Step back in time to the Oklahoma Land Rush! Maybe I’ve watched too many westerns like 1883 but its reinvigorated my childhood love of pioneers, cowboy camping, and covered wagons. Combine that with my interest in bushcraft, building survival shelters and boom this channel is born. I hope to honor our forefathers and better understand their lives and struggles through living history and a bit of experimental archeology. Please like and subscribe to follow along in the adventures. In this episode I’m a Sooner waiting for the land rush to begin so I can claim my free land. During the Oklahoma land rush thousands of people lined up and at the sound of a shot raced each other to find good land to stake their claim. Some people, “Sooners” cheated and camped out on the land they wanted to grab ahead of time.
Ever wondered what it was like during the Oklahoma land rush? Maybe I’ve watched too many westerns like 1883 but its reinvigorated my childhood love of pioneers, cowboys, and covered wagons. Combine that with my interest in bushcraft, building survival shelters, overnight camping and boom this channel is born. I hope to honor our forefathers and better understand their lives and struggles through living history and a bit of experimental archeology. Please like and subscribe to follow along in the adventures. Beginning my pioneer homestead! Having staked my claim on the land I now need to begin construction on my sod home dugout. This soil is tough but I’m tougher.
Step into the cowboy boots of a pioneer building a homestead in the old west. Maybe I’ve watched too many westerns like 1883 but its reinvigorated my childhood love of pioneers, cowboys, and covered wagons. Combine that with my interest in bushcraft, building survival shelters, cowboy camping and boom this channel is born. I hope to honor our forefathers and better understand their lives and struggles through living history and a bit of experimental archeology. Please like and subscribe to follow along in the adventures. In this episode I begin building the frame to my cabin using cedar. Cedar was often used by pioneers for cabins because the wood is naturally bug and rot resistant. The downside is that it's incredibly flammable. The brush from tree limbs I put on the fire is from a cedar tree and you can see it burns hot and fast.
Join me in recreating life in the old west. My chuck wagon and I are on a mission to homestead Oklahoma the way it was done in 1883. With a good set of pioneer tools and a little bushcraft knowhow I'll struggle my way through this and hopefully survive the winter. In this episode I secure all the rafters. Cutting down this many cedar trees took an incredible amount of time and I can't tell you how much I hate cedar trees. I can't wait until I can lay down at night in a cozy hay bed and look up at a roof made of dead cedars.
Step back into 1883 and join me on a journey to the heart of the wild west. My chuck wagon and I are on a mission to homestead the Oklahoma frontier. With a good set of pioneer tools and a little bushcraft knowhow I'll struggle my way through this and hopefully survive my first year of off grid living in the old west. In this episode I begin construction of the roof with cedar planks. During this time Oklahoma already had rail roads so getting wood planks from the east was doable. Those who couldn’t afford it would use bundled up grasses and then laid as much as 2 feet of sod overtop. From what I’ve read these roofs needed to be rebuilt every year because of leaks until they could afford to buy wood planks. My roof will eventually get a sod covering but I’ll build the walls first which will strengthen the roof before I lay the sod.
Ever wondered what it was like during the Oklahoma land rush? My chuck wagon and I are on a mission to homestead the Oklahoma frontier. With a good set of pioneer tools and a little bushcraft knowhow I'll struggle my way through this and hopefully survive my first year of off grid living in the old west. In this episode I finish putting the cedar planks on the roof. The roof still isn't water tight but there's still a lot more work to do on it. This is not the first time I've found mice in the chuck box and it's not the first nest I've removed either. A few days after filming I managed to capture all three of the mice using my coffee pot and relocate them. With the mouse that had been living in the cast iron stove I can't believe I didn't see him earlier, I'm going to have to be a lot more careful in the future because the rattle snakes will be coming out of hibernation soon.
This episode took 5 days to prepare for and then 3 long days of filming. When it was done I had 117 different camera set ups and 5 hours of video footage. After that it was about 40 hours of work to edit the video down into 30 minutes. It's a lot of work but I'm very happy with how this episode turned out and I hope you like it too. In this episode I put up the door frame and then dig a hole to collect water. I noticed this one area stays wet even weeks after it rains which is why I chose to dig there. Sure enough it rained two days later and the hole overflowed even though it only rained 1/2 inch. I also build a retaining wall because one side of the dugout seems to get a lot wetter when it rains so that side was degrading more rapidly. The hardest part of this episode was actually getting the little piece of wood out of the maul head to replace the handle. It took me two hours to get that little piece of wood out even though in the video it looks like two minutes.
Join me in building an old west style cabin! My chuck wagon and I are on a mission to off grid homestead Oklahoma the way it was done in 1883. With a good set of pioneer tools and a little bushcraft knowhow I'll hopefully survive the next winter. This episode took 100 hours for me to complete over 3 weeks. The first week I spent chopping down trees and hauling them out to the cabin and the next two weeks consisted of me stacking them. Stacking the logs and nailing them in place pretty easy once you get the hang of it but shaping the logs to minimize gaps is more time consuming than it looks in the video. This has been my favorite part of the build so far, I really had a lot of fun doing this.
I finally finish putting up all the logs on the front wall. So far this part has been the most rewarding part of building the cabin but it was a lot of work, I'm both sad and happy that it's over. I have no idea who owns those dogs but I don't think they're strays. They come by every few days and want me to pull ticks off of them. The retaining walls I'm building are very important because the walls on those three sides will be made of heavy sod bricks and I'm worried if they're not supported they'll eventually fall over. It was cool seeing that turkey, I wanted to eat it but I didn't know if it was still turkey season here in Oklahoma, turns out it was the last day and I could have taken a shot at it. Fun fact: If you look at my arms when I'm cutting the sweet potato you can see all my burnt arm hair from the fire, I lost a good amount of hair that day.
I can't believe I wasn't bit by that black widow spider! The third and final retaining wall went much smother than the previous two (done in previous episodes) because I had learned from my mistakes. The retaining wall is important because the walls that will be built upon them will be incredibly heavy. The process of adding the water and compacting the dirt behind it is a process I didn't really show with the other two walls but I did do it to those too. The reason I added sod with grass to the outside is to stop erosion on that side of the wall, water coming off the roof had already started to eat away at a portion of the wall. Also this was my first attempt at making char cloth and it worked great! I left it in the fire for about 20 minutes but I think next time I'll leave it in there a little longer.
In this episode I finally get to the step in the build process that I've been fantasizing about for years and that is putting the sod walls in. It was so much more challenging than I anticipated. Two things I didn't foresee involved the sod itself. The sod here isn't as high of quality as the sod the pioneers would have had because the top soil here is actually just dust from the 1930's dust bowl but it doesn't hold together for another reason. This land was over grazed by cattle in the 1950's and the cattle ate all the good native grasses which left only the weeds with poor root systems. Dust and short roots don't make for good sod bricks but it seems to have worked out.
In this episode I originally wanted to finish the sod walls but I'm recovering from covid so I thought I'd do something less strenuous. I turned out to be completely wrong, this bed took a huge amount of energy to make. In the end though I absolutely love it and it's incredibly comfortable. It took about 165 feet of rope to make. The Copperhead came so close to biting me. Normally I'm looking down for snakes but at this moment I had my head up to doge a tree branch. At the corner of my eye I saw something move violently at me (it was striking) and instinctually I started picking up my feet, I danced in place and I made a sound like a man losing balance about to fall off a roof. I'm glad no one saw it because I'm sure it was embarrassing. I composed myself and started recording, but you can still hear my panicked breathing.
It amazes me how few rocks there are on this land. The first wheelbarrow full of rocks you see me bring to the homestead are rocks I've been slowly gathering for about 6 months. Every time I'm out walking I'm constantly looking for decent sized rocks and I rarely see them. It's been incredibly dry the last three months. I'd love to finish the sod walls but the ground is so dry the large bricks just crumble. But there is still work that can be done, the smaller sod chunks can fill the gaps in the walls. It's so dry I don't think it would be responsible to light a fire and cook. Hopefully next time I can show me cooking a good meal.
I finally complete the sod walls, this was a huge undertaking and there were times when I didn't think I'd ever finish it. Overall I'm very happy with how the walls turned out and I think with the overhang of the roof the walls will last a long time. I'm really excited about using the stove this winter. I've never used one so there will be a learning curve but it will be fun. I still need to attach the stove pipes on the outside of the cabin but I'm still trying to figure out how I'll support them so it doesn't blow over in the wind. The two windows look great. Most pictures I've seen of pioneer cabins show they usually only had one window. I decided that for filming inside the cabin I needed more light just so everything is more visible. I'll put in the other two windows and make shutters in the next episode.
I finally enclose the cabin, I've been so excited for this day. For the two windows I put in place this episode they were originally white but I had some of the red paint I used on the wagons and I think they look pretty good in place with the red. I don't know how historically accurate red windows are but unlike western movies not everything was different shades of browns and blacks, they had color too. The door I'm particularly proud of. I love the idea of the double doors because with the top door open I can get more air circulation and light while still keeping snakes out. Having a dark interior plays with the lighting on the camera so hopefully the added light helps. Also the double doors just looks amazing! I ended up getting over 8 inches of rain over the next two days. Next episode will probably be me finally finishing the roof so stay tuned for that.
I was expecting this to be a much larger episode but I decided to break it up into two videos. This video is dedicated to preparing the roof for waterproofing and sod. It's fun to see how bright the wood I used is because it's actually the same wood that's on the rest of the roof, that wood has just been bleached by the sun. One thing that always shocks me is how good my cabin looks. Its got it's problems but visually it's a handsome cabin when you compare it to the pictures of the actual cabins of the day.
I finally complete the roof, I've been dreaming of this day for a long time. I chose to use plastic pond liner because it's rated to last 70 years. I don't think the cabin will last that long but it gives me peace of mind to know that the roof shouldn't require much maintenance. I really enjoyed filling the roof with sod, it was like a giant puzzle except you could force the pieces into place.
Authentic Wild West Bushcraft Experience: One year documentary of recreating life on the American frontier in 1883. From cowboy camping with a chuck wagon to a sod house homestead in this solo old west adventure! Here I highlight the challenges and realities of pioneer life with off grid living and pay homage to the rugged individuals that settled the Wild West. I'm so excited to finally bring you this compilation video, all 21 episodes edited down into one manageable feature length video.
After 2 years and over 3 million views, I'm finally breaking my silence. This is Western Pioneer Behind the Scenes. For those who've been here since the beginning, you know me by my work, not my words. Every pioneer project has been built in silence because I wanted the craftsmanship and the beauty of the frontier to speak for itself but I thought it would be fun to make a one off video so you can get a look behind the scenes.
I fix the big problem of the roof sagging from the weight of the sod on top. It would have been best if I put the post in the center of the roof but then it would have been more in the way, especially for filming. I'm very happy with how it turned out but as with everything I build I'll monitor it over time and make changes if I need to. I was really worried about the stove pipe heating up and burning down the cabin while I was building it but I've since used it a few times and I don't think it's going to be a problem Snow! It's only a little bit but trust me, there's a lot more snow in the next episode.
Filming this episode was a dream come true. The snow never stopped coming down and I loved every minute of it. My boots were wet before I even started filming and that made it a very painful day but it never dampened my sprits, not even my maul breaking for the second time could keep me down for long. It's too bad I completely forgot to bring firewood inside before it snowed. It would have burned a little nicer but it worked out and it's not a mistake I'll make again.
This was filmed the very next day after my previous video and I woke up very sore and still exhausted, oh yeah and a little hypothermic and with a little carbon monoxide poisoning. Camera battery issues prevented me from catching the morning hours but I was pretty tired anyway. Also I hope you like my red cowboy onesie haha I had a lot of fun wearing it and it did help me stay warm. THE STOVE: I'm happy to report that after so many hours of running my stove I'm now really not worried about burning the cabin down. Before I was worried that the stove pipe would get so hot that the walls would catch on fire. The walls are 90% dirt so I shouldn't be too worried but the heat from the stove really didn't transfer to the dirt so that's good. Also behind the scenes on this day I played with the stove a lot trying to understand it and optimize it. it's really the first time I've ever used a wood burning stove so it was a learning experience and I still have a lot to learn.
I've probably received 100 comments over the last few months of people reminding me that there are holes in the front wall haha well I finally got around to it. Chinking begins! Oklahoma clay is not very pretty but it is strong and the straw should also help keep everything bound together. A lot of the chinking recipes mentions adding ash to the mix and since I've been doing a lot of fires in the stove and I have a lot available I thought why not add it; although, I'll be honest I don't know if it will have any affect. I wonderful if people will question why I'm wearing gloves the whole time. Maybe it would have been easier without them but the reason I'm always wearing gloves is because I don't want the camera to get dirty so I try to keep clean hands.
I finally build a saw horse and yes you're absolutely right I should have built this a year ago. After that I finally secure the front door and add shutters that I can lock. I've seen very few pictures of pioneer homes that had shutters. I'm mostly adding them so I can better lock up the cabin for when I'm not there. I also build a table, a kitchen counter, and a shelving unit so I can start to display more of the everyday items a pioneer would have had in their home.
I finally get my crops in the ground and I'm excited I was able to do it all in one episode. Before I started filming this channel when it was all just an idea in my head I mostly dreamed about all the things I would build but I always knew that I'd have to work the land somehow. I had the soil tested and it's absolutely terrible! No nutrients anywhere but luckily wheat seems to grow even in the worst of places. We'll see what happens with that and the other things I planted. The next episode is probably the one I've looked forward to the most. I've been collecting antiques for years and I'm finally going to be moving it all into the cabin.
3 Weeks of rain storms devastated the cabin dumping 19 inches of rain (48.26 cm) when it normally only rains 4 inches (10.16 cm) in April. This happened after I've been battling moles living in the back wall. I believe their tunnels filled up with water and caused the wall to sink taking the back window with it and forever changing the stove pipe. It will never look as good again sadly. I'm not sure what all this rain means for my crops but it doesn't look too good. On the plus side the other three walls and the roof are perfectly fine and held up great. And for getting so many inches of rain there really wasn't that much that made it's way into the cabin.
It’s so beautiful! I was more excited about making this video than any other video I’ve made. I’m finally at the point where I can put the remainder of my antiques inside the cabin and clean the place up a little. I didn’t know I had so much stuff, I should have made the cabin bigger! I love all my lamps, especially the hanging one and I also love old chains so I hung those up just because I love looking at them. This episode wasn’t nearly as stressful to make as the last one and the next video I will begin a new and very exciting build.
It feels like it’s been a while since I last showed me cooking. Filming slows everything down, usually the food is cold before I begin eating it because it takes so long to position the camera and set everything up. I’m excited to begin the next building project. This workshop will actually be bigger than it appears in this video because I plan on extending the roof so that part of the workshop will be outdoors. It will be great in the summer to work outside where the wind can help cool me down but underneath a roof so the sun isn’t beating down on me. These were 3 hot days I filmed in, that last day I was worried I’d faint. Also as a little treat for reading this far down you’ll be one of the first to know that I now have a kitten! He’s adorable and you’ll see him soon in an upcoming video when I show him the cabin.
In this episode I finish the pole structure of the workshop and begin putting up the first wall. There will be lots of holes in these walls and thats okay because I will eventually fill them in with clay and straw. Checking on the plants two of the apple trees look good but a third has a fungus that I believe is Cedar Apple Rust which will harm the tree. The onions look like they've all died either because of the crazy weather we've had or the fact that deer have eaten all the tops of them. Wheat looks good though. It was amazing to see all the different animals and birds by the cabin and even two giant snapping turtles which I had no idea were in this area.
This was a lot of work. Before I ever turned on the camera I cut down all those threes and hauled them out to the cabin. Harvesting the wheat was also hours of work. The wheat looked a lot better in the previous episode when it was all green because there’s so much weeds in with the wheat that it looked fuller. Turns out there really wasn’t much wheat and what you see in those 4 buckets at the end of the episode is all there is. If you remember we’ve had some crazy weather, it’s hard to know what I did wrong and what was always going to happen from the crazy rain.
I finally got to show my saw vice in an episode. I really love that thing and I'm not entirely sure why, just looking at it makes me happy. It really doesn't take much to keep these saws in good working order and this one cuts like a dream, even though it's big I prefer it over smaller saws. The workshop is starting to take shape, I think the next episode I work on it you'll see a lot of progress. But that won't be the next episode because I need to repair and enlarge the cistern.
It’s finally time to overhaul the water supply. A year ago I dug a pit to collect water run off from the hill behind the cabin and it’s in a state of disrepair. The water has been so muddy I didn’t realize how much the hole had filled in. Now that the summer heat and lack of rain has dried up what’s left I can see the issue and I don’t like what I see. I start off building myself some shade to work in and it was worth it. I was forced to work some hot days to get the project done and the shade really helped. I did a lot of work off camera for this video, some things like the digging were repetitive. And others like chopping down all the trees is made more difficult with filming because it’s a lot of moving the camera to different location on the property when I’m already having to move all the logs around. But not filming also means I can wear more comfortable clothing and shoes for all that moving around.
Although it looks like it only took me 4 days to film this I actually worked outside for 8 days to get this done. The filming process really slows down everything. But in this video I chop down 13 trees and cut them all to two different lengths, one for the workshop and another length for use on the well. And the well is now almost complete all that’s left is to build a small ramp inside just in case any small animals fall in they can climb out and I also need to build a structure at the top to hold the pulley. Fingers crossed it might rain next week which we really need here and it would be wonderful to see the well with water in it.
I finally finish my water storage and it's holding water! I've been dreaming about this for so long, I bought the pulley just for this purpose two years ago and now I finally get to use it. Overall I'm extremely happy with how it turned out but only time will tell if it will provide me with water year round.
Here I begin my long preparation for winter. Last year I was so busy building the cabin that I didn't have time to stockpile firewood. I received a lot of criticism for that but I guarantee you no pioneer was 100% ready for their first winter. I'll do better this year and even better next year.
In This Episode I film some of the most beautiful days here in Oklahoma, some of the shots turned out wonderfully. I’m finally back to work on the workshop. A lot of these logs I cut a month ago and that heavy ridge beam was probably 4 months ago. I gave it time to dry out so it wouldn’t be as heavy and it’s still really heavy. I also chopped some more wood, I’ll probably do a little of that each episode to stay on top of it. I haven’t yet decided how I’ll build the roof so if you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them.
This was a fun one for me, I like making the videos when there’s lots of shorter tasks to do. Unlike days where the job is to cut down and haul a dozen or more trees, which I did have to do for this episode but chose not to film because that just adds more work and I don’t think it’s that interesting for you the viewer. I’m getting a lot better at chopping wood which is fun and I’m so proud of my little wood pile haha The true pioneers would have had a lot more wood. And I’m so excited to finally have the walls of the workshop up, I think once the rafters are up it’s going to look really good. I’m still loving this journey and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you for watching. Thank you thank you thank you.
I’m back to not talking for another peaceful old west experience. I’ve chopped down 24 trees to act as my rafters for the workshop so the bulk of this episode about putting them into place. I’ll cut them down to size once I know exactly how long I want the roof. The cooking was fun but it’s always hard to tell if the chicken is done with the sun going down, luckily I didn’t get sick this time. And lastly I regret not trying to capture that armadillo, I could have easily grabbed it.
Covered horse drawn wagons are a modern marvel and without them the wild west wouldn't have been what it was. For those who've been here since the beginning, you know me by my work, not my words. Every pioneer project has been built in silence because I wanted the craftsmanship and the beauty of the frontier to speak for itself but I thought it would be fun to make a one off video so you can get a look behind the scenes.
I've finally gotten enough projects and chores done to where I can start to enjoy some of the other aspects of 1800's life like Hollidays! Christmas is one of the most wonderful holidays and although I'm alone that doesn't mean I can't participate in the festive traditions. While researching for this video I was really excited to learn how many edible Christmas tree ornaments where made in the 1800's. I didn't have time but in addition to the edible ornaments I made in this video they also made candied fruit where they'd suck out all the moisture with sugar. Also it was really fun to use real candles on the tree, I used modern birthday candles so they went out pretty fast but I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I didn't burn the place down!
Everybody knows the classics but the best western movies and television shows aren't always the ones everybody talks about. I've been living the pioneer life out here in Oklahoma for going on three years, and I'll tell you: these films hit different when you're actually doing the work. Here are 7 magnificent westerns that deserve a spot on every serious fan's list.
I finally build a proper outhouse and it’s nice! I honestly wasn’t expecting it to turn out so well and it’s going to be a welcome addition to the homestead. But also look at all the animals that came to visit me this week, a raccoon, dogs, deer, and an absolutely beautiful bobcat. I’ve seen her before on the property but this is the first time I’ve got her on camera and I was so excited about it. And we can’t forget the feral hog that kept showing up this week. I’ve been wanting to turn him into bacon but I didn’t know where he calls home… turns out he nests about 30 feet from where I’ve been building! I didn’t see that coming.
I’m finally back to working on the roof of the workshop. This takes a lot of wood, I’m using the same method I used on the outhouse but on a much larger scale. I chose this method because I think it’s the cheapest way for me to complete the roof (about $1000) even if it won’t be 100% waterproof. It’s just a workshop so if it leaks a little that will be fine.
We finally have snow! I’m much better prepared for a snow storm this year compared to last year as a side note. With it being so cold I spent as much time trying to warm up inside the cabin as I did trying to be productive. The temperature inside the cabin might sound cold at 40°F (22°C) but that’s 40°F (22°C) warmer than it was outside so I’ll take it. The next day it was much warmer inside and I think that’s because there was no wind, suggesting if I’d plug all the holes in the cabin I’d be able to get it a lot warmer.
I finally get to enjoy the beautiful winter landscape. Snow doesn’t last long here in Oklahoma, the wind moves the clouds away fast and that sun melts everything. Originally I planned on spending the first day building my workshop but after seeing so many animal tracks near the cabin I decided I’d have a lot more fun walking around the property and seeing what fun things I could find. There was a lot including two different bobcat tracks and possibly a third, I was a little confused at the prints at the base of the tree that I show. They looked like bobcat but I was less confident than I was with the other bob cat tracks. Seeing the rust colored deer urine was also interesting and at the time I didn’t know what it meant. In the video you can see me hiccup when eating the waffle. I ate the first few bites way too fast and almost started choking because I didn’t chew them enough. I’m glad I didn’t die eating it, goes to show that it’s always important to say your prayers before eating
There's a week of storms coming and I need to get this roof done! Welcome to my 1880’s Oklahoma homestead on the western frontier. Join me as I live the life of a pioneer in the Wild West. In this episode I finally finish the roof of my workshop. This was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it. I don’t think the roof will be completely waterproof but for a simple workshop it should be fine. I did a lot of research on 1800’s wood waterproofing and protection and the oils I used should be accurate to what was used and available back then. We’ll see how it works over time.
Rebuilding an 1800’s Wild West off grid Homestead one day at a time. Join me as I live the life of a pioneer in the Old West. In this episode I’m able to complete the door and what I’m calling the storm shutter. Now I can lock up the workshop when I’m not there and I’m one step closer to keeping my tools out of the weather so that they last a long time. It will be so nice to get my tools out of the cabin and into the workshop to decrease the clutter. The next step should be to chink in between all the logs but that’s going to be a long and difficult process, I don’t think I’m ready to tackle that but there’s still more work to do in the mean time.
I finally start moving tools into the workshop including a few new ones you haven’t seen before. Like the grinding wheel that I finally got a chance to try out and it works great, there’s a little bit of a learning curve but I got the hang of it by the end. This particular one is probably from the early 1900’s as opposed to the late 1800’s but it functions the same and was affordable. Also I absolutely love the wooden bench vice, I found that at an antique shop for $30 and I felt like I stole it at that price, it’s going to be so much fun to use. I also got a chance to sharpen one of my saws and I’m not sure if I did a good job, I’ve never sharpened a saw with such small teach, the larger saws with larger teeth are much easier. I do plan on filling in all the gaps in the logs of the workshop but it’s spring and I need to start planting soon so that will have to wait.