ebbensmoke
Member
hands down to you my friend, this is seriously impressive, you dont see muany builds with this kind of blood, seat, and tears anymore. much respect to you. you need to spread your message
Living in the forest for the next two year's, aboriginal style. Is it unpractical to
- Thread starter Ganjaraggamuffin
- Start date
THENUMBER1022
Well-Known Member
doublejj
Well-Known Member
I would like to thank each of you for your kind words & thoughts. I appreciate every one.
I enjoy talking about the cabin, or even my 25 years in Folsom Prison. It's the Viet Nam experience that still haunts me.
I hope each of you gets (that should be makes) the chance to challange yourself in a real way. Things I learned from building that cabin have surved me well many times, over the years in life.
Too many people sit around and feel sorry for themselves & complain about their situation. Look in the mirror & tell that person what they need to hear.
Take ownership of yourself, your life, & everything around you, and you will be free from the control of others.
peace
doublejj
I enjoy talking about the cabin, or even my 25 years in Folsom Prison. It's the Viet Nam experience that still haunts me.
I hope each of you gets (that should be makes) the chance to challange yourself in a real way. Things I learned from building that cabin have surved me well many times, over the years in life.
Too many people sit around and feel sorry for themselves & complain about their situation. Look in the mirror & tell that person what they need to hear.
Take ownership of yourself, your life, & everything around you, and you will be free from the control of others.
peace
doublejj
BeantownBotany
Member
Double JJ,
You should definitely have an autobiography! Even if it's just on an internet forum, you should create something with pictures from throughout your life and tell your story. The pictures and tales about the cabin seem like just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows, maybe it could help you relive some of the great memories you have from your life that you've forgotten. Just my 2 cents.
You should definitely have an autobiography! Even if it's just on an internet forum, you should create something with pictures from throughout your life and tell your story. The pictures and tales about the cabin seem like just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows, maybe it could help you relive some of the great memories you have from your life that you've forgotten. Just my 2 cents.
THENUMBER1022
Well-Known Member
sounds like a fucking hollywood movie. 
robert 14617
Well-Known Member
where should we send the flowers and our condolences? too soon?
fatality
Well-Known Member
All I can say is thank you USA for procuring such a fine specimen such as this guy. I can honestly say I am now a little more mentally ill from reading that rant.....
ganjagrace
Member
I agree...Cody Lundin teaches 1 and2 week long classes in survival. You should do that first. Get some books on survival. Educate yourself and then go. Otherwise you won't be there long...make sure you can get back home ok! Take seeds. Forest compost tea and some animal poop can make some nice teas. Forget the pine needles, like the others said. Don't be another movie....Into The Wild sucked. Lesson learned, eh????
stonerman
Well-Known Member
WOW man. Those are some incredible pictures. I have always wanted to build my own log cabin and live off the land pioneer style. Did you have any previous carpentry experience in building a log cabin? That is a nice size cabin, what are the dimensions like 30 x 30 foot? You said that was build back in the early seventies, that was over forty years ago, Do you still own the land, is the cabin still standing? Some more info on how you lived would be greatly appreciated. Did you have to worry about paying for anything once the cabin was built? Insurances, land tax, etc? From the looks of those pictures, it looks like you have lived quite an amazing life.After a tour of duty in Viet Nam as a Combat Medic, I returned to a US that I didn't fit in. So I decided to go live off the land.
I was discharged from Ft Lewis Washington in 1970. I had inherited enough from my grandparents to buy 40 acres of forest land in NE Washington state. Right on the Canadian border. He are a few of the pictures I could find of the log cabin I built in the forest.
These pictures were taken in 1971-72-73.
Cut all the logs myself & peeled them. The was no electricity, 4 weel drive road 5miles to get there. I did haul in some milled lumber, but all of the logs came from the land. Built everything without a crane or any power equipment, all done with rigging & block&tackle. You can see it in the pictures. I did use a gas chain saw.
I thought I was 'Jeremiah Johnson'! lol!
Raised our own food, hogs, chickens, garden, wild game
You could buy all the private land in that county & you would only own 3%! It was 97% Colville National Forest & Colville Indian Reservation land.
You could walk from the cabin about 20 miles into Canada before you got to a road.
peace
doublejj
P.S. I'll post some comments between the pictures.
Peeling logs:
First layers of logs:
What a pair!lol!
If you look close you can see me at the lower left:
The creek about a mile behind the cabin had rainbow trout like this:
I case you thought I was a cowboy with 'all hat and no cattle'. Here's 'Rosie' our milk cow! lol!
Learned to hunt deer with a bow:
Caught this boy in the pig pen, (going after the hog feed actually), but the hogs didn't know that! 30/06!
doublejj
Well-Known Member
Thank you & good eye bro, yes 30'x30', with a 1/2 loft for a 2nd floor.
Only had to pay taxes, & they were like $45 a year. No insurance, I owned the land & the cabin.
We grew as much food as we could, & put in a big garden. Got a milk cow & made butter, ice cream, cheese. Bartered & traded with neighbors for most other things. Had pigs, & a few chickens. Fished & hunted.
We lived in the cabin for the first 2 years & then moved to Seattle so my wife could finish nursing school, & I would go back & work on the cabin on vacations for about 8 years. Then we moved back there for about 2 years in 1980,81.
Then we moved to Northern California & someone made me an offer.
peace
doublejj
Only had to pay taxes, & they were like $45 a year. No insurance, I owned the land & the cabin.
We grew as much food as we could, & put in a big garden. Got a milk cow & made butter, ice cream, cheese. Bartered & traded with neighbors for most other things. Had pigs, & a few chickens. Fished & hunted.
We lived in the cabin for the first 2 years & then moved to Seattle so my wife could finish nursing school, & I would go back & work on the cabin on vacations for about 8 years. Then we moved back there for about 2 years in 1980,81.
Then we moved to Northern California & someone made me an offer.
peace
doublejj
ganjagrace
Member
VERY NICE DBLJJ....!! Looks like lodgepole pine. Very straight. 6-7"? Sounds like my life, too. Except for the bear. I haven't shot a bear. Eaten bear enchiladas and tamales....but didn't do the shootin'. Lived on the land (Montgomery Creek and here). I don't raise pigs anymore or barter with the neighbors anymore. That was more up in the woods of M.Creek. Here I'm really not far enough out in the woods/country where people are really into the barter thing like we all used to up in the Cascades there. Making ice cream from fresh Jersey milk, yogurt and keefer. Putting up all the food from my gardens. Raising pigs and having the best pork chops, sausage, hams, and bacon!! Crazy chickens with the BEST dark dark orange yolks in their eggs. Hanging the clothes and sheets out on the line in the breeze while the boys played batman and ninja turtles, the cats laying around and the big dog keeping watch over us all. Gun close by for unwanted visitors...and bears/mountain lions. Best years of my life... And we grew the best purple kush in the blackberries...layed them down...man, they got big! Just a couple plants for ourselves. 
)
)
mountaingarden
Well-Known Member
Growing up in E.WA, my absolute favorite memories come from a friend's subsistence cattle ranch on the Res. Open range, over the top of a mountain. Rode round ups, calving, branding, and sledding days on logging roads (early 60's) that are still memories very close to the surface. They sold what was marketable, and ate the rest, so I learned not to ask what I was eating. It was always delicious, but often offal. Scooped cream off the gallon jug of fresh milk into coffee we were never allowed at home!
Remember riding round ups up in the hills and being so tired I could barely stand up when I got out of the saddle. Chasing cows is such a great tired.
Subsistence living....so worth the work.
Black Uhuru
Member
Damn JJ seeing your pics only one thing comes to mind. Your a real life Lumberjack Commando. Something of legend manifested in the flesh lol. Seeing your pics reminds of my yearly trips to the adirondacks in the northeast.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
I was lucky to have good neighbors up there.
Our closest neighbor was a guy my age and had just inherited a large cattle ranch, 18,000 acres. I think he ran 400 head of cattle.
He would come up and help me build on the cabin when ever he could spare the time, we both learned a lot from each other & he wanted to build a log cabin on his property.
I would go help him with marking & branding of cattle & bucking hay bales, when he needed it. He had about 200 acres in alfafa.
I would trade him 1 fat hog, for a side of beef
peace
doublejj
Our closest neighbor was a guy my age and had just inherited a large cattle ranch, 18,000 acres. I think he ran 400 head of cattle.
He would come up and help me build on the cabin when ever he could spare the time, we both learned a lot from each other & he wanted to build a log cabin on his property.
I would go help him with marking & branding of cattle & bucking hay bales, when he needed it. He had about 200 acres in alfafa.
I would trade him 1 fat hog, for a side of beef
peace
doublejj
mountaingarden
Well-Known Member
Doublejj, have you heard about the film "Back to the Garden"? Guy started a documentary about the "hippies" in the North Okanogan 20+ years ago (mostly Mt. Hull), shelved it, and then went back a couple years ago and looked up the folks he'd interviewed back then. Great DVD. It's available on line, but I have a copy and happy to post it to you. Brought back lots of nice memories. cheers, mg
PS If your closest neighbor was your age, mine, too. A Lesamiz or Fancher by any chance?
Creeper38
Well-Known Member
When I read through this thread it reminded me of this documentary I watched on PBS called "Alone in the Wilderness". Here is a link to Part 1 on Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss Obviously, the rest are on there too.
This guy (as well as doublejj) are amazing. You feel like such a tool after watching what this guy accomplishes in just one day, let alone a season. Says something about are ultra-convienent lifestyles...
Bravo to you doublejj... you have a strong will.
This guy (as well as doublejj) are amazing. You feel like such a tool after watching what this guy accomplishes in just one day, let alone a season. Says something about are ultra-convienent lifestyles...
Bravo to you doublejj... you have a strong will.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
His name was Boyco, his family owned the ranch for several generationsDoublejj, have you heard about the film "Back to the Garden"? Guy started a documentary about the "hippies" in the North Okanogan 20+ years ago (mostly Mt. Hull), shelved it, and then went back a couple years ago and looked up the folks he'd interviewed back then. Great DVD. It's available on line, but I have a copy and happy to post it to you. Brought back lots of nice memories. cheers, mg
PS If your closest neighbor was your age, mine, too. A Lesamiz or Fancher by any chance?
peace
doublejj
mountaingarden
Well-Known Member
There were many wonderful old ranch families up in that area. Just thought it would be funny if we had another 3 degrees deal!
Here's a link to the Back to the Garden dvd. When I googled it, there were a couple YouTube clips as well. Nearly positive it would make you and your wife smile and reminiscence.
http://www.backtothegardenfilm.com/review.html