The Full Story
A Kennel of Our Own
Nestled in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains in Northern Minnesota, my mom found an old hunting shack with a lot of story to tell. Little did she know that one day, I would own that very same cabin with my partner and our pack of Alaskan Huskies.
A Place for All
Our kennel sits in the Southeast corner of 65 acres of mixed boreal forest. On historic land of the Annishinabe, we feel so lucky to call this land home. Over the years, this land was used for logging, which is shown by our young stands of maple and poplar, and overgrown logging roads. As we develop trails and explore this land, we hope to give opportunities for folks to find their way in this quiet space.
Humble Beginnings
As a former real estate agent, my mom has a keen eye for a good fixer-upper project. In 2019, she found a bit of tax-forfeited property with a ramshackle building that was once a hunting shack. This cabin was built by a logger in the 70's; later, it was lived in by a woman called "Rabbit", and then by a full family. It sat for some time after, void of people but filled with wildlife. The building sat angled, falling into the surrounding wetlands. My mom found someone willing to lift the cabin and move it onto a level slab. After all of that hard work, more hard work ensued. Ridding the building of mice, pulling out old insulation, sorting through left behind items, repairing the roof and walls, installing new windows, and making it feel like a home. All with the help of my grandparents.
Mom moved on to other projects after my grandparents passed, and the cabin sat empty again for two years.
For us, Iditarod came and went, twice, and we started to talk of coming back home to start a kennel of our own. We settled on this Annishinabe land to be stewards and to raise our pack.
