Woodsman from Virginia builds cabin

[Holly 0]

LOL!!!  When my cousins were that age, they wore their Spiderman or The Hulk pajama top every single day like a uniform!  My aunt had to wait until they were in the bathtub to grab their pajamas to wash them.   :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Woodsman 0]

Next time take something to put on that poor kids feet so he can take those boots off. Jeese :nono:

 

Well ya CANT take your boots off out here......unless you want them full of chiggers, ticks, or brown recluse..... I ask him if he wants to take anything else to wear but he always says no. If you notice in all his other pics he is ALWAYS wearin the same boots........he  LOVES those things, its a struggle just to get him to take them off in the house LOL

[Woodsman 0]

Well havent accomplished anything out there this week........was "Work around the house" week. Had to preasure wash the house and deck, yard work, and starting to sand the deck so it can be refinished. Will be out there tommorow though gettin back to work..........so will hopefully have more for you Friday when I come back into the office.

[Woodsman 0]

Well Ive gotten a ton of cinder block for the foundation.......my neighbor will be selling her house with me in the next week or two and she had palets of left over block that she needed hauled away, so I decided to just keep it and integrate it into the cabin. Will get pics today sometime.......

I started to cart the block in with the wheel barrow but I guess Im stronger than it cause I broke the axel on the damn thing!!!!!!!! So now that will be on hold untill I can get a new one.

Gettin logs has become a huge chore now that all the foliage is out......makes draggin those things a HUGE pain so I may wait to finnish up with that in the fall and work on gettin the foundation in in the mean time. We will see how things go............

[Swede 4]

Can you get a Quad in there Woods?

[Woodsman 0]

I could if I had one............just dont have one LOL

[Gandar 0]

Lovin' the pics Woods.  Keep em coming.  Wish I could do this myself.

[Woodsman 0]

Can anyone tell me what the plant is growing by the new fire pit????

 

Hint: Natural Navigation.........

[Woodsman 0]

Ok this is all being reposted and sorry I cant get it back in order........but oh well, you can deal with it

 

As of now I am in the process of cutting and striping the timber for the cabin along with clearing the site for construction. I have been only using hand tools with my SP8 Machette doing most of the work, other than that I have onlly used a hand saw and shovel.

 

This is a long term project, once the cabin is done I will be moving out there full time. Many people have "Left their lives behind" to go live in the woods for a year or so, but I will be incorporating my primitive living into my everyday life. I will still be going to work etc, but when the day is done I will be coming home to my cabin where EVERYTHING will either be made, grown, or caught by me and my son. The only man made item will be a wood stove for heating and cooking.

 

While I think alot of us have dreamed of "Running away" to the woods, I think this will show how easy it is to incorporate the life we dream of into the life we currently live. Hopefully this will inspire people to get off their butts and start "Living it" instead of "Dreaming it".

 

Ok here is some pics that I took yesturday........they arent in order so TOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!! :hugegrin:

 

 

Well there are some pics of my tools, Im using my SP8 for most of the work along with my hand saw. The sledge and wedges are for splitting the scrap bits of log.........Im no good with a big sledge, I never hit the wedge :ack: so I hacked off the handle and just use it as a hand tool....Now THATS a work out......When you have arms big enough to use that, THEN your doin something :thumbsup:

 

Also are some pics of my shelter that I stay in while Im out there along with the view from where my front porch will be.

 

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Ok here is some pics of what it looks like around the cabin site

 

 

Figured out the timer on my new camera, so I took all the pics.........

 

Ok so here was my weekend........

 

Started out by getting some trees down to prep

 

Some logs you can carry out

 

Some you have to drag

 

Once I get them back to the site its time to strip off the bark

 

Splitting some of the leftovers.........Ax handle broke so this is the ONLY way to go

 

This is NOT easy work

 

Time for LUNCH!!!!! Some wild grape leaves, sassafrass leaves, dandelion greens, and some tomatoes and carrots from home.......CANT FORGET THE RANCH DRESSING!!!!!!

 

Time to get the fire going

 

Been raining for 2 days though so I have to make my own tinder

 

Theres the coal

 

Now its goin

 

Then one of the neighbors stopped by

 

Im too tired to talk though, so Im just going to relax

 

Time to get dinner going

 

Doesnt get much better than this!!!!!!!!

 

Been a long day and its time for bed.

 

And who could ask for a better blanket (Was supposed to be stars but the pic didnt turn out)

 

I was PMed a VERY good question by one of the members that I would like to share as I thought it was VERY good!!!

 

The question was "Why are you cutting this tree so high from the ground?" There was more to it but I cant remember the specifics of it as It took me a while to type up the answer LOL. So here it is...............

 

Well the reason is because there was a huge bow at the base of the tree which would have been cut off anyway. When I come across something like this I will go back later when my chainsaw is fixed and take it off all the way to the ground.

 

All the trees in this pic werent taken down. I like to find stands like this to use for the cabin so that the canopy will remain fairly intact, this will also alow to help keep the scenery in the area fairly intact........so you dont look out in the woods and see a "Hole".

 

One thing also that I should probably include in my post as well is that for every tree I cut down I will be replanting once Im done. I keep acurate count of how many I use..........They will be replaced with fruit and nut trees. Here in Virginia, the laws state that once a plot of land has been cleared (For timber harvesting purposes, as this area was initially) you can only replant with a limited number of speicies, mainly loblolly pine.....so this leaves areas without its innitial abundance of veriety. So Im hoping to eventually reintroduce some of the trees that were once present in the area.

 

Also this isnt a "Run away for a year" endevor. Once my cabin is done I will be staying there permenently, so I want it as sound as possible, which only comes from using some of the larger trees. I do "Pick and choose" though, I have dragged a few from one end of the property simply so I wont strip an entire area. I also look at it from the stand point that any wood I would use to construct (wether store bought or taken from my property) will be bringing down a tree that would have otherwise been left untouched. The methods that I am using involve ME in the process, so that from start to finish my impact on the area is a personal mater. I dont just go to the hardware store and say "This one or that one", what I take from the forest will have a direct impact on me, not only in the construction of my cabin but for my enjoyment of the woods myself.

 

I think this maner in which Im doing things makes the process more "Pure" and takes out the impersonal commerciallism that invades so much of our lives today, and detatches us from the roll we play in nature and with it.

 

Well this project is deff not for everyone, too many people are out of shape and lack the motivation that skills of yesturday entailed. Todays society has just move too far from "The old ways" and it is quite sad to see how what was once common place a few years ago is now just a novelty to see on DVD, tv specials, and books. We like to pride ourselves on how far we have come, but how far have we reallly come????????? I will be warm and dry, feed, and clothed just as easily doing things "The old way" as I would be in todays modern world.

 

I think that things become more "Honest" when we involve ourselves more in our own lives. We see the fruits of our hard work directly and not through the clouded glasses of commercialism. We forget what it means to eat a tommatoe we have grown ourselves, planting the seed, watering and tending the garden with the anticipation of enjoying our accomplishment. Today we simply sit behind a desk detatched from the world around us while lost on the internet in a world of "Cyber adventure" watching others accomplish things we can only dream of doing.......instead of doing them for ourselves. Then we go home after spending 8 or more hours in a world of unatural light, depressed and stressed from doing something we hate, just to buy that same tommatoe.

 

Yet there does have to be a balance in todays world, we cannot engross ourselves completely in the world of yesturday and expect to survive in the world of today..........society will simply not alow it. We must include the distorted accomplishments of today in every aspect of our lives. The tools I am using were paid with the money earned in the world of Real Estate and "Big Buisness", the land had to be bought with the fruits of that same labor. We no longer live in a world joyfully deprived of the "Ownership" of mankind. You cant go out in the woods and just live if you dont own those woods...........the ways of wandering through life ejoying everything nature has provided has been fenced in by the world of "Ownership" and survey lines on a plat.

Even after you can aquire your own little world, you are still tied to the greater world around you........you still have taxes to pay and responsibilities to meet that can only be met by the things of today.

 

If I were to go and run away from it all, in every sence of the word, and live the life my son and I would enjoy more than anything else, I would be labled unfit and he would be dragged kicking and screaming back to this "Better" life of civilization. But have I provided him any less of a life? Have I deprived him of any need he may have to survive? Or have I just shown him a better way to live...........to work, eat, and survive in a life lacking in the stress of never knowing what he is truly working for? Of always knowing how his life ties into the other lives around him, the trees that house and shade him, the animals and plants that feed him?

 

Well unfortunatly most of us will never be able to be truly "Free" in todays society, and hopefully those who do, can appretiate what they have................

 

Ive ranted enough LOL

 

OK, so Im not done...........SUE ME!!!!!!!!

 

I think what started out for me to be my own escape to a world  more balanced with the limitations of today, has grown into something that I WANT to share, mabey to inspire those around me into participating more in their own lives.

 

I live a life most people only dream of, have done and seen things most people only dream of..........and I always hear "Your so lucky, I wish I could do that!!!" But its really not that hard.

 

Granted, you need the reasorces to start out, but even without them, you can still start even if only in a small way. We have forgoten how truly little we really need to survive..........we MUST have that credit card with the low introductory APR, we MUST have this kitchen/garage/truck all in one gaget for only 19.95 plus shipping and handling, we MUST have cheese on that with the large fry................or do we?

 

My time is free, so is the air in the sky and the ground at my feet even if only for the moment I walk across it.........

 

Its NOT that hard to become the main character of your own life, all you have to do..............is do it. Whatever "It" may be. Its about putting down the mouse, and closing out the screen, getting off your butt and creating the life YOU want to be a part of, if only for a short time.

 

There is NO way I will ever be able to live the life I want, but I can incorporate it more wholy into the life I MUST  live. When I leave the office I will be living MY life, not the lives of my clients tied and available to them 25hrs a day 8 days a week as some of us are. I will be enjoying life the way I want, not watching someone live that life on tv or on some forums somewhere depressing myself because I will never have it...................

 

Mabey its just me, but I think we are all ENTITLED to our own lives..................

 

EXCELENT post, thanks alot..........

 

You do bring up a very good point as well......... While this may be my dream, and my sons FOR NOW, he may come to find as he grows older, that his path leads him to a different place. As parents all we can really do is guide them as best we can down the path that we know, but alow them to see that there are other paths out there that are theirs to follow..............and to make sure that no matter what path they choose, the only one who can say if its right or wrong, is themselves.

 

Thanks again for the great comments.

 

I JUST GOT MY NEW SAW!!!!!!!!!!!  THANKS SWEDE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The pics arent in order.............deal with it LOL

 

 

 

 

 

Well C and I went out yesturday and spent the day doing clean up around the site...........cuttin scraps now that I have a GOOD saw to do it with Got a little "Help" from C to LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are takin a break

 

And heres a new toy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

WAR with Collins emergency Spounge Bob cards.....

 

Stokin the fire before bed

 

And then OUT not long after LOL

 

Had to run back in today.........got radioed home cause of a non workin water heater.. YEAAAAAAAAAA

 

Oh well, we will get back out there some time today.

 

 

Well here is the block that I trucked in this weekend

 

 

 

Here is some electrical cable that was in with the mix.......I wont need snare wire for a LONG time

 

 

 

Heres the broken cheepass wheelbarrow

 

 

 

The rest of these pics are of my camp site that I usually use when Collin and I head out. I used some of the block and all of the brick that I got to make a new fire pit..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some pics of the camper I brought in late last summer.........I use this to store extra gear. Its also Collins little play house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the path from the camp site to the cabin

 

 

 

Here is the view from the campsite........the boat and canoe, and some moonshine jugs I carried out of the woods. am going to clean these up and sell them, mabey use some

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[spetz 0]

Wow really cool woodsman looks like its comming along for you. When your done get a count of how many axes and saws you broke

[Turd 0]

Thats really cool Woodsman

 

 

eric

[Swede 4]

Wow really cool woodsman looks like its comming along for you. When your done get a count of how many axes and saws you broke

:woot: :rofl:

[Kentucky Bob 0]

:thumbup:  Great pics, Woods! Looking forward to seeing how the project progresses!

[rabbit 0]

Anything new on the cabin project?