IS WILDERNESS LIVING IN THE GREAT NORTH FOR YOU?

Do you long for wilderness living in the great north?

Is wilderness living in the great north for you? You may take a moment to imagine…

The bustle of traffic is fading into the distance. The rumbling engines, honking horns, and radios droning are somewhere off beyond the horizon. You are the master of your new domain. Free in a way that you never were among the crowds and urban sprawl. Here, among the wilderness you find peace, right outside your door, the possibility of adventure, should you choose it.

You walk out your front door and listen to the sounds around you, and all you hear is the sound of nature; the wind rustling through the trees,  bird songs and chattering of squirrels. The great outdoors awaits you. The night sky glows with the light of millions of stars unmasked by the urban glow.

The call of the barred owl in the night, the howl of a wolf in the distance, It is only then that you realize what you have been missing. This!  This is food for the soul.

Life moves at a different pace, on wilderness time, if you will, when you aren't living in the chaos of the city. As you meander down a path, you stop and smell the flowers, there are no muttered curses, or pressing of impatient bodies struggling past you on the street.  No longer do you walk briskly past hundreds of strangers faces instead there are a hundred ancient and familiar trees.

Homesteading folks are different in the bush, though they be 100 miles up or down the river, they will plod through the most hostile conditions to assist, should a “neighbor” need help. If you're unfortunate enough to get stuck in the snow or overflow, you can bet your boots, that some burly fellow with a big ole truck and chain, or snow machine will yank you out before you freeze. It's just the way of life out in the bush to prevent frozen hands and frozen toes.

I think this way of life develops for a couple of reasons. When you are far from urban conveniences you must be prepared, and you prepare not only for yourself but for those few around you.  As you are in a much less populated area, resources and services often need to be combined or shared. As you become more self sufficient you'll find there's a real feel good pride with conquering obstacles, not needing to call for help or waiting for another to fix it and hand you the bill.

When you no longer have a neighbor within earshot, you can set up a target range right in your own backyard, if you like. Hunt, fish or hike in your own back woods, Grow your own food, just steps from your door. Play guitar, sing with abandon, It's freedom in its truest form.

If you long for wilderness living in the great north, the tranquility of nature, the wild adventure of the wilderness, and the freedom to follow your own path, if you’ve been wallowing in the doldrums of discontent, dissatisfied with your routine and dull existence, if you’ve been contemplating and seeking a new direction, a life change that is challenging, fresh and lively, it might be time to take your path... Into the wild.

UNBEARABLE REMODELING/ ILLEGAL ENTRY/An UNINVITED Guest in the Wilderness!!!

  It was 7:30 am, the drive started at 2:30 pm the day before. I had been called away from my cabin weeks earlier to tend to funeral arrangements of a close friend. I was very tired from my long drive returning to my cabin. After 12 hours of driving I had stopped near a campground 5 hours ago, but not finding a suitable tent spot and with a steady rain coming down

I made the decision to continue on the last 5 hours of the journey to the cabin.
The drive was long, hard, it was dark, no lights to look at, hardly any towns along the way. I was tired and fatigued and just wanted to "GET THERE" and flop into my bed and SLEEP. As Fatigue sets in and I become tired, I drive slower and slower and slower, the trip gets longer and longer and longer!
  When I finally arrived, my driveway was missing! It was gone!

It had been swallowed up by 4 ft undergrowth and could not be deciphered from the 6 ft deep ditch on either side of my narrow passageway in to my cabin. The entire roadside was just a jungle mass of wildflowers, shrubs and willows that literally grew overnight.  I told my friend, this is where my drive is suppose to be. The light shade of a gray dawn were just a haze and we squinted our eyes trying to see any hint of a passage way. The rain beat down on the windshield and the steady rhythm of the wipers gave us intermittent views of clarity, but it was no use. I had to get out to feel with my feet and find terre ferme.  That was the moment when I was revived....The barrage of mosquitoes descended on me like a dust storm.

I couldn't breath, I couldn't see, and I was dancing and scratching and swatting and squashing the buggars by the millions! UGH! I jumped quickly back in the car having located the edge of the drive with my foot having felt through the vegetation. A quick prayer and some gas and I was past the car eating crevasse.

 I hate that driveway!  Quickly the cabin came into sight. Whew! Made it! So I thought...
I made up my mind to make a 1.3 second Olympic style sprint and entrance to the cabin which in my assessment should only let in about 450,000 mosquitoes.

A substantially smaller amount than what would be gathering in a horde outside the door. So, I grabbed the keys tightly in my hand and made the lightning dash to the door. I quickly and with great efficiency unlocked the padlock and.........
didn't open the door. I was being eaten alive,

I could feel myself going anemic and the sting of a million biting bloodsucking insects made me rethink our decision made so many months ago to screw the

heavy plank door shut with 5 inch lag screws. We were "securing" the cabin against the arrival of uninvited guests of both the 2 legged and 4 legged varieties. People and bears. Well, it obviously can keep people out my voice shouted in my head. My hands and face were swelling with gigantic welts. There were so many that I no longer itched, it was just the all encompassing hum of pain. I couldn't feel the new mosquitoes biting anymore as the bit areas of exposed skin was already swollen.  I could through my fatigue vaguely feel the shape of my face changing shape as I struggled through a sleepy mental fog trying to decide what to do about my predicament... How to get into the cabin.
    The cabin had been built with the idea of protecting it from the bears, so all the screws used in construction were large and long and required generator power and a power drill to remove them from the wood board and batten plank and plywood walls. The windows were small to conserve heat and high to make access for the bears more difficult. Since I didn't have a generator or a power drill outside the cabin at this point, the door was no longer an option for entrance, so I turned my attention to the lowest window.  The bottom of the window was about 6 feet up as the cabin was built up above the snowline on tall pilings. I had gone around the corner of the cabin and been out of sight of the vehicle for quite a while and I was now joined by my teenage son and my friend who were both wondering what I was doing that was taking so long.  What I was doing was assessing the best way to break into a cabin that had been designed to thwart just such endeavors!
     I determined that I could climb up on top of our wood pile and if I can stretch my legs far apart I might be able to reach the edge of the windowsill with a foot.  My teenage son suggested since he was taller and had longer arms and legs he might be able to reach the plywood that was screwed over the window and might be able to unscrew the smaller screws that fastened it to the frame. I handed him the screwdriver and in moments the board was off. However, the window was still shut and locked. It was an older window and had become worn out over the decades and was already vintage when we bought it to use on the cabin. We shimmied it back and forth in its track until it came out of its track and we were able to push it open and my son climbed in and made it look quite easy.

As I mentioned before, it is a very small window and a very high window and it was quite a stretch from the top of the wood pile to the window sill.  After a series of twists, bends, and stretching that would have impressed a contortionist, I was in!

 Now it was my friends turn. This might be a good time to mention that she is 71 years old (going on 19!)

and she was looking skeptically at her choices but in the end the mosquitoes were a very motivating factor.

She quickly made the decision to join us in the cabin and get some reprieve from in incessant buzz and biting of the demonic insects. Little did we know....

    We walked from the bedroom to the kitchen....Um, it used to be a kitchen.  It was a vision of some surreal paper mache piece of rogue art.

There was 10 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of sugar, 25 pounds of salt, several bottles of maple syrup...opened and now empty, 5 pounds of oatmeal, teabags, coffee, various canned goods, and bear poop all pasted in a sick concoction in a thick layer over everything.  The cabinets and cupboards had been torn from the walls and lay in unrecognizable splinters on the floor amongst the rubble. The shelves were knocked down and disheveled dumping their contents onto the heap.  Even in my sleepy fog it was not lost on me that had I walked around just one more corner of the cabin I would have been able to just "walk right in" where the wall was missing! It was completely open to the sky, the woods, and the fiendish mosquitoes. I was really starting to whine in my head to myself... "I just want to go to bed!!!" I was just this side of having a temper tantrum and bursting into tears similar to those of a typical toddler at nap time, except I wanted to go to bed!

 Well, there was nothing to do about that, sleep was to be hours away! First there was the firearm to be loaded. Then there was the piece of plywood that had been taken off the window that was used to hastily put over the hole in the wall. This involved getting the generator out of storage that had just a tiny amount of gasoline in it, with some quick tuning it soon roared to life and powered the drill to secure the patch to the wall with screws. It was an agonizing task with the concern of the bear at our back, and the flesh eating insects as thick as fog all around, penetrating all the openings of our bodies, our eyes, nose, ears and mouth and the ever present desire for sleep. (I had now been awake for 30 hours making my dexterity equal to that of about a 4 yr old). When that task was complete we turned our attention to a murderous spree of annihilating the droves of blood thirsty insects

that were plotting against us. We felt some measure of success when we would find less than 5 mosquitoes at a time on any given part of exposed flesh.  It was still just before dawn when we entered the cabin and so were unaware of the scope of destruction that was revealed as the dawn lightened the cabin. I have to admit that the catastrophe was impressive even by candlelight.  As we made headway in the extermination of the skeeters, the beds were starting to whisper my name  ever more loudly and persistently. Finally I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and flopped down. I laid there for about 4 seconds before I heard the first slight whining sound near my ear, then two, then three, soon the buzzing pitch was rising in measurable decibels. The sun was fully over the horizon now and the heat was building, it was humid from the rain and yet I pulled a fur blanket completely over me, over my head and face leaving just a small breathing hole.

It was a hot but safe refuge from the cloud of insects hovering over my now snoring carcass.  An earthquake could not have awakened me! I never want to make cabin repairs in the spring again! Going bear huntin', going bear huntin', going bear huntin', Got a score to settle and food to replace!

Homemade Homestead DRINKS & BREWS & REFRESHMENTS

There are a surprising number of natural things to drink on a remote homestead, and they of course vary based on the natural plants & trees native to the area you are in.

1. Teas - are generally any edible plant material that is steeped in water, and can be drank hot or cold.

Trees commonly used for refreshing drinks include, but are not  limited to:
                      
a. PINE - Needles made into a tea makes a drink high in Vitamin C and        helps fight scurvy.
b. BIRCH - Sweet drinkable sap, can be made into syrup, sugar, sweet tea, and beer.
c. SASSAFRAS ROOT - Makes a sasparilla sassafras tea
d. MAPLE - Sweet drinkable sap, can be made into syrup or sugar or sweet tea
e. STAGHORN SUMAC - the red spire seed pods are steeped into a lemonade drink

Plants commonly used for drinks include, but not limited to:
a. MINT - Found in moist areas
b. JUNIPER BERRIES - give drinks a "gin" flavor
c. RASPBERRY LEAVES - This tea helps with female menstrual cramps
d. ROSEHIPS - Are steeped into a tea also high in vitamin C

2. Coffees - are generally made from roasting things in combination to make custom coffee flavors.

Grains, nuts, seeds, roots are usually roasted in an oven or over a fire and then ground and then brewed.

Things commonly used for coffee include but are not limited to:
a. CHICKORY ROOTS
b. CEREAL GRAINS - wheat, oats, barely
c. BEECH NUTS
d. PINE NUTS
e. DANDELION ROOTS

3. Juices - are generally made from locally available fruits. In the north, these include but are not limited to:
a. CRANBERRIES
b. GRAPES
c. BLACKBERRIES
d. RED RASPBERRIES
e. BLUEBERRIES
f.  APPLES
g. MULBERRIES
h. STRAWBERRIES
             I boil fruit with a bit of sugar to taste into a concentrate, I filter the juice through a t-shirt to remove the pulp and then I "can" it into jars. Later I use these concentrates mixed with water when I serve them as glasses of juice. They make wonderful cocktail juices.

4. Wines - are made by fermenting the fruit juice with yeast. A balloon can be fastened over a jug and about 1 teaspoon of bread yeast or wine yeast (old-timers used a bit of sour dough starter, which does produce wine albeit a bit cloudy) in 1 to 5 gallons of juice. Fasten the large heavy duty balloon on top of jug secure with string, tape or zip strip . When the balloon deflates in about 2 to 4 weeks your wine is done. It must be bottled quickly without alot of air exposure or it could turn to vinegar. (Which is not a total loss as the vinegar can be used for cleaning or cooking, pickling etc.) The alcohol content in homemade wine is usually 9-12%

5. Beers - this is easily made Alaska bush style by buying hops flavored malt in a large can and mixing with water to make 5 gallons.Heat, then cool, Add the yeast at about 105 degrees f and an airlock or a balloon as above and wait for fermentation to stop and the balloon to deflate or the airlock to stop bubbling. Beer is temperature sensitive and ferments best around 45 degrees fahrenheit so makes a good springtime endeavor for those who do not have thermostat heat. 

Attention:
****As with any food related suggestion make sure you use proper identification methods for identifying plants, please be aware of possible food allergies, and risks involved in canning, preserving, and brewing. Local laws could prohibit some of these activities in your local, so please check your ordinances.****

             

WILDERNESS LIVING ,TAKES TIME! No Worries, No Hurries!

            One of the hardest things to get used to in wilderness living on a remote homestead ... is how long everything takes! As a people, we humans in the developed countries have become so accustomed to having instant gratification!  Our automated world is literally at our fingertips! From instant entertainment, to instant food, to instant money. Our desires are fulfilled without hesitation. 

NOT SO on a remote homestead!  EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER!

STEP 1
Let's take morning coffee or tea for instance... There's no expresso machine!
You get up, get dressed including your coat,boots, hat and gloves and go out to fetch some stove wood (which hopefully is already cut otherwise you have to do that too).  You come in and take off all your snowy gear. Drop the wood next to the stove, fetch the matches and firestarter (paper, kindling, firestarter cheat sticks) put the firestarter and wood into the stove, light it and squat there on the cold floor in a cold cabin blowing on the little flame to coax it to life.  Once there is a reliable flame you close the door, adjust the damper, and fetch water - that's the interesting part... its usually frozen. So you put the ice in the pot and WAIT for it to melt, then you WAIT for it to boil.
When the water finally gets hot enough your real coffee starts to percolate, or, if you're impatient like me, you pour the hot water into a cup of instant coffee. This whole scenario just to get that first cup of coffee takes up the first hour of your day!

This whole project happens over again if you leave your cabin long enough for the fire to burn out and allows the cabin to get cold.  So when you get home, you start from scratch with a new fire and there is no instant heat like with a thermostat electric or gas heat. It takes a long time for the wood stove to reheat the walls, floors, furniture and air inside the cabin. Patience is definitely in order there!

Cooking... Most rustic cabin living does not include microwaves!  There are no TV dinners, or store bought bread. A quick sandwich means going through step 1  then instead of heating coffee water you will either fry bread, bake biscuits, or begin a batch of sourdough yeast bread which adds a couple hours time to the chore to accommodate the bread "rising" before baking. As for meals, canned meats can really speed up the process as the meats are already pre-cooked and just need reheating, so I pressure can grouse, fish, venison etc. for various meals. Otherwise the meat has to be brought in and thawed out then sliced or ground up then fried, baked or boiled along with veggies, beans, potatoes, or rice until tender and soft. How long that takes depends on how hot your stove is. Often times baking a cake can take 2 or more hours if the oven temp is only 200* f. 

Laundry... well, that could take a long time just to type all that is involved but its already been well said by another blogger and she really hit the nail on the head.... check it out on her blog...SWEET HOME ALASKA (<=click)  http://remotealaska.blogspot.com/2010/06/doing-laundry.html

She says it so perfectly that she deserves full credit, and I couldnt have said it better! I do my laundry the same way except I wring out the clothes through a wringer attachment on my washing machine and hers spins them but takes time both ways, this job takes 2-3 hours and a little longer if you have to carry the water in 5 gallon pails any amount of distance.

If you want to take a shower or bath, you do not just "turn on" a faucet and jump in.  You have to follow step 1 above then fetch the water, heat the water  in quantities sufficient for the shower or bath which takes a couple of hours, "not super fast" like heating a pot of coffee water, but big pans and pots of water. It takes alot of wood to keep the fire going hot and steady, so there is the constant feeding of the stove in there as well!  Then you hook up whatever shower apparatus you have for your cabin, (there are many) either gravity fed which involves transferring the water from the stove to a container high above the shower unit, or a pressure sprayer then pump to pressurize, then shower some then pump some more etc etc., or the electric showers offered by Cabela's and similar stores, but that method involves having gas or solar or generator which must be turned on in addition to heating water... So, you see after all that work to get the shower ready, you are sweaty and definately in need of one!

One of the characteristics wilderness living will develop in you is PATIENCE! Some native tribes had wise elders who knew from long living this wilderness lifestyle that "IT TAKES AS LONG AS IT TAKES!" There is no hurrying in the wilderness. Hurrying causes carelessness which causes injury or death. The key to living in the wilderness is to live intentionally, with care and thought put into every action.

WILDERNESS LIVING - Getting AFFORDABLE Supplies! ~for frontier, mountain man, survival homesteads

Supplies and mail by dog team

     Wilderness living - getting affordable supplies!~for frontier, mountain man, survival homesteads.   One of the biggest struggles of the remote homestead and wilderness living is... getting supplies!

As seen in the pic above, before UPS our mail and supplies often came by dog sled team or snow machine, and still does in many outlying areas of Bush Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories etc. This method of getting supplies has a couple of significant issues, first, there are weight constraints on the teams and there is alot of time involved. Often summer supplies had to be ordered and delivered during the winter months while the snow is good, and that meant storing your supplies after they arrived in a cabin space already too small often times confining in the winter.  

I read about a fellow once who got into a spat with the dog team driver who delivered his mail to his wilderness cabin back in the 1904, I think.  After a good natured argument over getting supplies delivered, The cabin dweller, being a self proclaimed "wiseguy" and wanting to "get back at" his mailman ordered 20 giant boxes of "CORNFLAKES" cereal. The mailman had to deliver them because they were within the weight limitations, and the mailman cursed the guy up one side and down the other. The cabin dweller got a good chuckle out of it each time he got mail over the next couple of years, as he only got about 4 of his boxes at each delivery (because of the combined load of all the other supplies being delivered to other residents) and the mailman complained about having to store those "dang boxes" at his cabin until they could be delivered. .....Guess there's more than one way to get the last word! :)

Today, with mail and supply delivery by airplane, and with more roads by UPS, Mail Order is still THE EASIEST WAY to get your supplies. The advent of the INTERNET has made compiling supplies in a "one stop" shopping method about the easiest its ever been for the remote homesteader and wilderness living families. Satellite signal and cellular phone signals have also create ease of access to the internet for ordering supplies and goods through the mail. Take this blog and many others, focused on the experience of wilderness living, who have gathered together in one spot links to many of the companies/suppliers and "know how to" resources that help make wilderness  living in remote areas, or wilderness tripping simpler, easier, and more comfortable.  Many times supply runs to town for supplies or mail can only be done once a week or once a month, and in very remote locations, once a year.  So being able to order your goods online and knowing that they will be at the post office waiting for you when you arrive makes planning easier and the use of your time and resources for fetching them more efficient.  

It used to be that one went to the closest general store where goods were sold at huge markups by the proprietor and left the remote cabin dweller/homesteader with no choice but to pay exorbitantly inflated prices for his supplies.  One no longer has to resign himself or herself to that course. Mail/Internet order has created competition that keeps the cost of supplies low. The offering of "flat rate" boxes by the USPS also helps remote dwellers living in the wilderness by creating a way to have heavy objects delivered at a reasonable cost as well.

The internet has also opened up a wider variety or resources for the wilderness living population who wants a semi-modern lifestyle, linking the wilderness dweller with many new 12 volt items that can run on battery or solar and wind power. This has revolutionized the wilderness cabins, bringing many electrical tools and appliances that are perfect for solitary off grid dwellings. Many of these items are available through internet order as well. Another overlooked opportunity the internet and mail ordering  provides to the homesteader are returns, money back guarantees, replacement parts etc not commonly available at many outpost stores.

So when you plan your wilderness homestead or adventure take the time to really look around on the websites and blogs you visit because they are often put together by folks who are living that lifestyle and have a good idea of what you will need or want to make YOUR wilderness experience more enjoyable. You get the real deal. Not nonsense salesman suggestions, but experience  and practical suggestions. Such as; 

1. You'll need this...

2. You'll want that...

3. You'll wish you had purchased...

4. Shouldn't have bought the cheapest one...

5. Wish I would have got two of...

6. Wish I would've thought of.... Etc. 

Alot of us have been there and done that, so take a minute to look through all the resources on our sites and blogs, because there is probably something  you will find useful or interesting relating to cabin life.....
Cabin building, Dog sledding, book/stories/biographies of homesteaders and wilderness dwellers and wilderness lands like Alaska, Yukon, etc., wilderness based movies, food supplies, Gardening, useful tools, clothing, gear, hide tanning & leather supplies, Camp living supplies, tents, stoves , showers, water filters. There are also cabin supplies, wood stoves, fire starting equipment, matches, lighters, magnesium sticks, fire-starter sticks, wool & fleece rugs, footwear, Generators, chainsaws, Cooking on wood stoves, over fires etc., Home crafts like knitting,, crochet & sewing, Wood working and furniture building, Screws, glues, nails,Travel & hiking tools like GPS gear, Cameras and video cameras, journals, Snowshoes, knives, axes, hatchets etc. There are so many resources for mail order shopping, here are some we use;
1. Ebay
2. Amazon
3. Bailey's
4. Lehman's Homestead Supply
4. Alibris books
5. Google shopping
6. Janns netcraft
7. Cabelas

 (If I forgot something important jot me a comment with a heads up!  I love hearing from others!) I really want to help folks serious about getting into this lifestyle, with a real and tangible educated start. I want them to be successful and see how much the wilderness has to offer in enjoyable living! Another thing we found very helpful in planning our own cabin was the TINY HOMES SITES ...

www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/...tiny-houses.../index.html
tinyhouseco.com/

or "tiny houses" on google images

Tumbleweed Homes

We looked at alot of pictures and websites and it really helped us in figuring 

Out how to best used our space while using as few resources as possible.

Which really helped keep the costs down.

We are here to help others find a way of fulfilling and reaching their dreams and goals of enjoying a wilderness lifestyle and sometimes you just have to get started...maybe with a how to book, or maybe stock piling supplies while you are still working a "real job", or by making your partner feel secure by having supplies that make them feel safe and secure... Taking that first step can help get you on your way...

Get a book on "How to build a cabin", buy "Food Supplies", get comfortable bedding, waterproof goods, warm clothing and footwear, books with "Back to Basics" know how info. You'll feel alot better and more secure in taking the plunge! Move from your "armchair dreaming" to action. You don't have to go full force into this lifestyle, you can slowly gain these skills, by practicing in your own back yard, your own garden, learn how to use the equipment, take some short hikes, rent a canoe for the weekend, go camping etc. GET YOUR FEET WET..... Maybe we'll be neighbors one day...

     

Wilderness Dwellers

I think that there is one chord that binds together almost all remote homesteading and wilderness dwellers, and that is the overwhelming inborn desire for freedom and liberty!  It is within this ideal that we pursue solitude, space, and freedom from the constraints that are required by society. The regulation that is needed to manage masses of people in a concentrated area become burdensome to those wilderness dwellers who require a higher level of individual freedom. Freedom that they are not willing to sacrifice for the sake of comfort, convenience and ease. So, it is with the blessing of Liberty handed down to us by our forefathers that we take hold of those freedoms and venture into the wilderness or homesteading self sufficient lifestyles.  Wilderness dwellers trade overstuffed sofas for rocking chairs and stumps, we trade grocery store aisles for forest trails....and hope we have success in finding our groceries. We trade forced air heat for forest 'ere heat. We do have running water, it runs for miles in both directions and is a brisk jaunt from the cabin, hauling ones water is great exercise  in place of going to the gym.  We leave "flick of a switch" lighting for   "light a wick" lighting. (Lighting -or a lack thereof, is a significant change from urban to remote living). For the most part we give up our wheels in favor of feet, we go less distances, but go further in many directions in our lives. Another thing that is often overlooked but is a significant loss to some is the loss of social outlets, no more friday night football with the guys, no more shopping dates with the gals. However, after an extended period in the bush, you will find that your interactions with others are much more meaningful as you find you now have a wealth of new experiences to share and are not reduced to the petty gossip that is common to urban groups conversationally for a lack of something better to talk about. Wilderness dwellers gain in the benefits of physical, emotional and mental health in being in a natural environment that heals the soul, inspires the imagination, strengthens the mind & body.  It creates a never-ending bond between man and the wilderness that creates more desire to go further, do more, see whats around the next turn in the trail. So much so, that what once seemed like a "BIG wilderness" upon arriving begins to seem small and creates a new desire to expand your horizons as your inner being expands, nurtured by peace and solitude and reflection and growing. So, Remote and wilderness living dwellers obtain more individual freedoms, but it does come at the  cost, often times of personal comforts. Most would agree though, THAT ITS STILL A GOOD TRADE!       

                              

What Do you DO up there? Gearing up for FISHING at Our wilderness living homestead!!!

When discussing wilderness living, Alot of people ask, 
           "WHAT do you DO up there?" 

That was a question we too were asking before we were "Up there".  I think the thing that goes unsaid or maybe unnoticed by those who are "up there" is that we dont "DO"  things in the sense that urban dwellers do. When we were urbanly sequestered, we often "planned" our days to "do" this or "do" that, be it grocery shopping, retail shopping, mowing the yard, going out for dinner, seeing movies or other such happenings that are planned in day to day living in an urban environment. ...But, what does a person do when they live in a remote location where there are no shopping malls, no restaurants, no lawns, no bowling, etc?  Well, let's see...

When we arrived in our wilderness living remote location, we greeted alot of trees. We found ourselves standing on a large acreage parcel that was never developed in any way. It was a piece of raw land of towering trees, thick underbrush, swamp and wildlife galore.  We stood there with a chainsaw in hand and a gas can in the other and wondered, "where do we start?" It was quite overwhelming! Alot of green and nothing else besides mosquitoes and blue sky.

Since we had no place to stay we left for the nearest town and rented the cheapest motel room we could find to sleep for the first 2 nights. We could only afford 2 nights so had to have a building up in 3 days, ready to sleep in on the third night. It quickly became obvious, that cutting wood was going to be one of those things we "DO" up here.  My husband had brought along a small Alaskan chainsaw mill and got right to work cutting fallen trees into boards for the "cabin" we had set a small goal of an 8'x8' "cabin" 

that we would add onto in 8'x8' sections. Bears were a big worry since they weren't very shy, none of the wildlife was, as they rarely encountered humans in this location and didnt mind strolling into camp as usual. We wanted to get 4 walls and a door up as quickly as possible, worry about the roof later. :)
Little did we know the bears were the least of our troubles, the mosquitoes were going to be our biggest adversary!  Which brings me to one of the other things we "do", " we war against mosquitoes!" There's the smudge fire, the deet, the swatter, the screens (that are questionable in their usefulness as there are so many cracks in the rustic boards, doorways, and window frames that must all have "welcome signs" posted at each of the openings, which allow the little buggars to enter uninhibited!). 
                             
Another thing that makes it hard to narrow down what we "DO" is that you can't plan what you are going to "do". When you live remotely you invariably never have all the things you need to do a project. So you are constantly having to "make do", or figure out how to "do without". So much time is used up trying to compensate for a lack of needed tools, supplies, parts, daylight, sunshine, etc. So just the "doing" is what we "do".  EVERYTHING we do takes so much more time than in urban settings. In town, in a garage, your tools are all handy, along with electricity,  and the hardware store is just down the street. In a remote location though, Your husband, wife, or child, may be using your hammer just when you need it or have used it and left it "who knows where" and it might take an hour just to find the hammer! Likely you will bend over and grab a large hunk of branch or log to pound with, which will be effective, but will take longer (as usual) than using above mentioned hammer. In variably you will run out of nails or screws in the middle of a project (like the roof) and will require unforeseen trips to town many miles away, eating up precious daylight hours.

Another thing we "DO", is try to get everything done during daylight, since there is no electricity. Candle power or lumens take on new meaning when it is applied to real candles and not electric lighting. Trying to do detailed work in 4 or 6 candle power is challenging and time consuming!

When all the building is finally completed and the big fluffy flakes of snow start to gently fall from the sky, there is something else we "DO", we pour hot coffee from the pot on the woodstove, into our mugs, we prop up our weary feet under a quilt on the bed/sofa that we built with our own hands, We watch the flakes fall in a dizzying array of wonder and beauty, while soaking up the warm heat from the fire crackling in the stove and reflect on the satisfaction of all we have accomplished in the proceeding months. So these are some of the things we "DO" up here!

Getting to be time to think about tapping trees. As the weather warms during the day and freezes at night there is a brief window of time that the tree pushes sugar filled sap up from the roots to the top of the tree to create energy for the tree to bloom. It generally happens when the days are 35f degrees to 40f degrees  during the day, and when the nights fall below freezing 32f degrees. This is the ideal time to draw off sap to make Maple or Birch syrup or sugar.  After the nights warm to above freezing the tree will bloom and the sap will cease to flow adequately for syruping and the season ends. Here are some pics of trees we've tapped... 

We put out about 60-100 taps each spring.  Each tree gives about 15 gallons of sap in a good year.  It will take approximately 40-50 gallons of sap to boil down into 1 gallon of pure maple syrup. No sugar is added! All the sugar comes straight from the tree! *********************************     NATIVE AMERICANS have a legend .....that says that the maple tree used to give forth straight pure syrup right from the tree. But the men would all tap the trees and lay beneath them all day drinking the sweet candy syrup, and they got fat and lazy.  So the Great Spirit got angry and opened the tops off all the trees and filled them with water...And that is why men must now work to evaporate off 50 gallons of water to get 1 gallon of the sweet pure syrup!

When the sap comes from the tree it is clear as shown here...

When the sap is heated over the fires the sugars concentrate as evaporation of the water occurs... as the sugars begin to roast over the flames it turns golden just like marshmallows do when you roast them...

.... See how the sap that is roasting in the pan above is turning golden compared to the sap just warming in the pan to the left of it in the picture above?

Below is the finished syrup.  We keep the fires burning about 20 hours a day for about 2 weeks straight! We are really tired, literally exhausted by the end of the run.  We usually make about 15 -20 finished gallons of syrup about a year's supply for our family of 4.

With Syruping Season finished... We are moving on to FISHING SEASON!!!

The weather has been pretty cold, there is still about a foot of snow on the ground but there have been some intermittent warm days, and a few sprinkles so spring is about to SPRING, I hope!!! We are anxiously awaiting ICE OUT ...(but ITS STILL A FOOT DEEP) !

The kids and hubby have taken up the lure making hobby as of late to help assuage  the "fishin' itch".

They are in different stages of carving some wooden lures

as well as in the process of tying up some flies.

This isnt anything my husband or young sons have done before, nor have they any prior experience, and no one to give them instructions, so please forgive their learning curve, but I was impressed with their progress and cant wait to try them out myself. They have started quite a variety so far, poppers, lures and hope to use them for PIKE, WALLEYE, TROUT, PANFISH....These lures aren't Cabela's or Bass Pro, but they are our own made with our own hands that we hope will provide fun and food in the very near future! We'll keep you posted on how well they worked! They are proud of their first production! Its been a good time for dad and sons!