Well many have messaged me with this question “just how do you live”?
I will attempt to answer that and the multitude of other questions by outlining our daily chores.
Our day starts around 5 am and here in Alaska that means 4 hours until sunrise. Using the wood split by dear hubby and kids the night before I stoke up the cookstove and while it is heating I grind coffee in a hand cranked grinder like this one.

Water is then added to the pot and set to perk. I wake up the kids and they get dressed and we begin choring. Feeding as many animals as we have doesn’t happen in just a few minutes. Once the feeding is well under way I return to the cabin and start breakfast. Water is started to heat on the stove for breakfast dishes and a load of laundry if needed. After breakfast is cooked I get the kids started on schoolwork while I do dishes, put more pig feed on to cook (we feed cooked grains so they utilize them better), assisting the children and doing my crafts for gifts and resell. Around noon I start dinner (yes we eat 3 cooked meals a day) while dinner is cooking I try to make time to either grind wheat or mix the bread dough as I must bake every other day to keep up. Once again water must be put on for dishes. After dinner the kids finish up school work and they go out to play. While everyone is gone I tidy up, get dishes done, work on crafts or assist at the sawmill, help with building projects or repair fences and pens. Around. 4 each day I start supper and more water for dishes, washing up etc. After supper is finished cooking I start yet more water for bathing and hair washing, cook the next days pig food then we go out to do feeding and bring in firewood. After we have eaten supper I wash dishes, kids draw or read and if it’s a night for bathing we bath in a big metal pot behind a curtain. Evenings are spent with bible studies, reading, crafts and for me chatting with friends and Facebook.
Mikes day starts same time as mine and he usually tends to the outhouse (we use a composting system) helps with chores then heads out to either fell trees, drag sawlogs or run the sawmill. Everything we do here is with wood so this is a full time job. He and Fred cut every board we use to build our cabin and all the animal housing and fences. He also hauls water 4-5 times a week from our spring. Maintenance on the four wheeler, chainsaws and sawmill also keep him very busy. He spends the days not logging or at the sawmill building fences, cages and pens for our animals that are ever increasing.
During nice weather we cut grass,dry and stack in the hay crib for the animals. Summer adds an entire new workload to what we already have but with 20 hours of daylight it is almost enough time!
Many will question our sanity at putting in such long days and working7 days a week but for us we feel blessed to be able to be with our children teaching them and enjoying the beauty God has created. Of course this is just a sampling of our days. Things pop up like injured animals that must be tended to or maybe we need to go to town which takes all day-literally but we adapt as needs arise.