Living a homesteading type of life in the winter sometimes prompts questions about what we do to keep ourselves occupied. Far from being bored nor feeling dumbed down by lack of stimuli, we find our minds full of curiosity out here. Here’s a random smattering of a few of the things (aside from the ever changing view of the peaks with the bay below and meaningful daily chores) that have been keeping us mentally engaged this winter.

History: Setnetting for salmon in Kodiak has been going on commercially since the late 1800’s, and we figured it was high time to really learn more. Through books, personal interviews with amazing “old-timers,” visits to museums and even the Alaska archives in the state capitol, we’ve been captivated by the story of the people who chose to fish this way back in even more isolated times. Through this research we’ve connected with a wonderful man who lived on this very beach in the 1940’s as a child and fished in this bay when people used hand-dyed linen nets and cedar corks. Others we connected with had fished in the 50’s and 60’s in Uganik and the westside of Kodiak as well, truly a rugged life, but they all agreed it was some of the best parts of their lives that they recall fondly, even the hardships. Our traditions run deep with this special place of land and water meeting to create a fertile habitat for a complete food chain of biodiversity.

An image of the long-gone village that once flourished on the beach where we are lucky enough to live now; late 1800’s.

Fisheries Policy: Alaska has a robust and unique public process written into the state constitution whereby all stakeholders have the opportunity to weigh in on fisheries management policies concerning their region every three years. The Kodiak area is slated for a meeting of the Board of Fish next winter and in preparation a core group of setnetters have been meeting once a week for months to craft our ideas into solid, data-supported proposals to bring forth. We value our community of fishermen and look forward to keeping the opportunity to live this life viable for our future generations; putting time into learning the ins and outs of this process and building support feels like important work this winter. You may enjoy the website for our fishing organization, the Northwest Setnetters Association, for its bright photos and descriptions of fishing way of life.

Look at those evenly matched hypotenuses!

Math & Engineering: Yep, even “bush rats” use math. Adelia’s been using her 10th grade geometry skills a bit these days to help Tollef make the sturdy generator shed he’s building nice and square. We seem to build at least one new structure each year since we are starting from scratch in this homestead, but it always feels like a little victory to know that our brains can still use the Pythagorean Theorem and convert decimals to fractions! The major victory, of course, is watching those walls, engineered by Tollef and framed with Kodiak spruce milled by a friend, rise up from nothing where once Herb Dominici’s two old buildings were back in the 1940s, or maybe even earlier.

Our property in the 1940’s- these buildings had been demolished by the time we bought the land, and we are now building the generator shed in this spot

Planting: Sunlight is beaming into our lives these days with the approach of spring. Every morning that isn’t cloudy, we note what time the sun pulls itself up from behind the mountains….It was 9:09 am a couple days ago, today it was 9:03, and it’s just accelerating until the equinox. This has Tollef, our resident green thumb, happily potting seeds on a table in our living room, a few new ones every morning, that will turn into starts before long so that we can plant them early in our greenhouse and have spring greens to eat and flowers for our bees that are on order!

One of the many joys of spring is starting our own seeds

Crew hiring: Planning for salmon season always occupies a corner of our brains. This time of year is when we are working on the puzzle of who will be the best fit for our fishing crew, what timing works out for everyone, and how we can best communicate to potential hires what this life/work really entails. It’s challenging to express this very different way of being but we do our best and enjoy the anticipation of building the strongest team we can.

Iditarod: Speaking of teams…this is the fun one. Though Tollef is the one who has run the Iditarod 3 times and spent 7 years of his life one thousand percent immersed in the world of sled-dogs, Adelia is now the big fan; this is the one sport she follows closely. It just started Sunday and is such a thrill to imagine, kind of the classic Alaskan experience in many ways. Plus, it’s more than interesting to get Tollef’s insider insight into what’s going on and it prompts stories of his past life that Adelia has never heard before. What joyful energy these dogs have…..If you’re so inclined to follow along, it should be going on for a week or so more.

Tollef in his first Iditarod in 2004 with his lead dogs Guinea and Bunting oddly calm before going bonkers and ready to get on with it! The care and love going into those dogs has nothing to do with outcomes of the race or money. The huskies respond to the positivity in a way that lets them trust their musher. Nothing drives these dogs forward or controls them except their own will combined with voice commands, creating incredible partnerships between dogs and humans. Those two leaders were 64 feet out in front of the sled; the power of a 16 dog team is incredible, guided only by the musher’s ability and agility while wearing a Michellin Man’s suit worth of clothes to stay warm.

There’s so much more that occupies our brains, so much that we are often feeling “behind” on all the things we need to do, but you get the idea. And we stick to a phrase, “can’t do it all!” Now it’s definitely time to stop writing and get out there and do something physical in this beautifully sunny day!

Melding history with the present times