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A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

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Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#31

Post by tula »

solardev wrote: post #22
IncreasePosts wrote: post #12

Sounds like they didn't survive the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead, and instead survived in a city or in a provided structure while occasionally heading out into the wilderness and wasting their time producing nothing much of a value.

Are there any successful tales of Alaskan homesteading? It seems like we fetishize those foolhardy lone wolves like this couple or Alex McCandless from Into the Wild, but where are all those people who moved out there and actually managed to live happy, simple lives? One of my favorite book series is Woodswoman, about a lady who set out into Vermont to build herself a lakeside cabin from scratch and made a living off…

Dick Proenneke is one of the more well-known ones. He built his cabin all on his own, filming the whole process, as well as his life there. He lived in his cabin for thirty years.

https://www.nps.gov/lacl/learn/historyculture/proennekes-cab...

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#32

Post by s1artibartfast »

ramesh31 wrote: post #29
s1artibartfast wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im honestly curious where this hostility is coming from? Ideas of value are obviously subjective.

There's an obsession with the old ways. As if they were better. As if sitting in a cabin in the woods and breaking your back every day to not die of starvation is some kind of accomplishment. It's not.

I think it obviously is a difficult accomplishment. I agree that some people probably romanticize the "old ways" and more radical forms of self-reliance, but ultimately it is question of taste and interest.

I have enough experience with it to know it is far harder than most people imagine, but still think there is a lot that I think is positive about it.

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#33

Post by fifilura »

ramesh31 wrote: post #29
s1artibartfast wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im honestly curious where this hostility is coming from? Ideas of value are obviously subjective.

There's an obsession with the old ways. As if they were better. As if sitting in a cabin in the woods and breaking your back every day to not die of starvation is some kind of accomplishment. It's not.

Is running a marathon an accomplishment?

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#35

Post by petsfed »

a2tech wrote: post #28
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I grew up eating bear sausage and it was delicious. Isn’t sausage the goto thing when you want to take meat that would otherwise be nasty and turn it into something palatable? I don’t think you statement contradicts the parent post about bear meat being not good

Correct. That and chili. I grew up without a lot of money and have eaten every game animal in North America and I can tell you that there isn’t any wild game that can beat the cheapest of ground beef for flavor or usefulness.

I disagree, but your odds of having a bad time with game meat are much higher. I liken it to the early days of craft beer. If you wanted an acceptable beer that wouldn't wow you, but never surprise you, you could always drink budweiser. But if you felt like playing six-pack roulette, pick up your local microbrew. Could be awesome, could be terrible, you won't know until you've taken a drink.

Domestic goose is better than wild goose, but grass-fed elk (that is, ranched elk) just tastes like beef. Likewise with grass-fed bison. Truly wild elk has that gaminess to it that I really appreciate. I've a recipe for venison burger casserole that is utterly flavorless when made with ground beef. Bear sausage is only good when its heavily mixed with actual pork, and spiced to hell and back.

Deer and pronghorn that graze on sagebrush actually taste sagey. If that's your jam, its fantastic.

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#36

Post by grecy »

kibwen wrote: post #4

> In April 1964, Alaska was struck by a magnitude 9.2 megathrust earthquake that devastated much of Anchorage. This is a sidebar that I think is historically underappreciated. Take a look at this incredible graphic, which goes up to 2005: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#/media/Fi... For the period from 1906 to 2005, half of all the energy released by all recorded earthquakes came from just three ev…

That earthquake in Alaska cracked swimming pools in California!

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#37

Post by hiatus »

a2tech wrote: post #28
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I grew up eating bear sausage and it was delicious. Isn’t sausage the goto thing when you want to take meat that would otherwise be nasty and turn it into something palatable? I don’t think you statement contradicts the parent post about bear meat being not good

Correct. That and chili. I grew up without a lot of money and have eaten every game animal in North America and I can tell you that there isn’t any wild game that can beat the cheapest of ground beef for flavor or usefulness.

> I can tell you that there isn’t any wild game that can beat the cheapest of ground beef for flavor or usefulness.

Not even duck? That is a bit surprising.

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#38

Post by IncreasePosts »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #25
IncreasePosts wrote: post #12

Sounds like they didn't survive the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead, and instead survived in a city or in a provided structure while occasionally heading out into the wilderness and wasting their time producing nothing much of a value.

Im honestly curious where this hostility is coming from? Ideas of value are obviously subjective.

I would call it more of an honest statement about what happened there, as opposed to an overly positive one.

Having said that, I do have a long-standing issue with the relatively small group of people who try to go their own way from society without a modicum of understanding about what kind of work and skills will be required. As well as an issue with the larger group of people who cheer on these folks and either enable this behavior or become subject to this behavior themselves.

Where do my feelings on the subject come from? Well, "into the wild" was required reading my freshman year of college. And I was forced to engage in dozens of discussions treating McCandless as a tragic hero, instead of an idiot.

My issue isn't necessarily with people wanting to get away from mainstream society, but it is going about it in an absolutely boneheaded manner. I have an immense amount of respect for people like dick proenekke

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#39

Post by octopoc »

slackfan wrote: post #26
solardev wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any successful tales of Alaskan homesteading? It seems like we fetishize those foolhardy lone wolves like this couple or Alex McCandless from Into the Wild, but where are all those people who moved out there and actually managed to live happy, simple lives? One of my favorite book series is Woodswoman, about a lady who set out into Vermont to build herself a lakeside cabin from scratch and made a living off…

Plenty. But here's the rub, most that do do not want to be seen, heard, and care very little for the internet. The life also is not simple.

Yeah a friend of mine married a lady who grew up in the Alaskan wilderness. The family was desperately poor yet still had an airplane, interestingly. They were the kind of people who don’t use the internet at all.

Re: A New Jersey couple survived the Alaskan wilderness on a homestead

#40

Post by SheepSlapper »

a2tech wrote: post #28
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I grew up eating bear sausage and it was delicious. Isn’t sausage the goto thing when you want to take meat that would otherwise be nasty and turn it into something palatable? I don’t think you statement contradicts the parent post about bear meat being not good

Correct. That and chili. I grew up without a lot of money and have eaten every game animal in North America and I can tell you that there isn’t any wild game that can beat the cheapest of ground beef for flavor or usefulness.

As a hunter, I have to disagree. Properly harvested deer, elk, and bear are all amazing, and I'd take any of the three over the lowest common denominator ground beef. Actual cheap ground beef is garbage.

I buy half a cow every year from local farmers, and I'd put my ground elk up against that ground beef any day (though I do have to add suet because elk is so lean). In fact, nobody that I serve elk to knows that it's elk until/unless I tell them.

If your wild game tastes bad, you messed up somewhere along the line. Get it cold as soon as possible, keep it clean, and the meat will be great.

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