Building an Off Grid Cabin for Free (part 1)

This is the first part of a series of videos of me building an off grid cabin for free.
I started building this cabin a few years ago as a workshop on the farm. The idea behind it was to try not to spend any money on the building and use only materials that I could gather for free. So I built it out of cedar polls, wood scavenged from skips, and wattle and daub with willow and mud.
Using free materials meant that I had to keep changing the design based on what I got hold off. For example, I got a bunch of old windows from a building so I incorporated them. But the starting point was cedar poles and I wanted to use them as roundwood. I decided the building should be round too to reflect the wood, so I designed it to be like a yurt, but with a central pole to hold up the roof. I made this as a ladder so I could easily climb up and down as part of the building process.
As it's completely off grid, I started off avoiding using any power tools and just used hand tools. This was part of the philosophical approach I tried to take, keeping it low impact and going slowly. Over time, I needed to speed things up a bit so started using a battery powered Makita circular saw and a battery powered Makita chainsaw, as well as an impact driver and drill. In general I used solar power to charge these.

[@LyLanCan-qv5rl]

so great

[@OttmarBallou]

I think I'd have built a bonfire and rolled the ends of the logs above it, rather than use a ruck of gas to char them. P.S. I have 20/20 hindsight.

[@ukselfreliance8264]

You're absolutely right! I was a bit scared of putting them in a fire as I only had a limited number of poles so didn't want to risk forgetting about them and losing one. But I'd definitely do it that way next time - I got through a lot of gas :)