Home And Gardens Advice

As we sit in our urban homes, we live amid highways, strip malls, office buildings, and parking lots. But the primal part of us yearns to live among trees and water and winding woodsy roads. As we tap away at our computers, we wish we could escape to our cabin kits . Alaska is far away, but with the Alaskan cabin kit that are now available, you can build a cabin closer to home, but with the feel of an Alaskan escape. And, because its a kit, you can make it as simple or as elaborate as suits your desires and budget.

Call it a cabin, call it a cottage, or call it a camp. Its all the same thing. Its a small, simple house that sits in the woods. If you’re lucky, you can find a lot on a lake where you can have a dock. Imagine the pleasure of watching your kids plunge off the dock into the clear, clean water of a northern lake. With their air mattresses and blow-up sea monsters, they can paddle around in the shallow water, cementing the sibling bonds and building shared memories that will nourish them when they have their own urban homes and computer jobs.

Imagine tying your boat to the other side of the dock. When the kids are old enough, you can give them the excitement of water skiing around the lake. It doesnt have to be the hugest lake in the state for the water skiing to be fun. It just has to be big enough for your boat to navigate large enough circles to keep the skier on the water.

Imagine sitting on the end of the dock, feet dangling in the water, with a fishing pole in your hand. Put a night crawler or an artificial lure on the line, and toss it in. The result of some patience and a couple of beers could very well be tonight’s supper. Whether the lake is stocked with blue gills or bass, dinner will be a big hit! If the fish aren’t biting around the dock, throw the gear in the boat, and look for greener fish pastures. Dawn and dusk are the optimal time for fishing from a boat. And, who knows? You just might spot a muskrat, beaver, or duck.

There’s another important course for this fish dinner, and thats the berry pie! By late July or August, the wild raspberries and blueberries will be ripening. Hand out a pan, large tin can, or bucket for you and each of your kids. Spray on the bug repellent liberally. Dab on the sunscreen. Then head out into the woods. If its been a good, warm spring and summer with plenty of rain and sun, the berries will fill your buckets quickly (of course not quickly enough for the littlest one of the crew). When the berries are picked over and washed, they will be ready to toss between pie crusts, along with a liberal amount of sugar, and baked.

So put your dreams to work. Buy a piece of a lake shore and a cabin kit, and get building!