Who Am I?

I grew up on a cattle ranch near the Cariboo Mountains in the interior of British Columbia Canada.

Our nearest neighbour lived five miles away. We did not have hydro/electrical power. Our house was powered by an old Lister diesel generator which we used sparingly; only in the evenings, and the occasional daytime use to power the applicances and tools.

We did not have regular phone service, and certainly not a cell phone in our pockets! We used a two way radio phone, only in the evenings (when generator was running), and only when necessary, and even then, we had to make sure no one else was on the line.

We did not have television, and of course, computers were still in the realm of ‘science fiction’, or at the very least, a futuristic concept.

My ‘spare’ time was reading or other chores.

My grandmother had a trapline, which I helped her with.

My grandfather mined for gold, the old fashioned way, not with bulldozers and a crew. I was his crew! I was his mule. I started helping him when I was 12 years old, and slogged through the creeks, battling the interminable mosquitoes and black flies, carrying his sluice box, and.....the equipment for him.

I grew up on a cattle ranch, and learned to ride a horse when I was so young that I don’t remember when I didn’t know how to ride. We had to round up cows at a very young age, as my brother and I were too young to be left home alone, so we would spend long days in the saddle, helping collect the cows in the Fall.

My father and grandfather had a guide/outfitting area, where they would guide hunters through the bush, and we would, on occasion tag along.

I spent every summer of my youth plowing, seeding, cutting, baling and stacking hay.

In order to grow the hay, we had to clear the fields. Every summer for years, we picked sticks. We would clear the land, burn the debris and then pick what did not burn. One of the worst jobs! I have been driving farming equipment since before my feet could reach the pedals.

In our spare time, we had to fix the fence lines, which entailed cutting the pine trees; carrying them to where we needed them, and then assembling them into rail fences. I have built many miles of fencing in my lifetime.

We cut and split wood, enough wood to last us for a winter, as we only had a wood stove in our house; no supplementary heat of any sort. Get enough firewood, or freeze.

We had cows to feed and milk; eggs to collect, chicken houses to clean, gardens to weed, and machinery to fix (hopefully learn how to fix, and definitely learn how to swear!)

Most days, all of the food on our dinner table came from our sweat equity. We grew and stored our vegetables in a root cellar.

We made butter, cheese and yogourt from the milk from our milk cow, who incidentally needed to be milked daily, (no days off, no excuses!), and sometimes twice a day, if she did not have a calf on her.

We made jams, jellies and pickled our food.

We had bees for a time.

We raised chickens, pigs (occasionally), and of course beef for our meat staples. We hunted deer and moose. (My father remembers days when we did not have enough food in the winter, and he saddled up his horse, and trod through the snow to find a moose to drag home, lest we run out of meat.)



I have worked as a faller for many years, for those not in British Columbia, that means that I was a logger, or cut down trees for a living.

I have worked in the bush planting trees, thinning trees and falling trees.

I worked as a stone mason for twenty years.

I worked in construction for many years.

In my spare time I enjoy wood working in all aspects.

Most recently, we have moved back to BC, and have purchased property with bush, and a wood mill to better afford my wood working habits!

I have raised four children, and am now a grandparent.

I am in the process of writing a book on homesteading. What makes me an authority on this?

I lived it! When I say I know shit, I know shit!



Because of my fairly unique upbringing, I view the world through a different lens.

Should you follow me? Maybe, maybe not. You decide.

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