How a MODERN MOUNTAINMAN can earn REAL MONEY while LIVING IN THE WILDERNESS IN A REMOTE CABIN!

How a modern mountain man can earn real money while living in the wilderness....

There are SO MANY scams out there that target the stay at home person with "easy ways to make money" and they really are scams!!! ... But let me share a few not so easy, but successful, ways we and others produced income even while living in the wilderness. If you have a vehicle and access to a road system it improves your opportunities for earning cash but is not necessary.

When you live a wilderness or homesteading lifestyle you yourself are an item in demand in and of yourself. You possess something that is already in demand by others...knowledge, experience and information. You have already succeeded at something they wish to dream of or pursue. They will pay you for that information. Many folks homesteading remote areas of Alaska (Alaska has several publishing companies just for writers in alaska about alaska) writing books is an option.
   A. http://www.alaska.edu/uapress/authors/   - Poetry Fiction Non-Fict
   B.http://www.borealbooks.org/                          - Literature & Art
   C.http://www.epicenterpress.com/                    - Non-Fiction
   D.http://esterrepublic.com/republichome.html  -Childrens books
   E.http://www.northshorepressalaska.com/      - Poetry

You don't have to be a professional writer, many journal style books are very popular because of the content rather than the style. Many Wilderness Living diaries have been published with great success over the decades. It is the experiences themselves that are entertaining, informative, and interesting.  Alot like soda pop, its not the container it comes in thats so appealing, its whats in the bottle that is interesting.

We also use a lot of firewood for "projects" that pay by piece a whole lot more than firewood does.  We found there is a big available niche for simple hand made rustic furniture. No not log beds either. Not legs and post made with electric tools. Simple legs made from a hunk of log rounded to peg ends with a hatchet. Put into a slab of wood and called a garden bench, end table, patio tea tables and other stools and the like. Something you can not buy in a store. (See our homesteading pics) Farmers markets, Fairs, tourist stores etc are good places to sell these items. We happen to have internet at our homestead (we generate our own electricity and have satellite internet), so we have had good luck marketing these things on Craigslist.com . Ps. That big 'ol stump will make nice wide table tops when slabbed, or as itself. The quality and longevity of usefulness of hand made solid wood furniture is not available in stores dealing in cheap imports. So your hand made items are in demand with little competition for quality. The public is hungry for "real" and "genuine" wood furniture. They are sick of plywood, chipboard and laminates.

We also make money from our food sources....
We make maple syrup and sugar for ourselves, but have been offered money many times for the syrup. Check out the maple syrup guys

Honey & comb, raised or from natural wild hives can also be sold. Although Wild hives are getting hard to find and bees are becoming endangered in many ares due to diseases brought into our country. Great care should be taken in not over harvesting the honey or too late into the season toward fall when the bees need the honey to survive the winter.

Jams sell at the farmers markets, and the fruits & berries are free for the taking along boat landings, public forests, along ditches etc. This includes; blueberries, huckleberries, black berries, red raspberries, blackberries, wild grapes, currants, cherries, dewberries, mulberries, elderberries, strawberries, autumn olive berries, apple & crabapple, rose hips and plums. Check local laws in your locale.

From our meat harvest we make money selling unedible parts like antler carvings, antler buttons, antler knife handles, antler coat hooks, antler knobs and cupboard handles, antler lamps, antler gun racks etc. We also sell the tanned hides, use the leather to make clothing, boots, gun sleeves, gloves & mittens etc. The fur from rabbit, fox, mink, skunk, coyote can be used to decorate many leather items, and as insulation for slippers, boots, gloves, etc. or the pelts can be sold on the internet (www.ebay.com , www.etsy.com ) or to local fur buyers. The skulls, teeth, claws, feathers, hooves and bones are also sellable.

We also enjoy auctions, book sales, flea markets, second hand stores where we often find resellable items for resale on ebay for profit. At book sales we have bought books for 50 cents that we sold on ebay for $260 or at yard sales we've picked up book sets for $15 that sold on ebay for $150. Popular name brand items purchased second hand almost always resell for a profit on ebay from companies like Cabelas, Ambercrombie, and USA MADE tool companies such as Stanley and Snap-on. Some folks still dont like or use the internet so garage sales are still great areas to find resale items.

We get paid for sawdust and wood chips -sold for gardening, animal pens and pathways (a left over by-product of our wood working and cutting wood for our wood stoves)

Boards and lumber can be sold that are cut with an Alaskan chainsaw mill (one can be purchased for about $165 at Baileys online) and all things buildable with lumber like dog houses, rabbit hutches, bird houses, butterfly houses, bat houses, porch furniture, trellises, arbors, fences, gates and more. 

Animals surplus offspring can be sold to purchase food for the animals you keep, such as selling the chicks to buy feed for your egg layers. It is nearly impossible at todays feed prices to make a profit on a homestead animal farm. You are privileged to "break even" when it comes to animals. Manure can sometimes be sold in the spring to organic gardeners if you are near a populous.

There are side jobs that are of a handy man/woman variety that can be done NOT on a regular basis that folks will pay you for such as; rototilling gardens for others in the spring, plowing snow from drives in winter, selling firewood, mowing lawns, housecleaning, farrier work on goats and horses. Leaf raking in the fall etc. Dont be shy, charge a fair price. ($30/hr) is what we generally make. If they wanted to do it themselves they wouldnt be asking you, and when a person does not want to do something they are willing to pay to not do it!  (equipment upkeep gas & oil etc come out of that $30/hr)

Never throw away anything metal! A truckload of old metal stuff...washing machines, dryers, grills, car parts, lawn mowers, refrigerators, wheel rims, old rakes and shovels, old rusty barrels, kitchen food tin cans, broken bikes, pots and pans, hangers,wire, door handles, coffee cans, anything metal, rusted or not... doesnt matter...about $250 a truck load right now. (prices vary due to season and locale)

Internet re-marketing, buying cheap in bulk or wholesale from one site and reselling individually on other sites like Ebay.com and Amazon.com.

Gunsmithing during the hunting season to hunters who are far away from home. Getting a license for this is not difficult. Word of mouth spreads quickly if you are honest and do good work. Guys that specialize in muzzle loaders have gotten overflow work from local gun shops during the seasonal rush.

There are traditionally feminine talents (and a few famous and not so famous men) who are talented in knitting and crocheting, pottery, weaving, spinning yarn, quilting, and painting that also pay well in specialty niches/markets. 

Gardening. Many small town and innercity groceries will pay for fresh produce organic or not. Usually you are paid by the pound and can find grocers who buy from you by making a simple phone call to the market or just showing up at their door with your produce. Cherry tomatoes, green beans, corn on the cob, green peppers, okra, melons, peaches, raspberries and blueberries are almost always sure sales. Expect $ per pound on small item, or by the piece for large items. The price is usually good since there is no middleman being paid.

Many of these activities involve "outings" which we also consider our "family entertainment", that produces money, rather than outings like movies,restaurants etc that "consume" money. These are the main ways we've known homesteaders to have made money through the years. Hopefully it will give you some ideas and be helpful in some way to you.

I'd love suggestions if any of you have had sure successes with other ideas, I'd love to hear about it!






 

Where to get wood for your WILDERNESS LIVING REMOTE or Country HOMESTEAD fires...

WHERE TO FIND YOUR WOOD SUPPLY for your homesteading needs...

The most convenient place to get wood is "on location". If you live on a wooded lot at least 10 acres in size you can select cut and maintain a healthy forest while still harvesting firewood. You will want to cut dead or fallen trees first. If dead or fallen trees are not available then you will want to choose trees that do not provide food to the local wildlife, such as; Ash, Maple, Aspen, Locus, Poplar, Ironwood, Elm, Sassafras, Pine, Birch among others. We recommend not cutting down trees that provide nuts or fruits to you or animals, unless the tree is damaged or diseased, as it is important to stop diseases from spreading and cutting becomes necessary. We try to avoid cutting Maple because we tap them in the spring which provides our family with enough syrup and sugar for our yearly needs.

Many remote homesteads are located on waterways, which conveniently bring wood to you in the way of drift wood. Particularly if you are on a rapid river, A SIGNIFICANT amount of wood may come to you....

 Breakup will bring whole trees down river as the ice grinds downstream.









or a large body of water such as the ocean or a bay.

 
If you are remote and plan to live there for many decades you may want to consider when you are young to get the dead timber from 5 to 8 miles away from your cabin and haul it in the winter on the snow. That way as you age you still have wood close to your dwelling when it is more difficult for you as you age. Many homesteaders do this backwards and end up having great difficulty in their senior years trying to get wood which is far away because all usable timber was used in prior years near the cabin site. Here is an example of deforestation of mature timber near a large homstead in AK.

The local lumber mill may have slat wood and scrap wood lumber ends available which usually can be taken for free or a nominal fee ($10-$30) per truck load which, of course, you usually have to load yourself. This is a real bargain though as a truckload is usually close to a rick and the wood is usually seasoned hardwoods such as; Oak, Maple, Walnut, and Cherry.

This wood would otherwise go to waste so this is a great way to recycle and save live trees you might otherwise needed to cut to meet your needs.

Talk to your local town or village maintenance or road commission to see about wood available after clean-up days or after storms. The city and county road commission generally have a local dumping site for wood that is removed and dumped at these times. It is also usually free for the taking with a permit from the city.

Throw away wooden pallets (usually hardwood) can sometimes be obtained for free to be cut up and used for firewood from local lawn & garden and equipment sales stores and dealerships. I don't recommend this option for those of you who plan to use the wood ash for other projects as it will contain nails from the burned pallets. You must also use caution not to cut into the nails with your chainsaw for obvious reasons.

Craigslist.com is a free website that offers a "free" category in which there can often be found folks who are offering for free, trees, brush or scrap lumber to be hauled away for use as firewood.

Local tree service companies may also be able to direct you to homeowners who want trees cut but can't afford to pay to have them removed, however private homeowners may desire that you be insured before cutting trees on their property.

The obvious place to look for wood is, of course, in the local newspaper. Wood is sold by the cord, rick, and truckload. A cord of wood when stacked measures a stack 4 ft wide - 4 ft tall - 8 ft long. A rick measures stacked 2 ft wide - 4 ft tall - 8 ft long. A truck load is a rick or less depending on the size of the truck. If you are receiving less than you are paying for and have a receipt you can call the local weights and measures office (the phone number can often be obtained off the local gas pump) and show them the stack you received and the receipt showing how much you purchased.

In rural areas you can expect to pay $30-$75/rick and $100-$180/cord. Soft wood and unseasoned or unsplit wood will be at the cheaper end with hardwood, seasoned and split wood at the higher end. Prices may also be higher in urban areas where wood may be less available. The benefit of buying wood this way is that it is often ready for use in the wood stove. Some folks who are selling the wood will also stack it for you as well.

To heat a 1000 sq ft home expect to use about 6 cords of wood per winter. A larger home 2000 sq ft should expect to use 6-10 cords of wood. If you choose to install a wood burning outdoor furnace expect to use considerably more wood - choosing the exact size for the sq ft of space you have to heat will help reduce wood use. Bigger is not necessarily better in this case. A outdoor wood furnace can use 8-15 cords per winter. The outdoor wood burning furnace is much safer and less messy but less efficient and versatile than the indoor wood burning stove.

Now, about those chainsaws.... 

CHAINSAWS & HOW TO USE THEM for homesteading needs...

Now if you are going GREEN then I want to take moment to mention that my wife and I as well as our boys have used "old fashioned" 2-person crosscut saws to cut firewood. This is not difficult if the saw is sharp and is both fun and invigorating as an activity for the two of you. If you start in the early fall it is not difficult to accumulate the necessary quantity needed for the winter.

CHAINSAW SELECTION:

Chainsaws are like cars, a good name brand is still your best bet since you will be using it alot! The cheaper brands now usually last only about 1 season of regular use. A good name brand saw should be able to be purchased used and have a good deal of life still in it. Look for brands such as McCulloch, Poulan, Homelite, these are light to medium duty saws, very economical and can get you by. They are also very popular and common making other saws easily available on the used market for parts and replacement. For heavy duty saws for everyday use or if you plan to cut wood to sell in addition to your own heating wood, you may want to look for brands such as; Husqvarna, Stihl or Solo.

If you decide you can not afford to buy a brand new saw and decide to look for a good used saw, here are a few helpful suggestions...

* Ask to hear the saw run AND see it cut 3 or 4 pieces of average sized firewood. (Some saws run well at an idle but are wore-out and stall or die when they are put into the wood because the compression is weak. A saw that does this either needs the fuel filter changed or is too used up to be of any good anymore).

* Check for wear on the nose (end of the bar) look for roundness, it should not have dips in it.

* Flip the saw upsidedown and look into the housing or casing where the chain goes in, the sprocket is there that drives the chain. The area should be clean (if the saw has been well-kept, and not full of caked sawdust etc) and the sprocket should not have medium or deep grooves where the chain runs. The grooves should be absent or light. It should not be seriously wore or grooved.

* The chain should be sharp to the touch, if it is not, it will need to be sharpened, if the cutting teeth have already been sharpened too many times the cutting teeth will be shorter than the guide teeth. If this is the case the chain will need to be replaced.

* Expect to pay 1/4 to 1/3 the cost of a new saw for a good used saw. You should also expect, and I recommend, to change the fuel line filter and the air filter, both very easy and will improve the performance of your saw immensely and keep it running well.

* For those of you with an alternative energy source such as solar or wind power, or if you have never used a chainsaw before... you may want to consider an electric chainsaw.

ELECTRIC CHAINSAWS

Electric chainsaws are for light to moderate use, is generally a secondary or back-up saw. These are a great way to learn to use a chainsaw as the come with safety features not usually found on economical gas powered chainsaws. They are not quite as powerful as a gas powered saw, but they get the job done. Both my wife and my sons learned how to use a chainsaw using an electric chainsaw first. It doesn't take long to gain the confidence you need to move on to bigger saws. Electric chainsaws are much lighter than their gas powered counterparts, they also shut off immediately when the trigger is released whereas the gas saw continues to idle after the release of the trigger and takes more time for the chain to stop moving. If you plan to purchase an electric chainsaw, you will be glad to know that they are reasonably priced even brand new, so I recommend buying the highest quality electric chainsaw you can afford. As I said earlier the electric chainsaw is an excellent choice for women, youth and small light framed men.

SAW MAINTENANCE

Proper maintenance of your saw is very important. With good maintenance your saw can last for years. You must keep it cleaned out of the accumulating sawdust and bar oil that collects near the sprocket. Be sure to grease the nose, fill your bar oil reservoir before each use, and remember to push the bar oil button to release oil onto the bar regularly during cutting. If you are using a gas saw, be sure to measure your oil and gas precisely to obtain the proper mixture...DO NOT guess! Make sure that you keep the mixed gas in your can clearly labeled as mixed gas, keep away from flame, and keep the gas free from debris such as sawdust, sand and dirt. Keep the nozzle of your gas can capped.Never cut all the way through the wood if it is laying on the ground, as your bar and chain will cut into the dirt which acts as a sandpaper on all of your parts ruining your saw. You should cut part way through then roll the log over to finish the cut or cut only logs that are on top of the pile to ensure against cutting into the dirt.

What's the differences between the 1800's Mountain man and his family and the 2017 mountain man and remote homestead?

  What's the differences between the 1800's mountain man and his family and the 2017 mountain man and remote homestead?

     We are privileged to be able to "CHOOSE" Wilderness living in the great north and this wonderful primitive lifestyle, but there are some significant differences today that make it a "wonderful" lifestyle compared to the 1800's.  I'd like to clarify what some of these differences are so that those who are seeking this lifestyle and are leaving "modern" life to try it can know what makes it so inviting compared to what they read in books from the 1800's. We like to see it as a kind of "sifting" gleaning the things that made the earlier era so inviting and leave behind the pulp/chaff of what made it so miserable. Likewise, we "sift" the 2000's and glean the best of  this modern age for the things that make living now inviting and leave the chaff or pulp of this modern age behind... Through this process you can create a life for yourself that captures the best of all your choices creating a life that is fulfilling, satisfying, and solid in character. Here's what we decided on....

What did we choose from 1800's?

CANDLE LIGHTING with MIRRORS,
 Since bees wax is a natural by-product of honey making and honey can be produced at home eliminating our need to purchase sugar. The bees pollinate the fruit & vegetables, part of our food supply, beeswax candles are an obvious choice, plus, we like to roast marshmallows over our natural beeswax candle flames! The mirrors are really important in maximizing the light. This is the style in our experience that gives the most light throughout a room. It can be found at the Daniel Boone Trading Post We have tried all kinds of candle lighting and this exact mirrored candle holder produced the light of 3 or more candles with just one candle. It produced comfortable reading quality light.

MAPLE SYRUPING, 
This too provides needed sugars for baking, coffee/tea/cereal sweeteners, etc.

WOOD HEAT & WOOD COOKSTOVE,
 Again we choose this to eliminate heating and cooking expenses, no gas or electric purchases. This one was made in 1888. It works just as good as it did the day it was made. I paid $400 for this one. The unique thing about this one is that it completely disassembles into back pack sized pieces, or a package the size of the oven door.These were the type commonly sold and transported to very rural or remote areas on horseback or by dogsled teams.

GOOSE DOWN BLANKETS/SLEEPING BAGS
these allow us to burn less or no wood at night, so no one has to get up to stoke the fires during the night. Make sure you get all down and not down & feathers as is sold 

SHEEP HIDE MOCCASINS 
Cabin floors get really cold in the winter!


HAND PUMP WATER
To eliminate the need for electricity in the summer, and water falls from the sky in the winter...FOR FREE! 

HANDMADE FURNITURE 
We create our furniture by hand from wood,antlers, tanned hides etc. Nearly cost free, attractive and materials are readily available on our property at our own time and desire, no store shopping required.

OLD BEDS were made with ropes like this one. Over time the ropes would stretch and get loose making it uncomfortable to sleep upon. Hense the "Good Night" wish to have a "good night and sleep tight!" It referred to "tight Ropes" as seen here.

TWO MAN BUCK SAW-SHARPENED PROPERLY AND TEETH SET PROPERLY
This saw is very efficient for 2 people and does produce firewood in stove lengths very quickly. We use ours as a back up saw.

HAND DRILLS
We prefer these for tapping trees and screwing in screws with no electric. Make sure you get one with a big chuck opening 1/2" to handle Big bits as well as small ones. Many only go 1/4" and then are not big enough to handle the bigger bits.

BOOKS 1800'S DIARIES, 1800'S ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF FORMULAS & HOW TO'S
These provide us with alot knowledge and information that help things go smoothly without electricity and with products naturally available in the environment. They include things like how to make tools for lifting heavy objects by yourself, how to make paint, glue,soaps - you name it...Its in there! . How to build without nails or screws, where to find food, how to trap etc. These books of this nature are indispensable on a homestead! You can read this book online by clicking on the book.

TANNED HIDES & LEATHER
Used for floor coverings, quiet gun slings/sleeves, bags, hot pads for handling hot pots and pans, used as trade or profit source, shoes and sandals, blade guards, gloves etc.

HUNTING&FISHING

This harvest fed 7 people for 1 year 

95% of our meat comes from natural harvest. A years worth of meat. Yes, we ate it all!

BERRY PICKING
Provides 95% or our fruits and fruit products, jams, syrups, juice etc come from home raised or woods picked fruits.

GARDENING & NATURAL GREENS

Narrow Leaf Plantain

This provides our organic vegetables, and we try to utilize as many natural occurring greens commonly called "weeds" in the urban environment but hold a lot of nutritive value, such as dandelion, common plantains narrow and broad leaf, lambs quarter, wild asparagus, clover flower and  chicory. These all make good salads. Chickory root can be roasted in the oven then ground for a coffee like drink. 

Lambs Quarter 

Broad leaf Plantain

COFFEE FROM THE HOMESTEAD - Coffee type drinks can be made by roasting wheat, barley, oats etc grains in your oven til golden, then add molasses. Makes a very serviceable coffee substitute.

MAULS,SPLITTING WEDGES,AXES,HATCHETS,MACHETES,HEAVY KNIVES
We use these extensively. They are used in wood fuel production for the stoves, furniture making that we use and sell. Wedges help split difficult knotty wood, and help fall trees in safe directions etc. Heavy steal knives are utility and used for cutting, prying, screw driving, you name it.

MUZZLELOADERS AND BLACK POWDER
Additional harvest seasons, black powder is easy to come by, readily available. Can be easily purchased from individual in most areas.

BOWS AND ARROWS
This is our favorite method of hunting, it is silent, highly effective, and can be produced mostly from natural materials. (The string is still most effective made from modern material)

HEIRLOOM SEEDS/VEGETABLES - The heirloom varieties are important because their seeds have been proven for decades or centuries and consistantly produce dependable fruits and you can collect seeds from your own plants. Open pollinated are the best choice because they are easily pollinated by many sources and produces many fruits.


What did we choose from the 2000's?

COMPUTER
Access to knowledge 1800's books and diaries at alibris, gutenberg.org free public domain ebooks, ability to earn $ at home such as ebay, craigslist, access to hard to find primitive living items lehman's. Community Support and encouragement from like minded individuals striving for the same goals or ideals against the pressures of a society that is prohibitive, through resources like Blogger youtube etc.

CHAINSAWS
This is a huge time and bodily energy saver! It is one of the inventions that surely helped extend man's life expectancy. 

GASOLINE & PROPANE
For running chainsaws, generator, wringer washer, camp stove in the summer, occasional lighting for special needs where brighter light is requisite. 

4X4 TRUCK
Hauling supplies, seeing friends or family far away, moving wood/logs

EMERGENCY BEACONS
These are special satellite signal beacons that can be activated in an emergency and your exact location is alerted to rescue services such as coast guard, state police and other search and rescue groups.

CELL PHONES 
These marvelous little devices are both good and bad. You can communicate with loved ones far away and can be used as a tracking device, can call for help if theres a signal and your battery isn't dead. These should NOT be relied on as a safety measure in remote areas.

RIFLES, REVOLVERS AND AMMUNITION
For safety from man & beast, and procuring meat supply. More durable, longer shooting range, more powerful and most ammunition can be reloaded.

THINSULATE BOOTS & GLOVES
Thinsulate has been a wonderful invention that is truly effective in keeping warm in cold environments. 1600 gram thinsulate boots are perfect for the northern U.S. Canada and Alaska

FLEECE
Fleece is similar to wool but lighter, an inbetween choice  between wool and down. It is soft on the skin and retains body heat well and dries quickly. Sherpa fleeces are most effective, but remember to turn the puffy side of the fleece inward toward your body heat to retain this heat. Many clothing manufacturers produce the garments with the fuzzy side facing out which is not as effective in retaining heat in seriously cold weather or exposure, so just remember to turn these garments inside out when spending long periods of time in extremely cold weather conditions.

POLYESTER AND NYLON
We've found these materials to be a huge improvement to items like rope, bow strings, anchor lines, tarps. These items can handle much heavier loads than their 1800's counterparts made from hemp, cotton etc.