We grew up in the woods. Whether it was a cabin, an RV, or a tent, there was always somewhere for us to escape to. Birthdays were spent at campgrounds, weekends were filled with campfires, and most of our childhood memories are tied to forests, lakes, and long days outside.
Our Story
As adults, city life eventually caught up to us. During the pandemic, the concrete walls and asphalt roads started to feel heavier than ever. With no trees in sight, we knew we needed something different—so we made a change.
We found it in a nearly 20-acre piece of rural Ontario: part wetland, part pond, part forest, all potential.
For the first year, we kept things simple. We camped in tents and ice-fishing huts, cooked over wood fires, made snow angels in winter, and fought mosquitos all summer. It was raw, honest, and exactly what we needed.
Reality set in quickly, though: managing this much land by hand was a lot. So we bought a small Kubota tractor—the kind of machine that instantly becomes part of the family. With it, we cleared space for an RV, septic, and a shed, cutting and hauling trees one by one. We built a septic system ourselves and somehow managed to tow an RV up a steep, stubborn piece of road.
Now we're starting the next chapter: building a house.
This project is our way of returning to our roots—combining planning, design, building, and a lifelong connection to the outdoors. It's a place to tell our story as it unfolds, one project at a time.
Who are we?
We're two brothers. One of us tends to the planning, design, and documentation—this blog and the big-picture decisions—and is learning the manual labour side as we go. The other turns plans into reality: mechanics, welding, building, and fixing. Together we're figuring it out as we go, learning from the land and from each other.