Mark Zeiger

The Self Reliance Exchange promises to be a valuable resource for the growing number of people around the world who are waking up to the need to be more responsible for their own lives. I’m proud to be asked to contribute to this site. My family and I love our life and are pleased to share aspects of it with a wider audience.

We live off-the-grid in northern Southeast Alaska. More than a mile from the nearest road, and seven miles from Haines, the nearest town, we try to make our living off the land and sea.

On our small compound (cabin, shed, outhouses, smoke house, chicken coop, and guest/boat house) we grow, forage, hunt and fish most of our food. We have 10.6+ forested acres with 700 feet of beach front on Lynn Canal, North America’s longest, deepest fjord.

Connected to the outside world by cell phone and satellite Internet, I design Websites on a freelance basis, write, manage a few micro-incomes, and earn a bit from investing. We live nearly debt-free, carefully husbanding our resources to make what little money we have or earn go as far as possible.

Born in Fairbanks, I grew up in Alaska except for nine years in Washington state. As a youngster, I dreamed of living in a log cabin in the forest on the ocean shore in Southeast Alaska. I “knew” that such places barely existed anymore, and if they did, they were rarely for sale, and never at a price that I could afford. Imagine my surprise, then, at the age of 45, to become the owner of just such a place!

The road to our homestead took many turns, including a 16-year career in radio at stations in five states. I held many other jobs to support that career, including selling cars.

I met and married my wife, Michelle, in college. As a child, she hoped to grow up to be Laura Ingalls Wilder, so she shared my dream of a wilderness home. Our daughter, Aly, was born in Juneau, Alaska in ’93. I left radio that same year and tried new jobs, learning publication and Web design skills along the way. I also build and sail my own boats.

My father, a Presbyterian minister, served small churches. He used his electrical, plumbing, and other skills that might have earned a handsome income to save his churches the expense of hiring professionals to maintain the properties. His and Mom’s frugality, resourcefulness, and do-it-yourself attitude provided strong examples of how to live well on very little, and use one’s skills to better one’s life. I grew up with a different concept of wealth. If I asked why we weren’t rich, my parents replied, “we are rich, we just don’t have much money.”

These lessons helped me stay afloat while pursuing a radio career, and the various jobs that came after that. Michelle’s and my natural frugality eventually paid off when, to our surprise, we learned we could afford to buy land in addition to owning a home. Eventually, this led to finding an incredible bargain on the homestead of our dreams.

Now, in 2009, three years into living a life that some would dread, but many others might envy, we try to show others what can be done to make life better. Our lifelong education continues, as we home school Aly, and learn the many skills needed to operate and maintain our off-the-grid power system, water catchment systems, wood heat, and composting outhouses. We’re learning to predict weather, and keep a close eye on our environment for clues as to what might happen next. Our learning
curve is steep, and the range of needed skills ever-expanding. We have no livestock yet, but hope to try raising chickens as soon as we can figure out how to feed them without buying feed.

We started our blog to keep family and friends informed of our activities and thoughts, and perhaps to gather material for the book friends and family urge us to write.

We don’t see ourselves as a shining example of what should be done. Rather, we offer ongoing examples of what could be done, what might happen when you try it, and how to get out of the problems that arise when we do. Ours is serious business that often passes as comic misadventure. Hopefully, readers will be entertained, if not enlightened!