Our Patreon page, where our patrons go to download A Place at the Table and more (screenshot).
There’s new material from the homestead available to Patreon patrons!
We skipped July, because we just couldn’t upload anything to the page that month. Now, with the help of the tweaks I made to our booster antenna (see Incremental Improvements) we’re doing better, so we rushed uploads for August while we could.
This month’s edition of A Place at the Table, available to Super Homestead Patrons, discusses the possibility of moving to Ireland. Michelle and I discuss an open letter from the people of Arranmore Island, County Donegal, Ireland, seeking immigrants.
The episode marks the first we’ve recorded with just Michelle and me. Partly due to work scheduling, but also because Aly has just purchased a tiny house (see Tiny Adventures in Housing), thus settling her housing speculation for the time being, we went ahead without her.
Not to tease those who don’t contribute to the Patreon page, we decided we wouldn’t move. In fact, we were so set on not moving that we didn’t even fully think through the question! A day after we recorded the episode, it dawned on me that much of the question of what to do with the homestead in the meantime is answered by Aly living here! She could always rent out her tiny home.
For the Homestead Patrons at a lower contribution rate, we offered an essay describing Michelle’s and my initial move to Alaska, which consciously retraced the route my parents chose when they moved our family back to Alaska in the late ’60s.
We can’t thank our Patreon patrons and other contributors enough! This month marks the tenth anniversary of this blog, which begs the question whether or not it’s wise to continue putting this much time and effort into a project that offers only a modest benefit to our family. These contributors help keep this blog afloat. This is important to us!
A recent study indicates that our local grocery prices are the 4th highest in the state—and Alaska already has a well-deserved reputation for high prices; gasoline costs almost $4 a gallon; electricity rates are set to increase soon. Property taxes have increased noticeably. Drastic state budget cuts will inevitably lead to higher prices as local businesses try to eke out a meager profit above all of these costs.
So, while we avoid some of these direct hits to our homestead incomes, we will eventually pay them indirectly on some level. Any contribution, any purchase from our Store page, purchases made on Amazon.com through our links, any to our various “micro-incomes” that come through this blog help in significant ways.
If you know me personally, you know I hate to self-promote. My default mode is silence, non-communication, solitude—just ask any relative, they’ll tell you. I feel like I’m flogging, panhandling, begging anytime I mention the Patreon page or any other micro-income source. It’s especially bad now that so many worthy causes in our community and state need to do the same thing to stay afloat!
And yet, here we are. I guess if we did move to Ireland, I wouldn’t have to worry so much about self promotion?
But then, with mornings like this, would we want to live anywhere else? (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).