Bushcraft carving of a new handle for the door, cooking bear roast on a cast iron skillet, cold weather clothing to protect my face, my health issues and how I need to change my diet immediately, why I still need to earn money to pay for this lifestyle, why I need to stay active now that I’m 47, memories not regrets, Cali my dog hanging out with me in the cabin. And, I RAMBLE ON MUCH MORE THAN USUAL after the first 10 minutes.
The front door of the log cabin needs some work, including a new door handle for the inside and the outside. From this part of the build forward, I’m trying to use more rustic wood material from the surrounding forest rather than milled lumber. For the door handle, I make dowelling, bushcraft style, out of yellow birch and the door handles out of sugar maple. It’s basically like carving feathersticks or a spindle for a bow drill fire set, but it has to be uniform in thickness to fit in the hole through the wood door and the door handles. I’m not exactly a carpenter, but this type of woodworking is really enjoyable and I’m looking forward to doing a lot more rustic, green woodworking. – log chairs, tables, a ladder to the loft of the off grid home and more. The log cabin is a lot cheaper this way, and I’m convinced once again that I could have built this cabin for free if I had more time, and definitely if I had help instead of building it alone.
For dinner, I cook bear roast on the cast iron frying pan over the wood stove fire, along with pan roasted vegetables. Cali, my golden retriever, begs for her share – she’s a good dog generally, but begging is one of the poor habits that we can take the blame for.
I forgot to talk about face protection in my “dressing for cold weather” video earlier in the week, so I fill in the gap by talking about my balaclava, buff, face cream, silk gloves and my Thrunight headlamp.
At dinner time, while eating alone at the wood dining table lit by lantern light, I talk about the health issues I have developed and what I’m doing to clear them up as soon as possible. I found out this week that my blood pressure is high and it is a reminder that I have been letting my diet slip.
At the beginning of this video, my wife was actually at the log cabin with me and Cali, but she left after helping to decorate the cabin with some interior finishes, such as some dishes, caribou, rabbit and deer furs and a set of string lights for the sleeping loft.
With Cali sleeping on her own mattress on the main floor in front of the fire, I slept upstairs on a foam mattress, covered in furs and a Cabelas sleeping bag.
In My Self Reflections, I talk about resolutions and goals for this year, as well as why I built the cabin, why simple living and off grid, cheap living is better than modern society and our addiction to material wealth, and why it’s important at middle age (I’m 48 this year) to stay active and continue to create memories rather than regrets.
A few more drone clips of the cabin and the surrounding forest show how much snow is on the log cabin roof and in the bush, and how the smoke rises out of the chimney.

Lighting used:
Copper Fairy Lights in Loft http://amzn.to/2BCmF0X
Solar String Lights http://amzn.to/2DvgU2n
Solar LED light bulb http://amzn.to/2BQvSQ2

Clean Burning Lamp Oil: http://amzn.to/2qz0nZ1

To see what I’m up to during the rest of the week, please follow me on my other online channels;

Website: http://myselfreliance.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MySelfReliance/
Personal Facebook Page (Shawn James) – https://www.facebook.com/shawn.james.msr
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/myselfreliance/

source