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Hello my friends and welcome back to the next chapter of Borealis Mom. I’ve been quiet over this past year, but have been hard at work behind the scenes. The life of this blog has been up in the air because of all of the changes in my life. I know I left without a warning, and I apologize, as that wasn’t fair to this lovely community. But we’ve been working and preparing tirelessly to finally purchase our Alaska homestead! We are ready to share our new homestead journey and show you what rural Alaska living looks like in real time.
What is Homesteading, Technically?
Homesteading in general is a very broad term. It means something different to whoever you ask. Generally speaking, we’ve been homesteading in every home we’ve lived in over the years. We’ve gardened, raised animals, canned our harvests, cooked from scratch, went hunting and fishing, made herbal medicine, etc. But none of these places have ever officially been ours.
We did purchase remote land in 2024 that we started to work on, but we never truly broke ground and made progress. Now we have our log cabin on some land in the mountains with a creek running through it and it couldn’t be a more picturesque scene for a homestead. The benefit of owning land makes it all seem more official.
When people think of Alaska, they often think of folks living way off grid, miles into the untamed wilderness. There are definitely some hardy folks who brave these extremes that way, and who knows, maybe Austin and I will some day.
For now, we are focused on building our family’s life around a homestead. Though not “off grid” we do plan on becoming as self reliant as possible to reduce and eventually eliminate our need for the grid’s resources. Obviously, I’ll always need to rely on resources like the internet if I”m to keep this blog alive and running. But we are dead set on becoming as self reliant as we can.
How Our Homestead Journey Began
We started this journey with the goal of being those people who live way out in bush Alaska. I can remember the excitement of renting our first dry cabin (insert eye roll at younger self). Oh what an adventure this Alaska Life has been. We were perfectly fine with using an outhouse and hauling our own water because we planned to live completely off grid anyway and so we would have to get used to it.
It is still appealing, but realistically not a part of our homestead journey at this time. When we moved here, we grew roots deep into our local Fairbanks community. Our children have friends and homeschool activities in town that would not be accessible elsewhere. We love all of the community events and do not want to take that away at this time. We are at a point in our lives where we would like to focus on becoming more self reliant rather than jumping knee deep into off grid life. This is the path that we’ve chosen to be the best course for my family to succeed.
Moving to Alaska
We spent the first 3 years of our Alaskan Homestead journey in dry cabins with eventually 4 kids. It was quite the experience, but it helped us to save our money so we’d be capable of buying our own eventually. In December of 2024, we had the opportunity to rent this beautiful log cabin. It is close to Austin’s job, which is a rarity, and it’s rural, but not TOO rural. It was perfect.
We rented it knowing that it would go up for sale the following Summer. We knew immediately that we wanted to buy it. When Spring thawed the snow and the first green grass appeared, our hearts became tied to this place. It’s almost like our souls knew this was our home, where we’re meant to be.
Austin worked so much overtime, it was almost as if he married his job. We buckled down and saved like crazy people, and it worked! It was probably one of the toughest years that we’ve gone through as a couple, but it was worth it in the end. Our family, our relationship, and our quality of life drastically improved through it all. This is now our home, where we put our roots down, and that one day our kids and their kids will come to visit again.
The Future of Borealis Mom and Our Homestead
I plan to write future articles on beginning a homestead in Alaska for those who might be interested. It is definitely no easy feat and the barrier to entry for most is in the know how. Having a guide and teacher would have been so wonderful, but we moved up here knowing no one. I’d also love to write a guide for what to know before buying land in Alaska. It’s so different up here than in the lower 48.
We bought 5 acres of raw land the Spring before last with big dreams of going off grid there. But there’s more to it than many think, so that is a future endeavor. My hope is to teach you from our trial and error so that you can have an easier experience if you decide to start your own homestead journey.
My goal with the future of this blog is to start diving more in depth about homesteading, self reliance, and also simple living in general. There is so much craziness, over-consumption, and stress out there in the world, but there is far more beauty, peace, and fulfillment if you know where to look.
My hope is to bring you along on my homestead journey towards a more simple, yet fulfilling life. One where I grow and harvest my own food, tend to my own home, raise my children under the midnight sun, and focus on family, home, and health. Health of the mind, body, and spirit. I already have a good base for this on my blog with articles on foraging, homestead skills for kids, and even how to get your kids outside more during winter.
An Alaskan Homestead Journey Conclusion
I hope that up until my year long hiatus, I was able to be a good resource for you guys with all things outdoors. I will of course still be enjoying much of my time outdoors, but I hope to bring more than just that to you now. Some of my content will be spent indoors, as a part of homesteading is spent in the kitchen as well. I hope that you guys decide to stick around and see what is to come.
I am excited for this new direction and I can’t wait to share it with you all. Thank you to everyone who has supported me along this journey. I will resume my weekly posts, as well as keep my social accounts updated, so follow along for the updates!
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