♪ ♪
(creaking)
♪ ♪
ROBERT: That was a long dive.
RJ: Yeah.
They're a little deeper since it's high tide.
ROBERT: Let's see what 'ya got?
RJ: I got four. Just got one more to get.
ROBERT: Oh, yeah, I mean, it looked like you had to work pretty hard.
RJ: The currents are really strong.
ROBERT: Today we're gonna try to get some rock scallops
and some abalone.
It's not easy to get for anyone,
but it's another way to harvest some food for us.
Beautiful piece of meat right there.
Look at that.
What do you think you want to do?
RJ: Get one more. ROBERT: Go get one more?
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: It's real important that if you want to harvest some rock scallops
and abalone, you do it in the cold months.
And that way you won't get paralytic shellfish poisoning.
Good luck, RJ. Stay safe.
RJ: Yeah.
(theme music playing)
ROBERT: Warming his muscles up.
Get all loose and limber.
He did some stretching on the boat.
Getting ready.
Free diving, just a snorkel.
You're holding your breath.
You're going down.
You're getting what you can in one breath and you're coming up.
Boy, he just holds his breath up to a minute.
It sounds scary.
He doesn't seem too phased by it though.
(cracks)
CHEVIE: So, it's super important to teach your kids
where their natural resources are.
It comes down to being able to feed yourself.
If you live by a river you gotta know how to fish.
EMRY: We're so far away.
CHEVIE: It's a long go of it.
We need to get pike.
This is the time to get 'em.
And the place that we're going to today is Layman Lake.
It's 17 miles downriver from Shageluk.
And I gotta cross ice, uneven terrain, but first
we're gonna stop and fish in multiple lakes.
Let's try here for a little while.
Let's see what's up.
Emry, what are you making?
EMRY: My baby's head. CHEVIE: You're making a baby?
Oh. You just gotta have a snow baby.
All right. Let's walk up here.
Let's go cut some sticks to make a pole out of.
All right?
SYDNEY: Yep.
EMRY: Yah! CHEVIE: Whoa!
Everybody's got their stick?
EMRY: Yeah. SYDNEY: Yeah.
CHEVIE: All right. Let's go down there and get some line on 'em.
SYDNEY: Emry, you remind me of me when I was like your age.
CHEVIE: All right, you're ready to roll.
This is Emry's.
SYDNEY: What? No, I got that.
CHEVIE: Oh, okay. This is Sydney's.
EMRY: I want to use it! SYDNEY: No.
CHEVIE: Where do you want your hole?
EMRY: Look, look, daddy.
Daddy, look.
Right where I'm standing.
Right here.
CHEVIE: Just rip on it as hard as you can.
One, two three.
EMRY: Two, three. We did it.
CHEVIE: Good effort.
We haven't had fresh fish for three or four months.
And by catching these fish you're eating good healthy food
that makes us stronger and
gives us the quality of life that we strive for.
Just gotta keep on jigging.
When I was younger, I didn't spend as much time in the woods
as our kids did and there's times where I've had to overcome fear.
And so, I think with preparation,
I could help them be comfortable because it's ice fishing,
but it's so much more.
No fish here, I don't think.
We gotta find 'em. Let's just keep on moving.
We'll move to the next spot.
JOHNNY: Nature's always trying to teach me a lesson.
It's always teaching me something that I need to know
in order to thrive out here with the other animals.
JOHNNY: The snow's deep this year.
Compared to last year, the snow's a hell of a lot deeper.
This is actually my first-time snaring for snowshoe hares out here.
Check out this old superhighway just runs right up
into the trees there.
And then there's some marten tracks right up above it.
The marten must be happy as pigs in dung that the snowshoe hares
are back in town.
Because, man, they love eating those things.
And these animals are cyclic.
They're around heavily and then they're, they're just gone.
And it's unbelievable how many tracks are out here now.
When they repopulate, man, they...
(whistles)
It's like the term...
(whistles)
Like rabbits.
This is the time of year where my meat's running low
and it's time to go out, find more game.
Snowshoe hares are a great source of protein.
And now that they're here I'm gonna take advantage of that and
get 'em while the getting's good.
Little bit of this right here.
What I don't want to do is walk in their highway.
Man, I'm starting to slide under it.
'Cause if you walk into their highway and smash it down,
you could kind of deter them away.
So, I'm just gonna kinda do a real simple set like this.
And put the snare on this coming down right into their path.
I remember setting my first rabbit trap.
It was on my parent's property back in Indiana.
And I, I mean, I didn't know what I was doing,
but I just, something in me always wanted to trap,
always wanted to hunt, always wanted to fish.
And I dug this hole in the ground.
I put a piece of plywood over the hole.
And then I cut a hole in the plywood and
put like a piece of plastic over the hole.
And I put carrots in the hole, and I was hoping that a rabbit
would come along and step on that plastic and
fall into the bucket.
It was the worst idea.
To me at the time, I just, I was thirsty to be outside and trap.
I didn't want to go to school.
That's looking pretty good to me.
So now a rabbit will come bounding along and you can see
its bound marks, boom, boom, boom.
That next bound and that's where it's gonna get caught in the snare.
You know, I'm just like I was when I was eight, ten, 12.
There we go.
I'm doing the same stuff.
I got the same interests.
I've definitely fallen more in love with animals outside of
a food source just from hunting and trapping.
I've grown a much larger appreciation for nature because
of hunting and trapping.
Because I'm out on the land.
I'm out doing stuff.
I'm, I'm observing nature, I'm watching it.
And it's just, it's a beautiful thing to be a part of everyday.
That trap's looking pretty solid.
I'm happy with that right there.
Be back tomorrow and check these bad boys out.
(rooster crows)
(bleats)
NATHAN: At first, it sounded like a crazy idea,
buying a farm in the middle of nowhere on land that isn't farmland.
But we love it.
Me and my wife, and the kids.
We all are fanatics.
Farm life certainly isn't for everyone.
You make a lot of sacrifices.
But we wanted to get out of the rat race,
we bit off a lot more than we could chew.
But we do whatever it takes.
NATHAN: All right.
SAMANTHA: So where are we digging at?
NATHAN: I was thinking put it somewhere right next to this tree.
So, Moses and them can still guard the farm.
SAMANTHA: Yeah. Let's start digging.
NATHAN: I'm Nathan Brown.
Samantha is my beautiful wife.
We have three kids and a bunch of animals.
(meows)
SAMANTHA: Really, Olivia?
(laughs)
NATHAN: She had a really solid first birth.
Super easy, so hopefully this one goes as well.
Moses and Olivia decided that they wanna have another litter of puppies.
So, we're gonna build a doghouse.
They'll have a place to stay warm in the winter and
cool in the summer.
SAMANTHA: I think they're gonna be really happy to have their own space.
NATHAN: It's overdue, long overdue for 'em.
The nearest hardware store is probably about a hour and a half away.
But I can go out and gather what I need off the land.
We live north of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park,
the largest national park
in the United States.
And it's probably the most beautiful place on Earth.
I mean, you'd have to shoot me in the head and
drag me off to get me outta here.
All right.
So, I'm gonna drop this dead standing here.
See if we can load it up.
It's gonna be a little bit of a trek.
I don't trust bringing the snow machine over here through this.
It's turning into a swamp quick.
This one looks like it'll make a ridgepole.
I'm gonna try to get it to drop just straight down this way.
It can be kinda dangerous sometimes 'cause it doesn't
always fall the way you want it to.
Feels good to get out and do things the old-fashioned way.
And timber!
Granted, I have a chainsaw to help me.
There we go.
De-limb this guy a little bit.
It's a good start, we're on our way.
My biggest fear out here in the elements,
it's easy to get stranded somewhere miles upon miles from home.
All right.
I see several trees that I wouldn't mind taking with me.
I'd rather be prepared and have more than I need.
There she goes.
Rather than less than I need.
This trail is shrinking every single day.
So, I'm glad I got out here before it was inaccessible.
We'll see how the load does.
Nope.
Uh...
I'm kinda digging in here.
That's not good.
NATHAN: Well, I'm realizing, uh,
I'm not gonna be able to get up these hills with this load.
So unfortunately, I'm gonna have to sacrifice a good portion
of these logs, probably about half of 'em.
Definitely a case of me being overly ambitious.
Classic case.
After getting stuck a couple times,
this is the, the solution.
So, I'll loosen these straps and throw some of these logs off and
I'll get 'em in the summer.
At this point, I will be incredibly happy just to get
this load of logs back to the farm.
Now to assess the log situation.
We'll start with this, these dinky ones.
Save a couple of the thick ones at least.
One way or another, I gotta get these home and I gotta get myself home.
You know what, I'm gonna just go with these four solid logs.
Even then, I'm kinda wondering if that's gonna do it.
So maybe cut the back of these a little bit.
That way we don't have any problems with the back hanging
up 'cause when you go uphill,
they tend to kinda drag the snow.
Think that'll work.
These will be waiting for me down the road.
Can't fight the weather and you can't force Alaska.
That's a part of being a cheechako.
Learning those hard lessons in over ambition.
Cheechako is like a, an Alaskan Native term that
they use for newcomers to Alaska.
I've heard different variations on how you, uh,
reach beyond being a cheechako.
So I'm happy to be a cheechako.
To be up here learning it.
I'm gonna give that a shot.
It's gonna be a struggle I think no matter what.
Come on.
Made it out.
CHEVIE: When you're in the woods,
the goal is to come out of the woods.
Be in tune with your instincts.
The more you know the country and know the land,
the better off you are.
SYDNEY: It melted so much here.
CHEVIE: I know. SYDNEY: Wait.
Why did it melt this much here and not that much at Shageluk?
CHEVIE: Because it's south-facing and
the sun's just on it all the time.
And so, in the springtime, it's why it's a great place to
come because it's like it's spring here first.
And it's not in town yet.
SYDNEY: Dad, don't break your back slipping on that ice.
CHEVIE: I won't break my back slipping on the ice.
Let's get this sled unloaded.
Check inside.
Open the door to the cabin there, Syd.
The cabin's about halfway to Lyman Lake where we're going fishing.
We want a little bit of a base camp in case of emergency.
Take the cooler out, put it on the deck,
and have a snack.
SYDNEY: Yay.
CHEVIE: And I'll split some wood.
You want to help your sister pack that?
SYDNEY: I feel like I'm doing all the work now.
Emry, come on.
CHEVIE: As a rule of thumb if I'm doing anything out in
the country, closer to the cabin then our house I'm gonna start a
fire in the cabin, just in case we have to use it.
Let's get back on the trail.
Hold on tight with those hands, okay?
Because if anything happens,
if somebody gets wet, or somebody gets hurt,
I know that I got a warm cabin eight miles closer than home.
All right guys, here we are.
We're at Lyman Lake and we're gonna see if we can catch some pike.
As long as you're being confident,
know what you're doing you won't get hurt,
but don't be scared or else that's how you get hurt okay?
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: We'll put in some more holes so all three of us can be
fishing at the same time.
ROBERT: I just have a fear of the ocean,
more of a respect for it than anything.
But if something happened to RJ in the water,
I'd be the first one to jump in.
Sacrifice my life to save him.
ROBERT: There he is.
What'd you get?
Look at them, beauties.
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: How you feeling RJ, you looking kind of weak?
Getting tired?
RJ: Getting pretty tired.
Tide's a lot higher.
ROBERT: It's really deep right now.
RJ: Yeah.
It's normally like five or ten foot dives.
30 feet right now.
ROBERT: Bring her on in, and get you some rest,
maybe we'll do another dive in a little later.
Makes my job lot easier, I don't have to drive the boat.
We dive in the shoreline here and if you look back there
you can see there's a real narrow spot.
The current's ripping through that narrow spot and
sometimes it turns into a whitewater river there so.
We want to make sure our anchor sticks good here and
doesn't suck us into that bay.
RJ: I'm ready. ROBERT: Ready to roll?
RJ: Yeah, let's get back out there.
The spot that we have is a fairly hard location.
I'm pretty confident in my abilities but there's always
a danger of possibly suffocating underwater.
Oh, it's cold.
Shouldn't have gotten out of the water.
ROBERT: I know how powerful of a swimmer he is,
and I know how good he is but it's different kinds of cold.
There's just being cold and then there's dangerous cold.
Oh, he just dove down.
(cracks)
RJ: They're kinda tucked away in a couple hard spots to get to.
ROBERT: I think he loves being in the game,
when it comes down to pushing his body till,
he feels like he can't go anymore,
it's dangerous and I've lost a lot of friends here
over the last 30 years.
You just never know.
But he's staying down a lot longer.
And hoping he comes up.
Come on RJ.
ROBERT: There he is.
That dive was a little too long and it scared me.
I wanna make sure he's okay.
I'm gonna watch his lips, I'm gonna make sure he's
not slurring his speech, I'm gonna make sure he don't lose
his dexterity, and make sure he still has good train of thought,
if he has all those, he can keep diving.
If he don't, I'm gonna let him know.
You still got enough energy to get on the boat, that's good.
You need a hand getting in here or anything.
RJ: Nah, I'm good.
ROBERT: Come back out again and try it another time.
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: I don't want you to being unsafe out here.
RJ: I just got water in my feet. ROBERT: Feel a little numb?
RJ: You don't realize it until you get out.
ROBERT: I'll fire up that heater in there.
(howls)
NATHAN: Trying to raise family in Alaska,
not exactly safe.
CHEVIE: You just need to keep your eye out,
it's why I start packing a little bit bigger gun.
NATHAN: We really came out here just to follow our dream
of living the subsistence life.
ROBERT: If I was a brand-new rookie out here,
I'd be scared to death.
NATHAN: It is great living but it's easy dying out here as well.
JOHNNY: All of our hands have a little blood on them.
NATHAN: And if the predators aren't out to get you,
the weather is.
(gusting winds)
NATHAN: Okay, you're gonna wanna watch out.
SAMANTHA: Are we going to build like a little railing on
the porch or anything, could we?
NATHAN: I don't know about a railing,
but I was thinking so the roof will hang over right here.
We'll have two posts coming up.
SAMANTHA: I like your idea, this is very much bigger than
your average doghouse.
NATHAN: I want the three bigger dogs to
all be able to fit in there together.
Olivies, come here.
And provide a space to get out of the rain,
out of the snow, and out of the elements.
You should love on Olivies, she's having a pretty rough time
getting around with all those puppies sitting in her tummy.
SAMANTHA: How many puppies do you girls think she's gonna have?
AUTUMN: I don't know. AISLYN: Seven or five.
SAMANTHA: Seven or five? AUTUMN: I'm seven years old.
AISLYN: I'm gonna see. She's planning on 200,000.
SAMANTHA: Yeah, yeah. NATHAN: Too many.
SAMANTHA: All right, Olivies, we gotta get to work, big kid.
NATHAN: We're gonna take the trees that we got,
we're gonna cut them to length and strip the bark off of them
with some draw knives.
It doesn't have to be perfect, you just want enough off to
where the moisture will not stay in there and rot.
You want some help?
AISLYN: Yes and no. NATHAN: Yes and no.
AISLYN: Yeah. NATHAN: Watch.
SAMANTHA: Do you wanna try?
NATHAN: You can always get that with the chain...
Oh, okay. Oops.
AISLYN: Or you can write to a note why.
NATHAN: Here, I'll let you try by yourself again, okay?
SAMANTHA: Can you scooch the, can you scooch the log that way
so I can roll it. Yeah.
AISLYN: Kind of hard.
NATHAN: You can always hand her the chainsaw.
(laughs)
SAMANTHA: Not this time around.
To gain knowledge as a child of how to do adult things,
that is so valuable.
Like all these skills, these are things that
typically aren't really taught in school.
NATHAN: That part's kind of hard because it's got knots in it.
Here I'll turn it, and maybe try like this part, okay?
I think I got all the easy stuff and you got all the hard stuff to do.
You're doing pretty good.
AISLYN: I got easy stuff. NATHAN: Oh, you did, oh okay.
Olivia is checking it out.
AISLYN: Olivia's gonna love it!
NATHAN: See where this one is, right there?
I went in from the side at an angle.
See how solid that is, that ain't moving.
AISLYN: Wow.
SAMANTHA: This is going to be fantastic.
JOHNNY: I like being away from people.
I like being away from modern technology.
I like the disconnect, create my own world.
You know, live like people lived in the past.
JOHNNY: All right, coming up to the snare line.
First one right there, easy enough it's empty.
My paycheck out here doesn't come in the form of money,
it comes in the form of meat, and I need to find more meat.
Let me center it a little bit more.
All right, keep on checking.
You know, it's interesting 'cause I made these paths with
my snowshoes and now I don't need snowshoes anymore 'cause it
packs down and it freezes overnight and the snowshoe hares
kind of do the same thing, they just go in the same exact place.
So, they're making little highways,
I'm making little highways, everything I do out here
I'm learning from the animals.
See what's happening here, nothing.
Trap looks good, no new tracks at all around it.
Keep on checking.
(laughing)
Look at this!
JOHNNY: Nice, man!
That's a bunny.
Cool.
He's got some blood right here.
Look at that, the bone's hanging out right there.
No way, check this out.
That's kind of older.
Right here?
Like something's been gnawing on it.
That's, that's frozen and dried up,
and that's pretty fresh.
And, uh, blood and hair,
I can tell it's a marten by the tracks.
God man, it just shows you how hungry everybody is out here.
I'm hungry and then something comes and tries to steal my food.
Martens, they eat rabbits,
they eat voles, which are like little mice.
I mean, hey, I'm happy I got a snowshoe hare but, um,
I gotta figure this out because
I got animals eating my stuff on the ground.
Man, I can't believe this.
So, you know, I've never done this before for trapping.
But there's something I used to do when I was younger in
the woods all the time, and it was to wrap a piece of cord like
this of rope around a tree, and I would take sticks and
I would just twist them around.
Just like this.
When you let go of this, you know.
Like that.
I used to love just watching it.
(chirps)
So, the plan is to use this to have that snare attached to and
put a stick here.
And when that trap is triggered,
now that bunny's hanging off the tip of this stick.
And it's up off the ground and that marten can't get to it.
So, all I gotta do is get this locked down to a snare,
right on this little bunny highway.
There's no reason to feel frustrated by that marten,
because that marten is doing its thing.
That marten lives here and it's in survival mode.
You know, I would do the same thing if I was a marten,
and sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes to survive.
Boom, little something like that.
Okay, the hare's gonna come hopping along,
and it's gonna get caught into this.
When it gets caught it's gonna pull,
and when it pulls, it's gonna be hanging right here.
It's what I call hare trigger.
ROBERT: Sitka below the water,
it's 42 degrees or colder,
and the further down you get the colder it gets.
It's a whole new world that no one sees,
and it's just deadly down there.
ROBERT: We have little bit better ocean conditions.
That sun should mean good luck.
RJ: All right.
ROBERT: Good luck, hope you find some big abalone down there.
RJ: Thanks. ROBERT: Yeah.
You know, RJ works his ass off out here to come get these.
And every single time we ever came out, you know,
he always shares the bounty with me.
Good kid.
Looks like he's measuring one.
RJ: Good four and a half incher.
ROBERT: RJ targeting the big ones,
letting the little ones go.
Big ones have more meat, little ones can grow up.
RJ: This one's a monster.
That thing's gonna be like, a two-pound piece of meat in there.
ROBERT: He's in the honey hole right now.
RJ: I always have a blast every time I come out here and
get a chance to get in the water.
Getting scallops or abalone or anything that I can do to be in
the water's what I live for.
This is a, seriously a special place for me.
ROBERT: Hey. What'd you get?
RJ: I got four. ROBERT: Nice. Those are big.
RJ: Yeah. ROBERT: Cool.
What are you gonna do now?
RJ: I'm gonna get one more. ROBERT: All right, good luck.
I'll be right here.
RJ: All right.
ROBERT: Pretty.
That's a big sucker right there.
Like a whole meal.
CHEVIE: Kids learn fast.
They learn fast when you teach them right,
but they also learn fast when you put them in a tough situation.
SYDNEY: Down low, mine stands off the ground.
Up high like you just hailed a kingdom.
Down low like you're drowning on the ground.
CHEVIE: Any bites, Sydney? SYDNEY: No.
There's literally hasn't been even a tiny bite yet.
CHEVIE: It's okay.
I didn't, look how high you're pulling it, Sydney.
You're pulling it all the way to the top of the hole.
There's no fish at the top of the hole.
Pull it off the bottom only about six inches or so,
and then back down.
SYDNEY: I kinda want to sit down,
my legs are getting very tired.
CHEVIE: I can solve that problem for you real quick.
SYDNEY: Thank you.
CHEVIE: You wanna try this hole, Sydney?
SYDNEY: Mm-hmm. CHEVIE: Okay.
We got a little fish thing in here.
We haven't had any luck with this one,
you might as well try your silver one over there.
SYDNEY: Okay guys, I got a bite.
CHEVIE: Oh, that's a good, so just pull it.
Just keep it taught, Sydney.
Straight up, baby.
Up, now pull it up with, no.
You don't have a bite.
SYDNEY: Yeah. I lost it. Aw.
CHEVIE: It's okay.
When you get a bite, grab your string, okay?
You gotta keep the line tight.
Okay?
Just like fishing with a rod and reel.
Go ahead and put it back down, it will bite it again.
Emry may need a little bit more attention,
where Sydney is ten and I'm becoming more dependent on her
for her to be more of a partner to me looking for food than a kid,
and she's got to figure it out.
SYDNEY: I just got something,
I literally did.
CHEVIE: Are you sure it's not the bottom of the ice?
SYDNEY: I'm pretty sure it's not.
CHEVIE: Well, keep on fishing.
Good job.
SYDNEY: I'm glad I got a bite though.
CHEVIE: Yep, so you just be thinking,
you want to get that fish out of that hole,
and what's the fastest way to do it and
that's just to pull it out of there.
SYDNEY: Okay. CHEVIE: By that string, okay?
SYDNEY: Okay.
I'm going to stand up.
CHEVIE: There you go. They're spawning right now.
SYDNEY: What does that mean, spawning?
CHEVIE: Means they're laying their eggs.
Keep on going, Sydney.
It's gonna bite again.
SYDNEY: Ah, it bite. CHEVIE: Get it out.
SYDNEY: Oh, geez. It's so big.
SYDNEY: Ah!
CHEVIE: Pull up, there you go. There you go. There's a fish.
Yay, look! Good job, Bean.
SYDNEY: He was huge!
CHEVIE: Way to be patient.
What do you think about that, Sydney?
SYDNEY: That was cool, I didn't get one all day and
then I get the biggest one that keeps jerking.
And I barely pulled him up.
CHEVIE: The cold-water pike that we get in Alaska are
actually a really good fish.
It's a valuable resource when all the other fish
aren't running, their cycle's down,
pike will still be there, and pike will still feed you.
So, if you're hungry and you need food you want to know where it's at.
SYDNEY: So heavy! Ah!
It's heavy. It's heavy.
CHEVIE: What's that? You got a fish?
EMRY: I don't know. CHEVIE: Feels like it.
EMRY: It's, it's pulling me. CHEVIE: Sydney, come here.
EMRY: Oh. Ah! SYDNEY: That fast?
CHEVIE: Hey, we're eating tonight.
SYDNEY: Boom. CHEVIE: Way to go, Emmie.
Way to go!
This is a little one, but this one's actually really good for eating.
Grab it, two fingers.
EMRY: I don't want to! CHEVIE: Grab it, hurry up.
You got to.
There you go, that's a good girl.
EMRY: Ah, that's a big one! CHEVIE: A little bigger, yeah.
SYDNEY: That one give up easily. CHEVIE: All right, cool.
We definitely got enough food there for dinner.
You know what, stick your hands in there.
Just don't go headfirst.
Okay. All right.
It's cold but you gotta dry 'em out in the air, okay?
Or wipe them on the outside of your pants.
You want to try to keep your gloves dry, inside too.
Who's gonna scale it?
EMRY: I want to.
CHEVIE: All right guys, that was a good fishing trip.
Your mom will be happy to see that big fish and
show you how to make fish ice cream, Sydney.
SYDNEY: Yep.
CHEVIE: It's a good way to warm up.
SAMANTHA: We're so set apart from anything else that
I have ever known.
We're hopefully wise enough to not do something stupid
and get ourselves killed.
SAMANTHA: I think the dogs are gonna love this.
NATHAN: If they don't move in, I will.
SAMANTHA: This is where you go when you get sent to the doghouse, huh?
NATHAN: Yeah, that's why I'm building an awesome doghouse.
Wanna try to nail in some of the big nails in?
ADRIAN: Sure. NATHAN: See how far you can get.
Adrian seems to love hammering in those nails.
And it's a good learning experience for him,
it teaches them a lot about the dedication to a project.
Because it's always a lot more work than you think.
I don't think it's going anywhere now.
The log walls, we'll build those up in the front and
the back to where the peak of the roof is gonna be,
so we can put the ridge pull on top.
Good girl.
Making you a nice house to hang out in.
Olivia, I think she's ready to,
to pop those puppies out any moment.
I imagine she'll have more puppies than last time,
I don't remember her being this big the last time.
Trying to get in here.
I'm gonna pick it up, kinda set it up there and see how it sits.
ADRIAN: We should have that there 'cause that could help
with the roof for the porch.
NATHAN: This? ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: That's the plan.
Just living up here teaches them a lot about depending on
yourself and really solving problems on your own.
And not relying on everybody else or relying on society to
take care of you or...
You're just learning to do things for yourself,
and I think that's really important.
Sink them in as much as you can,
just a little bit below the surface of the log.
There we go.
ADRIAN: What now?
NATHAN: Um, we're gonna cut that with a chainsaw so it's at
a good slope, so that way you don't have kind of a wonky roof.
It's looking good.
I'm gonna get the two by fours and plywood and sheet metal.
Starting to look like a dog cabin.
A dog log cabin.
Log dog cabin. Something like that.
JOHNNY: You know, it's interesting looking at
the different animals.
How they are able to flourish out here.
Deep snow, you know, rough conditions,
cold weather and I like to learn
from them because nature's always teaching me a lesson.
JOHNNY: This guy's still set right here.
This is the first one I did.
Man, what a cool setup that is.
I like it.
I'd like it more if there was a hare.
All right, I'm gonna go check the other ones.
No way!
JOHNNY: Look at that guy.
Got a hare. That's awesome.
Keeps out of reach of a marten.
You know, they can climb up this if they want,
just can't get to the bunny.
We'll get you in the bag, buddy.
That was cool to see that the,
some of the animals were more clever than me.
I was able to adjust my tactics and out-clever them.
Look at this guy.
You know, I was once told by this guy that had taught me how
to clean rabbits that if the rabbit passes away with
its two front paws crossed that it died in a peaceful way.
And the way he would do it was he would do this move to
the neck that would just break their neck and kill them immediately.
And every time he did it,
they were just cross their front legs,
and it's pretty interesting to see this one
with its front legs crossed like that.
I don't know how true that is, but I've always remembered that,
and seeing this guy with his front legs crossed makes me feel pretty good.
And if it's not true it at least reminded me of the old timer
where I felt I had a clean bunnies.
You know, I'm just gonna take it as a sign that I did right to nature.
That even though I took a life I took it in a humane way.
ROBERT: What'd you get?
RJ: I think I finished it off strong.
ROBERT: Seems like you got all the abalone down there.
Wow. Lay them on the table.
Quite the haul, RJ.
Today, look like he got is five rock scallops
and five abalones.
And that's some precious food right there.
I think it's good teamwork.
(sighs)
RJ: I'm ready to get them processed and hop in a hot shower.
ROBERT: Yeah. Well, let's get her done.
(banging)
That one's a tough one to get into.
RJ: Oh, man. This one's huge.
ROBERT: Yeah. Look at the size of that monster.
That's some serious food right there.
Let's see that.
RJ: It looks big in your hand, too.
ROBERT: I know.
That's a piece of meat right there.
Good job, RJ.
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: A lot of work for that little bit of meat,
but it's worth it, isn't it?
RJ: Yeah. Best tasting stuff that there is.
SONTA: Oh, wow, that's a good size.
So what should we make with this fish that you guys got?
Which is really exciting.
EMRY: The big one is fish ice cream!
SONTA: Sounds good.
This is important stuff that I want you girls to always know, okay?
So, when I teach you stuff you don't forget it.
SYDNEY: Okay, we'll remember that.
SONTA: This kind of fish it's always gonna be a survival food.
EMRY: Mom, your hands are all bloody.
SONTA: We're gonna boil it in this water,
and then we'll take out all the bones and squeeze all
the juice out of the fish itself.
EMRY: I see it. I done it!
SONTA: Try not to lose the meat as you're doing it.
I know that a lot of people call it fish ice cream.
So, the native word for this is vanhgiq.
EMRY: Vanhgiq. SONTA: Yeah.
Oh, nice. That's good.
And the cool thing is that we still eat this today and
we ate it for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Give me five.
CHEVIE: More. Mmm.
She loves it, huh?
SONTA: Proud of you guys for going out and having some fun and...
CHEVIE: And I'm excited all these little things that
I'm watching you do that you're just like enjoying doing
like shoveling or splitting wood, fishing,
all those things are just really valuable tools for living out here.
SAMANTHA: Can't believe we're almost done.
NATHAN: It's pretty much completed other than
cutting out the door.
We got a door to the dog log cabin.
SAMANTHA: Maybe let's sweep it out,
throw the rug in and then put the antlers on.
NATHAN: Okay.
And it, long ways obviously goes the length of the doghouse.
We have, uh, one final touch, put Moses's trophy on here.
AUTUMN: It's good. Yay! NATHAN: All right.
SAMANTHA: Oh. NATHAN: It's the dog cabin.
AUTUMN: Awesome. NATHAN: Yeah?
Should we call the dogs and see what they think?
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Check out your new home.
Go.
SAMANTHA: Go in. There you go.
NATHAN: Good boy.
First time as a family in your new home.
ADRIAN: Wait, wait, get (inaudible),
get (inaudible).
SAMANTHA: Yeah, all, all of the dogs can fit plus the kids.
That's pretty impressive.
There.
NATHAN: Shake.
The dogs approve of a fresh new dog cabin,
and we all helped on it.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
NATHAN: So job well done everybody.
(overlapping chatter)
NATHAN: I think it makes them proud,
gives them a sense of fulfillment to, you know,
do something and contribute to this project.
I think a snack time well deserved.
SAMANTHA: I think we've earned it, yeah.
NATHAN: It really is kind of unreal out here.
Living in a place with so many resources.
SAMANTHA: To go out and put in the effort to harvest your own
food and, and building on your own property just by your hands.
It's incredible to me that we actually have the freedom
to go and do that.
NATHAN: This is a big part of why we left the lower 48.
You know, not just us, but for the kids as well.
A great thing for them to grow up in an environment like this
and learn how to conquer any task thrown before you.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.