Anyone See: Alaska: The Last Frontier.

555

555

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Feb 5, 2007
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Homesteading, where survival is marathon, and living independent or as independent as you can is a lifestyle.

Alaska: The Last Frontier.

Alaska: The Last Frontier airs Tuesdays at 9/8c

Follow the Kilcher family and their isolated community outside Homer, Alaska. The Kilcher family has cultivated and lived on their homestead for four generations. These men and women of the wild live off the land, spending the limited months of summer hunting, gardening, bartering and fishing for food, gathering supplies from the land and ensuring their animals' safety from predators in preparation for surviving the harsh Alaskan winters. Most live completely off the grid, with no running water and no electricity, carrying on Yule Kilcher's traditions -- and are proud of it.
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http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/a...the-last-frontier-meet-the-kilcher-family.htm

[video=youtube;gqEmWLhK3FM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqEmWLhK3FM[/video]
 
I try to watch it when a new one is uploaded to the web. I like the thought of that kind of lifestyle. I think I about have my wife talked into moving up into the North West.
 
I don't get how they afford that lifestyle, they make essentially nothing yet spend tons on fuel and food for the animals. Keeping livestock alive is no cheep task even when you harvest tons of corn and hay yourself.

I am not sure if they fish in the summer to support the family or what.
 
You know that Atz's daughter is Jewell the singer. Don't know if she helps or not but their fuel consumption has to be huge with all the equipment they have.
 
Big Chris said:
You know that Atz's daughter is Jewell the singer. Don't know if she helps or not but their fuel consumption has to be huge with all the equipment they have.
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I've noticed the latest episodes has her and her Dad singing the opening theme together.
 
Pretty good show. They have a lot of equipment and I wonder how they ever paid for it considering they are mostly "living off the land". They seem to use an incredible amount of fuel also and fuel is not cheap.
 
I have seen several episodes.
Just wish I had half the skills needed to actually live this kind of lifestyle.
 
Having been on 8 guided 10+ day hunts, I am an ton of respect for these people. The terrain, animals can swallow you up in no time. Literally..

My spring brown bear hunt was my first hunt. We traveled 75-100 miles in the mountain back country daily. The biggest danger was not the bears, but the avalanches. I think I tipped my snow machine over 2-3 times a day. I cannot count how many times I got stuck daily.. The first 8 days we had cloud cover and your depth perception is reduced to 20 feet sometimes. You could not tell if you were on flat land, or going over a cliff. There were times the guide would stop his machine, and walk ahead to see what was in front of where we were headed. If you get hurt in the back country, you best have a partner or a satellite phone.

I loved every minute of my time in Alaska. Too me it was never about the kill.. I got my moneys worth in adventure.. My eyes have seen things that my mind will never forget.

Enjoy the show..Alaska is a gem!
 
555 said:
Next to no property taxes goes a long ways to help with expenses, and I believe the state is still paying out a benefit from resource extraction revenues.

Alaska Tax Facts



http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/dca/osa/taxfacts.htm
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I wondered about the same thing about the show. The people seemed to expend a lot of fuel resources for that sort of lifestyle. From a quick search the "Alaska Permanent Fund" (a fund from oil money) residents receive might might be part of the explanation (or maybe not at all).
 
Im sure Jewell funds some of this now. Also Atz and Nedra are performers too. They ahve made albums and have performed here in Alaska for decades.
 
I DVR each episode. Absolutly love the show.

I would bet the funds from the state for oil income goes a long ways toward fuel supplies. But just watchin the shows, those folks work their butts off just keeping firewood, food, and feed for the livestock going. It's nice to see them and their community working together on whatever project they have going. Much like the way things used to be.
 
Atz seems to be in the middle of the "community" in terms of being able to provide the machinery for tasks that need done. Not everyone has a bull dozer, tractor and so forth. Interesting about Jewell being their daughter.
 
While I enjoy the show I've wondered about their "subsistance" lifestyle and all the stuff they seem to have. I've wondered where the money comes from to live as they do. I also watch the "Yukon" show and find it a bit more realistic though both show the harshness of living in that environment.

The recent episode showed them using some pretty beat knives/swords, and the sharpening technique was interesting. Especially when I read the threads on this forum regarding knives and sharpening. The "samurai" sword used to "behead" the turkeys was interesting. It was rather beat and his sharpening "technique" left a lot to be desired but it got the job done in an efficient fashion. Same was true watching them skin and butcher the cow.
No "queens" in their arsenal and their sharpening tools and methods were rather crude compared to what we read here but they certainly got the job done.

I find it hard when watching these shows to discern what is "real" and what is done to be entertaining.

I did not realize that they were also entertainers of note...makes it a bit more interesting but also, in my opinion, takes away from them being "regular" wilderness people.
 
You guys, or at least some of you realize these generations are "not" homesteading anymore. Yule did for the first decade or so, but you know he became a state senator?????? You can't do that without access to aircraft to get you to the capital for voting. These people have every modern electric, battery, gas power tools, 4 wheelers to hunt with modern rifles, handguns, shotguns and manufactured ammunition. they don't make there own gun powder. They do have running water. You see them hooked up to a hose and faucet on numerous episodes. Eiveens Father has a nice hot water heater in his home, shown on the episode they use a chain saw to make an extra window in their house. The take boat rides on rentals to salmon fish, hire boats to take them hunting on islands, they travel on snowmobiles 30 miles to Caribou lake to fish when a Safeway is 5 miles away.
the chose to have an outhouse, it is not necessary. They have a full blown Rental house on their property with all the amenities.....
They kill bears for no good reason. They aren't going to make a difference in grocery stores by not buying meat their. Raising chickens and cows ok, but killing other wild life when they don't need to is ridiculous as the fill up with gas at the local gas station..
It is the height of Hypocrisy.
Trying to pass of Atz Lee's wife as a former commercial fisher person, as she can't even real in a large salmon.....It's laughable watching her "learn" to shoot? A 30 year old from Alaska??????? Married to a Kilcher living on a homestead?????


http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/a...the-last-frontier-meet-the-kilcher-family.htm

[video=youtube;gqEmWLhK3FM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqEmWLhK3FM[/video][/QUOTE]
 
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