I’ve been watching a couple of TV programs about the Great North - those reality shows that take place in Alaska.

 

There’s Yukon Men, Life Below Zero, The Last Alaskans and Alaska: The Last Frontier.

 

They’re interesting to me because I get to see people trying live off the grid in pretty harsh weather conditions.

 

They don’t have the amenities we have, even though some people in other parts of the country might argue Minnesota isn’t much different than Alaska. We have the cold, too.

 

But it seems those people on the TV shows have one thing in common. It looks like they spend a big part of their time preparing for winter. In some areas north of the Arctic Circle, winter can be eight months long - or at least I’ve heard one or two of them say that.

 

Many episodes start the same way, with the main character, usually the man of the family, telling everyone else it’s time to go out and get a moose, or a caribou, or a bear.

 

“I have to feed my family over the winter,” is a common statement on those programs. “If I don’t get a caribou, (or a moose, or a bear), this winter is going to be really rough.”

 

Then they go out and try to bring home the kill. Sometimes they get one, but not always. In that case they spend their time on the river catching salmon.

 

There are also episodes where they have to travel miles to cut firewood. It seems everyone on those shows heats their home with wood-burning stoves. They get on their snowmobiles, or as they call them, snow machines, cruise through the snow to a distant location, bring out the chainsaw and begin cutting up trees.

 

Invariably, the main character is relieved as he stacks the logs on his machine.

 

“If I don’t find enough firewood, it’s going to be a rough winter,” he says.

 

Such is the simple but rough life of the people living in the Alaskan wilderness.

 

Except for some people who live in cabins up north, most of us have it easy in Minnesota.

 

We don’t have to hunt to feed the family, even though some deer hunters might disagree. 

 

We don’t need to travel to a forest and cut firewood to survive during the cold months.

 

If they ever did a show about my experiences in Minnesota, it would seem pretty insignificant compared to those Alaskans.

 

For my winter preparation episode, first I’d disconnect my garden hose and turn off the outside faucet on the farmhouse so it wouldn’t freeze. 

 

Then they could show me putting up my six storm windows on the screened porch.

 

But the finale would be me and my wife Rita raking leaves, putting them in bags and stacking them around the foundation of the old house as insulation.

 

Then I could look into the camera and say, “If we don’t get these leaves bagged, it’s going to be a rough winter.”