Podcast Summary: Simple Farmhouse Life, Episode 315

Title: Homemaking in Transition: Staying Grounded When Life Shifts | K of Homesteady
Host: Lisa Bass
Guest: Kendra (“K”) from Homesteady
Air Date: November 11, 2025
Duration: Approximately 51 minutes (skipping ads, intros, and outros)

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and practical episode, Lisa Bass welcomes Kendra from the Homesteady vlog/podcast. Kendra shares the incredible story of her family's recent move from Pennsylvania to an off-grid cabin in Alaska with her husband Austin and their seven children. The discussion goes deeply into the realities of living off-grid with a large family, the mental and logistical transitions of major life changes, and approaches to homemaking, parenting, and staying grounded during challenging seasons.

Main Topics and Key Discussion Points

1. The Move to Off-Grid Alaska: Origins and Motivation

• Background:
  • The Homesteady family has been sharing online for over a decade. (03:50)
  • The Alaska move was sparked after guest Austin interviewed an Alaskan yurt dweller on their podcast, igniting an adventurous dream. (05:01)
• Motivation:
  • Desire for adventure while kids (and their parents) were young enough for a major lifestyle shift.
  • “Alaska was the adventure we were looking for.” — Kendra (05:48)
• Decision Process:
  • Initially planned to visit Alaska to scope out land prices, but realized the cost and remoteness challenges.
  • Ultimately bought a small off-grid cabin from a connection made during their first exploratory trip. (07:04)

2. Challenges of Off-grid Family Life

• Property and Infrastructure:

  • Cabin built in 2021, insulated, windows and doors, but no power, water, or internal systems. (08:49)
  • Family had to install their own water system and start a solar setup; fridge is currently a cooler on the porch. (09:27)
  • “Our fridge is a cooler on the porch right now that we keep just cooling.” — Kendra (09:34)

• Food, Water, and Laundry:

  • Reliance on water delivery to a large 1000-gallon tank (13:14).
  • No washer and dryer—weekly laundromat trips are a major hassle. (13:39)
  • Cooking initially done on a camp stove; now using propane, and prepping for a wood cookstove (14:11).

• Sanitation:

  • Outhouse filled quickly; switched to a composting toilet with urine diverter and daily bucket changes. (10:34, 11:19)
  • “It doesn't smell. It's pretty amazing... That’s a better system than an outhouse for our family.” — Kendra (11:20)

• Remote Living:

  • “We’re on the road system… Everything’s a little farther away. So if we run out of something, we just can’t run out and go grab it.” — Kendra (09:56)

3. Household Management with a Large Family

• Cooking and Dishes:

  • Cooking is "the most normal thing" now with propane.
  • Dishes are hand-washed with help from kids, using a lot of paper products due to water constraints (15:07).
  • Hope to get the dishwasher running once the solar system is complete. (15:07)

• Downsizing and Decluttering:

  • Dramatic reduction in possessions before the move—both for space and sanity.
  • “We only brought… three-quarters of our stuff is at my dad's pole barn in PA… Do I use this every day? Will I use this every day? And then we bring it. If not, it was, we'll keep it in storage or we’ll sell it." — Kendra (32:34)
  • Both Lisa and Kendra discuss how decluttering reduces "mental space" clutter, especially with large families in smaller homes. (30:46-31:26)

• Living Space:

  • Cabin is about 1300 square feet for their family of nine. (27:00–28:08)
  • “We use every square inch and then some.” — Lisa (27:43)

4. Homesteading Then and Now

• Contrast with Previous Homestead:

  • Former 100-acre farm in Pennsylvania: busy, filled with livestock (cows, pigs, chickens). (16:21)
  • Now, no livestock—less daily “farm” work, but new sets of tasks like water delivery and maintaining generator/solar.
  • More time for homeschooling review and hobbies like sourdough, which were abandoned in the busy farm days. (17:18)
  • “I find myself with a little more free time than I used to have.” — Kendra (18:10)

• Future Homestead Plans in Alaska:

  • Likely to eventually have pigs, maybe chickens or yaks, but economics and climate make cows less practical for now. (18:27)

5. Coping with Transition and Stressful Times

• Adapting to Change:

  • First arrival was "crazy stressful": dirty cabin, overwhelmed, baby crawling, considered renting a house but resolved to "just get to work." (24:24–26:19)
  • “Here we are. I hate this. This will never work. I cannot, cannot do this. And then walked outside for a little bit, got angry, got sad, came back inside and we just got to work the first night.” — Kendra (24:51, repeated from transcript and emphasized as a key turning point)

• Staying Grounded:

  • “My mom says you gotta climb the mountain before you come down. So I was climbing that mountain."
  • Quick wins: cleaning, setting up a “real” home space made all the difference (26:40).

• Minimalism Out of Necessity:

  • Living in smaller quarters means ruthless minimalism, especially regarding clothes and kid gear (28:16–32:02).

6. Specific Adaptations to Alaskan Living

• Climate Surprises:

  • Cost of living was even higher than expected—"the highest in the country" (06:30).
  • Mosquitoes were a much bigger problem than anticipated, especially due to permafrost and marshy ground (33:23–34:15).
  • Relief that winter temps aren’t always the extreme cold expected (35:09–35:43).

• Light/Dark Seasonal Changes:

  • Long summer daylight was a “gift” for getting projects done; adjusting to shrinking daylight in fall/winter (36:26).
  • “It’s pitch dark. It’s seven. Let’s go inside. Yeah, let’s be done. So I’m hoping I can kind of embrace that, but we’ll see.” — Kendra (37:09)

7. Homesteading Advice for Beginners (listener Q&A, 41:39)

• Best Starter Livestock:
  • Egg-laying chickens are easiest; then meat birds; then feeder pigs (41:58).
  • Dairy animals are high maintenance, especially for beginners—"There's so much animal husbandry that goes into a milk cow." (42:59)
  • “As far as selling, like my milk cows, I don't think we’ve ever sold livestock as easily as milk cows... they sold very quickly.” — Kendra (43:50)

8. Mindset, Positivity, and Adapting to Uncertainty

• Staying Positive Through Uncertainty:

  • Kendra describes herself as "toxically positive" but acknowledges that even hard transitions become bearable.
  • Cites psychology research: after life-changing events (good or bad), people return to a similar happiness baseline over time (46:32–47:08).
  • “People who lost a limb weren't as sad as they thought they would be. People who won the lottery weren't as happy as they thought they'd be… As long as everyone's alive… the experience goes with you. Whatever you learned, there's value there.” — Kendra (46:58–47:30)

• Coping with Nostalgia and Loss:

  • Kendra doesn’t dwell on regrets, preferring to focus on moving forward, but admits she misses thunderstorms and her cows (48:46–49:38).
  • “I miss my cows… but I’m very grateful we don't have them right now because we have so much to do here.” — Kendra (49:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On First Impressions and Pivoting:
  • “Here we are. I hate this. This will never work. I cannot, cannot do this. And then walked outside for a little bit, got angry, got sad, came back inside and we just got to work the first night because we needed a place to put that baby down…” — Kendra (24:51)
• On Big Family Logistics:
  • “Anything with a large family, people will say like, ‘Oh, what you did, it's no big deal, just do blah, blah, blah, blah.’ And you think, but you don't have seven kids… It's a whole nother story.” — Kendra (14:38)
• On Minimalism:
  • “Do I use this every day? Will I use this every day? And then we bring it. If not… we'll keep it in storage or we'll sell it.” — Kendra (32:34)
• On Happiness After Change:
  • “They found out… whether they lost a limb or won the lottery, the levels of happiness were about the same… It’s just the body's way of bringing us back to kind of a level where we keep wanting to do more no matter what.” — Kendra (46:58–47:30)
• On Adapting to Alaskan Light:
  • “The long hours in the summer were a gift… Now we’re ticking away. I think we’re losing like six minutes every day. And we’ll see how we do…” — Kendra (36:26)

Key Timestamps

• 03:50 — Homesteady’s background, discovery of Alaska
• 05:01 — Initial draw to moving to Alaska, how the idea took root
• 07:04 — Challenges of finding and buying land in Alaska
• 09:27 — Cabin’s state, lack of infrastructure, first systems installed
• 11:19 — Sanitation solutions, outhouse vs. composting toilet
• 13:39 — Logistics: laundromat, water delivery, cooking, daily routines
• 24:24 — Stress of the initial transition, emotional adaptation
• 26:40 — Quick wins: cleaning and making a home
• 27:00 — Square footage/living space with a large family
• 32:34 — Philosophy and method of decluttering for off-grid living
• 33:23 — Climate challenges: mosquitoes and permafrost
• 36:26 — Adjusting to dramatic seasonal shifts in daylight
• 41:58 — Beginner livestock advice: start with chickens
• 46:23 — Staying positive and steady during financial uncertainty
• 48:46 — Nostalgia for old life vs. embracing the present

Conclusion and Follow-up

Lisa and Kendra’s conversation provides a raw, encouraging, and practical look at major life transitions, homesteading, and the mindset required to thrive in unpredictable circumstances. Kendra’s stories reflect resilience, resourcefulness, and humor in the face of steep challenges.
Catch up with Homesteady’s Alaska adventure on their YouTube channel and stay tuned for more updates on the podcast.

End of Summary