Bonnie J. Brummett

I grew up in Upstate New York and always knew that, even though my folks lived in the country and had a garden, that it wasn't quite the way I wanted to live. Sure they had 5 acres, and woods behind them, but they also had neighbors that were way too close and nosy and uppity. I thought it would be 'cool' to live in Alaska as a hermit or some other sort of nonsense, little did I know... Went to college for Graphic Arts, dropped out, joined the Army in 1982 and requested to be stationed in Alaska where I met my husband of 30+ years, Sam. He was also in the service, so I opted to get out – at that time discharge for pregnancy in female soldiers was normal. In our line of work (food service), the kid would never see either of us, ever. So, fast forward about 18 years – during that time we scrimped, scrounged and saved every extra penny to move BACK to the place that we both loved. Alaska. Sam had a job as a Mystery Shopper and ALL of that money went into the Alaska fund. I had a job in management in several plasma centers that moved us around the nation. Colorado Springs – Colorado, Greenville – South Carolina, Reno – Nevada, Salem – Oregon, Houston –Texas. Finally, when it hit 106° in Houston, TX – we made the move. 4400 some odd miles later, a broken down minivan that was left in Montana, with 2 teenagers, 2 dogs, a bird and 2 Dumbo-eared rats – we finally arrived in Anchorage. We'd already arranged an apartment, so we moved right in. We knew that this was just a stopover place and that we wouldn’t last long in a city – even one as small as Anchorage. So we made the best of what we had for the time being and looked for something different. Within the year we moved out to the Palmer/Wasilla area in the Valley. This time it was a townhouse type place with a more than large enough home and a postage stamp back yard. A year after that we found a cabin in the woods on a ¼ acre of land, with no electricity or running water OR insides, it was just a shell. Still being somewhat young and strong (and stupid) enough to get the job done – we said, what the heck? We can do this! Plus, the price was right – 13K and no neighbors. Paid it off in a year, finished the inside as best we knew and moved in. We didn’t buy this place with any grand delusions of saving the world, or the eco system or even a local tree. We bought it because it was affordable and away from civilization and people. We’re not preppers, or homesteaders or survivalists. We’re just anti-social and want to be left alone. We were unintentionally off-grid before it was COOL to be off-grid. That was THE most miserable, coldest winter of our lives. With only propane heat, and the cabin not quite being insulated the way it should – we had ice on every windowsill, and along everyplace an outside wall met a floor. Dog beds stuck to the floor because of the frost – and the propane bill was over $700 a month, and propane was cheap at the time! But we survived, and we moved down the road a bit, for a few years, to run a local gas station/convenience store that put us WAY further in debt than we'll ever get out of, but it worked for the time being. Moved back to the cabin about 4 years ago – and have made it work for us. Roof leaked for a few years, it's almost fixed now. Still need to get under and do some more floor insulation and some skirting, and the yard perpetually needs a cleanup, but we're here and we like it. I've done chickens and rabbits, the chickens never made me any money and were really more trouble than they were worth, so now it's rabbits only. A barn made from pallets, that I recently constructed, will make winter rabbit chores easier. The rabbits are eventually going to be the staple of what I do. Yes, we raise them for meat, but I also harvest for the fur. I currently have Silver Fox, Cinnamons and Crème d’Argents. Three very nice meat and fur breed rabbits. Hubby's had a hell of a time for a few years – 2 years ago he had kidney stones, and it took most of the winter for them to get them OUT of him – he was told not to lift over 10 pounds (yup, I did the firewood that year). In June of 2014 he had a total knee replacement and then again in February of 2015 he had the other one done. His next venture will be trying to figure out how to best fix his back, as he has Spinal Stenosis and bone spurs in the spinal canal. I bought a HUGE load of firewood this year! Did I happen to mention that Murphy is pretty much a constant resident at our house? I just wish he’d fix dinner now and again. We have 3 generators, for just in case. Just bought a Honda 2000 that runs 7-12 hours on a gallon of gas. So, needless to say our fuel consumption has been greatly reduced. We have 4 marine type batteries that run off an inverter so we don't have to run the generator all the time. It's not a perfect setup and over time (and with more income) we'll remedy more of the electricity hookups with solar and possibly wind power. I've yet to come up with a better system for water, mainly because the 5 gallon jugs just WORK – nothing to worry about, just haul and use. I do collect rainwater for the rabbits and 4 dogs, and we use it for washing dishes, but we use the hauled water for cooking. Oh yes, fur…. how we make money. My business, Alaska Spirit Crafts at www.alaskaspiritcrafts.com is our income along with Sam’s compensation from the military. I do 99% of my business online. I used to run a monthly craft show for over three years, and attended quite a few others, but the online business is much easier, more lucrative and I don’t have to deal face to face with people. Ever. So, now we’ve been in Alaska for 15 years and not sure there's too much more? Life is good, but not too exciting. Not that that's a bad thing! Someday I may try and expand on this somewhat, or even embellish it into a story, just depends on where the wind takes me in the future, but for now – I’ll continue to sew fur and enjoy my quiet cabin in the woods.