This is the modern version of Dick Proenneke’s hand built log cabin in Alaska, only it’s built by Shawn James, an off grid homesteader in the Canadian wilderness. He built his off grid cabin with mostly hand tools. Starting from raw trees he cut, sawed, stripped, shaped and set each log himself. It’s a feat to be proud of to be sure. But it’s much more than that. It’s build an independent lifestyle free from the confines of the system (that simply cannot support its current economic and political stresses).
It’s a personal goal as well as a goal to provide for his family. It’s an off grid dream to build your own log cabin from the materials you find on your own land. It’s some my dad dreamed of doing in Alaska a long long time ago, and his passion for it I guess rubbed off on me because I have a passion for it as well.
The Off Grid Cabins That Dreams Are Made Of
I hope one day to buy my own land and build my own off grid cabin like Dick Proeneke and Shawn James have, perhaps though not with hand tools. I’m more into the high tech kind of lifestyle and I’m certainly not as patient as those men were. I don’t even think I could strip the bark off the tree without trying to figure out a faster way to do it than with a draw knife.
The work ethic that goes into building a log cabin from the ground up takes motivation, dedication discipline and know-how. You must have the knowledge or at the very least be willing to ask the old-timers, read the books, and of course, watch Dick Proenneke’s Alone In The Wilderness video that shows him build his off grid cabin.
Now we are graced with another great log cabin builder, Shawn James, the modern day Proenekke, and he did it all on video from beginning to end. Every step of the process is recorded for everyone to see. It’s an inspiring set of videos and you can learn so much from the build that it gave me some great idea for my own cabin build that I hope to one day build on my own off grid homestead.
Here is a time lapse video of Shawn’s James off grid cabin build:
Shawn is of course inspired greatly by Dick Proenekke and his off grid log cabin in Alaska and wanted to build something for himself and his family like it on his own using similar methods and hand tools.
He toured Proenneke’s cabin in Alaska and did a nice video tour of the cabin if you want to see that here:
I can’t imagine a more perfect set of off grid cabins than these two cabins. Both hand built. Both built with a passion for the freedom and independence and self reliance we all kind of take for granted today living in modern cities and suburbs.
This is truly off grid cabin perfection!
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UPDATE: This man right here is my off grid idol! Next to Dick Proenneke, of course. He knows what an off grid cabin is supposed to look like. This is the quintessential off grid cabin. It’s what an off grid cabin is supposed to look like. It is by far the single best off grid cabin build from start to finish video on the internet, next to Dick Proenneke’s video “Alone In The Wilderness”.
Shawn James understands this. He understands what off grid means, and he knows what people want in an off grid cabin, what necessary, and what’s not. It’s not about how pretty it can be, but how practical. It’s not about what’s popular, it’s about what works. And this cabin works. It tugs at our heart-strings. It gives us that nostalgic feel of nature and living among nature instead of some cookie-cutter suburban stick-built house that costs more than most people make in a lifetime. This cabin is the epitome of what an off grid cabin should be.
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REFERENCES AND CREDITS
VISIT SHAWN’S SITE HERE: MySelfReliance.com
SUBSCRIBE TO SHAWN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE: My Self Reliance
