Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Living in an Off-the-Grid Log Cabin (video)

Friday, July 26, 2019

Living in an Off-the-Grid Log Cabin (video)

Shawn James (My Self Reliance, 1/26/18); Pfc. Sandoval, S. Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Off-the-Grid Log Cabin: Alone with My Dog in an Ice Storm

(LOG CABIN BUILD, S2 • E2) #logcabin #offgrid #dog

Relaxing at the cabin with Cali, my golden retrieve, the weather was incredible, warm and sunny, one day with deer coming out to dine on the acorns exposed under the melting snow.

But the next day, raining ice pellets fell all night long before changing to snow. It was not the worst ice storm I've witnessed, not like the ice storm of several years ago that shut the Northeast down for a few days, but it did some damage.

With our drone, my wife got some incredible aerial footage and photographs of raging rivers, pristine Canadian wilderness in the snow, and the log cabin.

The rustic tiny house is extremely cozy right now, especially when my wife and dog are here and the fire in the woodstove is burning, the candles and lanterns lit, and furs piled high on the bed. It's extremely cozy now that the floor is insulated and the spaces between the logs have been filled in. Woodworking and bushcrafting the structure was very rewarding, but the interior finishes are the icing on the cake.

Whenever I'm inside with the fire burning and I look out through the windows at the winter storms raging, I'm inspired to finish this tiny log house as soon as possible so that I can get working on the front porch, the outdoor kitchen, the cellar, workshop, maple syrup shack, and more.

I'm particularly excited to live off the land, foraging for wild plants and edibles, growing my own vegetables, and becoming self-reliant. I can use this off-grid-cabin as a shelter and base where I can practice living off the land and use primitive technology, honing bushcraft skills, improving my survival skills and my self-reliance.

Of course, no video would be complete without the meals I prepare on the woodstove over the fire with cast iron cookware. In this episode, I make slaughtered animal spiced with garam masala, leeks, onions, and broccoli. For breakfast, I have fresh poultry fetuses from the nearby rural homestead where they raise birds for slaughter. I'll be showing how I put the fetuses in long-term storage, preserving the food for the future.

My dog and I fall asleep to the hooting of barred owls. The wind through the trees and the falling rain were big ASMR triggers for me. It's deep winter outside, but in the cabin it's cozy and warm. Sometimes I think living off grid in a tiny house seems much easier than the suburbs away from the daily stress of life.

In fact, dealing with my high blood pressure and becoming much healthier by eating more vegetables is my motivation for building this cabin and living the simple life out in nature. Not my only motivation, of course, I'm also inspired by my wife and my parents, who are living long and happy lives cutting out meat.

Inspiration is important in this crazy world, and of course I'm not the only one who wants to escape from society and retreat to a cabin in the woods.

To accomplish my goal of living off grid with as little money as possible, living cheaply and saving money wherever possible, I need to continue to improve my woodworking and bushcraft skills, along with tree identification, foraging, making maple syrup, harvesting chaga mushrooms, catching water, preserving beans for long-term storage (dehydrating, salting, curing, smoking, freezing, drying).

Why subscribe even if I'm not actually going to do all of these things I promise myself I'm going to do?