These lessons, carried into adult life, helped me stay afloat while pursuing a radio career. Dad used his electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and other skills that might have earned a handsome income in other fields to save the churches the expense of hiring professionals to maintain the properties.

My mother was a true mistress in the art of making do on very little. When parishioners failed to contribute enough, we did without. If we children asked why we weren’t rich, my parents replied, “we are rich, we just don’t have much money.”ĭad’s pay usually came from the offering plate. I grew up with a different concept of wealth. He and my mother’s frugality, resourcefulness, and strong do-it-yourself attitude served these churches well, and provided excellent examples of how one can live well on very little, and rely on one’s skills to better one’s life. My father is a Presbyterian minister, who served small churches. I left radio that same year and tried new jobs, learning publication and Web design skills along the way. Our daughter, Aly, was born in Juneau, Alaska in ’93. As a child, she hoped to grow up to be Laura Ingalls Wilder, so she shared my dream of a wilderness home. I met and married my wife, Michelle, in college. I held many other jobs to support that career, including selling cars in upstate New York for a summer. The path to our homestead took many turns, including a 16-year career in radio at stations in Alaska, Oregon, California, and Texas. Imagine my surprise, then, at the age of 45, to become the owner of just such a place! If they did, they rarely came up for sale, and never at a price that I could afford. I knew that such places barely exist anymore. As a youngster, I dreamed of living in a log cabin in the forest on the ocean shore in Southeast Alaska. I’ve written two books, Shy Ghosts Dancing: Dark Tales from Southeast Alaska, and a book about our off-grid life called Sacred Coffee: A “Homesteader’s” Paradigm.īorn in Fairbanks, I grew up in Alaska except for eight years in Washington state. We live nearly debt-free, carefully husbanding our resources to make what little money we have or earn go as far as possible. Michelle currently works part time with a local tourism outfit. We heat with wood, and use outhouses for our necessary needs.Ĭonnected to the outside world by cellular phone and Internet, I write, design websites and “micro publish” on a freelance basis, manage a few micro-incomes such as homemade soaps, and earn a bit from investing. We collect water in a ground percolated catchment system to provide running water to the cabin.

We generate our own electricity with solar panels backed up by a wind generator.

We have 10.5+ forested acres with 700 feet of beach front on Lynn Canal, North America’s longest, deepest fjord. On our small compound (cabin, shed, outhouses, smoke house, chicken coop, guest/boat house) we grow, forage, hunt and fish most of our food. She currently lives in Washington state. More than a mile from the nearest road, and seven miles from Haines, the nearest town, we try to make our living off the land and sea. Our daughter, Aly, grew up here from middle school through high school graduation. My wife, Michelle, and I live off-the-grid in northern Southeast Alaska.

Living off grid in alaska