Alaska Cabin

I have been a prepper in some way my entire life. Having grown up in western Colorado and coming from a working class home in a rural area, I learned about hardship as I saw my parents lose their home and and sink into poverty when the energy economy in the area dried up.

When Y2K was looming on the horizon, I started buying silver bullion, in preparation for a financial apocalypse that didn’t come. The bullion investment proved to be a good one, however!

9/11 and the real estate bubble really shaped my view of the world in terms of globalization and macroeconomics. Combining this knowledge with my experiences living in Alaska, I have just learned that preparation is important.

In 2018 we had a 7.2 mag earthquake that took out our power and destroyed roads, houses and buildings in November when it was snowy and really cold outside. I learned that having an alternative heat source and generator was indeed a good investment of money and time.

And now Covid has come. The mother of all disasters! If you combine Covid, BLM Riots, and the ridiculous presidential election you achieve a perfect storm situation that leaves even non-preppers running for the TP!

I have taken this opportunity to learn many new skills related to homesteading and to make myself more self sufficient. Unfortunately I still don’t feel like I am fully prepared for what is coming.

Firstly, I am thankful that I have my cabin. It’s a nice place to bug out to in the event something really big happens. But it is not going to work for the long term the way it is now. It would be a really tough life out there, especially in the deep of winter when it can get to -20 degrees F.

At home in Anchorage, I have really ramped up my prepping and homesteading in order to achieve a better preparedness profile. I now have 6 hens, and they are producing eggs quite regularly, even in the snowy weather.

Financially, I have learned to become much more minimalist. I have been practicing “Mustachianism”, the ideas put forth by financial blogger, Mr Money Mustache. As a a result I have adopted the idea that self-imposed hardship can make you a more resilient human being, and prepare you for tough times.

I have increased my food storage, and made major improvements towards the recipes that I use when making food. This creates a more healthy diet for me and my children as well as allowing for me to save even more money. Healthy, home grown foods and bulk staples can be a key to preparedness in food security.

I have spent time working on niche business ideas, and I feel confident that I could either create a business or find more work if I need it. In the meantime I have learned that I love working where I work. I get the chance to strategically form the future of our organization using software engineering, and it’s really exciting to me. I feel that I have a bright future working with my employer.

I have learned how to grow microgreens, which can provide a rapid source of nutrition and potentially a source of income. I have improved my gardening skills and enhanced the permaculture of my lands.

Lastly, I have learned so much from some excellent homesteading podcasts out there. These podcasts are awesome resources that not only taught me plenty of great tricks and tips about homesteading, but they also gave me permission to homestead right where I am at. After hearing story after story of homesteaders who started right in their home, even on a half acre lot, I realized that I didn’t need to ONLY focus on my cabin and that I could homestead at home too!

Awesome Podcasts

Modern Homesteading Podcast – By Harold Thornbro. Excellent discussion of permaculture, chickens, and other homsteading topics. This is a podcast for all people. He does not speak too much about politics or divisive subjects and he comes across as very polite and well mannered.

The Survival Podcast – Jack Spirko’s podcast is a very long running that covers just about everything under the sun related to prepping, farming, gardening, crypto, politics, and more.

Melissa K Norris – Melissa K Norris is a great resource for information about how to run a homestead. She comes from a long line of homsteaders and provides great content about gardens, chickens, and more. I like to think of Melissa as the Martha Stewart of Homesteading.

I also learned a lot from these youtube channels in the last 9 months.

On the Grow – A podcast that covers everything you need to know about growing microgreens.

MiGardener – This podcast covers all kinds of gardening topics.

Well, It has snowed a little last night so I need to get outside and do some work. I hope everyone is well and stay safe everyone!