I don't want to say I am capable of homesteading. But I think I truly might like to be. I wouldn't have even been able to tell you what that meant until like 6 months ago. One of my favorite things about being in Alaska has been the truly eye opening perspective I've gotten when it comes to living. Even in what is known as a "city" here, it's not like the rest of the world, or at least Louisiana and Michigan... I've been exposed enough to the idea of a dry and wet cabins, that the idea of living in one doesn't scare me, or blow my mind. After having to work as hard as I (we-Chad helps too) do to maintain and heat a 3,000sq ft home, a 700sq ft cabin that has 1 toilet, 1 shower, 1 sink, a handful of lights, and a wood stove is...wait for it...appealing. Maybe more intriguing, but I would try it given the chance. If the house sells before we have orders and need to find a place to stay for a few months - I'm going to see if we can find a wet cabin! The simplicity draws me in. The control over what goes in and on my food before I eat it. I'm learning so much, I love it! The crazy part is that this is probably the HARDEST place in the U.S. to homestead and be self sufficient. But so many people do it! I guess out of necessity. It's worth the long term investment to build a beautiful green house and grow to sustain yourself through the winter, because it's so expensive to ship food here, and even then if it's a bad winter - it's not guaranteed!!! No lettuce. None. For weeks possibly. I've never lived somewhere that that was a situation you could run into at the store. Big stores could probably fly produce in if it got that bad. But still....crazy.
I'm going to miss the array of fresh food come this winter. It gets hard, especially since winter lasts so long...
I've started dabbling in this homesteading concept (maybe, I'm probably 15 years off from being considered "homesteading" - and that's if my husband would let me!) and I've gotten into growing Kefir Grains, which are insanely easy and ferment milk so quickly that I've had to come up with ways to use the Kefir Milk. So I now make all the bread we use from Kefir Milk, ranch dip is made from the Kefir, delicious smoothies, and cream cheese. The probiotic benefits are so much better than anything you could buy in the store (to meet store standards much of the probiotics are killed, seems kind of pointless). The newest addition to the family is Kombucha. Which the kids LOVE! I have made my first brew (after a little failure at first) and I now have these three bottles resting and building up a little carbonation. The tea is sweet (hoping to use it to satisfy some of my Oreo fix), and it is jam packed with probiotics of all kinds. I can flavor it just about anyway I choose, and I can make it with caffeine or not. I'm just tickled pink at the world of opportunity here!
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