I've always loved crafting. My babysitter Rosie taught me to crochet when I was 3. My mom taught me to knit. My neighbor June taught me to sew. I made my first quilt when I was 14. I've been making and using handmade soap since 2006. To me, soapmaking combines the part of me that loves to bake and be precise with the other part that wants creativity and to make something unique.
Rod and I live at Tee Harbor, where my grandparents bought a cabin on the beach over 60 years ago. Things have sure changed since then - roads were built, electric lines installed, city water available, automatic washing machines!
But even with all the modern conveniences, I feel satisfaction in doing things the "old-fashioned" way. We have chosen not to have a microwave or cable tv. I enjoy cooking and baking our meals from scratch. I grind our wheat and bake our bread fresh. I make homemade laundry soap. We recently added chickens to our "homestead". I enjoy spending time in the summer tending our vegetable garden. It is a challenging environment for growing with our short, rainy summer, but that makes it all that much more rewarding when harvest time rolls around. We fish and hunt for our meat and butcher it ourselves. We can salmon, blueberries, jellies, venison and more. When the sun comes out, you will even see laundry hanging out on the line!
We are "modern" homesteaders - sharing the dream to be self-sufficient. We get closer to it each year. I recently left my job to make soap full time - fulfilling a long time dream of working from home. You can read all about my homesteading projects at my blog: www.homesteadblogger.com/alaska.
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Michelle Donohue
