The world's most isolated family- The Atchley's of Alaska

Interesting article. These people live far, far from anyone. They are not 100% self-sufficient but it is an interesting article. I imagine they have to buy supplies because there is such a short summer that they cannot grow much. They grow pot but I noticed they had lots of canned veggies.

The world's most isolated family: How the Atchleys fled the modern world and now live 200 miles by snowmobile from the nearest Alaskan town... with bears and wolves for local neighbors

• David and Romey Atchley and their son Sky are the only people living along their 250-mile stretch of the Nowitna River in central Alaska
• Apart from a month’s holiday each year and John’s twice yearly expedition to restock their supplies, they never see anyone else
• On their first night in their 10.5ft by 13ft cabin, a bear raided their supplies
• Power is provided by solar panels and a bank of large golf buggy batteries while heating comes from two wood-burning stoves

How the world's most isolated family Atchleys fled | Daily Mail Online

 

Like the Browns. Good post MM.

 

I've been looking for land to try and buy, were I could be self sufficient, but , at my age, which isn't really old , but being able to pay it off, and put in the work needed to make it sufficient enough to be comfortable , I'm not sure I'm able to do it, at this stage in my life. If I honestly thought I was going to live this long , which is my true belief , I would have bought some land years ago , and would be living a more self sustained lifestyle now. Most of my friends I have these days , think I'm about half crazy because of the way I live now. I just don't need a lot of that fancy stuff , and I'm not trying to keep up with the joneses . When I tell them what my monthly bills run me every month now , they start realizing all the stress they are putting themselves thru. If my power bill gets over 60 dollars a month now", I'm pissed. A few of them have wives that were raised on a small farm, or raised and had to work a garden. But the wants , not the needs , of these women , and the wants , not their needs , that they themselves succumb to, keep themselves from not having to fight , and stress over their ability to pay their bills every month. I've just always had the mindset that , if you make yourself rough it now , when times get hard , things will be just about normal.

 

There was the Russian family that fled Stalin's pogroms and lived nearly 100% isolated from other humans for 50 years. There were a few shippers who stopped once a year if they could and/or saw them waiting to trade with them. Most of the children never saw a non-family member for 40+ years and had no idea there were other people or any other existence. Finally one daughter came out, but she was 87(? or was when I read the article) and her brother (also in his 80s) came to the river side, looked at the boat and went back to live the rest of his life alone as that was the only existence he knew. Starvation was the main cause of death for the family members, wife and children.

 

Lots of rural property for sale now that could allow you to be very self-sufficient. Some is near small town or villages.
Like this one -
2685 N 3100 W For Sale - Delta, UT | Trulia

• 4 beds
• 1 bath
• 2,040 sqft
• 1.25 acres lot size
• Single-Family Home
  $110K Great location next to the church, ball field and park. Quiet street with low traffic. Home serviced by it's own well, propane heat, and septic. Live in the country, but only minutes from Delta. Three bedrooms on main level and one in the basement. Formal living room in front door. Second family room off kitchen. Double oven, tiled kitchen & dining area. Room for animals and garden area.

 

Interesting article, good post, Motomom!

 

Did everyone check out and study the "fridge/pantry" They had a picture of it but I thought it was interesting-

I looked at the picture and expected to see grains but didn't.But I did see eggs. They must coat them to preserve them.

@Meat

Probably need a heated tree house in Alaska.

 

I've actually found some decent deals within 3 hours of my AO, in the mountains or the foothills. 20 to 30 acres. Room to move around. Ive not been looking for a house on it, if it's there fine, but that's not what I'm looking for. I can build a 400 sq ft shack and be just fine. The shop is were I need some space. A running creek or stream, high enough to have clean water. I've found these and more for under 100,000, and I could work my but off and pay for it in 5 yrs, then id have to keep working to be able to fund my projects and improvements, and by then id be in my 60s, and I can feel my energy levels going down at my age now. So , at this point , I think I'm just better off realizing I need to just stay were I'm at, do a little tweaking , and see it thru till the end. Looking back on it now , I can see were I got sidetracked. After service, got married and had a kid. Got divorced, got custody of the kid when she was about 7. And I just focused on working to give her what she needed . Not really looking forward that much. Just doing what I needed to do in the moment. Oh well, to all those that have these places, I envy you.

 

I read the entire article and, remarkable self-sufficiency skills notwithstanding, think these people are creepy as hell.

And I feel sorry for their 13 year old son who is growing up with zero social skills or interpersonal relationships other than his latter-day hippy "parents" who see him as an "experiment".

The article mentions that the son will care for his parents as they get old. Hopefully, he will get a clue and run far away from Mr. & Mrs. Creepy and let them rot in their self imposed solitary confinement.

 

Actually they are schooling him about the ways of the world via Grand Theft Auto. That game is pretty harsh.

I was quite curious about the older son who developed anger issues and had to leave but if they are schooling their kids using violent video games as a way to teach what other people are like then the anger is understood. I thought it was odd that they would choose that game. We have that game and the sound to the game is muted/o. My kids played it for a bit then shelved it.

 

Cool article

 

Lots of folks live and work remotely. Most are not full time, they work a 2 and 1 or 4 and 2 (months) on/off cycle.
Radar Love: The solitary rhythm of life at a remote Air Force installation « Alaska Public Media | INTERACTIVE In this case, remote radar sites

I've worked the 6 week/2 week rotation, but it just got to be too much, 12 hr/day, 7 days a week. Can wear you down.

Good money tho.

 

Thanks for posting that other article @stg58. That is more in-depth then the one I posted. They call them an off-grid family but I question are they really? I do wonder what makes people off-grid. This family has electronics, snowmobiles and store bought supplies which they restock every year. Maybe off-grid is if one does not have electric and sewer. The Atchley's are an interesting family but I wish they had a green house because that would be educational.