Choosing a Path – Part 7

Since I’ve done this journey before, I’m confident that the choices I’m making will not only work, but allow me to survive the winter. My strategy is simple but can be challenging without the help of the tribe. The shelter I’m building came from an idea that I saw visiting the Ukrainian Village Historical site just outside of Edmonton. The idea was to place logs over a hole and cover with sod. There is no sod here, so I modified the design and decided to use the gravel that I’m excavating to cover the roof and then put a cement cap over top of it all. The idea here is that I need a building that can accomplish a number of features. It must be able to access the thermal mass of the earth to help keep me warm during extreme temperatures in the winter. The building must be able to handle 6 feet of snow on its roof as well as all the snow melt during the spring and summer rains. I also need to make sure the building will not flood and will not burn down during a forest fire.

The site I chose is on top of a hill, so risk of flood is low. To ensure a fast snow melt does not flood me out, I’m going to build a swale around the building that I can then use to collect water or redirect it around and down the hill. Fire protection is done by putting gravel on the roof but also covering any exposed wood with cob. While it is not 100% fire protection, it will provide some protection. The thermal mass of the building will be very high, so I’m confident that it will function fine during the winter. I’ll fire up the stove as soon as I get it enclosed so that I can start drying it out and charging the thermal mass. I also suspect that 6 feet of snow on the roof will provide a warm blanket for the building during the winter and keep me nice and cool during the summer. I’ve worked with and lived in thermal mass buildings for over a decade, so I’m confident that it will perform as I need it to be.

I also wanted a building that will rot and fill in itself when I go, whether I move away or leave this realm. I want to make sure that my foot print is very small. This building is only temporary anyway as I plan to live in it for only a few years, which gives me time to build a more permanent one. Why put in so much effort for a temporary shelter? Because winter comes very quickly. Right now my shelter needs is being supported by the tribe. I’m living in a camper, which is a huge boost as it gives me time to setup a shelter. If I did not have this, my strategy would be a bit different.

Without a tribe, I would take this stepped approach.

• Top priority is to build a small shelter to handle the elements. This shelter would accommodate my needs for a few days while I build a larger shelter to handle my summer needs.
• The summer shelter is a bit larger but still very basic and can be built in a few days. Once this shelter is built, I would then start work on a winter shelter.
• This is the stage I’m at right now. Tribe allowed me to skip these first two steps. When starting in the spring, I only have a few short months to get the winter shelter built. The goal here is to not only survive a winter but have a shelter for a few years to buy time to build my permanent shelter.
• Permanent shelter would then be designed to survive for the rest of my life, have room for visitors, family, friends or even tribe members. More importantly, I need room so that I can pay it forward and provide shelter for others who are starting out so that they too can skip the first two steps and jump right to the third step.

When people are being forced out of their homes due to mortgage foreclosures, tax notices, war, famine, etc, we will need to find a way to provide shelters for people off all the grids. The price of lumber has sky rocketed, which makes it nearly impossible for people to build shelters the traditional way. How do we build shelters without the resources of the grid? We do it by looked back at how our ancestors did it 100+ years ago. I am doing this work to explore what it is like, how long it takes, effort, cost and feasibility. If I fail, the tribe has indicated that they have room for me for the winter. So the risk is much lower than if I was on my own. I’m confident that I could be living in my new shelter by August. I’m hoping to be into it before the UNGRIP Boot Camp on August 9-13.

Tribe is important during times like this. I encourage people to setup their Sacred Heart Circles as this is how tribe is formed; by being vulnerable and working through our shadows together. We will be discussing these topics at length during the boot camp. I encourage people to sign up if even a little bit of this resonates with you. I have a feeling that we will need ideas like this in the coming years, especially as the tyranny progresses to march along. Being able to survive and thrive in extreme climates like the north will be a huge benefit for those willing to do the work.

It is also important to have the knowledge and skills to be able to build shelters when we UNGRIP from the state and no longer have a person to interface with the coming mark of the beast.  These passports, social credit scores, etc are all designed to enslave people and when we take a stand and remove ourselves from them, we also remove ourselves from their supply chain, goods and services.  That leaves each individual responsible for fending for themselves and knowing how to do that without stores is going to be a critical skill to have.