Teresa 
There is a large grove of birch trees on the property, we will harvest what we need that grows wild around us.
The wild chaga mushroom is a fungus that grows mainly in birch trees.
It can be found protruding from the tree as a dark burnt looking irregular form usually looking like a cone or horn.
I want to tell you a little bit about cougars before we get into what to do if you meet a cougar out in the bush while hiking.
Cougars are very rarely seen in the wild, they like to stay to themselves. In the 30 years I have been living around cougar country I have only seen one and that was from a distance, it was walking away from us as we were out getting firewood.
An adult male cougar will stand about 24 to 30 inches and be in length of up to 8′ long that includes the tail, which can be as long as 36 inches. On average the male cougar will weigh about 125 lbs. were the female would be somewhat smaller and weigh about 100 lbs.
The eco fan wood stove fan is what I have been using for at least 8 years or more, these heat powered wood stove fans are definitely worth every penny.
They are long lasting and save on the heating bill by warming the house up faster and moving the heat throughout the house.
Where do Pack rats live?Where do pack rats live? Well apparently they live in my Cabin. Well I’ll give you some Pack Rat information and then I’ll tell you my story and give you some ways to get rid of these nasty creatures.
The old cabin floor had to be removed, we were almost certain that underneath the wood would be a dirt floor, but to our surprise there was a concrete floor under that dirty old particle board.
Whoever had put the floor in this cabin had built a frame raised floor and covered the concrete with particle board.
We would find out what we had to work with once the entire old floor was removed.
The cabin is only 10 x 11 so there was no need to leave the big cast iron wood stove that was in there. A small wood stove will do the job we need it to do.
There are all kinds of small wood stoves out there, we are trying to recycle and use what we have so spending money was not part of the plan. We found a larger wood stove in the cabin, but the heat from it would have blown us out of there, so we decided to buy a cheaper wall tent stove.
The existing front door is damaged so we will be taking an exterior door from the addition to the main cabin and use it.
The additions will slowly get taken down and we will be re using whatever building supplies we can.
Hunting season was to begin the following day so we decided to head up to the property and try our luck up there.
There is always the potential of a bear encounter out at the property, the last few summers I’d see one almost every time I drove out to the property.
I not all that comfortable hiking in the bush along as I’ve always been a little bit paranoid when it comes to bears.
