Busy week at the log cabin in the forest as I rush to cut enough firewood to heat the cabin for the winter, add more moss between the logs in the walls, build a new door, build the framing for the floors and install a 2”x6” pine wood plank floor. For the floor boards, I used the same technique as the roof – shou sugi ban, a Japanese wood preservation technique. In the floor, I construct a wood box set into the ground with concrete base, and will insulate it and the entire floor with sawdust next week. With most of the chinking done, the cabin gets up above 20 degrees Celsius with the fire burning.
This week, a deer gets into my hay bale archery target, spending three nights eating it. With all of snow, the deer are starting to move to their winter deer yards, so I’ll know soon if any are going to stick around for the winter. The snow comes and goes at this time of year – 4” of snow on the ground one day and next to nothing a few days later.
I talk more than usual in this video, first explaining why I’m building this cabin and simplifying my life, how much you need to have saved in order to retire and how much this lifestyle costs. Near the end of the video, I talk about Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and our penchant for spending money on too many possessions. I compare our modern habits to laws of nature, and why I believe we will never get our bad habits under control.
Of course, I cook at least one meal in the cast iron pan on the fire, eating prime rib roast two days in a row.

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My Self reliance, shawn james, winter camping, Bushcraft, Woodcraft, Survival, Primitive skills, Nature, EDC, Preparedness, Homesteading, Homestead, Camping, Fire, Self Reliance, Self Sufficiency, Living Off The Land, Off The Grid, Primitive Shelters, Feathersticks, Campfire, Campfire Cooking, Fjallraven, outdoors