Our Story

Travis & Tealah:

It all started in 1998 when Travis’ parents Jeff and Denise decided to quit their jobs near Detroit and move the entire family up to “The Cabin” in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They had built The Cabin in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with the goal of someday retiring permanently in the snowy north. Travis was 10 at the time and just entering 5th grade where he would meet Tealah. Travis was a gangly boy with his nose always stuck in a book and Tealah was a mousy girl with her nose likewise always stuck in a book. We grew to be inseparable over the next eight years drawn together by our love of nature, a passion for animal husbandry, and a strong desire to build a sustainable life in the deep woods.

The Problem:

Building a sustainable homestead in the harsh northern wilderness requires tremendous capability. Capability can be broken down as skill, tools, and time OR the money required to hire someone with the skill, tools, and time. It was a simple realization that the dream would first require sacrifice. We made a pact that we’d dedicate 20 years towards building skills, accumulating tools, and saving money for the transition to the homestead life.

The Solution:

On 8 August 2006 Travis enlisted in the Air Force and became a SERE Specialist - the Air Force’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, & Escape instructor and rescue specialist. It was a skillset that taught him everything you’d ever need to know when it comes to surviving in the wilderness. The accompanying pay allowed us to buy tools and become familiar with them over time. The 20 year countdown began!

The Lodge:

Ten years into our journey Travis’ family property was put on the open market after his Grandfather passed away. Using almost all of our savings we bought the property which had a medium sized two story home and a large woodworking shop. We visited the Lodge twice a year every year to renovate, repair, and reoutfit with newer tools and capabilities. However, the Lodge will sit empty from 2022-2026 as we are now stationed in Germany for our last four year tour. Just before leaving we planted 15 apple trees in hopes that they would be alive and fruit bearing upon our return.

The Goals:

In order to return to the Lodge we’ve established the below objectives.

1) Finish 20 years of service in order to receive pension. While this is not very much pay it should be enough to augment a homestead that produces most of it’s own heating, food, water, and materials through the attached sawmill.

2) Eliminate all debt. So far the property is paid off, we have no car payments, and are close to eliminating credit card debt. In order to make the pension work we’ll have to eliminate as many bills as possible.

3) Complete our outlined skills tree. This is more complicated to put into text but we have listed out every skill and tool we’ll require in order to be self sustaining. From basic wood working to apple grinding we intend to have experience in everything prior to the launch of our homestead.

4) Have $10,000 in accessible savings. Emergencies happen and if our crops fail or our pigs are killed by wild animals we’ll need something to fall back on while we shore up the week spots in our plan.

5) Establish an alternate source of income. This can be in the form of this website’s shop, our YouTube channel, or our homesteading products.

Basically we are increasing our capabilities for twenty years in order to ensure success in the snowy north. Join us on the journey! Once the countdown ends we begin.

-Travis & Tealah