GIVEAWAY!!! This is my first attempt at carving a hatchet handle and I wanted to share the love! Thank you to all our loyal readers as well as our new ones! The knife in the photo is the only tool I used to carve this handle. The Ash I used had some Ash Bores in it so there is a little scarring but it gives it character! The head is vintage steel that I reconditioned, sharpened, and painted blue to make it more visible on the forest floor. The Deal: Be one of our readers and “like” the post, reblog it, or leave a comment. When this post reaches 500 notes I”ll choose a reader at random to send the hatchet to! Thanks and good luck! Jacob
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GIVEAWAY!!!

This is my first attempt at carving a hatchet handle and I wanted to share the love! Thank you to all our loyal readers as well as our new ones!

The knife in the photo is the only tool I used to carve this handle. The Ash I used had some Ash Bores in it so there is a little scarring but it gives it character! The head is vintage steel that I reconditioned, sharpened, and painted blue to make it more visible on the forest floor.

The Deal:

Be one of our readers and “like” the post, reblog it, or leave a comment.

When this post reaches 500 notes I”ll choose a reader at random to send the hatchet to!

Thanks and good luck!

Jacob

It was warm last night so we camped out by one of the creeks, these were the background sounds for the evening.

Alaska journal excerpt #2:(flashforward through a plane trip to Alaska & hitch hiking to the middle of nowhere) “Last night I encountered my first bear, or should I say bears! The first time it came up from the right side and pawed at my tent and growled a bit, then a while later it came back and pushed on my tent with its paws. I laid completely still….motionless. And I had no problem. Well today I was ready for war. I set up stakes, string cans, blockades; the works. So if anything sneaks by I’ll know. I met the most incredibly nice people. They were on their second tour of Alaska and they invited me over for salmon and rice pilaf, also cake and soda. I played guitar for them and got their address. They gave me about a pound of leftovers and a ton of cake & snacks too. This is why I came, to see nice people for a change. Thank you lord for protecting me and feeding me. See you tomorrow.”
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Alaska journal excerpt #2:

(flashforward through a plane trip to Alaska & hitch hiking to the middle of nowhere)

“Last night I encountered my first bear, or should I say bears! The first time it came up from the right side and pawed at my tent and growled a bit, then a while later it came back and pushed on my tent with its paws. I laid completely still….motionless. And I had no problem. Well today I was ready for war. I set up stakes, string cans, blockades; the works. So if anything sneaks by I’ll know. I met the most incredibly nice people. They were on their second tour of Alaska and they invited me over for salmon and rice pilaf, also cake and soda. I played guitar for them and got their address. They gave me about a pound of leftovers and a ton of cake & snacks too. This is why I came, to see nice people for a change. Thank you lord for protecting me and feeding me. See you tomorrow.”

My step dad kicked my out of the house in 11th grade and gave me a 1 way plane ticket to anywhere in the world I wanted to go, I chose Alaska. This was my first entry July 5th 1996: “I’m not sure where I should begin… I’ve just left everything known to be behind in the dust, for now. I shall be arriving in Seattle soon. Today was the hardest day of my life. I cried, something I haven’t done in a long time. I have taken my first steps in becoming a man. I’ve arrived in Seattle, saw the magnificent Mt. Rainer. Not much around so I ate at Denny’s, it’s the same as the one in Maryland. Met a cowboy who tuned my guitar, he said he’d played with Travis Tritts band. He seemed the friendliest of all the locals I’ve met so far. Sitting in front of the AK terminal right now, waiting for my plane. It’s too bad it’s only 1am and my flight isn’t until 8:20am. I can’t wait to get some sleep, tomorrow’s going to be a damn long day… Arrive in Petersburg at 11:20 am.”
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My step dad kicked my out of the house in 11th grade and gave me a 1 way plane ticket to anywhere in the world I wanted to go, I chose Alaska.

This was my first entry July 5th 1996:

“I’m not sure where I should begin… I’ve just left everything known to be behind in the dust, for now.

I shall be arriving in Seattle soon. Today was the hardest day of my life. I cried, something I haven’t done in a long time. I have taken my first steps in becoming a man.

I’ve arrived in Seattle, saw the magnificent Mt. Rainer. Not much around so I ate at Denny’s, it’s the same as the one in Maryland. Met a cowboy who tuned my guitar, he said he’d played with Travis Tritts band.
He seemed the friendliest of all the locals I’ve met so far.

Sitting in front of the AK terminal right now, waiting for my plane. It’s too bad it’s only 1am and my flight isn’t until 8:20am. I can’t wait to get some sleep, tomorrow’s going to be a damn long day… Arrive in Petersburg at 11:20 am.”

Alaskan Walkabout

Hi guys! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

When I was at my moms I was going through some of my old stuff and found my journal from when I moved to Alaska as a teenager and lived off the land in a tent. I’m going to post some photo excerpt from the journal. Looking at it now I’m amazed at what I’d written. Stay tuned and enjoy!

Now the real homesteading adventure begins! We will be camping for a few days while we finish up the treehouse cabin. We just need the roof and insulation before we move in..the little details like adding interior trim can wait a bit. I think it will be a neat experience to camp on our own land. Anyway this is the way true homesteaders used to do it! Let the adventure begin, wish us luck!
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Now the real homesteading adventure begins! We will be camping for a few days while we finish up the treehouse cabin. We just need the roof and insulation before we move in..the little details like adding interior trim can wait a bit. I think it will be a neat experience to camp on our own land. Anyway this is the way true homesteaders used to do it! Let the adventure begin, wish us luck!

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