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 ...
I was thinking more like shacks, their cars, and cardboard boxes. The lucky ones will be in the woods with a place like this guy.
—”A man who lives in a tidy house is (1) married, or (2) has a housekeeper, or (3) is gay.”
I would attempt to run that by my wife, she would instantly question #3.
Like the fake Chinese character for crisis, having a very sharp wife is a great opportunity and also dangerous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_word_for_%22crisis%22
—” but wonder if the attachment to isolation in the forest is better.”
Unstated in the article, he granted the interview and photos in exchange for a bag of cheeseburgers and a sixpack of Fat Tire.
He retired on his military pension at the age of 45. While not much, it probably pays for his real needs.
—”Best story I’ve read in a long time”
As noted above by others, you may enjoy Richard Proenneke:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke
Here is a good intro, careful, they can be addictive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWBOBQm3bFI
Once upon a time ALL of Proenneke’s videos were widely available, now commercialized with some jamoke voiceover...
I’d skip the cheeseburgers, but love the Fat Tire. I traveled to a brewing conference in Belgium with their brew master and always loved their beers.
Thanks, I’ll give it a try.
And BTW, I didn't mean to imply that a married man's wife would clean the house, just that a married man would live in a tidy house.;-)
“Men are pigs by nature...unless, of course, the man is unnaturally tidy.”
DH is OCD. Think Felix Unger. Arrrgh!
Oh it’s wonderful....three racks for hanging clothes. Several shelves and an overhead for storage. I love it!
Oh it’s wonderful....three racks for hanging clothes. Several shelves and an overhead for storage. I love it!
Oh it’s wonderful....three racks for hanging clothes. Several shelves and an overhead for storage. I love it!
Oh it’s wonderful....three racks for hanging clothes. Several shelves and an overhead for storage. I love it!
Never a driving issue here I’ve run into unless a car accident. Straight shot to everything you need. I can’t imagine living in a better place for me.
Yep...best living I’ve had in my lifetime. Perfect for all I want and need. Also get all four seasons here which I greatly missed when living in Florida. Close enough to family without falling over each other about 45 minutes away from me here. In fact they couldn’t believe how wonderful it is here till they took a tour with me. Son said one of those best kept secrets on an ideal place to live.
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