If you’ve ever wanted to homestead in the North, Canada is offering a unique opportunity. You may have seen homesteading TV shows when Alaska was offering a similar program. The Yukon is every bit as adventurous as our 49th state and you’ll meet the same kinds of challenges when farming the land. Winter will be the toughest in which you must thrive in brutally cold weather, deep snow, and days of almost total darkness.
Really a Lifestyle
I traveled through the Yukon in the late 1980’s and enjoyed talking with people along the Alaskan highway, especially how they earned a living. I met one couple who only lived together in the winter, because they needed jobs to support their homestead and couldn’t earn enough working the land. The husband was a fisherman and his wife a waitress in a local restaurant. She explained how they used a snow machine to get to and from their homestead, but were cabin bound during the heart of winter.
New Technology
Improvements in solar technology may be of tremendous benefit to homesteaders. Whereas old-timers had to burn fuel or candles for light, newer technologies may harness the sun illumination, enough to operate a radio, cell phone or possibly the internet. Snow machines are more efficient and dependable than in the last century allowing homesteaders to be much more mobile.
Hunting and Fishing
The ability to harvest fish, wild game, and plants can be of tremendous benefit. Just as Alaska’s plentiful summer sunshine grows vegetables of immense size, so to can Canadian settlers farm the land. Once temperatures fall below freezing, harvesting a moose will provide nearly a year’s worth of venison and you won’t have to worry about refrigeration. This Post from The Outdoor Hub will get you started. If you’ve always dreamed to living the frontier lifestyle, this may be your chance:
Good news for farmers who love to hunt: Canada’s far north is warming up, and the government is dishing out free land to attract more farmers to the region.
That’s right, according to Alaska Dispatch News, the Yukon is becoming less of an inhospitable environment thanks to global warming, and the opportunities could be endless.
https://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2017/07/31/canada-pitches-free-land-willing-farm-north/
