Posted on 11/05/2021 8:50:33 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
GREANEY, Minn. — Beryl Novak bought 40 acres of forest here in 1966 for $700, eventually moved an old one-room shack to the site for a deer hunting cabin and then liked it so much he moved in for good.
That was 1977. He hasn’t lived anyplace else since. He hasn’t slept in any other bed, not a single night away, since May 1993.
“I’m kind of a homebody,” Novak said.
Novak, 71, shot his first deer at age 10, in 1960, hunting alone. He still has the paper hunting license and aluminum buck tag pressed between pages in a photo album. Since then, Novak figures he’s shot 75 deer in these woods northwest of Cook.
Through his military service, he would come home on leave scheduled around hunting seasons.
There's a gas range for cooking, a bed in the corner and a small TV that gets three stations over the airwaves. “Why would you need any more than that? Everything on TV is all so damned depressing anyway,” Novak said.
Novak formally “retired” in 1995, meaning that’s the point he stopped trying to earn a living and focused on the living part.
“It doesn’t cost much to live up here. I get by pretty cheap,” he said.
His last car broke down in 2005 and he hasn’t driven one since
“I’ve been social distancing out here for 20 years,” he said.
He hasn’t shaved or had a haircut since 2001,
“If people would read what Thoreau wrote in the 1800s it might help them today,” Novak said. “Simplify your life. That’s what I’ve done. … People out there working to make more money are just chasing their tails.”
(Excerpt) Read more at duluthnewstribune.com ...
If it were just me and had the means, I would live in a similar but neater fashion.
Most of modern society I don’t want.
If it were just me and had the means, I would live in a similar but neater fashion.
Most of modern society I don’t want.
Obviously the mule passed on years ago.
New Hampshire.
Nonsense. His bed is made up.
A man who lives in a tidy house is (1) married, or (2) has a housekeeper, or (3) is gay.
I admire his non-attachment to the rat race, but wonder if the attachment to isolation in the forest is better.
I’ve done both and feel that the middle road is best.
He certainly looks content.
When I took this semi-efficiency apartment 15 years ago it was going to be just over the winter as I had one day to locate an apartment after traveling here. I learned over those 6 months this was just fine for me. And it has a wonderful deck and walk in closet and two entrances . On the second floor I couldn’t be happier.
Learning to live smaller is really quite wonderful.
I’ve lived in big cities and rural areas.....love where I am now with population about 13,000 , modern and all a big city offers on a smaller scale. Great shopping and eating establishments......parks etc.......and yet less than 15 minutes you’re traveling country roads.
Exactly same for me. We may be twins separated at birth.
shhh... this is how most life long bachelors places look like-I’m married but my single brothers...
Maybe, but it is his pigsty, not yours!
Your comment is the reason a lot of us men either get or stay single!
Lol... Well said. Organized piles are a natural thing.
If the dems get their way, a whole lot of folks who do not want to will have to live this way. That old saying “lucky to have a roof over my head” is going to be a real thing.
“If people would read what Thoreau wrote in the 1800s it might help them today,” Novak said. “Simplify your life. That’s what I’ve done. … People out there working to make more money are just chasing their tails.”
Yep... slavery to that dollar.
Amen.
Best story I’ve read in a long time........thanks
Having grouse hunted myself but with a shotgun, I am pretty damn impressed!
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