Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison

Patrick has a pretty good job as a copywriter in Seattle. But he increasingly feels like he’s missing out, as his friends and peers settle down, get better jobs, or do cool things like buy a sailboat to live on. Searching online ads, he finds a tiny cabin for sale in the Cascade Mountains. Only two hours from the city, and just $7500 (this is 2012). It needs a little work. Okay, lots of work. Patrick buys it, borrows his mom’s small truck, and brings a couple friends, some plywood and 2 x 4s, and a few cordless tools. Now it’s a base for hiking in the nearby national forest, and a place to learn to use lots of different tools and acquire new skills. With a camp stove and a propane heater and lanterns, plus an old futon, this could work. Next he acquires the tiniest woodstove, then a steep staircase is built to the loft, and so on. This memoir is very enjoyable reading on a cold winter day, as Patrick and friends make the cabin, though it has no running water, electricity, or Wi-Fi, increasingly cozy. A mudslide and some tall, leaning trees cause delays and anxiety, but in the end he has a new lifestyle and job. If you’ve ever wandered the aisles of a hardware or lumber store, or spent hours watching DIY videos on how to repair or create something, you’ll likely appreciate this memoir. I know Patrick will be working on more cabins, but I also wonder what he’ll be writing next. His website is here: https://patrick-hutchison.com/.

Brenda