feel will work on the land. While going else where to live I don't know that it's the same as getting to know your land. I now know where water collects, where plants would grow best, what the soil lacks, how much my land can support and many other things that I wouldn't know if I hadn't been here working on the land. It sounds like a fun adventure however! I look forward to seeing all your videos :)
I think the biggest step to doing anything new is finding out what you don't know. What you don't know is ten times more important than what you do know. God bless and guide you as you create your new home and keep learning, keep growing !!!
Yes, PLEASE make a video about finding ag leases! We are potentially leaving our homestead in Eastern WA and would love to find something comparable in another part of the country. We're so thankful for your guys' passion for learning and research and the info you pass along to us. 💚
LUMNAH ACRES....I have been watching them build many things over the years. They are a family that is completely off grid. They will of course be working on it for years to come. (Working on 500 acresI) believe that, of all the HOMESTEADERS I watch, this family can be a great source of information pertaining to what you are going to do. They are in the same area of the U S you are. Same climate, similar ideas of raising animals, etc. Couldn't hurt to look into it! I wish your family a safe journey to Alaska. "Keep on keeping on"💚❤️
@PrismaticPersimmons I think they are mostly fair with it. To get clicks, you've gotta give people something to want to find out and honestly, "day 38 of the build" is one you would think you could skip unless it said something like, "Didn't expect to have to redo that" or similar. They do sometimes make something out of nothing, like take a one moment comment about thinking it would take longer and turning it into "they said it couldn't be done" But still, overall, you can spot the moment to which the title refers.
Alaska sounds amazing. We’re off grid in the Western Sierra foothills and love it. Weather plays a huge role in what off grid means. We have a ton of sun here and a small amount of snow and rain that’s concentrated to four months of the year. Our roads, water catchment, planting, animal housing, heating and solar are all influenced heavily by this. I imagine that Alaska might have unique challenges. That said, how awesome to have the chance to have that experience.
Off grid over 20 years now and you are right that off grid homesteading is a different experience. I built my own cabin and have designed many cabins for off grid living. You should get plans and understand the principles before building. My solar power is just 600 watts and I have most of the appliances of any modern home. Water is artesian well, propane for OD water heater, cooking and heat with wood stove backup. Raised beds and chickens to start. Maybe goats if you need milk.
I must say I've been just visiting your channel off and on since 2017... now I popped back in and saw all this stuff about "quitting", living in Alaska, preparing a homestead before Alaska, and thought wuuuut is all this? So I've been binging on 20+ videos for the past couple of days and now it's finally starting to make sense. 🙃
You guys are amazing! You really lay it all out where others leave alot of the chaff out. Can't wait to see where your journey leads and the info you guys will bring us! Hopefully one day I'll follow the path you guys are paving.
Please make a video on how you found the ag lease! Going to be transitioning out of the military and have thought about doing exactly this. Going to have to see if the family can hang with me 😂😂
YES, we would absolutely love a video on getting an ag lease in Alaska please. We are planning on moving up there ourselves to start homesteading next summer.
Had livestock on rented land for years. Solar for electric fence was first (batteries need more babying then i did) and on another place with a little human shelter a porta potty that rapidly changed to a self build composting toilet due to stink and cleaning frustrations. The composting toilet (with enough absorband material!) was smell and problem free even in summer heat (afternoon shade included though). Rest never materialized, but absolutely yes to the step by step learn before you go big. After a while you may not want to go big after all. Have a small house (easy to clean, heat and so on) and big workshop/barn and so on seem to fit better. Part would depend on what you do and how much does the weather and bugs allow working outside on projects and such.
@@deborahmauro8754 Made my own, so wooden box with hole covered with real toiletseat. Put a 20L bucket in it with wastebin liner and some choppend animal bedding material for absorption. Double bagged it for disposal (no composting option given the extra hygiene measures needed). Humanure handbook gives instructions for such builds. More complex one could be the John Seymour thunderbox, that one is designed to hold a year of waste and then compost for a year.
I’m so excited to follow as you go through this journey! I dream of going off grid but I’m intimidated and a bit (okay, more than a bit) scared of going over my head. We may all be forced into this lifestyle ready or not, though… that’s scarier.
Tell us about ag leases! What does that mean? Who would want to ag lease and who would not? How do you go about finding one? Please make a video about this!
There's two ways to approach off grid systems. One is to consider how much electricity and water you're using while connected to the grid, and try to make a system to replace that. It gets expensive fast! The other is to install as much electricity and water harvesting as you can afford, and then adjust your lifestyle to fit this budget. You look out the window in summer and see it's a bright sunny day so today is a good day to do a lot of laundry. In winter, maybe you decide you don't actually need to be running the fridge to keep your food fresh, and that way you have more electricity available for the things you decide you do need. I don't have a composting toilet because permits, but I do bucket the water from the bath to flush the toilet and that means we can afford to let our cows drink tank water - they like it better than dam water, and happy cows are the best cows. It's really no different to looking at your financial income and working out how to live within your means. In a good climate you won't be living in poverty, for either electricity or water - it's just not unlimited. On the up side, you're not destroying the planet to keep yourself alive, and definitively the system you get won't have been prohibitively expensive.
Fynny how komposting toilet raises peoples hairs 😅 In the north livin off grid uothouse is the only reasonable choice. Personally I have just a hole in the ground and a small hut on top. The bugs do amazing job during the summer months. They dismantle all the shit Ive been able to produce during the winter. Lived here for three years now, and never had to empty my outhouse. Let the nature do it. Love your channel! And looking forward following your journey through Alaska 💪 With love Satu From Finland
Such a fun journey. I’d go for what the children’s priorities are, first. Such a fantastic opportunity for them to have adventure and parents/grandparents who are there to catch them when miner disasters occur. Especially this day and age.
Off-grid is the best! The one thing I totally don't miss: the power bill!!! We started with a mostly rotted-out 13' camper, then found a cheap RV that we dragged back into the woods. We don't really have power (small solar system, generator for when the sun fails to charge our batteries), we rely on rainwater, snow collection or pumping into a tote from a creek that we then transfer to our house barrels. We were doing a bit of homesteading at our previous place, so we brought our tiny hobby farm with us (I had designed all the buildings to come apart into easily movable panels). One thing about being completely off-grid: if you don't have something that you need/want, it's all on YOU - there's no calling the power company or the water corporation to complain and wait for a fix! Plus side: when the neighbourhood you're in loses power, you won't know and also totally won't care about it 🤣🤣🤣
I would never live in a yurt! They are prone to growing black mold. I had a friend who owned a yurt. His whole family got very sick and they discovered their yurt was full of black mold. They had to have it torn down and they eventually built a traditional cabin, with good vapor barrier and insulation. Both were off grid and they loved that part. By the way, they had an incinerating toilet and they preferred that to a composting toilet. That being said, Alaska is beautiful and I'm sure this will be a fun adventure.
Off gridding is a "whole new thing". All your appliances, wiring, electrical handling, collection and storage are all new things. We are moving, gradually, to an off-grid prep status. It's been a very expensive, exhausting adventure.
WYNOT we've been off Grid for 16 years and are still building a home. We just did it with a tiny camper 3 teenage boys. A bathhouse is a great way to start. And we live in a VERY cold climate. Will never go back to the grid
Have you checked out "Simple Living Alaska"? My wife loves them. I personally cant understand why someone would want to live in 8 months of winter, but I guess some people do.
Good look on your Alaska trip! One subject I'd love to hear more about is hunting, fishing, and trapping as a food source. You mentioned in one video that, after two years of hunting, you were able to provide two meals a week. However, if you factor in different types of meat gathering (fishing, trapping), different animals with different seasons, and different hunting grounds (private plots v. public backcountry), how do those numbers change? And, of course, if someone else has a resource that looks at total food production using the wide band of meat gathering, I'd appreciate it!
I miss you 2😢. Im so pleased to hear you're taking your time,and feeling things out. I know ,when you get it in your Heads you will build an Epic Off Grid Home❤ Also im excited for your Alaska project 🎉. Will you share it 1with ua? I love Alaska ,I'll have to look at the link. Stay in touch 🤗 🐦. Ring Bug Nets and Spray and or Bug lights!!!!! Love JO JO IN VT 💞
On the composting toilet had it in the house for three to four years don't ever wanna own another one thank you very much I'd rather own the propane operated toilet that burns it and turns it to ash which back when I did it that one wasn't allowed in BC
Simple Living Alaska - it's a couple that has a couple of cabins in Alaska and they have an amazing RU-vid channel. You might wanna get in contact with them.
Ha, MJ's baseball career. He was awesome at basketball, but he was no Bo Jackson. But, I do get your point. And OH! I'm so excited for the summer videos. Alaska has been a dream of mine for a long time, but I don't think I could actually do a winter there with my bad circulation. And I agree with the humor comments about volts and stuff. I want to go solar, but all the information leaves me so confused.
I mean if y'all want to... You can come stay with us.😂 off grid down south. Especially with the whole off grid & farming situation. Completely different ballgame. We've been offgrid & farming for 10yrs.
There are tons of off gridders on RU-vid. Most are not practical for the average Joe or Josephine to follow. The resources they have to put in there offgrid property is far more then someone just starting. And the promotions and sponsors they receive and many are not told to the viewers. Sometimes the small RU-vidrs have more answers and keep you from making expensive mistakes.
(Speaking of athletes .... Babe Didrikson Zacharius - one of the greatest athletes of all time. She highly excelled at golf, baseball, basketball, track and field and she learned them fairly quickly.)
sounds interesting, when you get back, you could build a greenhouse with solar and a heater, say rocket stove or other type, that way its small scale and you can do rainwater collection, power and heating and growing in one bldg off grid before you build the big house. A hot tent or Yurt can be used to live in sunny mt when you get back. Ag lease etc video would be cool.
Great video! I’m so curious - how did y’all find this ag lease?? Is there a specific website or something? My wife and I aren’t necessarily looking to go off-grid, but we are hoping to get experience with animals and different elements of homesteading, and I think leasing some land nearby could help with that! So I guess I’m saying I would love to see a video on how you went about finding that!
My husband and i just moved to a farm april 1st for a property/home caretaking position. It all felt too good to be true but apparently it is a thing! It makes me wonder how many other property owners are looking for full time caretakers who could get liked up with people looking for land to homestead
now theres a good idea! weve got a homestead wed love to leave for a few months to do the mushroom circuit but we cant leave a dairy cow for several months! i wonder how these guys found their house sitting opportunities
@@soidog4615 Its so hard to leave once you have animals. I hope they share their process. I know I found our opportunity online on a land link type of website where people can post agricultural land for rent and stuff, I actually don't even remember now what website it was or if i am even remembering right.
That is amazing you guys are doing this! So how is your farm down in the lower 48s managed when you guys are in Alaska ? I really want to get some land to do sustainable farming on myself
I just LOVE them, plus they lived without solar for 13 of those 14 yrs! They use the bucket Composting toilet system, (Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins)
Have you watched Doug and Stacy homestead they have ideas you can get such as to little house aan did that and the authority made him take it down rebuild it
Ooooh baseball coaches thought MJ would be in the majors if he stayed another year. His only flaw was his inability to hit a curve ball. He started his career with a very good batting average until pitchers figured that out.
Doesn't Alaska have tons of mosquitoes in warmer months? Dont think I'd like that. Maybe I'm missing something that could change my mind about Alaska. I'll be watching. :)
