21 Days Alone in the Northern Wilderness

Hello friends! I'm Max and you're watching a video about my fifth year of developing a small log cabin camp away from people and roads in Karelia in the previous episodes you might have seen how I was building my off-grid cabin from a typically large logs of about 40 cm (16 inches) in diameter it is obvious it would have been easier and faster to build a cabin using medium sized logs but I decided not to cut a single live tree rather I used the available century-old pines downed by a severe storm a few years back in comparison to traditional sized logs of 20cm diameter these 40 cm logs are four times heavier initially I had no plans to build a log cabin but I couldn't just look at this high grade construction lumber rotting and infecting young pines with pests and diseases this post-apocalyptic scenery influenced me to pick up an axe and save at least some of the downed pine logs while clearing space for new trees besides building the cabin I entertained myself with other bushcraft projects this season I did some gastronomical experiments with a vertical grill and built another tarp hanger that is a lot larger than my old stretch film dome storage I also modernized my swimming pond by raising its water level and carving granite steps to replace my aging step-down ladder as well as reinforced my bushcraft kayak before making a long voyage along the cascade of small local lakes now I have my own fleet hidden on the right side of the remote forest also a cut slabs for my cabin's back door and experimented with baking a spiral potato even though I was baking it on a traditional horizontal grill the result was very satisfying I also fished a lot and cooked fish such as this pike using a Polish recipe I improved my earth oven and learned to bake hearth bread an excellent bushcraft food that is delicious easy to make and has a long shelf life in order to make hearth bread I had to make an irregularly shaped wooden door and seal the gaps between the rocks with clay this small time investment paid off though it is such a pleasure to sit at my pond and eat a freshly baked loaf of bread in the middle of nowhere another project I made this summer was this shaving horse such contraption was widely used by barrel makers and carpenters in the past you might have seen why I decided to make a shaving horse in the previous video even though I spent almost two days to complete it I never regretted the time loss it saved me time with my carpentry projects later making the whole process safer for example it would have taken me two to three times longer to make this traditional pot holder without a shaving horse I made this bushcraft tar distillery to produce tar and rosin and used rosin to adhere legs onto this primitive cutting board as you can see a lot of my projects interconnect with each other but the main reason I made tar and rosing is for building a traditional Viking boat I need tar and rosin for its waterproofing I carved a primitive cooking mortar for my culinary experiments I saw these traditional wooden mortars during my trip to Tanzania next season I'm planning to make a mini-mill powered by a water wheel in the meantime a good old cooking mortar and pestle will do in other words there were a lot of interesting adventures and projects during my three-week stay at the log cabin but in this video I will focus on the first week of my vacation as usual everything started with the delivery of supplies from my boat to the campsite that is further inland this year I brought a lot of gear and other needed supplies if I didn't cut out a trail through hundreds of downed trees a few years back I wouldn't be able to bring heavy equipments to my camp my new custom-made modular backpack made the moving process much easier this year I got a new 3,000 watt generator to replace the one that broke last season if it wasn't for my friend who came to my rescue with the temporary replacement generator I wouldn't have those drone shots you saw earlier I made four trips to my boat and back which got me pretty hungry so it is time to start cooking at the beginning of an expedition it is best to cook the most perishable products first in my case those were eggplants and marinated meat that I just brought from the boat I decided to cook them using a vertical grill method which you might have seen in one of my previous videos this one is an expanded version where you can grill multiple skewered dishes at once I'm sure many people will say that skinning egg plants is not the way to go aesthetically here is my reasoning because I will be vertically grilling I can mix the taste of eggplants and meat by positioning the meat on the top of a skewer this way the sizzling fat will run down enhancing the eggplants' taste along with the smoke of the charcoal this is why I peeled added diagonal cuts and rubbed olive oil onto the eggplants I was so hungry that I even added a couple of skewered hotdogs to the grill friends, check this out you can ignite smoke I think it's called pyrolysis as you can see my vertical grill is quite mobile and you can easily move it to a different location even while it is burning which is a pretty convenient feature to the vertical grilling method these homemade metal log dogs came in handy even though I usually use them for carpentry work another advantage of vertical drilling is that the fat doesn't drip on the hot charcoals which would produce toxins while burning so even health-oreinted people don't have to give up delicious food cooked on the open fire my vertically grilled dishes don't have any smell of burned fat or toxins but rather smell of pure charcoal smoke friends it is a pity the video can't give you any taste or smell samples I would love to share the taste of it with each of you if you watched my previous videos you probably know that I brought and planted hundreds of deciduous trees and bushes around my log cabin camp most of them are growing in two nurseries not far from the cabin it is important to help them survive during the first years in our harsh northern climate as it often happens you can do two different tasks at once during my long absence the bottom of my pond accumulated a lot of organic sludge which is an excellent natural fertilizer for my saplings I needed to clean the pond anyway but throwing away organic fertilizer would be remorsefully wasteful so I decided to allocate a spot for its composting I weeded the saplings first luckily you can easily make out rare and exotic trees from native plants then I laid out a layer of weeds on the ground for my improvised composter on which I dumped the sludge I will use most of it next year when it turns into dark soil meanwhile I used my last summer's stash of organic sludge to fertilize my trees and bushes the dried organic sludge collected from the bottom of lakes or ponds looks very similar to peat but it is by far more valuable as a fertilizer while carrying this water saturated sludge I came to a conclusion that my dam works as a filter separating and accumulating this sludge coming from the forest lake into the pond to prevent it from happening in the future I will have to add an overflow water pipe to my dam but I will do it a bit later as it is time to change the activity I scythed the grass and removed some sod and soil to create a granite embarkment in Karelia anywhere you stick a shovel into the ground you will hit a granite plate I'm going to carve out steps into the granite embarkment to replace my aging wooden step-down ladder I cut the sod on one side of the pond and moved it to the dam to reinforce it and to raise the pond's water level note all my pond cleaning activities resulted in clogging the dam and raising the water level in it the first step of my ladder is already submerged under water meanwhile the fresh sludge has dried out a bit and I'm going to use a portion of it for tree planting now this year I brought saplings of black walnut northern catalpa and heart walnut trees the heart walnut saplings were a gift from one of my subscribers in about 20 years there will be a beautiful alley of walnut and northern catalpa trees leading to the log cabin I hope to see it then Okay I'm done with all urgent tasks and now it's time for some fun I decided to entertain myself by making an overflow valve in my dam the valve will help me to quickly raise the water level in my pond as needed next year I'm planning to build a waterwheel and a mini mill on the other hand when I leave my camp I can leave it open preventing the dam from working as a sludge filter just letting it all float downstream I avoided using green wood on purpose because it will swallow and can even crack the pipe this is why I made the plug from a semi-rotted aspen branch my new bi-metal bearded axe helped to achieve a perfect fit if you want to see how it was forged from a tie plate and an old metal file I will leave a link below besides the axe making process the video has beautiful nature footage of the axe being tested in real world bushcraft activities okay the aspen plug is made and it is time to install the whole contraption into the dam's wall I recently found a clay source near my camp which means I will be making some ceramics soon meanwhile I applied some blue clay on it as a pressure-damping sealant to prevent the plug from getting stuck or cracking the pipe now I can raise the dam's wall even higher without risking that it will be destroyed by a high-water in the spring I need to raise the dam's wall by about 3 feet (1 meter) to create enough water flow for my waterwheel project next summer it has been a dry summer so I decided to mulch my southern nursery to slow down the water evaporation here you can see saplings of Alegan Birchs, indigo trees, Amur Velvet trees, White Acacia trees, German Medlar trees, Red Bud Cercis, Scarlet Red Maple, Northern Catalpa, Black Walnut, Heart-shaped Walnut and Manchurian Walnut as well as a few more names I either forgot or their tree saplings didn't make it to this day meanwhile you can see the water level raised to the second step of the pond's ladder and it is time to cook a meal I already used up all perishable products and I need to start procuring food supplies to supplement the ones that I brought with me cooking a fish soup is a good solution to start conserving on my supplies it is a simple and nutritious meal a bushcraft fast food as I mentioned earlier I brought a "bucket of electricity" to the camp this year along with many battery-powered devices that I need for filming this video the electronic devices filled a dedicated waterproof duffel bag that I brought in my boat you're looking at the charging process of steadicams flashlights a car battery an electric shaver smartphones and a few power-banks because the closest electrical outlet is many miles away from here I always try to keep a sufficient backup in case of generator failure mostly for my power thirsty video equipment such as my drone cameras and laptop I also brought a couple of my power tools such as a side grinder to try them with my new generator you've probably already guessed I'm carving steps for my pond to replace the aging wooden ladder I made five years ago it could still serve me another decade while the granite ladder will compete with Great Egyptian Pyramids in its longevity by the way here is a cool hack if you are wearing gloves you can quickly change the side grinder's disc without using a wrench it takes two quick hits and the disc's flange nut will loosen you've probably noticed I installed an XLR audio connector as a surrogate "Plug-in" power cord connector DISCLAIMER: The XLR power cord hack wouldn't pass electrical codes in most countries please research this beforehand if you decide to use XLR connectors for your power tools I'm not sure if it's necessary to have a dust cover on my side grinder but since it felt hot to the touch I kept placing it in a waterproof bag and cooled it in my pond periodically during the grinding process making granite steps for my pond was an impromptu decision which is why I don't have mason's chisels it is not a big deal though if you have some tools and a burning desire to do something you can always makeshift the tools you need at home I have a chainsaw attachment that accepts a 12-inch diameter cutting disc allowing you to make four-inch (10 cm) deep cuts I think I will make the next step using my chainsaw every now and then people ask me how I manage to keep my clothes clean while doing construction work in my videos here's the answer I use an old trick it is quick and easy to wash clothes with your legs this way your hands and back don't get tired the legs can easily handle this simple task moreover my hands and back even welcomed the change of physical activity when I went back to my step grinding work I felt fully refreshed however I wanted to mechanize the process and built a waterwheel that could work as a washing machine drum while being powered by the water flow of this stream and of course it is a bushcraft version of a waterwheel made from local material using primitive tools the waterwheel could also power a mini mill, sharpening wheel, a forge blower and perhaps even an electrical generator please let me know what applications of a waterwheel at my log cabin camp would be the most interesting for you you're probably surprised that there is an abundance of baby toads around here this summer happened to be atypically dry all the grass including the sod on my cabin's roof turned yellow I suspect this is why the toads decided to migrate downstream and were doing it for five days I should say it was very inconvenient as you have to constantly check where you're stepping luckily by the end of the fifth day it started to rain and the amphibians must have changed their minds and stopped their migration if working with hand tools being surrounded by baby toads wasn't a problem with power tools I had to sweep them away first which was a slight inconvenience to say the least it is a pretty boring activity to grind and polish rocks so I decided to take a break and went fishing at the nearby lake it doesn't take long to catch a few perch in the forest's lake then I ground up some pepper freshly ground pepper is important for cooking I added salt and pepper and pierced the fish onto two curved sticks note it is better to use curved sticks as this way the fish will cook horizontally preventing juices from running out from its mouth lastly I stuffed the perch with chopped onions usually I add wild chanterelles to my stuffing but there were no mushrooms in the dry forest at the moment I get a lot of questions about how I managed to finish so many projects in one month of my summer vacation the answer is simple I always try to work on a couple of projects at once here's an example I'm cooking fish making tea and distilling tar from pine roots all at the same time ok the lunchtime is over and I'm going to finish polishing the granite step once done I started to clear a spot located downstream from the pond this is where I'm planning to make an aqueduct that would feed a clepsydra (a water timer) and a sink made from granite or wood at least it will be easy to wash dishes a bit later I might even make a water heater using a couple of copper pipes Four summers ago I made another dam with a drain pipe a little upstream the second dam was supposed to help to stabilize the water flow I guess I inspired a local beaver with my efforts and he built his own dam on the top of mine the beaver clogged the drain pipe too as soon as I declogged the drain pipe the water flow got noticeably stronger so now I know there is enough height and waterfall potential for my mechanical projects at the pond with 6 feet (2 meters) of height difference I will be able to direct water into a wooden duct creating an artificial waterfall that could rotate a waterwheel the waterwheel will mechanically power a mini mill I even plan to grow wheat and rye next year so that I could make flour in the mini mill and then bake bread in my earth oven such bread could be considered 100% homemade as you can see the local amphibians are not afraid of me at all even though I kept scaring away this frog it kept stubbornly coming back to the granite promenade perhaps it's because it liked to sit on the hot granite I should say it feels quite nice to stand barefoot on a polished granite step warmed by the Sun in the future I have plans to raise the pond's water level and to add rustic furniture to the granite promenade it should transform the look of the pond for the better here's an interesting observation a ripe raspberry doesn't sink or even get wet in water there are raspberry bushes upstream and if you throw something at the bush while sitting in the pond the water will deliver delicious ripe berries right to you while I was enjoying the wild berries the frog came back again and it looks like it is making its own plans about beautifying the pond in conclusion I will demonstrate how to drain the pond to prevent sludge from accumulating in it during the offseason I had to use my aluminum mallet to knock the plug out lastly I decided to plug the drain in the upstream dam so that I wouldn't upset my neighbor the beaver but I will have to make a larger plug because I forgot that the drain pipe here is slightly larger in diameter and the plug that I brought from the downstream dam is too small as you could see besides working on the granite step, tending to the saplings and planting new ones I spent the first week mostly on modernizing the dam and pond the only additional project I managed to finish was to make a primitive tarp hanger I'm not going to get into details because there is a separate video where I showed how to make a dome and a hanger using branches and tarp I will have to say this summer I didn't get to use the hanger because there was barely any rain during my three-week stay at the log cabin camp this pile of sticks is what's left from my stretch film dome the new hangar is standing right where the plastic wrap dome used to be I'm quite happy with the hangar's design it efficiently protects from the Sun and rain the blue tarp that has a straight cut is the same tarp that was presumably torn by the Yeti this story comes from a bushcraft mystery incident described in one of my log cabin videos I will bring my carpentry tools here to work on projects during rainy days again this is the "mystery tear" and you might have seen this green tarp in the video about my bushcraft kayak and catamaran okay this video has gotten long and it is time to say goodbye I will only add that during my three-week stay I filmed enough material to assemble a couple more videos of this length this is Max Egorov from Saint Petersburg Russia if you liked this video perhaps you could share it with your friends let good people watch good videos p.s. I only produce one or two videos max a month and if you don't want to miss new content like this subscribe and click the notification bell to stay up to date with all of the latest content due to YouTube's recommendation algorithm its notifications have become more erratic and unstable otherwise I hope to see back on Advoko MAKES p.p.s. for your convenience I will leave a link to my playlist of other bushcraft videos in the description below...

Channel: Advoko MAKES

Views: 2,015,073

Rating: 4.8993959 out of 5

Keywords: log cabin, off grid log cabin, off grid, log cabin build, log cabin building by hand, off grid living, off grid cabin build, off grid cabin build cheap, bushcraft skills, how to make log cabin, cabin living, bear proof survival shelter, advoko makes, max egorov, bushcraft, bushcraft survival, bushcraft building, bushcraft camp

Id: xRSUxRUZb0I

Length: 31min 47sec (1907 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/MaxAdvoco1]

Hello friends. I am Max and you are watching a video about my fifth year of developing a small log cabin camp away from people and roads in Karelia. Not even a tank could drive through this extreme bouldery terrain.

[u/Rpizza]

Wow. I am loving your videos. Subscribed. Your voice is so soothing too!