Most people haven't had a childhood like Skye Skinner.
Her parents, Su and Burt Lum, decided in 1961 to drive all the way from Boonton, New Jersey, to Alaska to start a new life. Alan Whicker, a reporter from the BBC, interviewed them after they had been living in the freezing wilderness for a year.
Su and Burt were a secretary and teacher, respectively, and both eagerly made the decision to live out in the wild. "These are things that have long appealed to us as a change from this hurried modern life," Burt told Whicker.
While it was the Lums' responsibility to create their own housing, Skinner told the BBC last year that they were able to get stable and warm "teacher housing" through Burt's job at a one-room schoolhouse.
According to the National Park Service, the Homestead Act of 1862 generally entitled anyone, including immigrants, single women, and formerly enslaved people, over the age of 21 to 160 acres of land. But they were required to live on and cultivate the land in order to truly "own" it.
The Lums eventually secured their land and decided to move to Anchorage to save money. Unfortunately, in 1964, an earthquake devastated Anchorage, and the Lums moved to Aspen, Colorado, to live with a friend.
Within the next year, Skinner had a little sister, Hillery. Yet Burt kept "pining away for Alaska," as Skinner told the BBC. So Burt took Skinner back north. Ultimately the parents divorced, and Skinner lived with her father while Hillery stayed with their mother in Aspen.
Alaska living wasn't always easy for Skinner. Her school required a 60-mile round-trip journey, and Burt had to drive the first 10 miles on an often muddy road.
She also told the BBC that, after waking up at 5 a.m., her dad had to "literally light a fire underneath the car so it would start." In his original interview, Burt indicated to Whicker that temperatures might get to as low as minus-40 degrees Fahrenheit where they lived.
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Sign me up 👍 While the Lums were able to survive through the cold and ultimately benefited from their work, the Homestead Act required Indigenous peoples to pay the price over a century earlier.
The Dawes Act was created to enable Indigenous families to have their own land, but it meant that after they claimed what they wanted, their remaining tribal land was considered "surplus."
The National Park Service says that tribal land decreased from "138 million acres in 1887 to 48 million acres in 1934" before the Dawes Act was repealed.
Regardless of their legislators' intent, these laws furthered the oppression of Indigenous peoples. It is a complicated history that we need to, at the very least, acknowledge in full and allow it to inform our future actions.
Skinner's dad died when she was 16, which led her away from the homesteading lifestyle.
The Aspen Times, which is also where Su worked for 50 years, reported in 2020 that Skinner became the executive director of the Art Base, an arts nonprofit in Basalt, Colorado. She moved on from this position at the end of 2022.
While deciding whether or not to homestead can require some nuanced thought, there are also more simple and accessible ways to appreciate the land.
Starting a garden in your backyard or your community can help you connect with others, save money at the grocery store, and tend to your environment.
You can even collect seeds from your produce instead of buying them and start a compost hole (as opposed to a pile) to minimize waste and enrich your plants' soil.
You don't have to drive across a continent to live a life at least somewhat like the Lums. You can start connecting with the land around you right now.
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
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