Watching the crow perched on an elderberry tree in front of the window where I sit and contemplate, the all too familiar question arrises into my mind – “What do you even do over there?!”. It is a difficult thing to understand for most I can imagine. A successful, and let me emphasize the FUL(L), busy matrix life. Happy, healthy kids, a growing career, a nice home in a pretty little neighborhood – and you moved? What I don’t do over here is what I did do over there, but honestly, a lot of it is the same. And, much is different.
The day’s schedule is dictated by the weather and the tides. It’s foolish to try to completely plan out the details of your life when you’re living remote, with only boat access. We can collect water when it’s calm, but don’t like to head out when it’s too windy. We hunt when the bears show up and we need the meat. We fish when the weather is right and the kids are hungry, for an activity or even dinner. We haul materials up and down the hill from the beach to the cabin when we need a task done. We fish for red salmon when they are running into the lagoon. We build forts on windy, rainy days deep into the forest or berry pick in the pouring rain. We process the meat and fish that we harvest. We clear the land, preparing for landscaping and new construction. We work on the White Eagle, completing boat projects in the calm cove near the cabin. We write, we create, we harvest. This week I picked and juiced 2 quarts of elderberries, and fermented mushrooms harvested from the forest out of the backdoor. We read, we contemplate. We get plenty of sleep and eat wholesome, delicious foods. We swim, paddle board, and hike nearby mountain trails. We make trips to town that align with our needs.
The homestead lifestyle is a full life. Boat life is a full life. And being a creator is a full life. Kids come, kids go, and often, so do we. We dream about cabin projects, saunas to build, boats to renovate, as we simultaneously work on all of those things and more. We are deeply grateful for this chosen way of life, and the deep fulfillment it brings to both of our souls.