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We spent our anniversary butchering a moose...
Published about 2 months ago • 8 min read
October 2026 Newsletter
Updates From The Homestead
I want to do this monthly newsletter a bit differently..
You see, I go to type these newsletters up and struggle to remember everything I intended to fill you in on. A LOT happens here in a month. I also enjoy the monthly updates, I think weekly can be a little too much. Monthly emails give something to look forward to in my opinion.
This month, I want to try and pop back into my email and update the story as time goes on. Like a date-stamped Captain's Log. This ship has multiple captains but I'm (Becca) the sharer. Levi is the talent, I do the sharing!
I hate to call it a diary. That feels rather middle school of me. A log, is my best title idea for it. So, let's give it a try. Let me know if you love it or hate it!
(I apologize that story #1 is not the most joyful.)
The last two weeks of our lives feel like a blur. We have receieved some bad news from loved family members, neighbors, and friends. None of this news pertains directly to our family. At least the family you all are familiar with via YouTube. But it still hurts us. People we love are hurting and that sucks. There is a guilty feeling when things are going well for you but it feels like everyone around you is crashing and burning. I just wanted to put that out there before going into the real story today.
Today's story IS sad but I am aware that it is not THAT sad compared to what a lot of people may be currently dealing with. I know, we can't compare struggles. But sometimes we do.
By the time you receive this email (Sept 1st) you'll know we have had some chicken losses on the homestead. As of today, I have no idea how many that will be. Hopefully when I come back to this, we won't have had any more losses.
In the last 24 hours, we've lost 4 of our 8 hens. This morning we rushed to a neighbor across town who gave us some medicine (corid) hoping to save the last 4 hens. The thing is, there is no good way to be sure of what is killing them.
The real problem for me right now is the word, "symptom", isn't saying much. These chickens were FINE yesterday morning. Business as usual. Around noon, I noticed my red chicken was laying down a lot and wouldn't stand for long. In less than an hour she was limp and barely breathing. I grabbed Levi to help me catch her and after a few attempts to raise her, he put her out of her misery for me. At the time, I had no idea what was happening. (Still don't really.)
To back track a little, our new rooster had been pushy with this chicken for a few days now and I was worried he injured her. She was even missing some feathers on her head where I saw him pecking to grab her. If you have been watching awhile now, you know I am fed up with roosters. So we have already been discussing culling him due to his behavior. He is not aggressive with us but he is incredibly aggressive with the girls. He is HUGE for his age too. Like already the size of our last rooster and only 4 months old.
After discussing with Levi, we determined the rooster must be the culprit of losing our red hen. Although we couldn't find any wounds, I figured he could have easily done internal organ damage by pushing her to the ground so rough. We decided to cull him.
I was upset about the whole deal but relieved to just make the choice instead of waiting for more injuries. Only to find two more down hens when taking them dinner scraps just a few hours later. Now I was upset!
Not only have I condemned an innocent (aggressive but innocent) rooster but two more of my girls were on deaths door. I immediately knew I was dealing with something serious.
So I grabbed some rubber gloves and started to try and wake the girls who were breathing but motionless. Eyes closed and flopping around occasionally, but nothing else.
They died quickly with no hint of why or how.
This morning, we lost our white girl and got everyone who is still alive far away from the coop until I can scrub it.
The girls left are, "Blackie", "Fluffer", and the two young hens that Blackie hatched this spring. We lost "Little Red", "Goldilocks", "Silverback", and "Betty White". And the rooster that I feel bad about culling although it was probably his fate anyway.
I have to head out and start cooking dinner. But I hope in a few days that I can come back here with a happier story for you all. Sometimes homesteading is hard. Sometimes life is hard. I try to keep it positive AND transparent. Sometimes we can't have both.
I loved everything about it, the way you told the story, the postcard of Gus and the little dried fern from your yard. It felt very personable. Thank you.
— B.W in Idaho
Thursday, August 13th, 2026
I did not even mean to show up here exactly a week apart, but here we are. The update we were all waiting for! All four surviving chickens are thriving. Thank goodness. It has been over a week since the big plague and they are doing great. Thank goodness! I just edited the video explaining everything yesterday and that was a tough one to relive for the thousandth time. I take pride in being transparent but sometimes it is hard re-living the craziness in order to be transparent.
On to some positivity! In typical Becca fashion, I am typing today when I should be doing something else. Mainly I should be cleaning the house. Levi just left for the airport to pick up his little sister and her family! They are staying with us for a few days (in the main cabin as the guest cabin is not ready.) Then they will stay with Levi's parents for a few days. They have a little boy who is exactly in between our boys in age. Henry is almost 3, their cousin is almost 2, and Sam is almost 1. We are so excited to play with our nephew again!
The boys will probably brawl over some toys on the first day but overall we think they are going to have a lot of fun together. We are buying another little toddler bike for their cousin to ride while he is here. Then it can graduate to be Sam's bike when he is big enough. The best bonding for boys seems to be outside on bikes, in my experience.
It is always nice to have people over who understand the "little kid game." For example, I am sitting here typing to you while I should be cleaning up. But I have plenty of time (their flight was delayed) and these guys don't care what my house looks like! Hallelujah.
To recap the last week (and try to stay positive) we did have a bit of a cabin build mishap. You can imagine my face when I came outside to Levi informing me of the broken window, fresh bought from Lowes. The fact is, our drive home is ROUGH. We cranked those windows into the truck with a ratchet strap and did our best to drive slow. But it probably broke on our drive home.
On the way to the airport, Levi is going to try and trade the windows in. BOTH windows.
Both windows need to be returned? Why yes, because the little unbroken window turned out to be an OBSCURE window. Like when the bathroom window in your house has all the little splotchy dots so no one can peep on you peeing. The writing for "obscure" was OBSCURE on the tag. The way we explained it to Levi's Dad was, "you would need to squint with your glasses on to see it."
Rather unfortunate but still neither of these things were Lowe's fault. We just hope they're a big enough company that they don't mind taking the hit. Because the $270 broken window would hurt us a lot more than it would hurt them.
So, we should have a verdict soon! I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone the other day (big surprise) but then we saw both windows needed to go back so Levi loaded them up anyway.
You can also imagine the way this derailed our work/film day that day! It was unfortunate. Levi is a rockstar though and just shifted gears to his other to-do list items. Some of those include finally finishing our back deck burl posts, cleaning up the freezer prior to moose season, and cutting up sawmill first cuts for firewood.
Speaking of firewood, the pond foliage is turning yellow. FALL IS COMING PEOPLE.
We're pretty excited for fall. We are cold weather people. It's why we love Alaska so much, or at least one reason. It is going to be 78°F here in a couple of days though. That's a pretty big heat wave for us. But overall, summer is on its way out and we are quite excited! Moose season starts in 7 days! Getting a moose would change our whole year!
Quick Update: Lowe's took BOTH windows back & we had an amazing time with family!
Today is Levi and I's 10 year wedding anniversary. We spent it butchering a moose!!
THIS IS NOT A DRILL. A MOOSE.
Bob (Levi's Dad) got his first moose! The guys had an awesome time on the boat and on their very first hunting trip, in the first few hours, they put meat in the freezer. Well, it took 48 hours to get it all done. Butchering is WORK. Especially on a moose. Luckily for us this was another spike fork. That means smaller, tender, and the perfect amount of meat for two families.
Levi got us some amazing film for the incoming Youtube video so I won't overspill here on the hunt! But, I am so thrilled to share that we are STOCKED for winter. Between the dipnetting salmon and now splitting this moose, we are in amazing shape and the grocery stores won't be seeing much of us!
Also, Happy 10th Anniversary to us! We had an awesome day but I am exhausted and need to hit the hay!
Monday, August 31st, 2026
Today, we head into fall. I don't have any more big news (thank goodness) but it is time. The greenhouse has come down, a few peppers are giving it their best shot on our back deck. Levi is weed wacking everywhere he'll be plowing to help keep the snow pushed out of the way. I am doing some final moose processing work (broth). Fall is here and I can't wait to share it with you!
If you made it this far, THANK YOU. I really hope you enjoyed this newsletter. It is so long but I think the format of a journal really helped get the stories clear and give a full picture of the month's highs and lows. There is 0 chance I would have remembered to type all of this only at the end of the month. Frankly, it probably would have all turned into moose hunting stories. Which I want to save for the video! It is a really good video!
From chicken coop tragedies to swans to moose in the freezer, this month had some high high's and some low low's. We are so excited to see what September has in store for us! Thank you again.
October 17th, 2026 Newsletter Back In The Saddle While we are SO grateful for Levi's moose and such an exciting hunting season. We are also SO grateful to be back to our mundane chores list. This week, spend a busy day on the homestead with us! We have a danger tree to deal with, garlic to plant, and a cabin to wrap-up! Yay For Bloopers! (Watch the end!) If you're a newer email subscriber, check out the full playlist of bloopers to date! Full Blooper Playlist Last Chance For Our FIRST Recipe...
Recurring Snail Mail The official site for our recurring Snail Mail Club, "Letters From Alaska." For only $8.00/month look forward to checking the mail again! Monthly Envelopes FREE Digital Envelope We're giving away our very first edition of, "Letters From Alaska," as a digital FREEBIE! Check it out and see if you're really missing out on these envelopes. No payment method needed! Can't Beat Free One-Time Purchase! You have FOMO but don't want another subscription hitting the bank? Purchase...
October 3rd, 2026 Newsletter Join Us At Moose Camp! Welcome back to remote Alaska, where the moose outnumber the people and Levi finally got his big branch bull! Shortly after we processed Bob's spike fork bull, the guys went back out on the boat for more hunting. This time, Levi wanted to wait for a wall-hanger. The freezer was full so it was the best time! Oh No Blooooopers Again, I don't have any bloopers! If you watched this week's video, you know the guys said about 10 words in the whole...
