Life on the Homestead

Our cabin is two miles back off the Tanana river nestled in a grove of paper birch trees with mixed spruce as you see pictured here. In the summer, at low water, we put the dogs to work hauling supplies. Summer or winter, they love to run. At high water we are able to get within a quarter mile of the house so it is much easier to get supplies to the house. We also rely on a 4-wheeler to cart stuff back and forth.

Gardening is limited in the far North but a very welcome food source for the short warm summers.

Socializing puppies makes for a friendly and well behaved dog team. We handle the dogs personally, calling their name often to encourage them to come when called. We start harness breaking the pups when they are about 5 months old. Even at that young age we can tell the pups who have a great desire to run. Pictured here is Warf. He was born summer 1995. He is one of our best wheel dogs.

Trapping provides our family with warm fur hats, mitts, ruffs, and mukluks that are far superior to synthetic materials. Note the marten trap wired to the white spruce tree in this picture. Bill runs his trap line by dog team from October to March, trapping, marten, mink, beaver, otter, lynx, wolverine, and fox. We have the furs tanned to make our winter gear with.

Cheryl shows off some caribou mitts she made from Bill's first caribou. Skin sewing and beading are just a few projects that Cheryl does to keep busy through the winter. Crafting winter gear for use by the family is a very important aspect of subsistence living. Surplus hats, mitts, and booties we sell for cash or barter.

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