All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S01E13.The.Thaw.The.Mess.of.Success.720p.NF.WEB-DL

NARRATOR: On this episode of
Life Below Zero,

Andy's springtime plans
come crashing down.

ANDY: Fuckin-A man.

NARRATOR:
An elusive creature puts
the Hailstones on high alert.

AGNES:
Look, right in front of you.

NARRATOR:
Glenn's quest for fire
gets choked.

NARRATOR:
And Sue's dream for Kavik
is buried under ice.

SUE:
I cannot replace that part.

The hardware store
is a hell of a long ways away.

AGNES: One, two, three. Go!

We're down here in Kotzebue.

It looks like it's going to be
a good day for oogruk hunting.

One, two, three. Go!

One, two, three. Go.

Today, we'll be going out
with my cousin Victor's boat

and he'll be driving
us out there.

Ready?

NARRATOR: This time of year

the Hailstones turn their
attention to hunting
bearded seals, or oogruk,

Alaska's largest species
of ice seal,

and an essential resource
for the family.

Jump in, Jon, jump in.

(LAUGHS)

I know Chip really wants
to be out here with us,

but he really can't because
only the native people
can do this hunt.

So, I've chosen my son Jon

and my oldest daughter Tinmiaq
and they'll be joining.

Hopefully, they'll be
oogruk out there,
if we're lucky. (CHUCKLES)

Son, get the other one.

NARRATOR: Seal hunting
is an Inupiat tradition

that has lasted
for thousands of years,

but in order to regulate
seal populations

hunting laws prohibit

non-natives from taking part
in the harvest.

Okay, put that box
of shotgun shells in.

It's gonna get splashed.

Put that thermos bottle down.

And make sure
your strings are pulled in
some for the anchor.

And put your life jacket on.

NARRATOR: Catching a seal
would provide the Hailstones
with meat and oil

that will help them survive
the extreme cold of winter.

AGNES: When we render
down the blubber

we use it as our oil
when we dip our frozen foods
or our dried foods in,

and that's usually
a real delicacy,

and it gives us energy,

so pretty much everything goes
with seal oil up here.

(AGNES SPEAKS)

(JON SPEAKS)

(AGNES SPEAKS)

(JON SPEAKS)

(AGNES SPEAKS)

It's right there.

-Right there! Right there!
-Right there,
it's still bubbling.

Next time, throw it, son,
so it stick.

Right there, it's blood.

On that side.

It already sink?

Right around there. Yeah.

(JON SPEAKS)

You never let go
of your harpoon, that's why.

NARRATOR: Once the seal is
shot or punctured,

it must be pulled
to the boat quickly,

or it will sink to the bottom.

Jon's failure
to harpoon this one
is a costly mistake.

-(JON SPEAKS)
-(AGNES SPEAKS)

Straight down.

Aye yai yai yai yai.

That was a seal, though.

JON: It is quite a bit
challenging with
all the ice gone.

Usually, you'd get
for sure shots or just

a whole bunch
of oogruk are sleeping
or relaxing in the sun.

But with all the ice gone,
now we have to
chase out some seals,

and hopefully shoot them,
harpoon them,

and get them into the boat
without sinking them.

We've done it before,
we can do it again.

SUE: So, I am fighting
for my way of life

and I have every reason
to believe I will succeed.

But I might not.
It's the roll of the dice.

You ready to get out there?

NARRATOR: For Sue Aikens,
the spring season means that

Kavik River Camp
will soon be open

to house scientists,
pilots, and travellers
passing through the tundra.

But a lack of running water
could shut her down
before camp even opens.

SUE: It's around the end
of May and I haven't
had running water

since the beginning of
late September, early October.

People come here,
stay with me

to check out the tundra.

Part of the services
is having running water.

Water to do dishes, laundry.
Water to clean yourself.

Now, you're just gonna
straighten this line out.

Yeah, and then
we'll pull it back that way.

Once we get it
straightened out.

I have to have this filter,

so I can filter
and run that water today.

Because that river could flood
as early as tomorrow.

When that happens
the water is silty

and I can't put it
through my filters.

If I wait till it's silty,

I can have
all the water in the world
running down the river,

but it's useless to me
and my guests.

So I've gotta get it now
while it's clean and healthy.

Then I can get it in,
filter it, treat it.

I need to clear all this snow
so I can run a line,

from the river
back to my camp.

NARRATOR: With approximately
10 acres of land

and a mile of waterline

still buried
under five feet of snow,

an essential piece
of the puzzle

has yet to be found.

My filter piece,
it is somewhere under the ice.

Fuck me.

That part is essential.

Without it, I cannot
hook up to the pump.

The importance of that piece,
it's the first piece
that goes into the water

and sucks the water
into the pump,

the pump pushes it
through the line, and voila,
I have water in camp.

And I cannot replace
that part.

'Cause the hardware store
is hell of a long ways away.

The piece I need, the coupler,

is on the end
of a long length.

I am gonna guess
it's somewhere out here.

Otherwise, I've just got
10 million acres

to choose from.

GLENN: I expect,
and I hope to die out here.

That's my plan.

Just not anytime soon.

Firewood is important
out here.

I spend a lot of time
cutting wood,

all through the year.

It's one of the bigger jobs
I have to do.

And I don't have
any other source of heat

other than a wood fire.

I use it for
heating hot water.

And I have a fire going
24 hours a day

through the winter.

And in the spring
and in the summer,

I still use a fire.

I couldn't live out here
without a fire.

NARRATOR: A wilderness purist,

Glenn forgoes
the use of power tools.

He sets out equipped
with only an axe and his rifle

for protection
from bears and wolves

that lurk in the forest.

GLENN:
This looks like a good area
to cut some trees.

There're enough dead trees
in close in proximity

that I can build a pile
right here.

This forest is all
white spruce through here

and I only cut dead ones
for firewood.

And I've depleted
all the dead trees

within three or 400 yards
in my camp,

so I have to come quite
a ways now to get wood.

Looks like a good one
to start on right here.

I spend a lot of time
cutting firewood.

It's a big part of
my life out here.

This is the only way
I have to heat,

and it's the only way
I have to cook,

it's the only way I have
to get hot water.

The Arctic is an environment

where people could
never live without fire.

That's why if I have a problem
and can't cut firewood,

it can become a real issue.

Cutting trees with an axe
is quite a bit of work.

But I like that
it keeps me in shape.

There. (SIGHS)

A lot of people don't realise
how much you can get done

with a simple hand tool

because they grew up
in a world that
was all mechanised

and they never learned
how to use tools like this

or how to work like this.

One hazard
of cutting trees with an axe

is cutting yourself
with the axe.

And that's why I like having
a good clean area

around where I'm working.

In the wintertime,
when it's cold

I go through about
a quart of wood every month.

And in the summer,
I still need
quite a lot of wood

just for cooking
and heating water.

Oh, I broke my axe.

Damn.

I just cracked my axe handle.

It split right down
lengthwise.

I'm gonna have to put
a new handle on that.

And that will take
a little while,

it takes some work.

But that's the kind of thing

you deal with
all the time out here.

When things go wrong
you just fix them up

and start working again.

ANDY: We do have
time lengths on certain
aspects of our lives

and we want to maximise that
while we can

and then set ourselves up

to being
in a different frame of mind

when we get
a little bit older.

You know, living out here
it's all about
planning for the future,

and planning for the winter.

Summer is nothing,
but preparing for winter.

My goal in the next day here

is to mill enough lumber up
to build a greenhouse.

Let's just see what
20 feet from here is

towards the house.

I think I'm gonna build it
about 20 feet wide

by 38 feet long.

Then I'll be stretching

a reinforced plastic
over that.

Basically 80%
of our yearly food

comes from our garden

so it's pretty
essential for me

to get this green house built
in the next day or two.

I'm a week-and-a-half
to 2 weeks behind right now

and that's not
making me feel real happy.

Our season is very short.

So, if I don't get these
plants into the ground

in the next couple days

it's really gonna
affect our harvest

at the end of the year.

Okay, let's just see if
we're somewhat square here.

We're noticing
the climate change is making

colder, wetter
midsummers for us,

which really cuts in
on our growing season.

So this greenhouse...

Is our response to
climate change in this area

by producing, uh, more food
in a controlled environment.

Damn.

First try.

I don't know how I did that.

We're getting close
to the point of actually

standing up and framing
the greenhouse.

We're gonna stand up
the centrepiece first

and brace it
and then we'll stand up
the other wall.

I've got all my pieces cut.

We'll found out if
I measured right (CHUCKLES)

in a little while.

Here comes the rain.

Right now,
the race against time

is to try and get as
much done

before the storm
kicks us inside.

And I'm hoping
we can get about another

half an hour's
worth of work in

before we're chased inside.

KATE: Andy has got
the work ethic of an ant.

He never stops.
He never gives up.

He can work, and work,
and work, and work, and work

until he just collapses.

I admire that.

-Okay.
-So I just drop it, right?

Whoa!

Something is just
really fucked up here.

Where's that
long tape measure?

Let's cross chain
this stupid thing here.

See what the fuck's going on.

In that corner.

NARRATOR: One small error
in measuring the foundation

could cost them a day's work.

I looked down at these strings
and they just don't look like

they're running square.

You know, according to
this level here

it's showing it's out like

eight inches at least.

Right here, on this peg here.

Outside, we're measuring
outside corners

on all of these.

This one's two inches short.

It's a fuckin foot.
That's what it is.

All right,
I'm done for the night.

Fuck this. I'm fed up with it.

GLENN: I'm a little
less dependent on culture

than your average person today

and I'm a little more
connected to nature.

I was out cutting wood tonight
and I broke my axe handle.

You just have to know
how to fix it

and you just have to have
a few tools,

you have to have a new handle,
which I've got.

I'm just gonna saw it off.

Now I have to put
a new handle on this head.

I enjoy maintaining
my own tools out here.

It's nice to feel independent.

When you're using a tool that
you put together yourself,

you know, you have a different
relationship to it,

you feel more connected to it

than one you bought
that was already assembled.

The nearest place
where I can get any supplies

is down in Fairbanks
a couple of hundred miles
south of here.

So I have to plan carefully

and make sure
when I go to Fairbanks,

I get everything I need

because I sometimes
stay out here

for very long periods of time.

I often ask people,

"What's the longest
you've ever been

without seeing anybody?"

And a lot of people tell me
about 24 hours.

(LAUGHS)

Which I find interesting.

This winter I went
four-and-a-half months

without seeing anybody,

but there aren't
a whole lot of people

that want to live
the way I want to live
out here.

I'm not anti-social.

I'm just anti-cultural.

I don't care
for the way of life

down in modern society
so I choose to live out here.

Okay, my axe is already to go,
that's my favourite axe,

and I got it all tuned up
just the way I like it,

I'm gonna go back out
and chop some more wood.

CHIP: The fact is that
we are always looking
for fresher foods

and this is the beginning
of all the seal hunting.

The summer is when we come up
with huge surpluses of food

to carry us through winter.

AGNES: Keep your eyes open.

Oh, look right there oogruk.

-Jon, can you shoot forward?
-(GUNSHOT FIRED)

Oh.

-JON: Oogruk are pretty smart.
-AGNES: Jon...

They help each other out,
every time we catch onto one

a couple more pop out nearby
and get us a little confused.

NARRATOR: Seal oil and meat

are essential
for the Hailstones

to survive
the extreme cold winter.

An adult oogruk
can dive up to 300 feet

and hold its breath
for four minutes at a time,

making them
difficult to catch.

(AGNES SPEAKS)

There?

AGNES: Good, go ahead.

(GUNSHOT FIRED)

(AGNES SPEAKS)

Come on, baby,
come on, pop up!

Oh, Jon!

-JON: There you go, Ting.
There you go, Ting.
-(AGNES SPEAKS)

(JON SPEAKS)

I've been trying to
get them to stay down
to where they're panicking

and have to get them up
and stay up.

But they've been getting
some good breaths,

and diving as far as they can,

staying as long as
they can down,

and it's just been
quite a chase.

Quite a chase.

(AGNES SPEAKS)

-Jon!
-(GUNSHOT FIRED)

(JON SPEAKS)

(AGNES SPEAKS)

Watch those bubbles.

It's this one,
the one that's right here.

Right here,
it dived from right here.

(AGNES SPEAKS)

(GUNSHOT FIRED)

-AGNES: Harpoon, harpoon!
-Harpoon.

Hold it, hold it.
You got it, son.

Right there, right there.

(JON SPEAKS)

NARRATOR: A ringed seal is
much smaller than an oogruk,

but it will still provide
the Hailstones

with five gallons of oil
that will last for months.

One, two, three, go!

(GRUNTS)

(AGNES WHOOPS)

JON: Let's wrap it up
and go get an oogruk...

I don't know how our oogruk
turned into a seal,

but that was pretty cool.

We started out
chasing an oogruk

it was a pretty nice size one,

we got pretty close up to it,
but, um...

It got a couple
of good deep breaths

and swam as far as it can,

and gave us the slip,
and we caught onto this one.

(AGNES SPEAKS)

Yep.

AGNES: Yay!

Right on!

JON: Right on. Right on.
AGNES: A good day!

SUE: For the last 10 years,

I've been an employee
of a company.

Now, in order to
keep my life style

I purchased the place
and I have a vision for it.

I'm the owner now.
First year, first year counts.

If I don't do well this season
I may not be here next season.

If I don't find this part,

I mean, that means
I can't get water to camp.

If I can't get water to camp,
guess what, my guest
don't get water.

That affects
my whole business.

If I don't have guests,
I don't have revenue.

Wait a minute.

(CLANGS)

That's a good sound.
That's metal.

Yes!

Let's hope, let's hope.

Whoo-hoo!

There it is.

Right there.

Yes!

I'm not going to dig out
the rest of the line,

I'm just gonna take
the end off,

and put it on the new hose.

I started this up
close to the river.

This attaches to the pump
and gets pushed out

up the line to camp.

RICK: Go.
Push, push, push.

If you wanna
get the pump going,

I'll go up here to the tank.

-Let me know when you say
it's coming up the line...
-All right.

And then I'll let you know
when it arrives.

If it doesn't,
then we've got a break
somewhere in the line.

-RICK: Okay.
-So, all right, buddy.

All right, I'm set.

Hey, Rick, you gotta copy?

Yes, I do.

(SUE SPEAKS)

What we're looking for

(WHISPERS)
is the sound of water

coming through here.

Come on, bitch.

(MOTOR REVVING)

Yep, there's a noise.

(MOTOR STOPS)

No, no, no.

RICK: You got it yet?

No, I can hear it
trying, though.

(MOTOR SPUTTERS)

It's on its way.

And there you go.

That's the first water
in Kavik in nine months.

I got it, buddy.

You're good then?

SUE: I'm always good.
Sometimes, I'm even better.

When people come here,

then they may buy
a meal or a shower.

I have to guarantee
that they have nice clean

melted snow glacier water.

What this means to me is

first hot shower
in nine months.

First load of laundry
in nine months.

Sweet!

Look at that, look at that.

Oh, my hair
is even smiling. Yay!

It's a big deal.

GLENN: I value
independence, obviously,

and I might be
more concerned with it

than most people are

'cause I really like
to do things on my own.

NARRATOR: Living in
the isolated wilderness

firewood is Glenn's
only source of heat and fuel.

Without it,
he wouldn't survive.

GLENN: I remember when
I first came out here

nine years ago,
I had a watch and it broke.

And I thought,
"Damn, my watch broke.

"That's gonna be
a problem."

And about two
or three weeks later,

I said to myself, "I'm so glad
that watch broke."

And I never used
a watch again.

I think about time
very differently out here

than people think about it

down in civilisation,
you know...

It's, uh...

The sun just goes around
in a circle in the summer.

The moon goes around
in a circle in the winter,

those are the timekeepers
out here.

The changes of the season,
that's my calendar.

The summer out here
is just like when I was a kid,

you know, when you're little.

And summer just
stretches on for a long time.

That's the way it is out here.

It's a whole
different sensation

that goes on in your head.

A whole different experience
of time.

That's the wood
I'm gonna use

for heating my camp,
cooking my food...

Heating my water
to take a bath,

and do my laundry.

That's my fuel out here.

Out here you do
what nature requires.

Nobody tells you

you gotta get up
and go to work today

so you can pay
your heating bill.

Out here you realise
you need wood

'cause it's getting cold.

And you haven't got enough
to keep the fire going.

That's what
motivates you out here,

is what actually
has to be done for you,

not what somebody else
needs you to do for them.

Living out here
keeps you in shape

and I enjoy that.

I've had
a lot of people tell me

that they would love
to live out here,

but I don't think many of them

would stay long
if they really did it.

Physically, living out here
is damn hard work.

But psychologically,
it's hell of a lot better

than the way
people have to live

down in civilisation today.

ANDY: We don't have to chase
the all mighty dollar
living out here.

That's not
our focus in life at all.

Our focus is to have
a really high quality of life,

and live the way
we want to live.

I'm feeling pretty good.

I think everything's gonna
start coming together now.

Got a good night sleep.

Reset my foundation
this morning.

I think we're going to start
cranking on it now.

After we get this secured,

the next step is gonna be to
get the side walls framed up,

and cut the rafters in.

That's really gonna
tie everything together.

(ENGINE REVVING)

There's really no hard part.

It's just all in the hoping

that nothing slips
and moves on you.

He just had some time
to think about it,

change a few things.

If you took a tour
of our property,

and you can see
all the buildings,

and all the structures

that have gone up from dishes
to windmills to showers.

I don't think one has gone
completely smooth. (CHUCKLES)

ANDY: This is the main
hard part to get done.

Kate doesn't have the strength
to lift up these heavy beams,

but we were able to get it
started with the bulldozer

and then use leverage
to push it up

a little bit at a time.

I'm rocking now.

Or I should say,
we're rocking now.

-What?
-Not this right here.

Just pull it tight like that.

Oh! Fuckin-A man!

(SIGHS)

That really fucking
pisses me off.

-I didn't do that.
-Yeah, you did.

You pulled on
the fucking string too hard.

KATE: I never even had
my hand on the string.

You're the one
that tugged the string.

-Okay.
-You said, "Pull it tight like
this" and you yanked it.

-So don't look at me!
-Okay.

(ANDY LAUGHS)

I wonder how many
more fucking things

we can do to fuck
this whole project up.

You gotta be
fucking kidding me, man.

Why do it once
when you can do it
four fucking times?

Fucked up fucking project
I ever worked on around here.

This whole fucking thing

is turning into
a big fucking quagmire.

GLENN: I'd rather die up
on one of these mountains
if I had to.

But I'm not planning to.

This is the best way of life
for me to live

and I'm going to do it
as long as I can.

NARRATOR: A stockpile of wood

means that Glenn
can afford a luxury

he doesn't have often.

The ability to do laundry.

Now, when I'm down
in Fairbanks

I do my laundry
at the Laundromat,

and I never get excited
about going to the Laundromat.

But I really enjoy
doing laundry out here.

I got a great view.

The birds are singing.

I can't think of a better way
to spend the afternoon.

My philosophy is
keep your technology simple,

things won't go wrong.

There's not much
that can go wrong

with this washing machine
right here.

I really don't like to do
useless exercise

where you just running around,

like a hamster in one of those
little wheels

they got in the hamster cage.

I like to get my exercise
doing useful jobs.

Step two,
put it through the old ringer.

This ringer here
used to be my mom's.

She brought this 50 years ago.

How many washing machines
that were brought today
will be running in 50 years?

This ringer
does have limitations.

Down around 30 below,
it starts to freeze.

Thirty below
is about the limit

for doing laundry out here.

Okay, all that's left
is to hang it up.

Laundry's all done,
probably be dry by tonight.

If I was in town
I'd still be on the road

headed to the Laundromat.

SUE: Well, it's not that
I don't want to
look you in the eye,

I can't afford to
look you in the eye.

I watch my horizon endlessly.

The only warning I get
is paying attention.

NARRATOR: With the opening
of camp approaching,

Sue is expecting a shipment
of 5,000 pounds of food

to feed her guests.

(BOB SPEAKS)

Hey, buddy, how are you doing?

(BOB SPEAKS)

Doing good. It is...
Yeah, we don't have
any wind down here.

It's calm as anything.

You got about a mile
of clean runway going.

BOB: Okay.

Bob is shuttling our food
out of Prudhoe Bay.

5,000 pounds is gonna
get us through September,

but it's for all the hunters,
and bird people,

everybody that comes
to the camp,

so we have something to eat.

All right, buddy,
I will be out there
in just a jiffy.

BOB: Okay.

Time to get some groceries.

All right, time to unload.

SUE: This is the first
load of goods

that I've been able
to get in this year.

You know, when I'm here
for about the nine
or 10 months by myself,

I eat game meat.

Grocery store is too far away.
I have to supply myself.

But when people are here
it would be illegal

for me to feed them game meat.

That's hunting for profit
and that's against the law.

So I have to bring in
store-bought food.

And it cost me well over
three bucks a pound

to get up here.

It cost me 70 bucks an hour

plus 5% of the total

to get somebody
to shop for it,

so a gallon of milk
by the time I get it here

is about 50 bucks.

And it's a couple of
100 bucks a day
to keep it cold.

So, by the time
I pour it for you
it's about 25 bucks a glass.

But you can't run a business
or live here by mistake.

It's a conscious choice.

This area here is dry storage.

I try to project
how many people do I think

I'm gonna get.

What do I think
they're going to eat?

It's a guessing game.

But I try to be
as accurate as I can...

...and then I order it
from town.

I can tell you damn near
everything that I ordered

didn't come in right, but...

All right, the rest of that
goes in the dry.

I gotta call him
and let him know that,

yeah, there should be
a ton more in the freeze.

When you've only got
550 pounds of 5,000,

I've got a lot missing.

It's $1,000 or $2,000
worth of meat.

Steaks, chicken, ribs,
burger, bacon,

you know, nobody wants to
lose all that stuff.

And sometimes things happen,
but people spend a good penny,

and maybe save
their whole lives
for one trip up here.

So, it's up to me to give them

the most I possibly can
for their trip.

High quality, high fun.

When I get less than that,
I'm not happy.

So, I need to verify
that it's there.

Hopefully, there is
more freeze over there.

(BOB SPEAKS)

Hey, buddy, are you there?

(BOB SPEAKS)

SUE: Yeah, you were saying
that you thought you brought
all the freeze and chill?

Oh, okay,
I just wanted to make sure

'cause I thought you said
you'd brought it all,

and I was going to say,
"Holy cow,
I'm missing a lot of stuff."

Well, all right buddy,
I sure appreciate it,

and you sure fly safe,
and I'll see you
when you land.

Cool. Yeah, he had said
that he brought it all out.

But when he got back there
they made another delivery

and there's four more coolers
coming soon.

Might be dead?

The compression
is not coming on at all, Sue.

-Yeah.
-SUE: Dead?

-Dead.
-Awesome.

-That is so cool.
-RICKY: Yeah.

SUE: Well, welcome to
the world of being an owner.

RICK: Yeah.

You know, when I'm ordering,
I know here.

How much space do I have,

how many mouths
do I gotta feed,
what can I fit in,

at what kind of turn around

on the products so that
they still at top quality.

And so I ordered in to fill
all my different fridges,

but I plugged it in and...

This little guy
has to go back to town,
he's dead.

Well, I have to pay somebody
$70 an hour to shop for it,

and then 10% of that bill,

and then another $700
to come in.

Here we go.

So a 1960's fridge
is gonna end up costing me

probably $3,000.

But I don't live my life
dwelling on the negative.

I look for the next challenge
and this thing is a behemoth

with how much it uses power.

Here's a chance
for me to be more efficient.

I will ring up
a more eco-friendly
piece of equipment.

It's had a happy life,
you know,

get it out the door,
and get a new one in.

So when the plane comes in,

for me to run a business,
having a bunch of people
in and out,

I gotta have
another working fridge.

(BOB SPEAKS)

I mean, you can't plan
for everything.

But that's the wonderful life
of being an owner

and just the complication

of choosing to live
in the Arctic,

and it's a choice.

You know,
I came here fully knowing that
it's a son of a gun

to try to get
anything out here.

And it's just another day
in the park, Kaczynski.

(LAUGHS)

AGNES: Sometimes we don't
always have money

to go to the store.

So we pretty much rely on

mostly subsistence living
out here.

This is the seal
we just got back with

from our seal hunt.

It takes two, three seals
to make up for the oogruk,

but this is a good start.

We can just go on ahead
and start taking it apart.

NARRATOR:
The process of harvesting
seal meat and oil

has been perfected
over centuries

and passed down to Agnes
from her ancestors.

AGNES: You wanna try
and keep the meat

with the meat,
and keep the oil with the oil.

When you start to mix the meat
with the blubber

it always gets kind of rancid
a little too quickly

so you've gotta try and do it
nice and slowly, and careful.

Now that we're done
cutting up all the blubber,

and making
little tiny strips like this,

all we do is
put this in the porch.

That way every time
we walk around the house,

the bucket will shake

and it'll let
the bubbles rise up

and we have to stir it
everyday.

And by the next couple of days

it should be
from blubber to oil.

And then, we'll be able to
put the black meats

that are dried
into the bucket of oil

and then that would
preserve it

throughout the summer.

I guess I took
most of the blubber off.

All I have to do now
is wash it up, soak it

so all the blood
and the yellow oils

come off of it.

Then we'll stretch it
and then I'll start tanning it

because we're wanting
to make a vest.

We were wanting to make it
out of ringed seal

so here's our ringed seal.

A few ribs from the seal
and the black meat

that I want to hang
until, like, tomorrow

when it dries up
a little bit more

and then after that
I'll strip it.

The first step is to
have this piece dry up.

And by tomorrow,
say afternoon,

it should be ready.

I'm now done with
my seal hunting adventure.

One big bloody mess.

The mess of success.

ANDY: The reason
we live out here

is 'cause we don't have people
telling us how to do things.

And that's what
freedom brings you.

KATE: Just as important as
living out here

and living off the grid,
we also live off the code.

Come on up.

The written code of cities,
and towns, and hamlets.

And, there are no permits
to be had.

There are no building codes.
We can build what we want.

Don't have to ask
anyone's permission
to do anything.

You live by your own dream

and I think that's
the most amazing way to live.

May not be
the easiest way to live,

but, boy,
it's the freest way to live.

ANDY: (CHUCKLES)
God, that was stupid.

KATE: Well, it wasn't
that hard to fix.

ANDY: No, just made me
feel like a real moron.

It's gonna be this one.

ANDY: It's a little bit
different than the way

most people would
build a greenhouse.

Most people go
very light framing,

very light structures.

But I'm trying to build this
greenhouse very stout

because I plan on this lasting
many, many years for me.

-Yay!
-The worst is over.

The hard part.

A little bit of problems
pulling one wall up,

but it all came together good.

And so we got her
all framed up

and ready to stretch
some plastic on it,

and throw the plants in,

and start growing
our winter food source.

Just in the final stages here.

Everything is looking
really good.

There you go,
now pull it down until it hits
the very bottom.

This material probably
would have cost

well over $1,000
if I was to go out and buy it.

This whole greenhouse
is probably only gonna cost me

about $25 in gas
and $120 in plastic.

So, for $150, I'm gonna get
a 20 by 30-foot greenhouse.

You can't do that
doing it any other way.

We can build it anyway
we design it in our heads.

We have the freedom
and independence here

to do things anyway we want.

And that's why
we like it here.

All right!

KATE: It's 100 degrees
in the back of the cabin
right now.

ANDY: Sounds like a good time
to go into a hot greenhouse

and start planting to me.

In the back if my mind
I'm always thinking
I'm getting older,

I don't have a lot of years
left of this hard work in me,

and so when I'm 70,

I'm not gonna be able to
go out and do the things
I can even do now.

So we're thinking and planning

on how we can set
our life up here

so that we can live
the rest of our lives,

basically, live to be
old people out here

and still be able to do
the things we need to do.

I got a lot of satisfaction
out of building this.

I felt really good
when I pounded
that last nail in.

And then every time
I walk in here,

I'm gonna remember
every log that I cut.

It'll remind me
of all the goofy things

that happened
while we were building it.

Most of the times

it's all about the trials
and tribulations,

and screw-ups,
and close calls,

and near death experiences.

Those are the exciting things
to talk about

so if you don't have
that in your life,

you're not living much,
you know.

This is one of
the most important projects
of the summer.

It's truly,
the most wonderful
miracle in life

is to watch something grow,
and that you helped.

It means more to me than
I can possibly put into words.

(ANDY SIGHS)

KATE: Stop now!

(ANDY EXCLAIMING)