[Eivin yelling] Ow! [bleep] Damn it!
[groans]
[groans louder]
[Eivin] Okay. So, I just hurt myself.
Um, I was using my pressure washer
and my hand went in front of the beam.
Oh, it hurts really, really bad.
[sighs]
I'm gonna need to go into the hospital for this.
So, when I shot myself in the hand with a pressure washer,
it injected high-pressured water
and air into my hand.
It's super swollen in there.
I think it's all full of water.
Air, maybe, or something.
I feel all these little air bubbles popping and moving around.
It's a very disconcerting feeling.
Because you don't really want air bubbles in your bloodstream.
People die that way.
I called my brother-in-law.
He's a surgeon.
He just told me that bas--
I sent him a photo of where it is
and he just told me that, based on where it is,
um, there's a chance it could've hit the nerve.
Cut the nerve, which is why it kind of feels numb.
Which would be a major drag
and that would mean I would need to go to Anchorage to see a hand surgeon.
Living on a homestead,
we're constantly dealing with calculated risk.
And the things that we do on a daily basis are fairly dangerous.
Holy-- [sighs]
Ow, God!
[Eivin] I drive a motorcycle around.
We drive four-wheelers aroun
Driving snow machines.
[groans]
-When you're riding horses. -Whoa!
Chasing cows.
[woman] The black one. [yel]
-[repeating] Easy! -Kelli, this horse is in the electric wire.
[winces, yells] Ow! [bleep] this!
[Eivin] Stuff happens on the homestead, you know,
that's definitely more dangerous than just working in an office.
Oh!
[groans]
You know, I was holding onto the wand with one hand
and trying to pull a piece of plastic cowling on the four-wheeler, out of the way
And then, it slapped the end of the nozzle just right into my hand.
[Eve groans]
[Eve] If we've learned anything this year,
it's that life can change suddenly.
So, when he gets injured, it's just scary.
I don't want you to have to have hand surgery.
Like, oh, just you without your hands is like.
Not good.
In the summertime, there's a million things
that need to happen on the homestead.
If I had to get surgery, it would shut down a lot of those things.
And I would end up becoming kind of more of a hinderance
And so, if my dad's injury has taught me anything,
it's that it's super importa to teach my kids
as many things about runnin a homestead as possible.
So, in the event that I were injured or hurt,
they would be able to help Eve and pick up some of the slack.
[Eivin] So, they're gonna let me go home.
My hand, here.
They bandaged it all up.
They did an ultrasound on my hand,
which showed, it didn't show any air bubbles inside of my circulatory system.
Which was a major win
because you don't really want air bubbles in your bloodstream, obviously.
As it is now, super lucky
that I still have all the sensation in my thumb.
A lot of people, they have the idea that they wanna go be a homesteader
and boy, does that sound romantic.
But the reality of like, a day in and a day out,
that is not easy to deal wit
Some people can't hack it.
Some people can.
Would I change my lifestyle Maybe slight things.
But, for me,
[stammers] you know, the lifestyle is worth the risk.
Oh, bummer.
-[siren blaring] -[Eivin] Previously, on Alaska: The Last Frontier..
[Eivin] My dad was crushed, almost to death, by a cow four months ago.
[cow bellowing]
[Eivin] Every single animal that we encounter is well over 1200 pounds.
Dad, watch yourself.
[cow grunts]
Oh, just Eivin came up with some pretty cool gadgets to help manage the cows.
Now, we're starting a hemp farm.
So, when the day comes that I can't get on a horse,
we've got a backup plan.
Is that too cool or what?
[groans]
This past year,
I had major shoulder surgery
[stutters] Little, little down at times.
Ha!
Have water, will travel.
One of the best ways to get over your own troubles
is getting involved in other people's lives.
[Eivin] Oh, they're jumping!
Alaska made me who I am, but I am more than Alaska.
And I need to go prove that to myself and prove that to everybody else.
Really and truly, I don't see myself living on the homestead my whole life.
There are some other things on my mind
that I might want to go out and do, yet.
You're right at that age where you should start accumulating skills.
Right. There's a possibility that I could transition
to like, flying helicopters.
-Uh-huh. -That would be really,
-really cool. -Yeah.
-I'm August. -Hey, August. Good to meet you. I'm Eric.
-Nice to meet you. -Yeah, you too.
-So, you wanna know a bit about helicopters. -I do, yes.
[August] Eivin took me up to Red Mountain.
It reminded me that it's tim to take steps to start doin something in my life.
[Eivin] I see that you've struggled a little bit with trying to decide,
you know, what to do.
-Biggest thing is just findi something and trying it out -Right.
[Eric] Have any other training like airplanes or anything like that?
Uh, no. I have little to no training.
But I do play a lot of flight simulators.
Okay, that counts. That counts.
[August] I went to college for a couple of years for engineering.
It turns out, I never learned how to study.
[Eve] Do you want a hand, August?
No.
[August] And I came back.
And I've been trying to develop other skills as far as homesteading goes.
[Otto] So, I'm really, really, really proud of what you've done here, son.
I wanna live in it.
[August] But as far as like trying to make a life and career out of it.
[yelling] Dad!
There's a calf caught in the sliding door.
[Otto] Oh, my God.
[August] I don't think that that's for me.
Hang on, hang on.
I'm gonna try to get him out of there.
But I've come to the realization that I enjoy operating things.
How am I for vertical?
And my dad's injury triggere something in me.
Because, where we live in Homer,
there's no dedicated Medevac
My dad was on the ground for two hours,
before trained personnel could get there.
And so, I guess, the idea of being able to help other people,
not just my dad.
Get the help that they need faster, I think, is really appealing to me.
So, what am I... what am I looking at?
[Eric] A lot of this is all standard airplane stuff.
-Okay. -You have your altimeter.
You have your air speed.
This is your electric attitude indicator.
[August] I'm sitting in the co-pilot seat,
there's no controls over there.
But the thing that was most surprising to me
is there were a lot less gauges, dials and switches
[chuckles] in that aircraft than I expected there to be.
As far as instruments go,
there is maybe, only twelve
And as far as buttons, lever and switches,
there was no more than 30.
All right, well, that's it. I mean, uh,
I say we fire it up and go for a ride.
[both laughing]
-I'd love to. -All right.
[laughs excitedly]
-Okay. -Okay.
[both laughing]
[laughs] What?
[engine starts]
[inaudible over radio] ...departure.
[Eric] All right. I think you're ready to go.
[Atz] I've brought these things to the table.
I have to say, I was...
-Touched that you wanted to test your wilderness skills-- -Need to.
Before you head off to college for the rest of your life.
[fake sobs]
Every single Alaskan kid and or Kilcher has to go through a bit of a rite of passage.
Just kind of go out into the woods by yourself.
And I know it's something m dad has done many times.
And it makes sense, before I go out to college,
on my own, to test myself.
I've gone out to the back country with my dad,
but never by myself.
And I feel like, if I can do this,
I can do anything on my own
This little pack is my, uh, two-day.
I've seen that green pack for pretty much,
-my entire life. Yeah. -Yes.
[Atz] Cultures have, you kno had rites of passage.
It means something different depending on where you live
and luckily, the lifestyle we've raised,
being as remote as we are,
you know, we can still have these opportunities
to send our children on this kind of, rites of passage.
It feels like just yesterda that Etienne
showed interest to go rabbit hunting with me.
And it was a great experience for him
and so, that's kind of what this is, in a sense.
It's not so much like, "hey, if you know how to do this,
you'll do really good in college."
-It's more so you can have that time to reflect, -Mm-hmm.
out in the wilds and have that moment.
'Cause in silence, that's really when you find yourself.
Exactly. And there's nothing more silent than the woods.
That's true.
Yeah, it worked for grandpa Yule.
It worked for your grandpa Atz.
It's worked for me.
That's where it all began.
That was my first back country cabin.
That was first cabin that I took you to as a little, little, little person.
[Etienne] Yeah, I'm gonna be going out to the hunters' cabin.
It's extremely difficult to get to, especially in the Summer.
The cabin's on the other side of the canyon.
And to get there, I have to cross really swampy location
with not a lot of clear hiking trails.
And in the Summertime, in anywhere where there's standing water,
there's hordes, just absolut clouds of mosquitoes coming after you.
Also, there's around 500 bears in a three-mile vicinity.
[Atz] So, you have two options.
If you were to just go as the crow flies,
it would be fastest.
-To dive right off of this canyon. -Gotcha.
[Atz] And go down the canyo and up the other side.
It's five or six miles.
The biggest disadvantage is the fact that there are more bears
in that canyon, than anywhere else on the entire lower Kenai Peninsula.
I would say so.
-And then, if there was lik, a moose kill... -Yeah.
...down in that canyon,
-Mm-hmm. -and the bear was being protective
and the bear ate you.
-That's a disadvantage. -[both chuckle]
-If you go around the canyon, -Mm-hmm.
-it adds another four miles -Wow.
There will be a trail to go through.
That's where you need to cut off to the hunters' cabin.
It's a bit nerve-wracking wh you send your kid out
where they're trying to get from point A to point B,
in the middle of nowhere, by themselves for the first time.
If something goes wrong, the burden's gonna fall onto me.
But, at the same time you wanna encourage independence
So, nothing else I can teach him, you know?
It's just a matter of him finding it out on his own,
now and hopefully, he'll just have a beautiful experience.
-That's basically where you're heading. -Gotcha.
That muskeg, the "S" muskeg,
-Gotcha. -that extends down.
All the way down.
-Good luck, man. -Thank you.
-Have fun. -I will.
Enjoy it.
-See you, man. Good luck. -See you.
[Etienne] Alaska is a very special place to grow up.
It kind of shapes your mind to a different kind of way
than, I would say, anywhere else in the world, really.
I will just be forever grateful to it.
Okay. Just gonna follow the game trail for a little bit.
Trying not to die.
Living off of the land,
being able to survive in the wilderness
is probably the biggest family tradition that the Kilchers have.
[both laughing]
[laughing excitedly]
But I'm also trying to, you know.
There's stuff I wanna know
I'm also trying to look at your instruments
and see what's going on here, as well.
[Eric] This is left.
Right.
Forward. Back.
This is very easy to control.
Very, very light.
Now, if you like machinery, it is so fun.
[August] The best part about Alaska, hands down,
is the freedom that you get from all the space.
Sitting in that co-pilot's seat
was giving me a lot of good tingles.
[laughing giddily]
[August] Looking out of the helicopter is really magical
[Eric] As you burn fuel, you become lighter.
Typically, you're gonna have this much fuel you take off.
Fully loaded with fuel passengers
correctly balanced to be in this envelope.
Now, when we're flying around,
I do have to keep constantly recomputing our way of balance.
We've got plenty of horsepower so we'll hover next to this waterfall.
You can never get in here with an airplane.
-[August] That's right. -[Eric chuckles]
[August] This is inspiring.
[Eric] Crazy beautiful, yeah.
All right, let's head back.
[August] All right.
My dad raised the boys
to kind of follow in his footsteps as cattlemen.
Growing up, we all went on cattle drives as a family
[Otto] There you go, August. Keep it moving.
[yelling]
[August] And my dad really depended on Eivin to be his right hand man.
[Eivin] Smack them in the ears.
Hit 'em like you mean it.
There you go.
[Otto] It's part of my role as a parent now to teach Eiv
to take his role.
To take the reins, you know?
Hello, cows!
[August] I think my dad was a bit disappointed
when Eivin came to him and said,
"Hey, cattle ranching isn't for me." But, I mean,
I think I've stepped up to take on the role as dad's
right hand man on cattle drives.
[Otto] August, good job!
But I know that cattle ranching isn't really for me either.
Today it's really solidified that,
"Hey, being a pilot isn't a bad idea."
But I know it's a long, difficult process.
But, you know, I think it's... I think it would be worth it.
[helicopter hovering]
I think Dad knows,
but I'm still gonna have to tell him that I wanna be a helicopter medic.
-Eric, thank you so much. -[Eric] Glad you enjoyed it.
[eagle whistling]
[bellowing]
[Etienne] The adventure continues.
[breathing heavily] Looking for bears. Just looking for bears.
[sloshing]
We're officially in the large muskeg.
[Atz] ...Canyon's edge is ki of a unique terrain.
'Cause we're up about anothe 1,000 feet in elevation from the homestead
and surrounded by muskegs.
Muskegs are basically ancient glacial lakes
that started drying up, making a muck.
And then the muck started to grow some moss and grass
and made a little film over the top.
And that's a muskeg.
But certainly tough terrain That path gets very, very muddy and wet.
So, when you go through,
you better have on your waders because you can go deep.
[sloshing]
Making really steady progress. I got my landmarks over there.
There's a Sheep River valley right there.
And things are going pretty good so far,
haven't heard any like big, loud, bangs and crashes in the woods
or anything.
So feeling pretty confident.
Just trying to show you how sloppy it is in in here.
There might be a hole in my boot. I'm not gonna lie.
Very possible. Oh, god!
Yeah, there's a hole in my boot.
So, that's great. Now my foot's really wet.
Getting out of the muskeg now.
My dad told me to stick to the muskeg. It's a safer route.
There's no bears and you can see your landmar a lot easier.
But it is so slow walking through all this muck.
I'm gonna tread across through these woods,
it'd would be a faster rout over to the cabin.
We're officially in the forest.
This does not look like it's going to be fun to go through.
[breath heavily]
[twigs snapping]
What was that?
-I think it was a squirrel. -[birds chirping]
When you're out there and you're alone and you're just thinking to yourself th
like, "This is how my dad used to live everyday."
I've never been on higher alert before.
It just kind of blew my mind like, "This is how my dad would get to school,"
like, "This is how my grandpa was basically... this is everything he's ever known."
[Atz Sr] You know, when you' out there in the wilderness
you gotta know what's going on.
Being raised in a homestead
It was just a part of growing up.
[horse whinnies]
It's a constant, almost subconscious way of being.
I remember as a kid growing up,
you went outside and the fir thing you looked at was the trees.
Is there an owl? Is there a hawk?
Is there something up there waiting to come and get our chickens?
Rifles were always close by
I never made a conscious decision, "I wanna learn thi I wanna learn that."
You're raised that way, whether it's reading animal signs.
Now there it is right there.
Or knowing where to camp.
What kind of wood to build a fire out of.
I'm gonna go take a little nap.
You learn all those things and then you gotta see how you do on your own.
Being alone,
making do with what you hav is kind of like a rite of passage.
Like going to college.
Spend time out in the wilderness,
get a degree.
It's just a part of growing on a homestead.
[grunts]
Well, they're so damn thick.
[coyotes whining]
That is bear poop.
There has been a bear here.
Can't really see it, but...
An active area for sure.
There's a rib cage down there.
Yeah. There is.
Something dead right there. [chuckles]
I kind of looked down in the canyon and I just see a rib cage.
And there's nothing that ca get the adrenaline pumping
more than just seeing a carcass in the middle of the woods.
That does not smell good.
That does not smell super old.
Bears defend their carcasses and if you come anywhere near it,
they will attack you.
And you most likely won't survive, so.
Gonna try to get out of here little bit,
try to get to a more open area where I can see more,
try to get away from that carcass.
This is why my dad told me to stick to muskegs.
This is a little too sketchy for me.
[grunts]
-And now... -[howling]
Oh, God.
Well, it was super solid last night.
[Charlotte] We started this whole hemp growing project
to make CBD oil a couple of months ago.
Now, of course, with this being Alaska,
the summer growing months are much shorter than other places.
In the day, the temperatures are warm,
but we're already seeing that the nights are getting colder.
[Otto] Woah! Talk about a bunch of unhappy looking hemp.
[Charlotte] Yeah.
[Otto] Whoa!
[Charlotte] Help me just pull 'em out.
I left them going to the bitter end,
but they've seen their last frozen night.
[Otto] When I was in the hospital, I was give narcotics to endure the pain
And the side effects that those drugs gave me wa
far worse than the broken ribs.
After taking some CBD oil,
I was able to get myself of of the narcotics right quick
Oh, man. This is so cool. [laughs]
And we decided to grow our own.
[Charlotte] I think next year what we gotta do is start the seeds a lot earlier.
[Otto] Okay.
[Charlotte] So with Jason we were pulling off the biggest leaf
and getting rid off it.
-And just keeping more of the little flower clump. -[Otto] Mm-hmm.
[Otto] Sticky and sticky fingers.
-Yeah, it is sticky. -I bet you that's good news, huh?
[Charlotte] Yeah. The stickiness is what you want.
The stickier the plant is,
it means the better the CBD oil content.
And so even though we've almost killed these things with frost,
we still might get a good harvest out of 'em.
[Otto] Oh, man. Check this one out.
-[Charlotte] Oh, that looks good. -[Otto] Now there is a plant.
[Charlotte] Yeah. Some of 'em survived a little better.
[Otto] Gonna have some medicinal value in that.
Yep.
Charlotte, you ever been to the Great Lakes?
[Charlotte] No.
[Otto] I'd like to go to the Great Lakes, someday.
[Charlotte] How come the Great Lake?
-[Otto] I've got a friend in Michigan. -[Charlotte] Oh-huh.
I got a friend who's got a ambulance for sale.
And I'm thinking,
what if we converted that into a motor home?
Started taking life a little less seriously.
[Charlotte chuckles]
[Otto] So part of my exploration here
is to keep heading towards minimizing.
I know I got a lot of equipment right now
and I do a lot of crazy stuff.
But the goal here is to become more self-sufficient.
If I can make it on one cow
and one horse, why should I have 20?
We need an ambulance on a homestead anyway.
-We're gonna make it so we can live in it. -[Charlotte chuckles]
-Live in the ambulance? -Right.
[Charlotte] I think the herd of cows is our big stumbling,
-block on any kind of food. -Well, maybe,
well, I just deserve 'em, we oughta just do that.
I don't know.
Thinking about cutting back on my cow herd numbers a little bit.
[Charlotte laughs]
Otto's been talking about reducing the number of cows in our herd for quite a whil
We both felt like that woul be a really good idea.
Taking care of all these cows is just a huge amount of work
and just constant.
-You gotta have a dream first, right? -Right.
[Etienne] Oh, God.
I'm kind of turned around.
[breathing heavily] We're fine. We're fine. Good positive vibes.
We gotta have good positive vibes.
[grunts] We're out.
Yes!
I'm succeeding!
I made it back to this clearing and got my bearings towards the muskeg
I'm definitely tired,
but I feel like mother natur and the wilderness has been pretty kind on me.
I'm gonna stop at some point
and possibly make a cup of tea.
...use what nature gives you.
[grunts]
Just made it up to the top of the hill.
If I am correct
there should be a massive landslide.
Wow-zer.
This is the massive landslide.
Feeling amazing, I mean,
it has been glorious. Just me alone in the woods.
There isn't much that's better.
Honestly, there is nowhere else I would rather be.
I feel really truly blessed to be able to live in a place like this,
where I can actually go out and be completely alone.
Kind of hit the reset button on my brain.
Hard to beat that view.
It's just really important to be able to remember what's your main goal,
what you really want out of life?
Can you do more? Can you...
...help more people?
And I think leaving is the only way that I'm gonna truly accomplish that.
So, I'm incredibly, forever grateful
to this day and to this land for giving me
the tools I need to help the people that I want.
This is really a hard decision for any kid to have to make
and really a hard experience for everybody to go through.
But I would say, especially at my situation,
leaving Alaska was a little bit tougher.
Because not only am I leaving everything that I've ever known,
but I'm leaving a homestead that needs kind of constant maintenance.
It needs people to be aroun it to keep it alive
and I do kind of feel a pull
something telling me to stay here.
Something telling me to work it out
and just figure out how to homestead
and just really push for the legacy part of it.
But I think the main thing my brain is telling me is to get the hell out of here.
If you are meant to come back, you will.
Almost kinda, sort of halfway there.
Let's get moving.
Tea beats coffee every time.
[grunting]
Ah, the camera!
Oh, my God!
[grunting]
I really just put this camera here,
walked away, feet are completely soaked.
I've been walking for hours upon hours.
[blows raspberry]
Bugs are horrendous.
As usual.
[grunting] Oh, my God.
[continues grunting] Oh, my ankle.
Starting to hurt a bit.
I successfully navigated through all the muskegs
and all the sketchiness befo
and I'm finally thinking lik
"Okay. Maybe, I just might be able to get to this cabi by myself."
Hopefully, we're almost done.
Oh, so much mud here. My feet are so wet!
[whispering] I think we're doing it.
[out of breath] I think we're... I think we're doing it.
And there is a six wheeler.
Finally!
It has been a brutal expedition.
Definitely a lot harder than I had anticipated.
There was definitely some ups and there was definitely some downs.
It's so nice that's here. Oh, my God!
[out of breath] Guys, I'm not dead.
[laughing]
I'm so happy to see you though.
[Etienne] Yeah. So happy to see you, too.
This is one of the last time that I'm actually gonna be o in the bush
with my father.
And being out in the woods, especially with him is just special to me,
I mean, it's how I spent most of my childhood
and it's how I spent a lot of time growing up, so.
I just can't help but think that I'm just really gonna miss it.
I've never been so stoked to see a cozy cabin.
-[Atz] Let's burn it down. -Yeah!
No matter where I go or what I do,
I will always love and cherish the homestead with every fiber of my being.
[Atz] There might even still have a little snifter moonshine
in there waiting for us.
Whoo! [chuckles]
I think you definitely earned it after that.
-I'm gonna find the key. Oh, there it is. Got it. -[exclaiming]
I think the value of actually leaving your hometown/home state
is immeasurable.
If you're meant to come back, you will.
Sir.
-[Etienne] We made it! -[Atz] Go ahead, go in.
[Etienne] Oh, my God, what?
We did it!
Wait. Why are we cutting it already?
It's gotta grow bigger. What?
[Charlotte] Hey, August.
Well, look at how sad it is.
The frost just killed it.
And so we figured, we gotta get it out of here
before it gets more damaged.
-You guys need some help? -[Otto] Yeah.
[Otto] This stuff must be working, 'cause I can't feel my fingers anymore.
[Charlotte laughing] I think that's the frost.
-[Otto] August. -Yeah?
Tell me about your helicopter flight.
I liked it enough that I think I'm gonna...
[chuckles] ...maybe pursue it.
That's a... that's something to do.
[Otto] Wow.
I'm thinking of dedicating some time and money for a flight school.
[Otto] It might appear that my sons want vastly different vibes
than as a cattlemen.
It'd tickle me if one of them say they want to be a cowboy.
That's not for me to say. That's for them to decide.
And the Alaskan homesteadin life is not for everyone.
If this is August's dream, then we're gonna support him.
You know, I love it that you're trying to think of cool
things you wanna do.
And I wanna support you
but I guess I'm a little, like, scared or something.
-I'm having a mom reaction here. -[August] Fair.
If we wanna compare numbers here.
Helicopters have a much better track record than cows do.
As far as killing people. [chuckles]
-I knew there were gonna be statistics involved. -Really? Really?
[August] Yeah, like aviation is almost a statistical anomaly just in general.
Helicopters I think bump up a little bit,
but cows kill a bunch of people.
Oh...
And you're one to figure that one out in your early first dance.
-I wanna see some of these statistics, son. -[Charlotte laughs]
You're one of 'em!
And that was the end of the hemp crop.
There's that experiment.
[Otto] Maybe Katie wants my cows.
[chuckles]
[Charlotte] I don't think anybody wants our cows.
[Eivin] What would happen if a dog ran out right in front of the road?
What would you do?
-I don't know. -Hit the brakes.
Where's the brakes?
Oops.
Yeah. Lot of brakes, huh?
Findlay and Sparrow and I are going to go the shop.
It's a great time to teach the kids how to drive the side by side.
Okay. Try it.
[tires screech]
Good. So that was a really fast stop.
Try it again this time but try it a little more gentle with the pedals,
so you come to a slow stop.
-[Findlay] I'm still practicing. -Yeah. Yeah.
[Eivin] I hurt my hand with a pressure washer
and that kind of slowed me down.
But ultimately I think that doing stuff with the kids
and staying active
teaches us even though there are difficulties,
we can overcome them
and keep focused on the things that are ahead of us.
And that is the best way to overcome hardship.
Get ready for the brakes. Get ready for the brakes.
It's okay.
[crashes]
[chuckles]
You hit the gas instead of the brake.
[chuckling]
I really do believe in enabling the kids to do bigger things.
Even at a young age, I've learnt so much. My dad was always a great teacher.
I really feel like my dad tried hard to teach me
everything that I needed to know in order to be a successful homesteader.
So, this is a anaerobic adhesive and it sets up with the absence of air.
They're not supposed to be touched on the pulley.
-'Cause this stuff will fan out. -Yeah, I know.
You know? Where did you learn that?
-From you. -Damn!
I did tell you everything then.
And that is something that I hold very valuable
and a tradition and a value that I wanna pass on to my kids.
What do you think, Mr. Wizard?
Findlay, do you wanna drill one of the holes?
-There you go. Good. -[whirring]
The hole's drill easy through plastic, don't they
Definitely say that most grand adventure that we've embarked on together
-is having kids and being parents. -Mm-hmm.
-[Eivin] It's been the hardest. -[Eve] Yeah.
[Eivin] But it's also the most rewarding.
-And the most fun. -Oh, my gosh.
-And funny, too. -And... [chuckles]
-Do you wanna smell the tea? -[thuds]
-Oh. -Oh! [laughs]
It's funny, huh?
[Eivin] It's an amazing thin to watch your kids grow up.
Yeah, so you need to do that reel.
And see yourself in them because
it's like watching yourself from a different perspective you know.
Yeah, come do this.
Here.
Yeah, you do.
Okay, turn it, the other way.
And right now it's so important for us to make sure that our kids
grow up to the point where they are self-sufficient on their own out in the world.
Very good.
-Okay. -And I can give them the skills to do that.
You know, I know that because of growing up in Alaska,
they will always love Alaska and be passionate about Alaska.
Maybe that means they'll live here.
That was my motorcycle when I was a kid.
[Eivin] It's all rusty.
Rust isn't bad.
But ultimately, I just hope that they're happy and, um,
you know, the best way I can do that is by giving them
our skills that we have and we know for success.
You guys just can't look at the light,
it's too bright, it'll hurt or burn your eyes. So look away.
Gonna be legendary.
-Wrist cam. -Wrist cam?
-[Etienne] Wrist cam. -That's hardcore.
Out here on the homestead the world really is your oyster.
And so I don't see anything better than going o with my cousin,
diving into a canyon with nine GoPros dropped between the two of us.
-[thuds] -...parkour.
Parkour!
Parkour basically,
it's just getting from point to point B as creatively as possible.
Parkour.
It's just running around and making absolute fools of ourselves.
That's our parkour.
-Beautiful. -Parkour. Parkour.
One thing that I'm definitel gonna miss in college
is just the opportunity to be able to step outside of our house,
and just go on a full-blown adventure,
and you just can't do that anywhere else.
[indistinct shouting]
-I'm gonna miss you, though. -I'm gonna miss you.
-It's gonna be-- -It's gonna be more.
It's gonna be a bummer. I'm gonna be like, "Oh, I'm gonna go hop over this hay."
Oh!
Where is my parkour pal?
Oh, my gosh, run.
[music playing]
[Eve] Some finishing touches here.
The plan, so we are hosting here at our campfire.
And, I'm working on some coals here.
[Eve] And fish fry,
Eivin and Jane caught tons of salmon.
And, I mean, all these,
other side dishes, baby carrots from the garden,
other people are bringing food.
-Hello, hi. -Hi, welcome, hey, you guys.
[speaking indistinctly]
Yeah, bring it on over.
It's been a hard year for everyone,
and fall is starting, we're having some cooler day
Start with this stuff.
I feel like we just all nee to get together, and enjoy this beautiful weather,
as we move into the cooler time of year.
August, are you up here? Hi, Tela.
-Oh, my God, you got your high stepping jeans on. -Yeah, look at you.
This year taught me that part of getting older is
realizing more and more, it's like, holy crap.
How many of the jobs that I've started, am I actually gonna finish yet?
And this realization, that I, I'm sure everybody gets to at some point.
You know, you can go and borrow money, you can go out and earn more money
but time...
-You can't go put more time in the bank. -You can't.
Living every day, right now, is the most important thing.
Thank you so much.
-Hello, welcome, good job. -Hello, neighbor.
-Ooh, I know what that is. -Hello.
-Hi, I'm James. -Nice to meet you James.
-Alysse. -Alysse, good to meet ya.
-It's beautiful honeycomb. -Thank you.
[James] It's the honeycomb from my new hive site.
Moving our hives to a very different location was a huge risk.
Thank you.
There she is, the sample.
But fortunately in the end..
Holy cow!
The honey that we produced was incredible.
That is amazing.
How many plants of peonies do you have?
I'd say, like, really good production plants, I've got 200.
We've had a lot of support and people going out of their way
to take care of us and I'm really grateful for it.
-It's good to see you. -Yeah.
Yeah.
[Eivin] I meet a lot of peop who say that they moved to Alaska recently and I think
they're chasing their dream.
You know, it's, um, it can be hard to find.
[Eve] It's a hard life.
People realize how importan your local community is.
Alysse, if you want something to do,
you can fil that with water, and I'll give you another pitcher to fill with water.
I think had we known all the challenges we were gonna face
in the first four years being here.
[woman] Off grid, off road.
May have swayed our decision, a little bit, especially with
doing this with a two-year-old at the time.
[Owen] Are we building our house together?
-But somehow... we're doing it. -We're doing it.
[Owen] We started out with raw land, and we've com a long way in four years.
Standing here, looking today at what we've accomplished in those four years...
it's amazing.
♪ Bring it in, right here Leave me hanging ♪
♪ And give me some down low ♪
Last year was, kind of, a condensed version of, like,
the last ten years really for the Kilcher family.
There is stuff always been going on, it just happens to be in this last year
it all happened at once, I mean, we had Otto's experience, with his acciden
And then you have my dad with his accidents and operations.
Rotator cuff's here on the bottom.
Then you have a global pandemic.
You got kids leaving, going to college.
You got kids coming back and stepping up.
I mean, it's just all been really, really intense and, uh...
That can be a lot for anybod to take on.
Look at my salad. It has flowers, blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes...
-A broccoli slaw that I made. -Okay.
And, a homemade raspberry vinegrette with fresh raspberries.
Wow.
[August] You know, we've been through a lot,
especially this year, considering your grandpa, my dad...
-Being laid out, really, and us trying to-- -[Etienne] Step up.
Do our best to step up.
[Etienne] We've been trained we've been groomed,
we gotta step up when others go down.
Exactly.
I gotta give the camera a hug.
-Oh, man. -Oh...
-Nice seeing you. -[laughs]
-How're you doing today, senior? -I'm doing good.
It feels good though.
We're managing.
[Atz] For me, this last yea has been a year of aging.
But also family carrying on traditions.
[clinking]
I just want to thank you all for coming to this harvest feast,
and it's so good to see all your wonderful faces here
and it's been awesome getting to know some of you better,
and we should eat before the flies eat everything. [laughs]
What I want to spend the res of my life doing...
is being as close to nature as possible,
sharing it with friends and family.
-Do you have a hovercraft? -Yeah.
Did you see it?
To me that's what this Alaska show's been about.
I don't know if anyone knew, but I caught all the fish myself.
-And... -I'm calling 911.
♪ Mountain song ♪
♪ Sings me home ♪
♪ For too long ♪
♪ I've been alone ♪
I think Findlay's going for Grandpa Otto's beef.
-Been a long time since we've had all the family together. -Okay.
To get your family and your neighbors together
just gives me absolute joy.
That's the community that my dad...
that was one who could instill sense of community.
Nice to meet you both.
After he died, the homestead lost its rudde for a lot of years.
But I feel like it's coming back, again.
I feel just this excitement
that there's some kind of community spirit creepin back in the homestead.
It has, I think it was intended to be.
-[man] It was delicious. -[woman] Thank you.
♪ Where I belong ♪
♪ I belong ♪
♪ With love abounds ♪
♪ The child of the forest ♪
♪ That time It came back around ♪
[indistinct chatter]