Hunter Homesteader
The Homesteader family lives off-the-grid in northern Southeast Alaska. Living off the land and sea, we grow, gather, hunt and fish most of our food.
Urged by family and friends to share our experiences, we have turned to the Blogosphere to begin that process.
To preserve our privacy, we are identified only as father Hunter, mother Gardener, and teenaged daughter, Apprentice.
Each member of the family submits articles and blog entries if and when they have something to say.
Blogs by this Author
More on Southeast Alaskan Fashion Secrets
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 04/13/2009
(Hunter)
A recent comment posted on my article, How to Dress Like A Southeast Alaskan has prompted me to update it.
A reader wrote: "Even with all the description, not clear which Woolrich coat you...
"Caught" the Coyote
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 03/1/2009
(Hunter)
Ever since we first saw her tracks on Christmas Eve, we've been anxious to see the coyote that has been visiting our homestead. Apprentice set her motion-sensing wildlife camera on a likely ...
New Charge Controller for the Wind Generator
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 02/21/2009
We've just "weathered" a long energy drought on the homestead, a period of flat, dead calm and heavy cloud cover. We ran our battery bank down to 60%, which is very unusual for us. Luckily, the calm p...
Update on the Time Capsule Seeds
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 02/16/2009
(Gardener)
The time capsule seeds that I pre-germinated under damp paper towels were planted in a grow box in my windowsill on February 3rd. As of today I have small tender seedlings of spinach, fe...
Finally, A Letter from Maine Meant to Reach Alaska
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 01/28/2009
(Hunter)
On our last trip to town, Apprentice checked the mail while Gardener and I handled other errands. When she rejoined us, she excitedly told us that we had a letter from one of the people whos...
The Word of the Day is . . . Subnivean!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 01/9/2009
The coyote came back on January 6th, running pretty much the same route through the yard as before. It dug in the snow in one place, then sat down there, leaving marks from its hind legs up to the kne...
View From Our Cabin Window
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 01/9/2009
(Hunter)
Like most of the state, our corner of Alaska is in the middle of a cold snap that threatens to reinforce every hackneyed, misinformed freezing cold stereotype we have endured since the U.S. ...
Coyote in the Compound
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/26/2008
(Hunter)
On the morning of Christmas Eve we had several inches of fine, powdery snow. Apprentice came inside from her morning necessary trip to announce that there were strange tracks crossing the ya...
Winter Solstice Photo
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/22/2008
(Hunter)
The Winter Solstice (December 21, 2008) here at the homestead was part of our continuing clear, cold streak. For us, it was a rare event to see the sun on the solstice. We had our typical st...
Witness the Winter Solstice at Newgrange!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/16/2008
(Hunter)
For the second time, the Winter Solstice sunrise at Newgrange will be broadcast on the Internet!
Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, is one of the true treasures of human endeavor, a gift to...
Recent Snowfall
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/9/2008
Apprentice took this shot across the garden, looking south. We had a blizzard last night and this morning. In the afternoon the wind switched to the south and it began to rain. Now big chunks of snow ...
Low Power Days
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/8/2008
(Hunter)
We have a weak link in our off-the-grid power system: our battery bank. Our bank is very small, four 6-volt batteries joined in tandem and parallel to equal four 12-volt batteries. This is m...
A New Roof for the Outhouse!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/4/2008
(Hunter)
I love jobs that turn out to be as easy as I'd hoped!
Recently we faced facts: the outhouse roof was done for. The corrugated metal had rusted through in places last winter, but we managed...
We've Made Our Bed, Now We Can Lie in It!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 12/2/2008
(Hunter)
When we bought the homestead, we inherited the previous owners' master bedstead. Built from raw logs, it was pretty massive, with a section of root wad arched over the head posts as a headbo...
Transplanted Thanksgiving
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/28/2008
(Hunter)
Our neighborhood Thanksgiving feast was no less pleasant for having been transplanted to downtown. The host house held the more than 25 people who attended. It's elegant and stylish, and ver...
How I Conserved Energy Today
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/23/2008
(Gardener)
How I conserved energy today:
I got up after the sky began lighten (to save on electricity).
I did not take a shower. I did wash at the sink; don’t worry.
I did ...
Apprentice Weighs In on Self-Perception and Homestead Life
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/20/2008
(Apprentice)
This is Your Author, Writing From an Undisclosed Location…
First things first—I am a bookworm. I have a bad habit of remembering obscure trivia and spewing it at unsuspectin...
Stevens Loses Senate Seat
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/19/2008
(Hunter)
The People of Alaska have spoken, and indicted criminal and former Senator-for-life Ted Stevens has failed to win re-election! This is an historic turn of events. Stevens has served the stat...
Dancing To the News
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/15/2008
(Hunter)
Since the night of November 4th, I've noticed an odd phenomenon in our house: my wife and daughter are dancing to the news!
Our household is addicted to news. Often our days pull us in se...
Brief Sighting
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/13/2008
(Hunter)
I don't think I grumbled about the chore of cleaning the solar panels yesterday. I hope not, because if I hadn't been out there, I would have missed them.
Usually, a snow fall on the solar ...
I Can Touch My Nose!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/11/2008
(Hunter)
The other day I suddenly realized: I can touch my nose again! For a long time now, I have avoided jostling it in any way that might cause it to hurt, or make that sickening pop and crackle.
...
The Winter Wine Glass
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/8/2008
(Hunter)
Today Apprentice and I swapped photos. On Samhain evening, when we brought out the winter wine glasses, she filled hers with apple cider, and got creative with it and the candlelight.
Afte...
In Praise of The Stick!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/7/2008
(Hunter)
Word is that the Toy Hall of Fame has just inducted, among other good, trusty toys, the stick!
This is wonderful news, but begs the question: why so late? The stick should, arguably, have ...
Alaska's Maverick Went Rogue!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/6/2008
(Hunter)
It's all going to come out now. Already we're learning the behind-the-scenes struggle in the McCain/Palin campaign, and it appears that Alaska's governor is largely the cause.
My late moth...
Election Drags on in Alaska
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/6/2008
(Hunter)
Many Americans, the Homesteader family included, are celebrating the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States. But for Alaskans, the drama and suspense of the 2008 ele...
Beware the Neighborhood Coffee Roaster!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/3/2008
This is rich! Apparently Sarah Palin told a group of supporters in Bowling Green, Ohio on October 29th that Barack Obama has ties to Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American scholar at Columbia Universi...
Addenda to Recent Food and Drink Suggestions
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 11/2/2008
Today, as we process our Jack-o-lanterns for food, a few comments come to mind about topics previously discussed:
An additional use for pureed pumpkin we didn't mention in the Jack-o-lantern article ...
Updating a Family Halloween Tradition
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/30/2008
(Hunter)Ever since I can remember, my family has taped paper silhouettes on our front windows at Halloween. These silhouettes, drawn by my dad, include a trio of seated black cats, small, medium and l...
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens Indicted!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/28/2008
At a state fair in 2007, I visited Alaska Senator Ted Stevens's booth, where his staff waited, clipboards ready, to take comments from Ted's constituents. I told Ted, through his staff, that he needed...
When Casting Your Vote, Remember: "TBFTGOG!"
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/28/2008
(Hunter)I will be so glad when the election is over! For better or worse, I can scale back trying to save the world and return to blogging about my own corner of it. I'd really hoped to be spinning ou...
Anchorage Daily News Commits Business Suicide on Principle
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/27/2008
In the national news Sunday we heard that the Anchorage Daily News has endorsed Barack Obama for President! This is a bold move for a newspaper that relies on the continued patronage of Alaskans, the ...
A White Halloween?
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/26/2008
This morning we awoke to two inches of fresh snow on the homestead. More accumulates as I write. We knew it would come: towns to the south of us reported the same amount of snow yesterday.
The man wh...
A Break In the Weather At Last!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/26/2008
After days of heavy rainfall and storm-force winds, Saturday we got a break: sunshine, light winds, and fairly calm seas. Hauling in provisions became much easier as we canoed around the point and ho...
Harvest Homestead
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/23/2008
(Hunter)
We have returned from a five-day provisioning trip to Juneau with the car jammed completely full of food and other supplies that either aren't available to us in the local towns, or are too ...
The Music of the Night . . .and Day, and Night, and . . .
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/20/2008
(Hunter)
The Soundtrack of our lives at the moment seems to be The Phantom of the Opera.
We are latecomers to the whole PTO mania that swept the nation way back when. I think that I'm the only one i...
October 18th is Alaska Day
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/18/2008
(Hunter)Alaska Day, I would argue, means next to nothing to most people—even to most Alaskans—unless they have some connection to Sitka.
Elsewhere in the state, it's a day off for just ab...
High Winds, High Tides
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/16/2008
(Hunter)
Thursday we had a high tide of more than 20 feet. Luckily, for the first time in about three days, we didn't have the gale force winds we've been experiencing.
These high tides have come ar...
Video Evidence: Squirrels Can Be So . . . Squirrely!
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/12/2008
(Hunter)In August we cleared out the chicken coop, which had been full of all kinds of junk. We worked to salvage what we could, especially some sheets of reemay, which we wanted to use on the garden....
A Sure Sign of Winter
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/10/2008
(Hunter)
Living semi-remotely in Alaska, we watch for changes in weather and changes in season. Indicators of the transition from summer to winter are myriad, but one we particularly anticipate is Ic...
Gardening As an Act of Faith
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/9/2008
(Gardener)
The garlic is in the ground for next year.
Gardening is the biggest practical act of faith. We put a seed in the soil and trust that the genetics in the seed have what they need to take ...
Sitka, Alaska's On My Mind
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/8/2008
(Hunter)As a boy I lived in Sitka, Alaska for about five years. Since then, it has held a special place in my heart. If you've ever been there, perhaps you know why. In a state full of cities, towns a...
Moose Hunt Ends: Lessons Learned
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/6/2008
(Hunter)
Today I spent eight hours in the field, putting in one last day of moose hunting. After three weeks, the Armed Stumble comes to an end, and I have to admit, I'm a bit relieved. I knew I was ...
More on Alaska's Love Affair With the XTRATUFF
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/6/2008
(Hunter)
I just emailed my friends and family, telling them about our new blog. This was a great idea, as suddenly I'm hearing from people who haven't contacted me for years. I also got a story from ...
Living By the Season
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/5/2008
People talk about living more deliberately, being more self-sufficient, decoupling from the breakneck pace of the modern world. We believe in that, which is why we're here on the homestead in Alaska. ...
Commuting Adventures in Alaska
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/4/2008
(Hunter)Yesterday the family went to town. Apprentice had a weekly writing clinic at the library, and we wanted to do a load of laundry by machine and pick up a case order from a local grocery store. ...
Apprentice's List: Books I Have Read
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/3/2008
Here's my list according to the thread Bob Kile started from the National Endowment for the Arts List, according to the following guidelines:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Ita...
Gardener's List: Books I've Read
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/2/2008
(Gardener)
Thanks again to Bob Kile and Alaska Guide for getting this going. Below is my list. Hopefully Apprentice's will come soon.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize...
October
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 10/1/2008
(Hunter)October is an important month in my life. It has three dates that are particularly special to me. It begins with my birthday. Midmonth, on the 18th, is Alaska Day. It ends with Halloween, the ...
Highbush Cranberry Time
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 09/30/2008
(Hunter)
Last Friday we had to go in to town in the morning, because of the tides, to attend afternoon meetings. To while away the time, we drove upriver a few miles to a place we know that provides ...
Books I've Read
- By Hunter Homesteader
- Published 09/29/2008
(Hunter)Thanks to Bob Kile for bringing this to the PrintNPo$t community's attention, and for Alaska Guide for perpetuating it. Below is my list. I'm urging Gardener and Apprentice to post their lists...