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Modern-Day Homesteading

It's late February afternoon and the skies are angry. Sharp needles of rain, accompanied by swift gusts of wind threaten to rip off the strong facade of this one-bedroom home.

"Gosh, I wish you could see the valley in the morning. There is fog that hangs on top of the river. At night, it looks like a silver ribbon running through the mountains," says Gerry Teitelbaum, a homesteader who lives with her husband in the mountains 10 miles from Garberville.

A neatly threaded community of 4,000 people, Garberville lies in the heartland of the redwood forest, 200 miles north of San Francisco on U.S 101. Gaberville and the surrounding communities have been magnets for homesteaders since the late '60s.

The Teitelbaums moved to Garberville five years ago to start a
life of modern-day homesteading. With the help of friends and family, they built a house on top of a hill overlooking King Peak, the highest point directly on the West Coast, rising 4,087 feet from sea level.

According to Brian Teitelbaum, the new breed of homesteaders lack patience with the fast pace of the city. Early homesteaders of the '60s were motivated by a "back-to-land movement." Their desire for maximum personal reliance and creative leisure was found in the quiet setting of Southern Humboldt County

A single light bulb powered by a generator hangs above the kitchen sink, the only source of light inside the house. Their water comes from one of the two creeks that run through their farm, and is stored in a 1600cc tank on the hill to the east of the cabin.

A white, porcelain bathtub lies 20 feet away from the shower room; it has yet to be hooked up. When they need a relaxing bath, they fill the porcelain tub with water and bathe overlooking the rolling hills.

The outhouse stands about a dozen steps down from the cabin. Inside there a high platform with a spongy toilet seat affixed on top. The only source of light in the outhouse are the candles that sit atop its wooden beams.

Homesteading had been rough for the Teitelbaums who lacked the money to finish their house. They couldn't afford to hire professionals so they did everything, from building the house to laying the pipes that bring water to the home.

"You have to take responsibility and be willing to study and learn what it takes to build a house. If we didn't understand what it takes, we couldn't have made it," says Brian, adding that he's a handy man.

"I always dreamt of living on a mountain. When I met Brian, I realized it could be more than a dream," Gerry says.

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