Like Geese, We Flew: Lighthouse Family Moves Inland

It was time, and like geese we flew.  After nearly 14 years of remote coastal living we were drawn once again to the North.  Late in the spring we finalized our decision and began to make arrangements knowing full well that it would be October before all the pieces could fall into place – far too late to make a homesteading start on our land in the North.  We began to pack anyway, a long tedious task  involving building of crates and very careful wrapping of everything we owned.

Since he had to go by small boat and go early enough to avoid heavy seas, “sea horse” Teff was the first to leave.  You can see his adventure here.

Next to go were all our household goods…. crates and crates of them went down the boardwalk, to the highline, down to the workboat, and onto the ship.
One of our big concerns was a place to winter.  With temperatures dipping to -40F, we knew that tenting wasn’t an option.  Since our work is done via the web, we had to have internet connection as well.  Inquiry and word of mouth eventually turned up a rather remote log house that needed “sitting” until the end of March.  With 6 of us, assorted critters, and plants including our mobile orchard, it would be a tight fit but it would fill our needs nicely.
This place had a small barn for critters, a cold-room for our trees, a huge empty Great Room for our crates, but only one bedroom.  Fortunately, the sitting room was large enough to serve as a pseudo bedroom for the 4 kids.  Perfect.  We would be able to get the long and difficult transit out of the way, have shelter for the coldest months, a place to work, and best of all, be ready for an early start in the spring.

Nearly three weeks after we arrived, our boxes and crates arrived.  The Great Room filled quickly.

Everything was in place just in time to settle down for a winter of bonding with our new guardian dog…

That puppy grew….…and grew…and grew…and grew…

Stay tuned to see how he fit into our new place and how, this spring, we began to tackle The Homestead project.

And what we learned about shipping containers…