Alaska Uncovered Podcast
Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. Jennie brings you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and Life in Alaska. Guests include Alaska travel experts and Alaska business owners, guides and interesting Alaskans. Jennie is a born and raised Seattleite, a former Alaskan and spends several weeks in Alaska each year. She’s an experienced guide and the Founder of the Alaska and Washington travel website, Top Left Adventures. Jennie is joined by occasional co-host, Jay Flaming, her husband for more than 20 years. Jennie and Jay met working in tourism in Skagway, Alaska and also lived in Juneau and Fairbanks together. Jay lived in Fairbanks for 8 years before meeting Jennie in Skagway and grew up in Yellowstone National Park.
Alaska Uncovered Podcast
Life off grid above the Arctic Circle with Mollie Busby from Arctic Hive
Mollie Busby from the Arctic Hive Retreat Center joins Jennie to share about what it’s like to live off grid 63 miles north of the Arctic Circle between Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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Music credits: Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.
Jenny, welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me. Your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska, travel and life in Alaska. My guest today is Mollie Busby. Mollie is a driven entrepreneur, a writer, a dog musher, a backcountry skier with the spirit of a summer camp counselor and a love of wild places. Mollie and her husband Sean own and operate their wilderness retreat center, 63 miles north of the Arctic Circle, called Arctic hive. Mollie and Sean crafted the entire facility with their own hands, and they live there in the Brooks Range year round to host small groups of all kinds and mush with their 14 sled dogs. Mollie, welcome to Alaska, uncovered. Thank you for being here.
Mollie:Yay. Thanks, Jenny. I'm really happy to be here. Thanks for having me on.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. So to start off, tell me how you got to Alaska.
Mollie:I love this question, so it's like a dual answer. I feel like because my story and Sean's story are slightly different. In Shawn's version, everything was always a stepping stone to Alaska, which I feel like, if you live in Alaska and your story is a little bit like ours, like that probably will resonate with you, because I feel like there's so many people that are like, someday I'm moving to Alaska, and that was definitely always shun and it's that I wasn't up for it. I actually what really was unexpected for me when we started to visit Alaska, which we first came to Alaska together in 2012 we with our friends, we converted a motor, long story, converted a motorhome to run on waste vegetable oil and solar power, and drove it from the lower 48 to Alaska and back. And that was so rad that we may have to do another episode. There were so many stories, but we got like, I feel like we just got a glimpse of Alaska on that trip, and that was kind of like, what the palette so we we lived in. I'm from Wisconsin originally. I spent most of my summers in in the Northwoods, both northern Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, the up of Michigan, just leading backpacking trips, canoeing trips for young kids. I worked at a YMCA camp. I worked at Girl Scout camp, and I went to Girl Scout camp as a kid. So for me, like the outdoors and the North has always been a foundational piece of like, it's my identity. It's like, who I am. You know, I moved out west after we first met, and we knew we wanted to find a place where we both really felt connected. So we actually lived in northwest Montana for eight years, in Whitefish. And so that's where we got, you know, that's where we first laid down some of the roots and the foundation. We traveled a lot around the world. That's when we first got hooked on we went to Kyrgyzstan and saw what it was like for people living in yurts. And we got exposed to like life in the round. And then we took a really monumental backcountry skiing snowboard trip to the Yukon Territory in Canada and to Whitehorse, into this retreat facility where we rented this little off dry cabin. And I just like, my one visual of this trip is, first of all, the Northern Lights, which was amazing, but also, like, they would bring a sled with our jug of water every day. And like, it was just so simple, like, well, you just you didn't need more. And I remember Sean looked at me. I feel he was so many times, and he was like, we could do this. We need to do this. And that was really the instigator for us to go off the grid. And so the, you know, we spent some time in Montana just really learning how to build both, you know, kit situations, like a yurt, you know, where everything comes for you with a video. But then we also built a tiny house, and we got some, you know, experience building cabins and things like that. And so all that preparation really prepared us for Alaska. And then I don't know what it finally did it. I mean, I think Sean was finally like, we're doing it. And so there, for both of us, there was this kind of, like, this slow migration, especially with me, of because we were just, we had a lot going on in the lower 48 and so we started out in the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, just outside Homer and Fritz Creek, and we had this off grid cabin just three miles off the road system. And, you know, being out in the bush like that, we were just used to it, you know. So it was very natural for us. But this is funny. Anybody who lives in the North will also chuckle at this, because it was not cold enough for us down there, like just not enough snow. It wasn't like that was really part of it, because we wanted even Montana was not it was too hot in the summertime. And you know, Sean is pretty vocal that he lives not only with type one diabetes, but he also lives of lupus. And so for him, you know, living in Montana, he really had to be inside a lot of the summer because he's allergic to the sun, and so it was really hard on him. And so the move also was for health. And luckily, this is, I guess, why we're meant to be together. I want nothing to do with warm places, so let's go further north. So people are like, how did you find, you know, this place in the Arctic? And I always just say, Sean found it like, let's be honest. He had always wanted to go to the Brooks Range. He loves mountain ranges, remote mountain ranges. And he's, you know, backcountry, snowboarded all seven continents and, like, weird offshoot places that you wouldn't think of. And so he went up to the Brooks Range and did some scouting, and then said, You need to come up here. I want you to look at this like we're gonna look at this property. And I remember we showed up in Wiseman, and, you know, there was no realtor situation. We had a paper map that had been mailed to us, and we had some gear to go scout the property. And we skied out. We found the property corners. I remember standing there and he was like, it's perfect. I was not into it, you know, I I'm always the person that's like, whatever you think is right Sean, because you really his instincts are pretty spot on. And so I was like, Well, if you think it's perfect, then I trust you, you know. And so then it was just, you know, a little bit of a slow process of starting to build and deciding what we wanted to do. But I think we were always in agreement that we wanted to be somewhere cold. We were just getting into dog mushing, you know. So we only, I think, we had three dogs when we bought our property in 2019 and so we were just getting into that, that culture of dog mushing. And so I think our dreams have really just developed over the years. And we started the build process, and we knew we wanted to bring people out to this magical place. And we've always been, you know, host Sean has been a backcountry, you know, like a mountain guide in the backcountry, both, you know, in the US and internationally. And I, you know, just guiding groups of women and young women and teaching yoga for a while. I also like to create a lot of magic in small groups. And so we wanted, we really needed some like a shared purpose. And when we lived in Montana, we had a little bit of a shared purpose, but I think we both needed more. And so coming to the Arctic was really our chance to do to kind of make this magic together. And we've really kind of fallen into our roles within that, which has been just a really cool, rewarding part of everything. So that's kind of a long slash, short ish story of how we got there, but we just kept moving further north, and this is pretty much as far as you can go if you want to be able to drive. So yes, can't go further than we are right now.
Jennie Flaming:Yes, yes, that's awesome. Love it. Okay, so of course, like, one of the reasons why we're doing this Molly is to give folks a chance to kind of understand a little bit about what it's like to live in the Arctic and to live off grid, meaning not connected to like um human created infrastructure like running water and um being on the power grid and stuff like that. So, um, yeah, so I have some questions to ask you that hopefully will kind of get at some of those things that that people are curious about, including me. So first of all, what is your favorite thing about living at Arctic hive? Oh,
Mollie:that's a really great question. I I think my favorite part about it because, you know, like I said, we've been living off grid, you know, in dry houses structures, since 2014 so that part of life has just become part of who we are. But I think my favorite part of living, where we do so remote, is I can do whatever I want, you know, obviously not destructive, wise, but like day to day, like, what? And there's a lot that I have to do. You know, we have certain chores and things preparing for this season or that season, or caring for the dogs, but I think just the self sufficiency and autonomy that we have built there, which it's probably a good thing that this is my favorite part, because I think anybody wanting to live this way, like if you're not self sufficient, you die basically because you can't rely on anybody else. And so I think now I'm reflecting as I'm saying this, I think it's probably a really good favorite part, but it is. I just love creating my own schedule, making all these decisions. Are not just pointless decisions, but, like, life affirming, but also life sustaining decisions for my life and for Sean's life. And I think we both just really love that independence. And then also, I think, you know, I think I'll just add to this, because I we get this question a lot, like, Oh, it's just the two of you up there. Like, how is that, you know, really cryptic question. But I think it's really easy when you're when, you know, even when we travel, it's really easy for me to be like, Oh, I'm gonna go hang out with my friends, or, oh, you know, I'm gonna go do this. Or I'm just gonna, like, shut myself away and we're not going to talk about something. But I think what's really been lovely about the two of us doing this, and it being the two of us a lot, is like we really have to be face to face with everything, like as it is right now. Yeah, and I think the personal growth and development we've individually had, as well as, you know, working on our marriage and being a partnership. I think it's been, I mean, just transformative for us. And I know not everybody wants to move seven hours from the nearest city to do this, but it's definitely, I mean, nature, like the what we're living in, it'll it makes or breaks you, and I think for us, it wasn't, you know, it was never going to break us, but we wanted it to just make us and shape us into the the couple that we always wanted to be. So I think it's been really special for us as, yeah, as a partnership. So
Jennie Flaming:that's super cool, yeah, and I agree it's probably really convenient that your favorite thing is also a necessary. Totally, that's good. That's, I'm sure, very helpful. So what's your least favorite thing about it?
Mollie:Oh, it's so funny. I actually pinpointed exactly what my answer is, because I do people ask me that, and I this is so it's so superficial that it actually doesn't matter. But because, you know, I we want to have a presence. It's not our intention. It never was to, like, move to the bush and never talk to anybody again. You know, like Sean and I are both very social people. We like to, you know, I write about my life on social media all the time. And so we're we've always been that way. And so the one thing is having to ration my battery life on my laptop. And you know what? This is a really manageable thing, because over the years, you know, when we first started, we didn't even barely have, like, solar power. I mean, we had, like, a little dinky generator, and that was it. And so I barely would use my laptop when I would go up there. But now things, that's the thing about it. Like, I think back, and I'm like, Wow, I can't believe we live in that tent and built that structure, and, you know, did this and that. Now I'm like, man, it still feels like the lap of luxury because we have our own house now, you know? And I look around and I'm like, Oh my gosh, feels so fancy. Yeah, I hope I don't lose that. So anyway, it's I can definitely charge my computer whenever I want now, which is funny, but you know, when you're on the grid, you can have your computer plugged in all day, and you don't have to worry about running out of fire. And so I think that that, yeah, it definitely just makes you it makes you think twice.
Jennie Flaming:Okay, well, what is something that you wish people knew about living in the Arctic? Or maybe it's that thing that people always assume or say to you that is just not accurate. I'm curious what those what those things are that you wish people knew?
Mollie:Well, I think the first thing you know so life in Alaska, especially living off the grid. I mean, now everybody's an expert on it, because it's all over reality TV, and it has been for so long, right? The Alaska life, and there's all these TV shows, which is both amazing because there's some incredible human beings. And, yeah, I think that if people, I think it's so hard to imagine yourself, if you live in a city or whatnot, and that's the way you love to live, that's great. It seems so like foreign to live the way that we do. But I think the greatest part seeing people come visit us and be on retreat, or, you know, come to the Arctic. Everybody can do it. You you, whoever you are, you can do it. It's it's just a choice. And what it does is, like, I totally respect that not everybody wants to live the way that we do. 24/7, and I think it just opens your eyes to not only see this, this place that you know, especially in politics today, a lot of people just throw around a lot about the Arctic and like, Oh, we don't, you know, whatever it's. This big area, and we'll save part of it, but not other parts of it until you have seen it and felt it. It's just, it's just abstract. And so yeah, if it, if it's curious to you, and you're like, Oh, I could never do that. You definitely could. And I think coming out and seeing the way that we live, you meet some of the most interesting, intelligent people in the world out in the bush, and to see how they live. It makes it makes when you return home, just like that, much more inspiring, like I remember, I can count on one hand, like the number of visits that we've made to like new friends throughout the years, and like this, one friend who grew up in Ireland, we Sean and I went and visited she and her husband in Canada, and I remember seeing her garden and being like, oh my gosh, she knows so much about preserving. And it just kind of blew my mind. I saw this on the internet, but to, like, be with a human being in her garden and then, like, helping her preserve vegetables, I was like, Whoa, this is cool. And it's taken us, you know, we've dabbled in gardening, and now we're definitely, like, getting more into it because of where we are and where we live and what we can do. But it just it changes your perspective, and it's such an eye opening experience. And so I think that social reality TV, I think, can make things out to be silly and funny and and also, like, ultra serious in some ways. Yeah, really the creative solutions that you have to come up with when you live this far from town, it just, it's, it's not scary. That's the one thing I people ask a lot, especially in the dark, you know, like going out at night, like, are you scared? I'm like, No, I am. I am not scared, yeah, ever, you know, yeah. And I think that that's, um, that's a really powerful thing. So I don't know if that's kind of a roundabout answer, but, like, it's just, it's just a different way of living. And, yeah, you know, even if you don't want to use an outhouse for the rest of your life. It's cool to, like, experience that and be like, wow, like, I can do it. And it proves that you can do other things in your life that might be hard or weird. So that's why I think everybody biased. Everybody should come visit places like where we are, because, yeah, they change you, they leave a mark on you, and you are literally not the same when you go home. That's why we are where we are, because we have those experiences
Jennie Flaming:too. Yep, yep. When you were talking about reality TV, it was making me think that whenever Jay and I watch things that are about like remote Alaska, which we don't actually do that often. You would think we would, since we lived there for so long, but sometimes it's a little cringy. Anyway, I always think to myself when they're like, So and so is like, stranded out here, and if you can't fix the snow machines, can be stuck forever. I always think this is the kind of person I am. I'm like, What about the cameraman?
Mollie:Totally, it's like, reality. We call it reality TV. And we've been so ingrained to think, oh, it's, it's reality. It is, yeah. So like, you're getting, it's like, the, you know, the highlight reel, you're getting a highlight reel. And like, yes, most of all, like, we're normal, really smart. Like, first of all, you have to be so smart to live and survive in areas like this. That's the other thing. I think some people imagine, like, when they meet us, or other people living this way, they're like, whatever, people living out in the woods and don't know this from that, but, like, that's not the case. You have to be really smart. If you don't know something, you need someone to teach it to you, or you need to google it, or whatever. And yeah, and yeah, so and I also, I would add this too, because, you know, I think some people think, especially because of reality TV, when you go off the grid, the idea is always to get out of society, stop paying taxes, don't participate in your you know, local elections, or whatever, you know, like people assume the idea is to get away. It's like that, you know, into the wild. That whole story plot line, yeah, that is not, I mean, to some degree, yes, but also, like, no, like, we're participating members of society who have a vested interest in making these places as amazing as they can possibly be for the future generations. And so I think that's, you know, maybe something people can remember is that, like, we are all really passionate, just passionate people. And I think for me, that's been one of the coolest parts of, you know, not even just, I mean, we live in a village of like 12 people, so it's not like I have a ton of people around me all the time, but just the network of, you know, dog mushers and off grid folks, and even people you know, in the yoga community in Alaska. Just, man, it's just, we have found our people here, and that's that's so important. And even, you know, if we have friends in the lower 48 of course we do. They, they have that same mindset. And so in Alaska, it just seems to be there's a high concentration of these people. Yeah, that Yeah. Really care about the Earth, so that's what I love the most. Okay, so sticking with
Jennie Flaming:this, like living off grid thing, and then maybe we'll come back to some of the other chores in a few minutes. So a lot of thing, one of the things that people ask me about frequently about Alaska in general, not just the Arctic, is around something along the lines of, is it really that cold? Is it really that dark? Is it really that light? Are the bugs really that bad? And I know that where you live above the Arctic Circle, all of those things are significantly more intense than anywhere in Alaska that I have lived. So I was wondering if you could talk about that a little bit. I have been into the Arctic, and I'm defining that as above the Arctic Circle four times in my life, for fairly, you know, in a couple of cases, for like, an hour, and then in a couple other cases for a few days. People who are listening, who've listened to the podcast for a while, probably already know this, but Jay worked as an archeologist in Gates the Arctic National Park for three seasons. So one year I went and visited him, and that, as you know, is also above the Arctic Circle. So, yeah, I just think sharing a little bit about like, maybe the light first, like, and just, I find it even in Fairbanks to be a little disorienting, right? Like, just the totally change happening really fast. Or, like, you're used to the sun coming. You know, even in Seattle, we have pretty big changes in daylight from summer to winter. But, you know, basically the sun still comes up in the east and sets in the west, right, sort of so I was wondering if you could share a little bit about, like, what that looks like from your perspective, to deal with these big light changes and, like, what, what that kind of brings up for you? If that question, yeah,
Mollie:well, I think, and I'll start by just saying it's so funny, because somebody just said that tonight, today, is it really that cold? And so, like, short answer to all those questions is yes, but I'll focus all of this by saying it's all relative. Because, yeah, I would say the same thing, like my my brother lives in Florida and and I love this because we are so far from one another. We are literally, like, almost the farthest you could be in the United States. And so, so when I think about the feeling I might feel when I go to Florida, I have the same feeling some of your listeners might feel as if they went to the Arctic in the middle of January. Yeah. So it is all relative, but yeah, you know, I It's not like I've been living in the Arctic my entire life. So I do, you know, I know, I remember what it was like when we lived in Montana and I grew up. Remember, I grew up in Wisconsin. So for me, like the cold is just always been a part of my life, but the light, um, you know, my, my first winter there, Sean had a little bit more time in Alaska before, you know, we were both officially moving there. He moved there a little sooner than I did. And our first winter, we were in one of our cabins, and I remember I started like I would just crawl up into bed, like I'm just gonna crawl I'm just gonna read a book. And I and he said, Mollie, I just want you to know, like, it might be really hard for you, because we don't, in Wiseman, we don't, pretty much, we don't see the sun from about November 30 to January 9, like it does not come over the horizon, right? And so he's like, I just want to let you know, like you're gonna feel like you want to hibernate, you're gonna want to sleep longer, you're gonna want to, you know, it's just gonna be different. So, and Sean is so great this way. This is, again, why it's important for both of us to be there together. Because he's the one that always says we have to get outside. We have to get outside. It doesn't matter if it's negative 40, it doesn't matter if it's 20 above like we have to get outside. And that's that's that. And so that first winter, you know, I definitely, I mean, we take 5000 whatever, milligrams of vitamin D a day, so we really up our intake. That's a huge thing. But also, like that, getting outside during, I'll say, air quotes here, it's like Twilight. It's we are not. It's not all dark all the time where we are there's no sun, so you're not ever feeling the rays of the sun, but it is, I will say. And this is why we do a retreat right around the winter solstice every year, because it is truly one of the most magical things you could ever witness. It is like the sky is cotton candy every day for about four hours. So, you know, like, usually between 11 and three, that's when we're outside enjoying the quote, unquote daylight, which is not daylight, yeah, yes, whatever. It's funny. The weather apps always show, like, sunny, like, not funny and clear,
Jennie Flaming:not exactly Sunny, yeah, quite what it is, yeah, no,
Mollie:no. But if there's a little bit of light, and then, you know, on the darkest day, it's just the darkest, like, December 21 it just, it's mind blowing. It comes so fast, and then all of a sudden the day after, it's like, lights coming back, you know, so like, right now, we're losing like, 12 minutes of daylight every day, so like, maybe six minutes on the front and six minutes on the back and so, yeah, it really is that dark, but we live in headlamps, you know, in the winter, so you just always have your headlamp. We have good quality headlamps so that you can see when you're out. The dogs love to go mushing in the dark. I don't we just kind of discovered this, especially the last few years of as we've really taken just take into mushing as a family. The dogs love it. And the great thing about it being dark out is that the longer it's dark out, the more northern lights you can possibly see. Yeah, and, you know, sometimes I feel like, I don't think we take it for granted, but like, for if it's clear after clear after clear night. I mean, we're directly under the Aurora oval. So when people talk about, like the Aurora forecast or whatnot, I mean, basically, if it's clear, the Aurora is always out. It goes straight up over us. Yeah, so it doesn't need to blow one way or the other. And I think that energy, that charge I, you know, the forces of nature, are really powerful, and so, yeah, I we want to be there during this time. So for us, it doesn't seem it's not bad, you know, it's really not that bad. Um, but on the flip side, I mean, a lot of a lot of people suffer with seasonal affective disorder and things like this. And I've even found I stopped taking my vitamin D in, like, February a couple years ago, and it I could tell, and Shawn was like, do you stop taking that? And I was like, I didn't think I needed it. So, you know, we've kind of fine tuned these things, and we both kind of stay on each other, like, mood wise and exercise, and honestly, like, if we didn't have dogs, I don't, I don't know how it would be. You know, there's for us. You have to go feed them, you have to go let them run. You have to go play with them. And like, we both are just obviously animal people, and we just love them. So I think that too, having them as a responsibility makes it all worth it. So that's really the light. Yeah, it's wild. It is wild, but it's not being in darkness all day. That's I'm, you know, I can't say one way or the other. Would I want that or not in for my life? But I love how our life is and how, you know, in the summertime, I mean, it's just so much sun, we're up all like, we like, oh shoot, it's 11. We should probably eat dinner, you know, it's just we get so much done. So you just kind of adjust to that. And then, yeah, in the middle season, like, when we're recording this, it's like, normal, you know, just like anywhere else. So, that's really the light. Let's see the other ones, the bugs. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming:real bad.
Mollie:I know, you know. And I just, I'm validating, like, what everybody says, they are really that bad. And I think, honestly, this is where, like, you know, I mentioned we're not summer people. We wear long sleeves, long pants every day in the summer until the bugs are gone. And so we wear head nuts. And we've kind of, you know, made it optimal where, like, what outfits you wear, so you can try to stay cool. But, you know, summertime is really not our favorite time of year, but it's the time when we do maintenance. And, you know, sometimes we travel a little bit, maybe go down to the Kenai that's the great thing is, like, Alaska is so vast and so different everywhere you go, that if you want to, like, quote, unquote, get out of town, there's amazing places to go. Yeah, totally. So yeah, bugs are next level. And then I mean, negative 40 is very cold. Not everything is as enjoyable when it's negative 40, yeah, and you just kind of do things a little a little bit different. And what I think people also forget is that we have warm a warm house, like when we go inside, it's warm, just like everybody else's houses, and we might have to generate that warmth with a wood stove. And, you know, but they I also, I just heard this. I think this is really common. But somebody said, you know, firewood warms you three times, warms you when you when you go to acquire it, and then when you're chopping it, that's the second time. And then when it fireplace that third time. And so there's so many and like shoveling snow too, that's where you stay really warm, because you generate a lot of heat. So there's it's and also people are like, what if you have to pee? And also, I will just say, when you're in a really warm house, like, say, 70 degrees, right? 70- 72 maybe 68 that's usually, like, the temp of our house if you have to pee. Yes, we do go outside, but you're warm when you go outside, and then you do your thing, and then you get a little, you know, it's Oh, cold out, but then you just run back inside, and then you warm again. So it's not that you're like, getting icicles on your face when you're going out to pee or whatever, but I will say, you know, there you gotta have the right gear. And so I think we've definitely optimized our gear. And we we tell our guests like, we have our packing list, like, right on our website where we're like, this is what we use. Here's an alternative, if you don't want to, you know, spend this or spend that. But like, these are literally the things that keep us warm when it's, you know, 20 degrees above to negative 40 and yes, yeah. So as long as you have the right gear and you have a warm house or cabin to go to, like, it's so enjoyable. It really is,
Jennie Flaming:yeah, that's, it's funny that you talked about inside being warm, because, for like, folks that I talk to you that are planning a winter trip to, you know, a lot of times it's Fairbanks, um, and, like, you know, make sure that you have, you know, like a T shirt in there somewhere, or, like a sleeveless shirt or, and they're like, No, you're like, well, some indoor spaces are actually really hot, yes, you know. So like, you don't want to be only having enormous wool sweaters. Like you want those, but like, you need something that is not, you know, yeah,
Mollie:I mean, like, it's hard to wear. It's hard to wear my mukluks. Like, when I'm in town and I have to walk around a store, or, like, grocery shop or whatever, I'm hot, like, I am, yeah, I am, like, sweating inside. So it's like, and actually regulating your temperature, not sweating, or letting the sweat dry and getting really cold and clammy. I mean, that is also make or break, yeah? So like, being able to go between is it? It's a skill, and I think that you're totally right. Yes, we're not freezing. We're not in, you know, we're not in a snow cave. We we have houses and they they're worn. So, yeah, cool.
Jennie Flaming:Okay. Well, we are going to take a short break, and when we come back, we're gonna hear a little more about life in the Arctic and life at Arctic hive.
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Jennie Flaming:And we are back with Mollie Busby from Arctic hive, and we're talking today about life above the Arctic Circle, and Mollie has been sharing with us a whole bunch about that experience. And just to keep going with that, a little bit more, Mollie, could you tell us a little bit about how you manage water and things that you might have water for in a house in a city, like a toilet that flushes? You know? How you manage things like showering and. Outhouses and dishes and yeah, because obviously humans who don't have running water and indoor plumbing still need water for many things. So how do you how do you and Sean do that at Arctic hive?
Mollie:Yes. So essentially, like to summarize it, before I get into the nitty gritty, is everything takes more effort, and we are consciously aware of that. And so, you know, some of this stuff has come really naturally to us. Some of this other stuff, I mean, for me, I have never loved doing dishes, but I will say, you know, living and running a facility where people come and visit and stay and like, I'm the one responsible for the dishes. I have come to love the process. And I'm not even, you know, making that up. I'm not just saying that I really, truly have changed my outlook on a lot of this stuff and about just the love and care that goes into things like washing dishes and for us, like, I think we both needed that, because we can both, you know, when we travel and we're visiting family or whatever, you know, you just kind of turn your brain off and you're like, Yeah, let's order food and let's, you know, watch this movie or this and that. And that's great. But I love, and we both love, just the effort required to really make all this happen so, and that's, I think, what a lot of people say coming to visit there. A woman said, a couple weeks ago, we had a group there, and she was like, I don't know if I imagined how much work this would be for you, because you know, when you watch us, you're like, Oh my gosh. But for us, like this is also how we live. So when people visit us that it's actually the first thing I love. One of the first groups we had a woman arrived and she goes, All right, when can we haul water? And I was in my head, I was like, why would anybody want to haul water with us, but getting acquainted with all of these systems, actually, I think a lot of people are super curious, and they want to, like participate. So that's something, you know, we don't force people to haul their own water, but a lot of people want to at least see and participate in parts of it. So we have a couple. So we live, like you said, above the Arctic Circle, 63 miles north of the Arctic Circle. And all this area that we're in, for the most part, is covered in permafrost. So there, this essentially means there's ice underneath us. And things that you might imagine, like digging a well is not so straightforward, and it's not always possible. There's, you know, we're not to the point yet where, you know, we've figured out a well, but the systems that we do have are amazing. And I feel like I mentioned before, I still feel like we're a little bit in the lap of luxury at this point because of how it used to be and we and what we used to do so we were art archive, is we have a creek that runs right, right near us, I would say, probably, like 600 feet from where we are downhill. There's this access to a creek. And so we in the beginning, you know, you just like everybody in Alaska, if you've ever seen those blue jugs, right? Anybody who's lived in a dry cabin knows the blue jug life. You just fill the blue jug with water, and you take that and you use that to do all the things that you need to do, drink, do dishes, whatever. And so we would haul jugs of water up this hill. Not super enjoyable jug of water, depending on whether it's so heavy. And, you know, staying in shape, and I'm all about functional fitness. My entire life is functional fitness. So anything that keeps me from having to, like, work out or go to the gym, I'm all about. So now we actually, in the summertime, there's two different things. So in the summertime, we get our water from this creek and we pump the we have a pump that, you know, we dip a hose into the creek, and there's about 600 feet of hose that go up the hill. And so the pump will pump the water from the creek into two massive holding tanks. And so these holding tanks then provide water, because we have to provide water for the dogs. That's something I think a lot of people forget. It's not just for human beings, but we also provide water for everything we do on site. So, you know, drinking water dishes, and we also have a summertime shower house, and so we pump the water up, and then when we bring the water inside, when it's for human consumption, we just use Berkey filters. So they're pretty common, you know, in the backcountry, they they're super high quality carbon filters, where you pour water in the top, and then it's not immediate. That's the thing. You can't just pump water from the creek, which, you know, could have anything in it. And you know, there are some people that don't filter their water, you know, when they go out to these wild places, that's really not us. You know, are the water is pretty. Be clean, but it could have anything in it, yes, and but we've, you know, since using the berkeys is just an amazing solution. So you put the water in, and then it can take, like, an hour to three hours, sometimes, depending on how much water you're filtering, it takes that long to filter. And so that's the first thing we tell guests, like, you have to monitor how much water, because every guest has a Berkey in their cabin, and they maintain how much is in there. And when they're running low, then they let us know. But we always say, like, if you're running low, you need to tell us, because if everybody goes low in their cabins and then comes into the, you know, into the dining room and says, I need to fill my water bottle and I've already done dishes or whatnot, then, you know, then we gotta wait. So we try to manage that, and it makes everybody, I think, really conscious of like, oh, okay, I've used all my water, and now I need to get more. And so, you know, we pump it from the creek in the summer and then in the wintertime. So in the wintertime, access for us is so easy in the summertime, yeah, not take any vehicles up to Arctic hive like we have. We can get pretty close, within, I would say, like, a half mile or so. We are allowed to use a wheeler to access our property because of being residents there. But we don't use the wheeler near the cabins and our house and stuff. Just because, if you can imagine the Arctic tundra, it's like a fragile it's like a fragile bed of moss, right? And we turning wheels and mechanical things in an environment like that. I mean, it just churns it up. And then once you churned up the tundra, the moss, it doesn't grow back like grass does. It can take, you know, 60 years for some of these species to grow back. And so we just, we wanted to have a light footprint, because we're already having footprints. But if we can not take those things out in the summertime, we don't. So everything that comes in from about, if we're lucky, like maybe may 10, May 15, till, again, if we're lucky, October 15 to November 1, ish, maybe again, it all depends on the environment. But like everything that comes in, when that timeframe is hand carried at least a half a mile, all uphill, and so we do a lot of prep beforehand. So in the summertime, it feels really fancy pumping the water the distance that we do, because we haul jug for so long. But then in the winter, we have snow machine access. And so we keep a trail in, you know, throughout the property all winter long. And so we have those same blue jugs that we use in the summer. We put them all in this sled behind our snow machine. We drive ourselves into town, quote, unquote town, the village of Wiseman. And we have a hole that we maintain with a friend out on the river. So the kayak cook river runs Wiseman, and so we maintain this hole. What that means is, you know, initially, you're, you know, like anybody would drill a hole for ice fishing or whatever, but then we cover that hole with layers of insulation. So like a foam board, a piece of plywood, a blanket, and then we insulate it with snow. So then, every time, you know, every couple days, we have to go down there, and we have to, like, open everything up and use, like, a one of those ice if you call them ice choppers. They're just, like, big Pokey, yeah, probably a technical name for it, but you just poke the ice out, and then you got to scoop out all the chunks of ice, and then you either dunk your jugs or, I mean, we've played around with different devices, but the thing about when it is so cold is, like, if there's like, plastic pumps that you can buy, and the thing is, when it's that cold, everything's gonna shatter.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, yeah, everything breaks.
Mollie:And so it's just more work to have to deal with a pump of some kind, yeah. No issue like you. Well, for a while our hole is getting really deep, because if you can imagine the holes really shallow when you first start, like, you know, yeah, right there. The holes right there. But then the more ice that accumulates on top, the more snow we get the hole. It's, it's further and further to reach to the water, yep. And so this last winter is so fun. I mean, we had a lot of fun with guests where you have to, like, one person holds your feet and you, like, lean down into the hole and dunk your jug, and you got to wait until it's filled, and you got to make sure your fingers don't get cold, because, yeah, you're dealing with water. I mean, there's all these things, and we had it down to a science. So you just, you know, it's like an hour long adventure from start to finish. But, yeah, you get what, when? When people aren't there, you know, we can survive off however many jugs for a week or four days or something. But when people are there, it's, you know, every other day, we usually have to do one water run during most group when most groups are there. But it's fun. People can come and see it, or they can just experience the water arriving to them, which is also great. Yeah, that's awesome, yeah, yeah, for electricity. So again, we have electricity just like you know, anybody else would. It just comes from a different place. So we all the cabins and our common spaces in our home are powered by solar. But if you can imagine, especially during that time, you know, from late November to early January, we don't have any sun. And even the months surrounding that time, the sun is not, not as powerful, and it's not as long, like, we don't feel the heat of the sun until, until February. Yeah, in, you know, after it starts coming up in January, it's up for, like, a blip, and then it's, it's not warm like it doesn't warm you. And so solar power, we supplement in the winter time with generator, you know, as needed. But we also have battery banks, so we store that power in batteries, and you have to take really good care of your batteries. And then, you know, then you can power things like lights and we, you know, we tell people, please don't bring your computers or your laptops or things like hair dryer. I mean, you don't need a hairdryer, definitely, but like a heated blanket or a heating pad, these are all questions, you know, we got. You don't need any of that stuff. And there's just, it's just frivolous. It's not like if you wanted to live in the Arctic and have a heated blanket every night, you could, I mean, you could take that much power, yeah? But we just, you don't need that. So, yeah, everybody gets along just fine. And like I mentioned, now, we have so much, it seems like so much power compared to when we started. So that's what we use for that. Let's see, oh, and heat. So we we have a number of different ways to heat. So our a lot of our common spaces that we have one dome where we do a lot of the group complex. We call it a common area, or a dining it's a dome, but it's kind of like the lodge. It's like where everybody gathers, and we have both a wood stove, you know, big blaze King wood stove in there, and we also have kind of supplementary heat from what is called a Toyo. So again, I feel like Toyo is like Alaskan verbiage, but we had
Jennie Flaming:a Toyo stove in our cabin, and it was great. Then, yeah, is even like in Seattle, where it's not nearly as cold, yeah,
Mollie:totally. And so a Toyo does require a little bit of electricity. So in our common space, you know, when guests are there, we do, you know we have, we have lights to keep on and all that stuff. So keeping a Toyo going is no big deal. But the Toyo as well as we have these, oh, they're stoves in all of the cabins. Their sweetest Nordic oil drip stoves. So they're from Scandinavia, and they require no electricity, and they're powered by heating oil. So the same thing that the Toyo takes heating oil, and in Alaska, it's really easy to acquire heating oil from Yes, you know, there's lots of places that sell it, and so it's not a weird out there thing. So anyway, these stoves, you fire them up, the one thing is that they don't have thermostats. So if you were like, oh, man, it's only 60 degrees, I want to turn it up to 70, there's not a thermostat to be able to do that. So we really take a hands on approach with guests, where we say, Okay, do you it's basically like, do you like to sleep at 65 or do you like to sleep at like, 72 and the difference between that is just a little turn on the dial and we turn it up, yeah. And we really help monitor the heat in the cabins. Because, I mean, I'll tell you. I mean, we lived in one of the guest cabins while, you know this whole process was going on, and we would move out when, when guests were coming, until we have our own house, which is what we have now. But so we've lived in these cabins, and we know what it's like to go through a winter and honestly, like it could be negative 40 outside, and there's six settings on these stoves. We were regularly on setting three of six, and it's negative 40 outside. And when your brain
Jennie Flaming:says, I should have it turned up all the way minus 40. But that's not right, yeah.
Mollie:Well, and you know, even sometimes, as we get especially into late March and early April, the most amazing time of the year, in my personal opinion, we also because it gets warm enough during the day, and the sun also comes in the windows, and there's a ton of windows in the cabins, and so the solar power, just from that, warms the cabins. Sometimes we will turn the heaters off during the day when we're gone, and that's also something people are like, you know, like, you
Jennie Flaming:don't turn the heat off, but is my water bottle that I freeze, you know, yes, having
Mollie:goes from like, 75 and people are like, Oh my gosh, I'm so hot. And then, you know, we'll come back and it's, you know, 64 and then you just start that. We start the stove back on, and then you're, you're cooking again, and we're just, everybody's comfortable. So it's one of those things that. Um, is not quite intuitive. But then our home, we heat with wood stove as well. So a lot of our time and chores, especially during this time of year, is acquiring firewood and so finding, ideally, you know, dry, dead and down or dead trees that are ready to, you know, be chopped down, and bucking those up and and getting those to articiv, that's a big, big chore. I think when you see that on TV, like, I will say the acquisition of firewood is a huge chore, but I will tell you that I have learned this surprised me, because I was like, Oh, my God, we need to get so much firewood. And you think, like the heavy, it's heavy, it's logs, it's, you know, time consuming. But what I didn't expect is how peaceful it is acquiring firewood, and how it's just so simple. And, you know, the whole there's not very little talking between Sean and I, you know, we, you know, I have my job, Sean has his job, and we just both work efficiently. And yes, you know some of them, but when you get a when you harvest a dead tree, it's actually very light. That's why we, you know, would harvest a dead tree, because then we can burn it right away. If you cut down a big living tree, then it's filled with water and nutrients, and it makes it very heavy, and you have to dry it out for a really long time. So for us, you know, we have certain places that we go where there's, you know, trees that are ready to come down and and that's also part of the cool the cool thing is learning how to live in harmony. There's this book that I think a lot of people will resonate with, if you haven't already. It's called braiding sweetgrass. And the author, Robin, I think she does an absolutely poetic job of just talking about this, this harmony that can exist between humans and nature that I think a lot of people get, that it is harmony that can exist like there's some parts of nature that actually need humans to flourish. And I think that was the one part of reading that book and actually listen to it on to it on Audible. So I'll just put I listen to a lot of audible books, and that's how I will say, also, we do a lot of the building projects and things. It's like listening to books. But that book is highly recommend because it's just, it's just so it's refreshing and surprising, and it reminds you that, like we are nature, yeah, we're not some weird, foreign entity that just got dropped on the planet and like, we ruin everything we come across. There's a way to live in harmony with nature, and I think cutting firewood meant, if I that's probably the one thing that surprised me the most, especially in the last year. Yes, I think moving into our own house and having to maintain our own fire for our house, plus the rest of the facility. You know, our firewood needs have increased, but I just feel a strain in the acquisition. It's a great chance to be outside. It's great exercise. It's time with nature, and you're covered in spruce oil, you know,
Jennie Flaming:yeah,
Mollie:like, the smell is really good. And, yeah, it's, it's lovely. I really love it. So that's awesome.
Jennie Flaming:You know, when you were talking about managing the stove and heat and, like, not really having a thermostat, it was reminding me of one time when Jay and I were staying in one of the state of Alaska Public Use cabins, you know, that are, like, all over the place. And at the time, we were also living in a cabin. So it was kind of meta, because we went away to this cabin. Yeah, it was, you know, weirdly similar to at home, except we had to pass, yeah, anyway. But it was cool. It was like a longer River. It was a great I am a big fan of the public use.
Mollie:Oh, my gosh. I'm
Jennie Flaming:sure people have heard before and however. So we this one had a wood stove. Some of them have oil stoves, like you talked about. This one had a wood stove, and our cabin had an A Toyo stove. So we weren't doing wood every day. Jay grew up with wood heat, and he one of his chores in middle school was to keep the heat going. So it's not like, you know, he does. I hate wood stoves because I love them, but I hate touching them because I they always shock me totally. So when I look at one, I'm like, What can I do to avoid touching the handle anyway, I could deal but anyway, so, um, so we got there, and, you know, I don't know if this happens, if, I'm sure it does. If you leave your house for any amount of time, if it if you don't have, like, central heating or whatever, you know, it's cold when you go in, because it's not like you're going to maintain a wood stove. Well, you're gone for a while, and so like so, if you go to one of these Alaska cabins, or, you know, in the winter, you know, if it's zero outside, you know it's also zero inside, but it warms up really fast, if you, you know, get. So we got the wood stove going right away, and it was cranking out heat. And it was a little janky, like it's, um, the chimney that goes up to the top. There was something that wasn't quite right about it, or whatever, but it was fine. Still worked. And we got there kind of late in the day, and you know, it was still by the time we went to bed, it was maybe like 40 in the cabin, which felt pretty warm compared to Yeah, minus relatively yeah at that point. But we had our like, super warm sleeping bags, and we're like, all the way. Just kept going and going and going. And at like, two in the morning, we woke up and we were both like, sweat, yeah, and there was a thermometer on this the wall, and it was, it was at like 106
Mollie:oh my gosh. So of course,
Jennie Flaming:we, like, open the door, you know, yeah, it was zero outside. And then, of course, we fell asleep again, and we went anyway. So it was just, it was really funny, but
Mollie:regulation, it's definitely like science and an art. And I will say, I mean, we anytime, if we leave together, you know, with all the dogs. And, you know, we have a truck with dog boxes, so we do travel with our dogs if we're gonna go anywhere, coming back to archive during the winter. I mean, it's the same thing, like our mattress is rock solid. We're starting from zero, you know, on that night, we know that we need to have our sleeping bags out and we but you wake up and it's, it's warm and things are starting to thaw out. It's just, you know, one night, but if it dips a little bit, I mean, that's where I the technology today, with wood stoves. I and I will say we, when we were kind of commuting from the Kenai to the Arctic and back, all we stayed at was public use cabins. I mean, that was like, they're amazing, yeah, big plug for that. But I will say the technology with really good wood stoves today, because this is what people wanted, you know, they wanted to not have to load their stoves as often. And so some of the new technology. I mean, you can get a burn time. You can get a 30 hour burn time out of your your wood and your logs, and the the efficiency that we build structures with too. I mean, we we put a lot of, I mean, we put a lot of effort into the cabins, but even more insulation and and more technology into our home so that it was as efficient as possible. And so when you do those things together, I mean, I mean during sometimes, I mean this time of the year, we would do one fire a day, and we didn't do fires at all during the summer because of the amount of solar radiation we're getting through the windows. I mean, that's another thing to consider is, like, you know, these, these cabins that we have and where we live. I mean, it's a new build, and we really worked with, there's so many resources in Fairbanks. There's so many smart people that study build, you know, ways to build in the Arctic that are more and more advanced. So it's, it's kind of cool to have the hub of that. Like, right? What we would say sometimes, when we say go to town, sometimes that means Fairbanks, and so it's nice to have so many smart people at UAF and all that stuff just right there, and get a lot of good ideas.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, and that's such a great resource with so much expertise specific to where you are, too. It's really cool.
Mollie:Yeah, well, and that's and to looking at, you know, Sean and I have done a lot of traveling in Scandinavia. I mean, you know, really, the one thing we wanted to do is move to Norway. And Northern Norway has is one of the most magical places for backcountry skiing, for, I mean, we just did car camping and winter camping when we would go there. We've been there so many times, and moving to Norway wasn't really an option for us. But, you know, just a little logistically challenging, yeah, I think the Brooks Range, and this is what Sean always said, it's the closest thing that we found to Norway without the fjords, of course, yeah. And the technology is, you know, even if we visited, we visited Finland and Sweden and Norway, and the technology and the the ways of building that they, that they utilize up there, and just the, really, the culture of, like life in the north, I love how it's it kind of withstands this global reach. You know, the Arctic Circle is this imaginary line that's drawn around the globe. So it's not like a real road or anything. And some people are actually surprised to learn that. But yeah, people who live above the Arctic Circle or in and around that area, it's, it's like a sometimes I feel like it's like a small town, and you feel such a kinship with somebody who is living this way, even, you know, we have friends in Norway and Sweden and Finland who it just feels like there's no space between you because you are living this lifestyle. And I love sharing ideas about technology and even like the, you know, the esthetic of how we built, it's very Scandinavian, and we really love that way of living and and being so that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it's
Jennie Flaming:so cool. Yeah, yeah. So I would love to have you share a little bit about Arctic, Arctic hive, for people who potentially want to come and visit. And by the way, I want to say, if you are listening to this and you find this super interesting for, you know, whatever reason, but you're not sure that you want to actually go. I want to really encourage you to follow both archiv and Molly on Instagram, and I'll put that in the show notes, because that's a really good way to to get some insight into kind of what their life is like there, and what she and Sean are doing, even if you're not there, even if you are going to go in person, you still should, but, but for folks who do want to come and experience this kind of life for a little bit of time, by for themselves, Mollie, can you share a little bit about so Arctic high, right? I know it's not like a hotel. People don't like, you know, book it on Expedia and then, like, drive up to your door. So could you share a little bit about the kind of general kinds of experiences that you offer, and maybe also a little bit about how to know if it's right for you, you know,
Mollie:as a truck? Yes, totally Yeah. Thanks for for asking. I Yes. We are not an Airbnb, Expedia, whatever. We're a very we're a small boutique facility, and that's really intentional. And you know, especially, you know, so a lot of our stuff you might see on the website, it does include yoga, because that's what I teach as a human being, but by no means our is everything we do related to yoga. So we not only host, so I host a number of my own retreats. I run yoga teacher trainings, 200 300 hour. But also we host other groups that come into our facility. And one of those two routes, whether you resonate with the retreats that we're hosting, or whether you resonate with one of the other outside hosts that bring groups in. That would be how you would stumble to archiv we very rarely do small groups with family retreats. But really, if you're if it's just two of you wanting to come, I mean, again, you just don't know the effort that truly goes into having one to 11 people. It's, yeah, similar amounts of effort. And so for us, like, we really want to make it worth it. So, you know, number one, like, if you don't see something that fits for you, always reach out. Like I am the one or Sean. Sometimes we both are responsive. You know, Sean runs the Artic of Instagram, and I run my Instagram, and then we both respond to emails. So like, it's us who you're going to talk to, but that would be the only way that you would you would come to see us. And honestly, like, if you're looking to dip your toe into what I have just talked about today, coming on retreat with us, it's how we live. So if you want to experience how we live, but be pretty comfortable doing it, this is the best way to do it, the accommodations. I can't even prepare you for how comfortable you will be, because that is what people are still I mean, you can see I try so hard to prepare people, but they always show up and go, Wow. And that's, I think, really cool, yeah, something we really set out to do, because Sean and I have put ourselves in a lot of really uncomfortable scenarios with travel purposefully, you know, like, what we're pretty tolerant of, like, you know, not having, like, when we visited Kyrgyzstan regularly, the heat would go out. There was rolling blackouts. And so regularly we would just be in a, you know, BNB, with no heat. So for us, that's okay, but for our guests, we wanted number one. We wanted people to experience the Brooks Range period, like nature's number one, and see the northern lights if you're there during that season. And so if you want to see that and experience that you'll get to do it at one of our retreats, because you'll be relatively comfortable. You'll be out of your comfort zone, but you won't have any reason to panic, because everything is pretty well taken care of, and you can participate as little or as much as you want. I mean, even the yoga retreats not not everybody wants to do yoga every morning. And I will say, I get quite I would say it's probably about 5050, where most people come, because they're like, I just wanted to come, and I've never done yoga before, but I'm down to track. And so a lot of people, like, have little to no knowledge of yoga. And it's, you know, it's a great way to start your day, and it's, for me, it's really about connecting with our environment in a comfortable atmosphere, and limbering up because it's, it's pretty physical, that's the second thing. So when people reach out, they often will ask us, here's a little bit about me. Do you think I can do this? Do you. They like it. And my answer is always like, Well, I think if you're mindfully asking the question, like, Yeah, you totally can, because, you know, anybody can get the gear to be warm enough and to be comfortable enough, and you're gonna have the food like we accommodate. You know, I cook almost always. I cook vegetarian for the most part, and can easily everything. Could easily be vegan for people if needed. You know, we don't, it's really applicable to most people, just because we want you to also feel comfortable. Food wise, I think a lot of people are surprised by, oh my gosh, there's so much fresh food. Well, of course, there's fresh food. We're not eating package out here. This is how we live. So, yeah, yes, you can do it. And here's where I would say the caveat is, so a lot of people ask, like, what do you have running water? Well, depends on how running the water needs to be. It runs right out of the Berkey, and it's awful. And you never go thirsty. And you know it's it's different. But yes, we have an outhouse. So if an outhouse is a stopping point for you, then no, you should not come visit us. And if you've never peed outside before in nature, well, you're gonna learn how to do that at Arctic hive. So that's the thing again, even when we're walking around on a hike or whatever. I mean, there's no outhouses. There's no facilities to just take a little pit stop. We pee outside. And there's ways of operating in nature. In some groups, we get more into this than others. But, you know, I'm I've always taught leave no trace principles, as my work at summer camp and stewarding young people. And so we apply those leave no trace principles where we are. And so yes, if you've never peed outside and done the full squat all the way especially, I'm speaking mostly to women here, if you squat all the way down, I will teach you how to do it. You don't even need to know. I always laugh, and I don't think my mom would mind. I taught my mom how to do it this last year, and other family members have also learned. And I will tell you, I've never had someone say to me, gosh, I'm really disappointed that I had to learn that skill like it is so freeing. It's amazing. And it's not like, you know, when you're in the middle of a city, if you were to pee outside, people would see you. Well, lucky for you, artichive is a pretty private place. It's just Yes, and we're not even, we're a little bit outside of the village itself. So there's about, like I said, 12 people that live in Wiseman, but we are two of those people, and we live a mile outside the village, so we don't have any noise or light pollution, even though, you know, there's no street lights or whatever. But even we don't have any of that, and so really, it's the most freeing thing to learn how to do this. And, oh, by the way, you don't get cold when you go to the bathroom, because also, I will say, in the outhouse in Alaska, if you're at any good outhouse, there's going to be a piece of foam board, yeah, the toilet seat. And that's magical properties, where you sit on it and it you're not cold. It's not a cold toilet seat. And I think that's what a lot of people you you know this, you have,
Jennie Flaming:I do it. It's weird. I don't know how the physics of that work, but they work. You can trust Molly on this one, I can verify the foam as a critical element you will not
Mollie:stick to the toilet seat while you're there. So anyway, I think really, if you are up for an adventure, that's for you, and I will say too. So we don't provide shower facilities for guests in the winter. We have a summer shower house, but we don't. It's not heated in the winter time, and that's why we just tell people, number one, you're not going to be super dirty. We have dry shampoo, a VEDA dry shampoo, my favorite brand, but we also, you have baby wipes. I mean, you keep yourself clean, you brush your teeth. We you know, you instead of spitting it in a sink or outside, we have you spit it in the trash. So that's a bit different. But really, like, no one's no one's stinky and getting dirty and whatnot, it's just just too busy having fun, honestly, like to worry about how you're going to function in life. I get it, you know, it's definitely something to understand. But if you're just willing to just trust us, because that's what it is. You're gonna have an amazing time, and you're gonna prove to yourself that you can do things that you would never imagine yourself doing, and it'll, it will change your life. That's one thing that I can say with relative certainty, that with with guests that have come and gone from staying with us. I don't, I don't know if any, any of them is the same after they leave. I hope not, because if someone changes from an experience with us, then I mean that then we've that's all we can ask for. And then, and most of all, too, most importantly to us is that people grow. But also. Become advocates for this part of the world, because what happens in the Arctic in terms of, you know, the next number of years and the way the climate is moving? Yeah, I don't care how what your view is on this. Once you see this with your own eyes, what's going on. You cannot unsee it. It's proof it's right there in front of you. And if we don't stand up and take a stand and protect, there's a number of things going on in the Arctic. If you want to talk about that morally or different podcast topic, you know, there's a lot going yeah,
Jennie Flaming:that would be another that actually would be another excellent topic. Yeah, yes, yes. But like
Mollie:the advocacy to protect parts of the Brooks Range and the area in which we live, and even further north, right, there's a lot going on, and we need people's support to keep this area protected, not just because it's a pretty place, because there's a lot of pretty places, but because what happens in the Arctic affects everybody. And so I would, I would encourage, I always like to give two quick recommendations if people are interested in there's a great even on Instagram, defend the Brooks Range is a great account to follow for a lot going on. And then I love podcasts, obviously, if you've never listened to threshold, threshold is like my number one climate podcast to recommend people to listen. And season two is an episode about the Arctic Refuge, and I think it's Season Two. Don't quote me on that, but they're an amazing source of wisdom about everything that's going on in the Arctic and with the climate. And a lot of it focuses on the Arctic because it's ground zero for many, many scientific reasons I don't have time to go into, but if you're interested even a little bit at getting educated, those are two great resources that I always tell people to go to. And then the third resource is just to come, just come visit, yeah, and see it with your own eyes.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. That is a really, I was not familiar with either that podcast or that Instagram account, so thank you for that. I will put those in the show notes, also, um, for folks, along with your info. So, um, thank you, Molly. So as far as people visiting archive, would it be a fair summary to say if you have no experience being in the wilderness, the outdoors, and none at all, let, let's say that you've lived on the 25th floor of an apartment building in Manhattan for your entire life. Um, you can do this.
Mollie:You definitely need to lots of
Jennie Flaming:people. Lots of people come with zero experience, and you and Sean are happy to show them the ropes, and they'll love it absolutely, yes. Don't want to do that. If you're like, Ooh, I am not cool with that, then it's not going to be right for you. Is that, like, a fair summary,
Mollie:totally, I think, honestly, like, if you know, you know, like, I think if there's some people, it's funny, like, on Instagram, people will be be like, Okay, no. Like, if you're an okay, no, person, no, you should not come. But honestly, like, if you're curious, if you could do this, you totally can. And we, I mean, we're not going to hold your hand the whole time, but we're both really experienced with stewarding people through new experiences, and we will hold your hand as much as you need, especially prior to the retreat. And that's that's another thing to consider, is, like, there is, unless you're coming from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, some of these, like, colder places, you might already have some gear. If you're coming from a warm place, there's going to be gear that you need. And we kind of have, like, here's the gear if you want to spend this much money, but also, here's the gear that you could buy, if you'd like, Nah, I just want to, you know, get it for this trip. So we people of of all kinds, and I will add to like, to what will you do when you're it's not like, we don't just sit around. So that's the first thing lot of people for most of the retreats that come through, and even, you know, people bring in groups. We offer a lot of this too. Every day is a little bit different, but it's also a little bit the same. You know, we have we do a yoga practice in the morning, which, you know, again, and I promise you, I've worked with we've had 75 year old, no, we had eight, I think he was 82 an 82 year old guest. We had our 10 year old niece come, and everybody loved it. Yeah, so that's awesome to come to yoga in the morning, but you can, if you want to. We have a, we call it the yoga hive because it's, it's a dome structure, and it's specifically for, you know, yoga practice or any other group, you know, dynamics group, group events that we do. Um. Then we have breakfast together, fueling up for the day. And then the activities of the day are usually pretty varied, but some of the highlights are, we really like to give people the experience to meet who we call a local legend. So a dear friend of ours. His name is Jack, and if you've ever been to Wiseman, I know you already know Jack, and because he is like the man in Wiseman, and he runs tours and everything. So we, we take all of our guests on a tour with Jack, and you get to hear from somebody who's lived in Wiseman what seems like his whole life before the road was there, right? Wiseman was a fly in only community. Flying has met
Jennie Flaming:him. I haven't. Jay has Yeah, no doubt everybody
Mollie:who has been knows, so you get to do a tour with Jack, and I think it's so surprising for people to learn about subsistence lifestyles. So what that means is, you know, harvesting wild game, harvesting resources from the land, and how to do that sustainably, as well as getting to know a lot of the history of wise men. So there's, you know, books out there just about, not only the history of wise men being pretty much like a mining community. There's a book that was written a long time ago by Bob Marshall called Arctic Village, that was a really popular book based in the in the 1920s that talks a little bit about what what life was like. But then also, you know, Weisman used to be a larger community of like 80 plus people, a mix of indigenous groups, indigenous people to Alaska, but also miners coming through. It was a whole mix of people for for quite a bit of time in the 1900s and so just learning that history, and it's really important to us that people get grounded in and not only what we're doing and Artek, but the history of the land and the people that have come before us, and how that has shaped what we do today. And so learning about that with Jack, and then also dog mushing. Everybody in the winter, at least everybody gets to go dog mushing, and that's a really big part. And just getting to see the country when you're not on the back of a loud snow machine from a pretty, relatively silent dog sled, it is one of the most amazing ways to travel. And you just get to see the dogs, and they're so happy. I mean, these dogs are they love it. I mean, they need it. And then also, I will add that, because we have 14 dogs on site, you don't have to have dogs around you. If you're not a dog person, they won't be like, slobbering me with kisses. They have their own houses and their own beds, and you can have as much or as little contact with the dogs as you want. Some people are like, I want to go in there with the dogs every day. And then other people are like, Fine, without that. And then we also do, we have some crafts that we do with people. So you make a little it's different kind of every time, but you make a little something that you can take home with you. It's Memento we have. And then we do hikes. So I think that scares some people, if you've never, I know a lot of people haven't been on a quote, unquote hike before we provide snowshoes and poles for you in the winter if you need them a lot of times, we don't even need them because we maintain these trails with snow machines, so they're pretty hard packed. But really, it's a walk in the woods. And so, you know, some of the hikes we might do, it can be very short, especially if somebody's, like, a little bit tired or wants to spend more time in their cabin. You don't have to go far. And then other times, we have some groups that are like, Yeah, we want to do a seven mile hike. And then we have a, we have one hike that we walk up Wiseman Creek, and it's, you get to see like that, the rock walls and the off ice from, you know, different ways that the water has been moving. I mean, it's, just magical. So if you're like, a super hiker, you're gonna you can be assured that we're gonna take you for some epic strolls through the woods. And if you're like, I've never been on a hike before, but maybe I could do this. We've got stuff for you too. And then, really, and then coming back and having a little bit of rest time, we don't pack the schedule too tightly, and then we have dinner together, and then we might play games. We're big on games. We've got a ton of games. Sean and I love playing games. And then then we go to bed, or we wait for the Northern Lights, and then we do it all again the next day in some order. So it's, it's a really relaxed pace. But also, if you're one of those people that like needs to be busy and doing stuff, we got plenty. We got
Jennie Flaming:plenty. So that's awesome. And how many days? I know, if it's a retreat, it's a set number of days. You know, what's a typical or maybe, what would you say is the ideal amount of time for and I know also yoga teacher training is different, because that's a prescribed time for yoga training. But other than yoga training, like for someone just visiting on a retreat or with a group, typically, how long of a how many days? Yeah,
Mollie:yeah, we have found that the best for most people, the best time frame is four Nights. And then some people will want to come for five nights. That is, like, just enough. And some of our groups come just for three nights. That's fine, but we find that, like, three nights you don't quite unpack, yeah, four, four nights, you've really seen a lot, and it's a little bit like, whoa. I can't believe it's over. And then five nights, which we only do our winter solstice retreat, is five nights, just because it, you know, it's a slow time of year. It's more of a chance to really feel the power of of the place in the area. So I would say that's pretty typical. And and shower. I know a lot of people are like, Well, what about shower? Shower wise, four nights, anyone can do it. I swear to you. And in the winter, remember, you're wearing a hat almost all the time. So like, it's not you don't need to worry about styling your hair. Or, you know, you can do your makeup if you want, but you don't have to. You have nowhere to be. There's no one to impress. And I will add to size wise, if people are wondering like, well, how many people were our max capacity, not including the two of us, is 11 people. So at no point will there be more than 13 humans. That's including Sean and I on the property. There will always be more dogs than you. Yeah. And so a lot of our retreats, though, I will, like the ones that we host on site we call rewild. And like I said, the different solstice and equinox retreats are probably more like eight people. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah,
Jennie Flaming:awesome. Cool. Thank you for sharing that with us. That's such a cool for those of you listening, this is just such a cool and unique opportunity. And if you're the kind of person who's like, hey, I want to if you're like someone who's ever asked me, I want to go to Alaska, but I don't want to go where
Mollie:everyone else goes this is it. That's funny, and
Jennie Flaming:I really want to see the Northern Lights. Here's a yes, here's a great way, not the only way, but a great way.
Mollie:So, yeah, we can never guarantee the Northern Lights, but they, whoever they is, say that if you're in Fairbanks seven hours to our south, for three nights or more, you're 90% likely to see them. Just imagine going seven hours north of that where the Aurora oval is overhead. I mean, your chances are really, really good. And then we also help you search for them. So like, you know, part of seeing the Northern Lights, yeah, you could get a wake up call if you're staying at a hotel in Fairbanks. That's fun. But part of fun is, again, obviously, we're big on self sufficiency, but it's like setting your alarm clock for a certain time and going outside, or just Hey looking from your window and seeing them for yourself and finding them because you don't have to go far, you just walk right outside, and it's just, It's that much more special. And we it's just, yeah, it's really and I want to add, I know not everybody knows what a quote, unquote retreat is. I feel like that's a word that's getting more and more popular in the in the travel scene, like, especially like yoga retreat or, you know, a cooking retreat or whatever. But retreat, it's just a word that we use because that's what it's meant to be. We curate everything that you do, but then it's also all optional. And so rather, like a cruise, you can kind of choose what you do, and you like choose your itinerary, but a retreat is really curated. So we say, Okay, this is what we're doing today. Everybody, if you don't want to come on the tour, if you don't want to go dog watching, you don't have to. But otherwise, these are what we're doing. Yeah, this is what we're we're doing. So it's, it's a chance where, especially if you get decision fatigue in your daily life, if you're the one that makes all the decisions in your life, this is a great opportunity to let go of all control
Jennie Flaming:in a good way. Love it. Well, cool. Well, to finish up today, Molly, I would love to ask you the three questions that I ask everyone who comes on the podcast. Are you ready? Yes. Okay, the first one, if you were listening carefully, you might have caught Molly giving her answer already. But what is your favorite month at Arctic hive? Oh,
Mollie:yeah. It is like, right? It's, um, it's not a month. I'm going to give you a time frame, March 15 to well, you know what? Okay, March 1 to April 15. This the most amazing time to visit the Arctic. It's sunny, yeah, but not, you know, too sunny. So it does get dark to see the Northern Lights. It's not it can be very cold. It can be, you know, negative 20s, maybe negative 30s. But it is not always that way, because the sun actually warms us up during the daytime. Um, oh my gosh, it's amazing. I look this is why it's for that
Jennie Flaming:time of year. Yeah, yep. And I'm going to just say that is also an amazing time to visit Fairbanks and so especially more March than, you know, early April, it can start getting towards breakup there. But, um, yeah, it's a great time. So, you know, that's pretty great time to
Mollie:do good. You know, if they come to visit us, they'll stay a couple days on the front or back end in Fairbanks. And there's, you know, you can, like, walk with reindeer. You can, yep,
Jennie Flaming:if it's March, you got to give yourself some time in Fairbanks, because it's such a great place that time of year. Yeah, it is, it is okay, number two. So normally I ask people for their favorite restaurant in their place, but I know that the only restaurant available in Arctic hive is your cooking. So instead, I'm gonna ask you what your favorite meal is that you serve at Arctic hive.
Mollie:Yes, yes, I am so I have studied a lot about just nutrition, plant based cooking and all of this stuff. And then, like I said, not everything I cook is plant based, but one of my favorite recipes, because I develop a lot of my own recipes and have over time, is what we call our Arctic bowls. And so, you know, it's a typical bowl. There's like, and we do a lot of buffet style, so you put in what you want. So, you know, brown rice or quinoa is the base, and that we have a bunch of veggies and toppings. And then the Arctic, we call Arctic sauce, very original, I know, um, but it's like, like, an umami flavored like, like tamari and nutritionally yeast. And I'm not going to give away all the flavors, but it's just like the sauce is so good, it's kind of like our signature dish, and so we love Arctic bowls. And I will say, if people do go to our website and sign up for our newsletter, which I send out, like once every other week, I do include recipes in that newsletter, and everybody can get access to our Arctic sauce recipe. I actually and I laugh. We had the group from the military come and stay a couple years ago, and I had a handful of military spouses reach out to me on Instagram after they left, saying, My partner keeps talking about this architect sauce. Can I please have the recipe? So it's definitely a fan favorite. Even we had teenagers this summer come out too. We've had teenagers a couple times. Teenagers like it too. So it's it's family friendly, it's good for all dietary needs. It's so tasty.
Jennie Flaming:So you know, funny, funny story. So I get your emails, which are, yeah, wonderful, and I got your article recipe, and I have made articles I have, and I can tell you that it is, in fact, delicious, but I bet it's even better, if,
Mollie:but it was pretty definitely joking. That's amazing. I always wonder if people actually make it, but hey, like, here's one
Jennie Flaming:person who actually made it and loved it. And I will tell you one thing this is has nothing to do with what we're talking about, but it's kind of funny. I am allergic to coconut, and so a lot of a lot of plant based recipes have coconut in them. Yeah, and it's nice when there's one, and you can always adapt that by using nut milk or butter instead, depending on which what it's being used for. But I can't remember if that didn't include a coconut item, or if it was just really easy to substitute. So that was another day I liked about it. That's just a side thing,
Mollie:that's funny and, you know? And we're not, you know, we're not vegan. We do make a lot of plant based choices, you know, I think that that's one thing, and we're, you know, where we live, the subsistence lifestyle, where we are, but I think it's important to have really vibrant food to keep people fueled. And so when people are always like, Oh my gosh, you made this sauce, I'm like, Well, yeah, it's, first of all, it's way more affordable that way. Secondly, of course, we put a lot of love into the food so that people can feel their best. And I also listen to dietary needs very closely, because it's really important to me that you know when you go somewhere and you're like, because I'm allergic to tree nuts, so like dessert. Okay, you know buffets, hello, I love dessert, but a lot of times I'm like, well, there's all these nuts and all of these things, and I can't have anything. It's such a bummer, because food is love, and so we really put so if you were coming, I would definitely figure out ways to either make you something equal without coconut, or. Or I would just avoid the recipes
