Kipawa off grid

[Balsams]

My son put me on tik tok over the Holidays…oh what fun to go down a rabbit hole of things that interest me. I would encourage dinosaurs like me to go on and enjoy a never ending stream of things (mostly) that interest you.
I came across a post by Mark Hogben (?), short post indicating his living off grid year round on Lake Kipawa. Now that’s surviving. I wonder how far from town he is, how often he counts in civilization, or if he sustains himself off the land. This is something I’ve fantasized about, living remote off grid. I believe someone else of this site built an off grid cabin a little ways away from the lakes (Wiser?)…I believe this is the 2nd home. Would be interesting to hear of others who might be living off grid, and how far into isolation, and a bit of commentary on the lifestyle….

[michelle]

Hi Balsam. I follow Mark on Tik Tok, he has so many interesting videos. Nice guy, he tries to respond to most comments. We are off grid on Kipawa but only 3 seasons… and it’s camp.

[Fort Wisers]

Hi @Balsams yeah our camp is 100% off grid minus propane we lug in for the BBQ and fuel for various machines.
Electrical power is via solar and heat is via wood. General purpose water we collect via rain barrels and drinking water we get from a spring down the road.
Our lifestyle while there is pretty low key and somewhat geared around working on adapting to a more bygone, self sufficient lifestyle.

It's a little difficult in this day in age to find a balance as we don't want your kids to be completely oblivious to modern technology, but being aware that people used to live off and respect the land and understanding at least the basics of this is something we would like our girls to understand as well. So we spend basically the entire summer up there, kids included and then the odd weekend, March break etc there in the off season. The kids are currently 10 and 13 and while up there are responsible for many chores such as tending to the gardens, help keep the dogs (two sled dogs, soon to be four), keeping their little bunkie in order, helping to cut kindling and stocking firewood, starting and maintaining their own fire in their bunkie.

We do not live there year round yet but plan to perhaps in the next 8-10 years, so in the meantime we plug away at building up the land and learning skills.
It's been an adventure and it's a fair bit different than most people would think of when talking about "going to the cottage", it has it's moments where sometimes I wonder about the sanity of this all.....but we like it.


After clearing our build site with a chain saw and hand clippers, we built the gazebo (which has been converted into the kids bunkie camp) and the shell of the main cabin, without the use of any power-tools (except a small hand drill for putting in screws on the steel roofing), in summer 2016.
We continue to finish, add out buildings and work the land each year, trying our best to build it to what we think we'll need to live there full time.
The cabin is 100% insulated and being there in the winter is the best time of the year IMHO....no bugs lol.
We are in Mattawan township, so a little way away from Kipawa.
As kids, we grew up on Kipawa in the summers at my grand parents place so Kipawa always feels a bit like home to me.....
We owned on Kipawa a number of years ago....but sold as we wanted more land to work (it's hard to find lake front with a lot of land), so yes we're off the lake


Sorry, that message was a bit all over the map....
Here is a link to our trip archives in case you wanted a picture based path of this adventure of ours:
http://www.fort-wisers.ca/Albums/Camp/Arch/Our_Camp_Arch.htm

Take care:
Brent

[Balsams]

I thought it was your adventures I’ve read over the years. What was particularly interesting with the poster I saw, is that he lives right through the winter. Like you, we visit our cottage in the winter once or twice, and for the 3 or 4 days you are constantly attentive to staying warm or not letting the pipes freeze, chopping wood, melting snow…and we like to make a rink or ho for a walk on the lake. But we’re a drive to, rather that something as remote as Mark’s place. I totally get the wanting to connect to the earth and living off the land…something I think I’ll try in early retirement…..

[Cmdr. Bluegill]

Mark Hogben was the webmaster for the original Kipawa discussion board.  Glad to hear he is living in the area he cares so much about.

[Fort Wisers]

Just watched a few of Mark's youtube videos.....very cool!

Balsams I agree a little more remote would be better, we are basically drive-too as well.
We can drive, park and then hike / snowshoe / snowmobile / atv into the camp in about 700 feet, so it's an easy trip even in the dead of winter.
Having land around us helps it feel remote but I understand your point.

We generally go up for a week around new years, a week over the kids march break and then every 2nd -3rd weekend over the winter.

If I were without family I'd likely be much further in the bush but this works for us as a family.
Thanks for sharing the note about Mark, I'm going to check out more of his stuff!

Take care everyone:
Brent

[Hodgey1]

Major props to you all, especially for teaching your children something about survival, responsibility and the earth. Food just doesn't show up at the store, things die and loads of hard work for those suppling us all sustenance. The more our society gets away from the basics, the more disconnected and polluted people heads become. Melt downs over cell phones not working, really? How about a 150 years ago loosing your hatchet.

[Fort Wisers]

Melt downs over cell phones not working, really? How about a 150 years ago loosing your hatchet.

Love it @Hodgey1 ! Great statement.....