OFF GRID WATER at the LOG CABIN

Description

Where do I get my drinking, cooking and cleaning water from? Do I plant trees to replace the trees that I cut down? How I changed my life one step at a time.

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Playlist Links

Building the Forest Kitchen: https://bit.ly/2GSjkJa

Log Cabin Build Step by Step Playlist: https://bit.ly/2LttALh

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Links to gear used at the cabin:

Fjallraven Vidda Pro Pants - https://amzn.to/2rhEiMn

Tilley Endurables Airflo Hat - https://amzn.to/2Ia4xy1

Apeman Trail Camera - https://amzn.to/2HRZSNT

Cabelas Trail Camera - https://www.cabelas.ca/product/86944/cabelas-outfitter-14mp-ir-hd-trail-camera

Mora Knife - http://amzn.to/2BOiv35

Agawa Canyon Boreal 21 Saw - http://amzn.to/2BPV6OF

Axe - http://www.torontoblacksmith.com/

Eagle Claw® Multi-Purpose Jet Sled - https://www.cabelas.ca/product/34435

Moka Pot - http://amzn.to/2DEomvO Canada http://amzn.to/2ndmtw6 USA

Virtus Knife- http://www.virtusknives.com/

Canon 6D - http://amzn.to/2EdaZjs

DJI Mavic Pro - http://amzn.to/2DHuJib

Solar LED light bulb 15W - http://amzn.to/2BQvSQ2

Copper Fairy lights - http://amzn.to/2BCmF0X

Solar String Lights - http://amzn.to/2DvgU2n

Lodge Dutch Oven - http://amzn.to/2kHuxDQ

Bragg’s Sprinkle - http://amzn.to/2EdouzK

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My Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 20042

Barrie, Ontario

L4M 6E9

Canada

#cabin #offgrid #shelter

Tags: Self Reliance,off grid,log cabin,off grid water,living off the grid,forest,cabin,tiny home,My Self Reliance,water,questions and answers,tree planting,water well,shawn james,questions,answers,family friendly,homestead,woodworking,woods,wilderness

Video Transcription

- Hey, everybody, Shawn James here from My Self Reliance. Welcome to the cabin. (birds chirping)

What a perfect, perfect week to be outdoors. And when I say outdoors, I don't mean building. So I am going to take a week off from working on the cabin or the outdoor kitchen, and I'm going to just spend more time with my family this week, enjoying the outdoors, and I have a fishing trip that's gonna last a few days with three of my friends, so, hopefully, we're gonna get into some trout and see some moose, see some other wildlife and just have a good time enjoying this beautiful, beautiful weather that we have right now. And I'm gonna try to find a good balance of work and play during this summer. I mean, the whole reason I'm doing this, the whole reason I'm building this lifestyle is so I can spend more time outdoors, more time with family instead of working. (water sploshing)

So I'm at that point in the year already. It's mid-June, early to mid-June, and the water levels are startin' to drop already, so the stream is quite low as you can see. That cycles, it goes up and down depending on the time of year and the precipitation levels. So in the spring, when the snow is melting, it's quite full, and if we get even a few days of rain it fills back up again and flows pretty good 'cause the headwaters are on this property at the upper pond, the water flows down through the stream, comes around the north side of the property behind the cabin, and that's where I draw my water from. Now, there is a deep hole there still, so I can get the water, but it's startin' to become a little bit stagnant. So when that happens, we installed this dug well last year. Have not hooked it up yet 'cause I haven't had to use it 'cause last year we had so much rain. I've only been here a year, right? So there's enough rain that it kept that stream filled. And then in the winter, of course, I'm melting snow and ice, so I find that easier than coming down and trying to get the pump working or drawing from the stream, even. So I'll hook this thing up in the next few days or maybe next week sometime when I'm definitely at the point where I don't want to draw that water from the stream any longer. So, then I'll show you how I'm going to hook this thing back up. I can see, looking down through the hole, that the water level is almost right to ground level and this is about seven feet deep. And I will have to boil the water because it is basically collecting through a lot of surface area, and as you can see, there's moose droppings right here beside the well and lots of deer droppings in behind here, so it's fairly filtered as it comes through the gravel, but I don't trust it, so I will be boiling it. Now, one of things we look for when we're lookin' for properties is, ideally, three sources of water. And essentially, that's what we have with the snow and ice, the stream, and then this well. And then we can also collect rainwater from the roof of the cabin and the outdoor kitchen and then the future buildings as well. So lots of sources of water. That's something in Ontario we never have to worry about. There's 250,000 lakes over 25 acres in size in this province alone. If you were to take an aerial view of most of this section of Ontario, you would see there's actually almost more water than there is land, so no fear of water shortage. (birds chirping) (water sploshing) Want to go back to the cabin? Let's go to the cabin. Just to put it in perspective, so this footprint right here, you can see sort of a trench all the way around. That was the foundation that I dug last April, I guess it was. Here's some clips from that. That was my first video, I think, from this property, first, the beginning of the construction of the cabin. This is where I thought it was going to be. The snow had just melted, and what I didn't realize was that this is bit of a drainage ditch through here, a drainage basin coming down from the higher ground down through this and into the stream below. So what was happening is I did this trench 'cause I was gonna fill it up with rocks and boulders in order to build the cabin on top of that, and it ended up filling with water. The next time I put a shovel in the ground, it was bubbling up and then just flooded right in here. But, look at the trees and everything that have grown up here since I did that last spring. Basically, maple, sugar maple, I got a balsam fir and yellow pine, so the whole spot is going to be just as thick a forest, in fact, these young saplings and everything, the moose will be probably coming in here through here this winter and browsing that all off. (birds chirping)

Now, when you look at the time that it's been taking me to build this cabin and the forest kitchen, and knowing how much I still have left to do with other projects here before the place is really livable for more than just myself. So if you consider when I started this cabin, which was about this time last year. Well, actually it was April last year when I started clearing the ground. So in the past, when I was younger, when I was a lot more impatient, that time would really bother me. I'd be thinking, you know, I just need to get this thing done. Let's use power equipment. Let's bring in more people to give me a hand. And it's a real daily reminder that when we want something in life, we shouldn't expect to get it, but we do need to take steps each and every day to work towards that goal, that dream. And I'd mentioned in other videos that today's the day to start, and don't let any day go by where you haven't done something to work towards that goal. It's so important to remember that time passes anyway, whether you do something, whether you don't, so before you know it, you know, five years has passed in your life and you postponed doing that thing that you wanted to do with your life because you thought I can't do it right now. I'm just going to continue doing what I'm doing and hope things change for the better. But, like I said, time passes whether you're working on your dreams or not, so you may as well be working on them. So if you're looking for a new job or looking for a new career, you're unsatisfied in the one you're in, don't quit that job and just go out and try to find another one doing what you want to do because, first of all, that job might not pay as well, and second of all, you have your responsibilities that continue whether you're working or not. So you need to start, you know, increasing your value, educating yourself in this new field that you want to enter or have a part time job or start a part time business or, at least, do all the research and start accumulating the resources that you need to do that new business or to take that new job. And you'll find that that sacrifice that you make short term benefits you so much in the long term that it's more than worth the sacrifice, that it's more than worth the investment. The payoff is that much greater than the sum of the investment. And the reason I'm saying that in reference to what I'm doing here is that, you know, if I hadn't started this cabin, you know, there was a figment in my mind, in my imagination, of building this cabin, and it was February, 2017 where I said I'm gonna build this cabin for free, and I'm gonna find some place to do it. Didn't own a property at the time. Didn't have the natural resources, like the wood and all that kinda stuff. Didn't even have most of the tools that I needed, but it was one step at a time, so once that idea started forming in my mind, I went out, bought a couple of tools. I contacted some people, found some places that I could build this cabin. That led to, one thing led to another. My wife got involved, and she started getting fueled by my passion to make this change, and before we knew it, before I knew it, she was searching for properties and found this property after many, many properties that we had passed over and bought this thing, and then I took that next step. Got the logs, got the material, spent the time, made the sacrifices personally. But if I hadn't taken each of those individual steps towards that, it wasn't going to just happen one day for me. I wasn't just all of a sudden going to own a piece of property or have a job or win a lottery or get an inheritance that allows me to have the money to do that. I had to formulate a plan to go after that with the specific intent to change my life. Don't wait for major events to happen. And that's what I have to do and remind myself to do every day, is to take steps every single day towards the life that I want to have. Not just this cabin, not just a simple life, but family, friends, health, employment, retirement planning. All of these things are things that I have formulated into a plan in my head, a goal, a dream life and a fulfilling life, and that's what I take steps towards every single day. (water sploshing)

(Cali splashing)

So thanks for your patience on this video. It is a short one. Hope you enjoyed this video anyway, and I look forward to seeing you up here at the cabin and the forest kitchen next week. Take care, have a great week. (birds chirping and singing) (water sploshing)