Alaska Dreaming

The dream began when I was quite young. I read a book by Jack London, White Fang. And I was smitten by Alaska. I read more Jack London, including Call of the Wild. And I was more smitten. I read other books about mushing, and Alaska, and the history of the Gold Rush. And I dreamed.

The Call of the Wild and White Fang (Unabridged Classics)


I dreamed of living in Alaska. I would live in a cabin in the woods. I would be self-sufficient. I would be able to survive in such a wild and beautiful and terrible and wonderful place. And I would thrive there.

I did not know the term "homesteader" then. I did not know that my family lived in a semi-homesteading style, with gardening, canning, baking our own bread, making our own applesauce, making our own beef jerky, putting up a side of beef, etc. But it seemed a good way to live, even though no one else around us did it too. I wanted to take it further.

I grew up. I fell in love. I got married. He had no such dreams of Alaska. I put my Alaskan dreams on a shelf. We had a baby. I pursued homesteading. In time, my husband and I divorced. After regrouping, I settled down on a little rural property, raised my child, and homesteaded.

I gardened, cared for an orchard, kept horses, raised sheep, ducks, chickens, goats, and bees. I learned herbal medicine. I canned, I froze, I baked bread. I learned to knit, and to spin wool, and to weave. And I pursued my interests in self-sufficiency and my various passions where I found myself, far from the Alaska of my dreams.

From time to time the idea of Alaska has come back to me, but each time it did, the timing was bad. I could not move to Alaska when my child was growing up. And so it remained a pipe dream. But sometimes, I would see a cabin, in my dreams, and a forest homestead.

Recently, the dream returned to me. My child is grown. I'm in a relationship now with a man who is open to the concept. It is now, finally, do-able. It is now or never! We are not getting any younger, and if we don't do it soon, we never will.

This blog will be the place where I will share my hopes, my dreams, my struggles, and the hurdles that must be cleared so that the dream can become a reality.