Long Term Shelter In The Woods - Rain - Table Making - Foraging - Stinging Nettle Dinner (Part 6)

Long Term Shelter In The Woods - Rain - Digging a small ditch and adding stones near the walls of the house that will protect it from the rain - Building a table and window sill using wood, string, and stone - making the chimney of my stone fireplace longer and safer (I added another piece of pipe to it, but I did not film this part - you will only see the end result in my video) - Foraging - Cooking stinging nettle for dinner. No talking, only peaceful nature sounds. If you want to find out more about all of these and the story behind this video, please read on.
"However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace." (H.D.Thoreau) The peaceful rainy evening I spent at my shelter reminded me of this passage from Walden. I went through a stressful and very tiring period in the last couple of weeks. The quiet moments spent at the shelter, the rain, the wind and bird sounds, the warm natural light inside the shelter calm me down and make me feel rich and content. It is like a waterfall shower that refreshes the soul. I sometimes think about our ancestors, about their lives, waking up in a land of natural beauty each morning, working outside most of the day, singing, and having good relationships with their neighbors, building their own houses, making their own clothes and tools, their own eating vessels, carpets, etc. They would be considered poor and primitive in nowadays society. I suspect their souls were rich, their minds quiet and serene, their hearts joyful and content. We gave up all these things to gain comfort. But did we actually receive what we expected to?
''In the past, people used to carry water with a jug and they rejoiced if they found water - others were not that lucky, they did not have a spring nearby as a water source. Then they made wells and the one that had a well at his gate was considered a rich man. Then they brought water inside their homes through pipes, but the water was cold. Then hot water poured from taps in the bathrooms and kitchens. Then sensor taps appeared. Water comes out of them without you having to spin a wheel, cause that has become too hard for the modern man. The same thing happened with light too, from fire/candles to electric light bulbs. They put the light switch near the bed, but this was still too hard, so now light bulbs are activated when they detect movement. All of this is happening in a world in which people think it's absurd to carry a bucket of water, but pay good money to lift weights. The ones that don't cut wood for the fire, pay money to hit a wheel tire with a hammer. The ones that could not conceive their lives without an elevator to get them upstairs, pay money to run on a treadmill. Wouldn't it have been cheaper, healthier, and more rational to keep at least a few water wells here and there, so we could carry our own water, at least for the sake of what us modern people call fitness?'' (Savatie Bastovoi)
When I was a child I used to go with my grandparents to the well to bring water. The well was far away from their house. You had to go out of the yard, pass through an orchard, a cornfield, then follow the path through a meadow filled with wildflowers. We admired the surrounding hills. The village was rather isolated so we only saw beautiful forests and meadows around. We sometimes met deer and other small animals on our way to the well. The walk to the well took us maybe 15 minutes. The well was far away and remote. Maybe that's why its water seemed to be sweeter when we drank it. We used it wisely when we returned home with it. When it was all gone we had to go to the well again. This would happen at least 2 times a day, depending on our needs. We children called that well - fantanita (meaning - the little well). We loved walking there with our grandparents and we soon learned to go there by ourselves and brought water back home. Maybe not many people have such memories nowadays. Beautiful memories are the treasure of the soul. Gather as many as you can on your path home.

Nettle Recipe - boil the young (tender), fresh nettles (don't throw the water away, it is very healthy, will help you detoxify - drink it as tea), chop them finely, chop some wild garlic and garlic cloves, then stirfry in a pan adding a little bit of wheat flour and cornflour, olive oil and spices. Eat it with warm polenta instead of bread. I also added some chopped cherry tomatoes and chopped wild garlic to my dish.

Видео Long Term Shelter In The Woods - Rain - Table Making - Foraging - Stinging Nettle Dinner (Part 6) канала WildGreen Johanna