About Us

Hi, we’re Jaclyn and Kris, two writers in the woods trying to build a life that has room for more connection: more connection with each other, more connection with the environment we live in, and more connection with you, which is why we started this blog. We live in a 196 square foot off-the-grid cabin in Alaska. 

We found each other in an ocean of writers in Seattle. Neither of us had ever lived ‘regular’ lives and we both knew that it would take someone just as strange, just as unconventional, to build a life with. This blog is the story of us trying to build that weird little life. Like so many people these days, we are working to find a balance between being comfortable and not being controlled by our possessions. 

On a little hillside, looking out over a sea of cloudberries, there sits our shack. Technically, it’s not even a house. It’s sixty spruce logs, carved and set into four walls, with a little loft up top. There’s a woodstove and a few windows and now, a little family. That family consists of one Alaskan-born sea otter, one well-traveled mermaid, a miracle-baby water nymph, and a dog named Blue. 

Summer Solstice by the Sea

Kris is the sea otter in this equation. He’s a novelist, editor, recovering journalist, historian and father. He’s also something of a log builder, cabinetmaker, forager, unapologetic hunter, and surfer when he can find the time. The written word is his jam, and that love of a well turned phrase is a big part of Tiny Ticky Tacky’s naissance. 

Jaclyn is the mermaid. After teaching abroad for ten years, she came to Alaska for a graduate degree in writing, fell in love with Kris, having a garden, and the 49th State. Now she’s tramping through bogs, picking blueberries and morels with her daughter on her back, and trying to learn all she can about the forest she calls home. She’s coaxing words out of devil’s club and making meaning of mountain ash.

Unlike the stars of Alaska-based reality shows, we won’t look into the camera and claim that if we don’t get a moose this month our family will starve to death. Sure, we have an outhouse and limited electricity, and at least one of us loves to eat moose meat, but we do live thirty minutes away from a grocery store. We’ll be fine. Come join us as we try to decolonize homesteading into the much more user-friendly notion of just living in the woods and pursuing joy. There will be literature, there will be wine. Probably even some weed. And campfires. Woodstoves. Foraging, building, gardening, and cooking with the wind in the trees and the sound of random gunfire in the distance.

26 Comments

  1. sheger1

    Wow your life sounds amazing….kinda like ours. We are off grid with a composting toilet and propane appliances and a generator for charging phones and other conveniences. We also have a grocery store half an hour away. But as you we are trying to live a more simple life. Enjoy everyday! I can’t wait to follow your journeys.

  2. Wendy

    This is fantastic folks. You remind me of us when we came to the farm 25 years ago. We’re still here, still off grid but have let a little too much civilisation in. Does mean we can follow your blog though.

    1. jaclyn

      Yes! There’s a constant question about how much civilization to bring in so we can connect with others. It feels like a constant balance!

  3. todgermanica

    Love your cabin. Love your attempt to find meaning and connection and your own way of life. The POV is sure nicer than the inside of a cubicle.
    As for the cold, bound to get warmer pretty soon now. I’m bookmarking your blog URL. Thanks for visiting my blog.

  4. thebluemouseranch

    Curious what you do about internet access. I have tried one satellite internet company, expensive and horrible customer service. I’ve since stopped the service but still looking for something. Just wondering what you do.

    1. jaclyn

      Right now, we are using our phones as hotspots. It works when the wind is blowing a certain way, but it’s not nearly good enough and we are searching for something better, too. Please let us know what you find!

  5. Sherrey Meyer

    Can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed an “About” page so much! Thanks for stopping by Life in the Slow Lane and “liking” Sunflowers. I’ll be following you for a variety of reasons–we’re retired and too old to be doing what you’re doing but we’d love to, our kids are all grown and we’d have to make them made we didn’t do this when they could have enjoyed it too, and we believe in so much of what you’re doing. Hooray for the otter, the mermaid, miracle-baby daughter, and a dog named Blue!

  6. franklparker

    Hi Jaclyn, thanks for your ‘like’ on on of my posts. I love this piece you’ve crafed about your adventure and I’m sure I will love reading more of your posts so I am going to follow you.

  7. LivingOnTheDiagonal

    Oh my, you’ve hit a chord! I love reading about living the ‘simple’ life and living in Alaska. It’s where I want to live in my next life–if I can come back free of Seasonal Affective Disorder! 🙂 Looking forward to reading more.

  8. Erika Reid Bell

    Thanks for your ‘like’ on my Pfeiffer’s Favorites: Water Wow post. I’m loving y’all’s story. How fascinating! I’d love to see more pictures. I’ve never been to Alaska but it is definitely on my list!

  9. lynnfay73

    Very cool! I live off the grid in Michigan U.P. in a garage I made into an industrial camp (when I’m not taking care of my dad in Elk Rapids, MI, who is in poor health now). I am a writer and taught at Northern Michigan University for 7 years. Alaska was always intriguing and I’d still like to fly fish there (Dad watches ALL the Alaska shows and believes them hook, line and sinker), but I couldn’t do that much dark. Thanks for liking my post!

  10. bonnielpleisch

    Your Alaskan life sounds wonderful to me. So much so I told my husband we should move there. *Smile*. Thanks for stopping by and liking my latest entry of of “Children of The Falls” I appreciate that you took the time. Enjoy Alaska, I hear it is beautiful!

  11. martinknoxMartin Knox

    Thanks for liking my post! Your story is like an oasis of peace and calm, in my stormy inbox ocean where campaigners about this and that insult and injure each other. Their concerns seem to me trivial, hysterical, ill-informed, unanalysed and intemperate. These are from city-dwellers who have a dismal outlook on the future of civilisation. I suspect you have escaped from a similar milieu. If so, I would be interested if you have written about how you see the future. You seem existential and perhaps that is all we can hold onto?

  12. cindamackinnon

    wow – you’re a story in yourselves! How long have you been in Alaska – made it through the first winters? Thanks for stopping by my blog with a “like.” I look forward to reading more about you and your blog. I’m rooting for you!

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