Fixing and Cleaning Cabin in Maine Woods

Two days of toiling hard out at the Great Refuge of Serendipitous Beasts, I have come to the realization that Chaya and I only have one more full day of preparation to go before we can move into our first home in the woods.

The cabin has now been spared its various nests, layers of dust, weird dried up dead things, and anything broken, unusable, disgusting, or in the way.

We could now move in on a provisional basis and work on fixing the outhouse and cleaning the well.

We are almost there.

Fixing the couch

On the prowl for anything gross

Dried up dead things in Maine cabin

Chaya sweeping the plank board floors of the cabin in the woods

A Note on this Project:

The essence of this Home in the Maine Woods project is not to live in wilderness isolated from all society, but to simply have a good place to live.

Although, ironically, one of my main criteria for a good place to live is that it is in the wilderness and isolated from society.

This is not yet a project fuel by philosophy, politics, or any other idealistic goal other than to make ourselves happy. All too often, getting “back to the land” sparks rages of idealism out of people. I have no idealism than to have a happy home in the woods that I can delight in fixing up.

Self sufficiency is a goal that is equatable to waking up in the morning with a smile on your face: sometimes your sleep is broken by smiles, and sometimes you wake up with a sleepy head and a scowl. We will try to set ourselves up as best as possible in the woods, but we are not going to make ourselves unhappy by trying to live out any ideology.

The parameters of the 2009 season of living in the Maine woods:

1. Wedding preparations and a work project that requires regular computer access will keep us from moving into the cabin until the beginning of July. After June, the cabin will become our home base.
2. We have a car, and can transport ourselves easy between our isolated home and work, friends, and family.
3. We want to leave the USA by the end of October, so we need to work as much as possible, which means that we will not be in the woods all day everyday.
4. I have the VagabondJourney.com project so I need to regularly seek out internet access and electricity.
5. Seasonal and time restraints prevented us from putting in a garden this season, so most food will have to be brought in.
6. Hunting small game and fishing will supplement our diets, but will not be relied upon.
7. These parameters will change as the project goes on through the years and we become better provisioned and prepared. Our accomplishments can only be built upon.

In point, the cabin in the Maine woods will be a home base, and not an ideological straight jacket. This project is for fun and enjoyment, and not to prove anything. Our ideology is retained to the smiles on our faces. We will drink beer (humf . . . I will drink beer), drive cars, work jobs, commune with friends, and continue with the internet projects.

We are not yet going primitive and allowing our gnarly hermit locks to grow freely in the wind.

Though this project is being viewed as a practice round for similar projects of a more intense hue.

Cabin in Maine Woods Project

1. Cabin in the Maine Woods Introduction
2. Initial Inspection of Cabin — What needs to be done?

Fixing and Cleaning Cabin in Maine Woods