Kilcher Eivin - Homestead kitchen: from our hearth to yours

YOU ARE OUR MOTIVATION AND INSPIRATION

When I was discovered at age eighteen and began to do interviews, reporters often asked about my childhood, expecting a normal answer. Whenever I said I was raised in Alaska on a homestead, they would invariably stop writing in their notepad, look at me, and raise an eyebrow.

Alaska?

They had never met anyone from Alaska before, and they most certainly did not know what homestead meant.

Is that like a farm? They would ask.

No, we raised our own food and we lived off the land.

Oh, so it was a ranch, they would conclude.

No, a ranch is for commercehomesteading is about being self-sustaining. We bartered, traded, maybe sold a few eggsbut the point of homesteading is to be self-sufficient and live off the land.

In modern-day America, and many other parts of the world, people usually exchange their labor for a salary and use their paychecks to buy food and shelter. Homesteading gets rid of the middleman; the homesteaders primary job is securing food and shelter rather than the means to purchase them. I was raised as a homesteader. We grew good vegetables in our own gardens, and hunted for meat with a reverence for the wisdom and power of nature. As a homesteader, you have a mentality of self-reliance, of living in harmony with your surroundings, and knowing that if you care for the earth and are willing to work hard, you will be guaranteed what you need to survive. It also comes with libertyno one can fire you, and fluctuations in the job market or the collapse of societal structures wont endanger your family or their liberty. Electricity goes out? No problem. Your paycheck is late? Its okay. Homesteading means taking your well-being into your own hands as much as possible. It is understanding that we are part of the earth, and we need it much more than it needs us. Its a feeling of connection to all things and to those close to you, because the act of forging a living with your loved ones brings you closer to one another. You work together, you create abundance together; it is a loving act undertaken just for yourself and for your family.

I have often noted that many of the conveniences of modern life paradoxically seem to create disconnection and sickness of body or spirit. Its the atrophy of bodies that comes from a sedentary lifestyle, or suffering from the emotional consequences of a society that turns to handheld devices rather than to one another for connection. In our modern world, it seems to me that human beings havent known for several generations what being human really means. We dont know where water comes from. We dont know where our food comes from. We dont understand the differences between genetically modified food, altered fats and sugars, and whole foods, and how those differences can affect our health and that of our planet. And how could we? If youve never hauled water from a creek, seen the beauty of a fresh spring, or felt the weight of water in a bucket and the burn in your arms as you carried it home, how can you value it? Its that effort and the connection to the land that helps us value and protect our resources. Where our food comes from and how its raised directly impacts our health. Even if we veer away from hunting and gathering so that our minds and spirits can be directed to other pursuits, we should still value the land and appreciate those who do the work in getting our food for us.

I no longer live like a traditional homesteader, but even though I have chosen to spend my energy writing and pursuing the arts instead of working the land, I feel I am able to do this in a fulfilling way because of my upbringing. I support local farmers and eat un-modified foods. (Real food always tastes better and is better for the environment and our health, so its a win-win for everyone.) But more than that, the homesteaders mind-set has taught me to want only what I earn, and to integrate my ethics and values into my professional decisions. I believe hard work guarantees an outcome better than entitlement. And most important, I try not to take on work that will create distraction and negativity. I take on only as much as I need to create connection, and make me happy. I choose simplicity in my life and still do things the hard way, because the work that brings satisfaction means more to me than the trappings of success.

When I was starting out in my career, the idea of homesteading was so foreign to people that I eventually quit talking about it. Snickers arose as people conjured images of hippies and outhouses, not the pragmatic, inventive, and heartfelt ways of the homesteaders I knew. So when my brother told me that Discovery would be creating a show about our family, I was so excitedfinally, people would see for themselves how I was raised! The dignity thats afforded the animals we kill, the gratitude we feel toward the land that provides for us, the choice to take responsibility for our work and food into our own hands.