Where do I even begin? As I write this I am sitting in the
sun by the chicken coop on the homestead. I see the creek cascading down the
rocks. I hear the water as it bubbles over the small rock wall. I see birds
flitting from tree to tree, the insects buzzing over the pond. The occasional
fly lands on my leg and forces me to stop and swat it away. I look around me
and see bees flying in every direction. I look to the sky and see Kupreanof
Mountain with its granite boulders jutting out against the deep blue sky
interrupted by the smallest wisps of clouds. And how can I even describe the
scent of a place like this? The fresh air is permeated with the scent of
blooming fireweed and push key. Believe it or not, the sunlight has a scent
too. I take a break occasionally sipping on cold granite mountain spring water.
No filtering needed.
This day is beautiful, but it cannot even begin to encompass
the time I’ve spent here, the sights I’ve seen, or the people I’ve gotten to
know. When I first came to Mystic Mountain, I had just graduated college with a
degree in environmental geography and knew absolutely nothing about
homesteading. Over two months later, I can say that is no longer true. Ginger
has taught me so much and I am grateful for all the time she spent helping me
learn everything from cooking to running a chain saw. I realize now that even
though I have a college degree, I am by no means done learning. There is so
much knowledge in the world that cannot be learned in the classroom, and this
summer I just got a taste of it. It also taught me that it doesn’t take a
college degree to be learned in something.
By far my favorite part of this summer has been working in
the greenhouses. I had never gardened before, much less organically, but after
this summer I feel confident in starting my own garden next summer when I’m
home. Working in the soil every day was relaxing and rejuvenating. I also got
to eat fresh greens from the garden each day. It’s hard leaving the gardens
when they are in full bloom and doing so well. During my time at Mystic Mountain I also saw myself healing,
slowly but surely.
My healing wasn’t just physically, but emotionally,
mentally, and spiritually too. Here we don’t have internet or phone service, so
evenings turned into a great quiet reflection time for me. I was able to
process a lot of what I struggled with in the past and learned how to rest.
What really excited me this summer was seeing how the
knowledge I learned in college could be applied to real-life scenarios. Ginger
taught me the practical skills, but I was able to take what I learned in
college and understand the why and how of things here at the homestead. There
were also things that hit a lot closer to home while I was here. As part of the
my major, I took classes that dealt with sustainability and conservation
practices. This are great to hear about in theory, but actually doing them was
a different story entirely. It’s easy to talk about conserving energy and using
alternative sources such as hydro or solar power, but with them comes a big
responsibility to understand how much power one is using. Each day we had to
check the hydro system outputs and inputs several times. If too much energy is
drawn, then the system can’t keep up and it shuts down. If too little is used,
then the diverter is overloaded and the system shuts down. It important to know
how much energy can be used at any given time. This is very different from living
back home where lights and other appliances can be turned on and used without a
second thought. I realized that switching to alternative energy sources would
mean a big mentality shift for every household. I think having this experience
will enable me to better understand the big picture of many environmentally
friendly practices such as alternative energy.
I could go on and on, but there’s no way I could express how
much I gained from coming here. I’m grateful to Ginger for giving me the
opportunity to come and spend a summer in Kodiak, Alaska on her homestead. She
has been so hospitable and generous to me every day I’ve been here. I will miss
this place and the people I’ve met since coming up here. Until next time,
Mystic Mountain.
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