All language subtitles for Ch5.New.Lives.in.the.Wild.Series.5.7of8.Appalachian.Mountains.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

'I'm Ben Fogle,

'and over the next few weeks,

'I'm going to live
with different people who

'inhabit some of the most remote
locations on Earth...'

There is nothing here.

'..from the mountain forests
of northwest USA

'to the freezing Mongolian tundra,

'the barren Hungarian countryside
to the wild African bush,

'a Mediterranean island
and the deep Canadian wilderness.'

'These are the people who decided
to make a massive life change.'

I said, "So, what do you think?

"Shall we just do it, give up
everything?" And, she said, "OK."

'Are they daring
or just downright crazy?'

Come on, Ben. Oh!

We didn't even know
where Mongolia was!

This is who I am,
it's not who you want me to be.

'I want to find out what happened
when you quit the rat race...'

If the whole world folds up,
my pension is here.

'..and create a new life
in the wild.'

'Today, I'm heading to one of the
oldest mountain ranges on Earth.'

North America's majestic
Appalachians.

This is a crazy place.

Uh, no. That's a crazy place
out there.

This is not a crazy place.

I'll be living with Tod Kershaw,

a forest dweller with his own unique
way of surviving.

Truffle Parmesan
mac and cheese - love!

'I'll find out why
this former engineer,

'stripped away all complications
of modern life...'

He's very complex.
He's a scavenger.

'..and how he's created
a like-minded family.'

We've got a lot of weirdos here.

Really? Yeah.

Weirder than you?

I see him in a lot of ways as,
you know, an elder. Mm-hm.

He's very wise.

My journey begins 6,500 kilometres
away in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I head northwest towards
the Pisgah National Forest

and its 500,000 acres
of immense forest peaks.

No-one's sure, but they say there's
about 180,000 families here in the

United States living off the grid.

So that means they're not connected
to the electrics, water,

they get no government assistance.

They effectively live
as wild families,

but they're increasingly
under pressure

because more and more states
are making it illegal.

Tod, who I'm off to stay with,
is incredibly secretive -

he doesn't even want me
to reveal the location.

Which does lead me to wonder
whether he's escaping something,

he has something to hide or he just
doesn't like the government.

Finally, I reach my destination,

a dense patch of steep forest that's
been my host's home for the past

ten years, and it's surprisingly
close to the road.

It's a lonely kilometre uphill
into the woods.

Tod?

'There is evidence of people,
but there's no-one around.'

This is a bit creepy.

Oh, my God.
It's like a horror film set.

This is very strange.

There's bones everywhere.
What's this?

It feels like I'm trespassing
right now.

It doesn't feel like a welcome place
if I'm to be honest.

Hello?

Tod?

Oh, hello! Hello! Who are you?

Hello. A friendly dog at least.
Hello.

Yep. I'm not very friendly,
but the dog is.

You're not very friendly? No.

You must be Tod? I must be.

Hey, Tod. Welcome.

Who's this, as well? That's Early.
Early. Hi.

Glad to meet you. How are you?

Pretty good, pretty good.
Up a little earlier than usual.

This is a crazy place. Uh, no.

No, that's a crazy place out there.
You hear that road noise?

That's a crazy place.
This is not a crazy place.

Tod Kershaw was born in Baltimore,

but spent his childhood
travelling with his family

while his father was in the army.

At 30, he graduated as
an electrical engineer.

He earned $50,000 a year,

but working long hours
in a lab took such a toll

that Tod quit the industry.

Ten years ago, aged 40,

he and his then girlfriend moved
across the US to North Carolina

for a life in the woods,
with no income and their own rules.

There's a lot of stuff here.

We have a term in England -
hoarders.

People that just hoard stuff.
Are you a hoarder? Um...

I gather a lot of stuff
that makes sense to me to have,

cos you notice most of what's there

is tools, or junk that can be
turned into useful items.

There's not, like, you know,
records, vinyl LPs

and toys and coffee mugs and stuff.

It seems like there's almost too
much stuff, though, for one person.

I'm not the only person
who lives here.

There's several other people
that live here.

It's kind of a transient community -
a lot of people come and go,

and right now there's about...

I think six of us who are living
here more or less permanently.

The property stretches for 30 acres
through steep, dense forest,

but no-one who lives here owns it,
and they don't pay rent.

The landowner agrees
with her tenants chosen way of life

and is happy for them to stay

if they pay the property taxes
of just $600 a year,

which Tod makes from blacksmithing.

Everyone has built their own home,
made from wild materials.

This is my house.
This is your house?

This looks like it's mud, straw...
It's clay. ..clay.

Clay and straw. Can I have quick
look inside? Of course, please.

Oh, wow, look at this.

Wow. This is an assault
on the senses, Tod.

So, you've got a little
wood-burning stove,

so that keeps you nice and warm.

It does. That's the east wing
over there.

Oh, the east wing. That's the east
wing, and this is the west wing

over here, and this is the centre
wing. So we have an east wing,

centre wing and west wing.

Am I sleeping in here?
Am I sleeping in the east wing?

No, no, no. No. You're sleeping in
what we call the stick shack.

At the bottom of the wild camp
runs a stream

for drinking water and washing.

There's no plumbing. For the toilet,

you either water the trees or use
an aptly named compost bucket.

This is called Crap Haven.

Crap Haven! I wonder what happens
in Crap Haven.

Well, I'd tell you to look in the
bucket and you could figure it out,

but I just emptied it this morning.
Oh, did you?

Nice.

I tell you what...
It's got a nice view, right?

It's a crap with a view.
And then this is the crap shack.

Crap shack,
so what's the difference?

This one's falling over.

THEY LAUGH

One narrow path hugs the hillside
around the camp

connecting the different shacks.

The farthest away
is the outdoor kitchen

with its open fire for cooking.

There's a vegetable garden,

and the forest is filled
with edible wild plants.

Supposed to be full of
vitamin C.

I don't know, I just love it.
That is nice! Yeah, isn't it?

Down through a clearing, I finally
spy my humble home for the week.

I think I see why it's called
the stick shack, Tod.

Why would you say that?
Well, it's a bit sticky.

It's sticky, yeah, yeah.
A lot of spider webs in there.

Oh, nice! There's a lot
of animal bones, Tod.

Well, we put all the human skulls
out of sight.

Yeah, these are...

There's a young man named Chris
who's been spending time down here,

and he collects animal bones

and sticks them in the sticks,
as you see. Wow.

Is this actually weather-proof?

Er, from the top, mostly,
from the sides, no.

OK! I gathered that. It used to be
fully weather-proof.

I lived in this house
for three and a half years.

Right. I'm going to go
and settle in. Help yourself.

Thanks, Tod.

Look at this.

What is that?

Animal bits everywhere.

I mean, look at this place.

Everywhere I look is...
There's stuff. Look.

If I get hungry
in the middle of the night,

I just put out a mouse-trap
and catch a mouse.

I mean, this is someone's place,
isn't it?

Look, it's their slightly
scabby duvet.

I'm not picky by the way. I'm pretty
cool with most things, but this is

quite scabby if I'm to be honest.

But I'm fascinated by it.
Absolutely fascinated.

I haven't really met a Tod-like
person before.

Highly academic, you can tell.
He's thinking, thinking, thinking.

He strikes me as someone
that doesn't leave anything,

ANYTHING to waste.

'I'm in the Appalachian Mountains
adapting to life in the forest.

'My host does live with other
people, but they're away at

'a primitive-skills gathering,

'and no sooner have I arrived
than Tod says we're also leaving.'

So, this is your truck?
This is my truck right here, yep.

For some reason, I didn't...

I didn't think you'd have a truck.

It doesn't seem part
of your...lifestyle.

I mean, OK, looking inside,
you've got lots of bones and

animal hides and things, so I
suppose it's in aesthetic keeping.

Is this road-safe, is it road-legal?

Yes. It is. It is legal, yes. OK.

It's not going to fall apart on us?
As far as the safe question,

I try to keep it as safe as I can.

ENGINE SPLUTTERS AND STARTS

Tod was given this 26-year-old truck
for free.

And he spends virtually nothing
on fuel

because he runs it on
recycled vegetable oil.

Apparently, we're going
shopping for dinner,

but I don't see how
when neither of us has any money.

We'll probably go to
a few supermarkets, yeah.

But we won't go in the front doors,
unless you really want to.

We're going to go round back

and see what Mother Dumpster
has to offer us.

I'm a bit confused. What, so we're
actually going to get rubbish?

Well, what's that old saying,

one man's trash
is another man's treasure?

You know, if these people want
to throw away perfectly good food,

I will be very happy to eat it.

An hour's drive away, we arrive
in Tod's dumpster diving heaven.

I've been going here for,
well, about ten years.

Let's go have a look, shall we?

What have we got? What's the first
thing? Dr Praeger's Spinach Cakes.

Gluten-free, tasty mix of spinach,
potatoes and onions.

Perfect at breakfast,
lunch or dinner.

Individually wrapped, that's more
plastic to go in the oceans. Mm-hm.

And I think I just have to get in.

To me, it's a lot of fun.

I enjoy this. There we go.
What have we got here?

Unsweetened almond,
cashew and hazelnut drink.

I think I'm going to take all of
this. All of that? Sure, why not?

'It's not illegal to dumpster dive,

'but the dumpsters have to be
in public areas.'

What about this?
True Whip? Oh, God!

Are you kidding? OK.
Talk about shite.

What have we got? Ooh!
Truffle Parmesan.

Truffle Parmesan mac and cheese.

Love!

Look at those ingredients.

I assume you're not
going to take that?

You know, it's tempting.

It's not every day you find truffles
in the dumpster.

I mean, it's unbelievable the amount
of food waste in here, isn't it?

But, you know,
it's not just the food waste.

Look at all the plastic,
look at all the paper. Yep.

Tod has several dumpsters
he regularly visits.

Let's see. Greek Gods Greek yoghurt,
chocolate cherry.

I couldn't get over how much food
is in there. And like I said,

that was nothing. That was nothing
compared to normal.

Does it... Does it make you angry?

When you see all that? Yeah.

Still now? I mean, you're used
to it. Does it make you angry?

Yeah, it does, I must say.

Does it make you feel like, shit,
I'm going to grocery stores and

giving people money and then

they're throwing all this stuff
in the trash?

That's what it makes me think,

except I don't go to the front of
grocery stores.

What happens if the state passes a
law, for example, that all dumpsters

have to be locked and you simply
can't access them any more?

Have you thought about that? Yeah.

I've thought about it.

Would you shoplift?

You know, I tried shoplifting a
little bit, and I get so nervous.

Are you nervous about the law?

Oh, fuck, yeah. Of course.

You know, when you're living
on the fringes of society,

you're always a target for the law,

and the job of the law is to keep
society functioning the way

it's supposed to function. One of
the jobs of the law. So, yeah,

I feel very threatened by law
enforcement even though

I don't do anything
that hurts anybody.

As we arrive home and step back into
Tod's other world...

Oh, that feels so much better.

..I want to know what happened
in his life for him to become

this opportunistic outsider.

I got set up by a friend and wound
up going to prison, briefly.

I got a year's sentence, but I got
put on a programme for first-time

and non-violent offenders.

Was this drug-related?
It was drug-related, yeah.

When I got out of prison and
realised I had to change my ways of

doing things, I started taking

classes at a community college
and I graduated and

got my bachelors degree when I was
30 in electrical engineering.

And I just found myself in this
laboratory one day working on these

devices to make cars more efficient
and I had these gloves on and

I had a respirator and I'm wallowing
in poisons and I just think, "OK,

"am I going to save the world
through more poison?"

No, we're not going to save
the world with more poison.

If we're going to save the world,
which I don't think we are,

we're going to do it
with less poison.

Tod and his girlfriend
became interested in

a back-to-basics lifestyle
and primitive skills,

and they wanted to share this
with like-minded people.

We realised that
we couldn't just do it alone.

We were both getting on
into our 40s.

We realised we needed a community
around us, so she started searching

the internet
and she found this place.

And we came for a visit,

spent about six months under a tarp
down by the stream and went back to

California, got rid
of all our stuff,

and then we came back here
and I've been here ever since.

And she, unfortunately,
had to leave -

she had mould allergies
and couldn't live here any more.

Despite our earlier food foraging,
I still haven't eaten.

And Tod wants to make sure
I get some protein

with our dumpster treasures.

You know what? I should just expect
the unexpected now.

Is this...? This is a beaver?

Yep, it's road kill
I picked up this morning.

I love the way you're just
so matter-of-fact about that.

How do you know
that this is now edible?

You know, I've eaten animals in
various states of decay,

and I've never gotten sick from it.

If all your senses tell you
that it's OK to eat,

then it probably is.

If it doesn't look good, if it
doesn't smell good, if you push

on it and it goes...
HE BLOWS RASPBERRY

..doesn't sound good,
maybe it's not good to eat.

OK. Give me a knife,
let's get stuck in.

Starting right there,
right in the butt hole.

What's the most unusual animal
you've found as road-kill that

you've scavenged? I have eaten
mountain lion and bobcat

and fox and coyote.

I'll eat just about anything
except liver and bell peppers.

You realise that means if I pass
away here, you're going to eat me?

No, no. You're very definitely
a domesticated animal.

OK. Just checking.

I think there's legal things
with that, too. Yeah, I think so.

'Unfortunately, it doesn't look like
much of the animal is edible.'

Yeah, this thing got hit
really hard.

Well, at least it died
very quickly. Yeah.

This is so much worse than I
expected. I really thought that

most of this beaver was going to be
good and edible.

I think we can salvage
some of the haunch.

We can take it and wash it
and see what we get. Mm-hm.

Hm.

I've smelt better, I've smelt worse.
I might just be smelling my hand.

Well, I can tell you that's quite...

It's quite pungent,
but if you're happy?

Well, we'll rinse it off really well
and smell it.

Does that worry you? No, but...

I imagine my constitution isn't
probably quite as strong as yours.

We'll see.

Down at the stream,
we wash our dinner.

So, I'm still smelling
that smell a little bit,

but not to where I wouldn't eat it.

It's also the only place
we can wash ourselves.

This is how we bathe.

'I've dived into the deep end
with Tod's life, really,'

and that's obviously a big part
of his ethos here,

to be opportunistic.
Whatever is around, he will consume.

As the sun sets in camp,

with our dumpster foraged onions
and road-kill beaver,

Tod promises me a feast.

This is bear fat that was rendered
in 2010, so about six years ago.

Still perfectly edible
to my knowledge.

I like that little caveat at
the end, "to my knowledge".

Yeah, you've got to always
throw that in there.

I think it will be delicious.

Well, yeah, I was going to say,
it will either be delicious

or poisonous, but it could be both.

Given that there are other people
that live here and I'm assuming

they're going to arrive some time
tonight, tomorrow morning.

Probably. Am I going to fit in?
Will I be the odd one out?

I don't know, we'll see. We get
a lot of weirdos here. Really? Yeah.

Weirder than you? I'm not weird.
I'm a retired engineer,

you know, I'm basically a
mainstream, middle-class, white guy.

It's kind of unusual the lifestyle
that you lead, though, isn't it?

It's basic retirement, I don't know
what you're talking about.

Um, you know, I sold my house,
so I had a bunch of money,

I paid off every debt I had
in the world,

I didn't have a family and so it was
very easy, really, for me

to make the choice to come out here,

but I know a lot of people
who I think would

like to do something like this,
but they have families

and mortgages and careers
and things like that.

They have a lot more to give up
than I did. So it was easy for me,

but for some people,
so many more ties to normal society.

OK, what do you think?

Well, I think one of us
needs to try it. OK.

I'll try the first one, unless
you want to be the brave one.

Look at that. How could that be bad?

That's pretty damn good.

There you go. I recommend
you use your fingers.

It's a little bit hot,
but not too bad.

Chewy. Yeah. Gamey.

Yep. What does it taste like?

There's a little hint
of acidic-ness. Yeah.

Yeah, I definitely tasted that
a little bit.

That's pretty good, though.
I like it. I tell you,

that is a pretty good, weird,
strange first meal.

And hopefully not the last. No.

I'm in the forests
of the Appalachian Mountains

in the east of the United States.

So far, I've been alone
with my host, Tod,

but overnight, the rest of the
community who live here returned.

I was just a tiny bit concerned
someone might try to join me

in bed last night,

but then I am staying
in someone else's stick shack,

but I seem to be alone.

I know there's other people here,
I've heard noises, voices,

but I've no idea how many people,
who they are.

It kind of adds to the mystery.

Wow. Lots of people.

Hey, everyone. Hey. Good morning!

Hey, I'm Ben. I'm Will. Hey, Will.
How are you doing? I'm Jonathan.

Morning. Nicky. Hey, how are you?

I'm Chris. Chris, how are you?

Wow! There's so many people.

These wild residents come together
for breakfast every morning.

On first sight, it looks like quite
a young community. It is.

How old are you? 21.

I love this on your head.
What animal have you got up here?

What do you think? Racoon?

Mm-hm. You have those, right?

Not racoons, actually. Interesting.

We've got badgers,
that's the closest.

And where did this come from?

Road-kill. And did you process
the skin yourself?

Hm-mm. Did you? This was, like, the
first racoon I processed and ate.

It's funny. I was doing this

when I was living somewhere else
and I, like,

was looking it up on the internet,
YouTube videos and stuff,

so this was, like, really
desperate... Really?

So that's how you learned
how to do it?

Yeah. On YouTube videos.
Mm-hm. Wow.

Uh-huh. Can I just say, it's
slightly overwhelming to see

so many people here suddenly
in the morning.

Uh-huh. I feel that way
almost every day.

That was a bit unexpected.

I went to bed and it was just Tod,
and woke up and there's like half of

humanity here. It's crazy.
It looks amazing, though.

Everyone's kind of got their
breakfast agenda and super young.

Didn't expect that.
I feel really old.

Everyone's in their 20s

and they're super cool-looking
in all their animal skins.

I really feel like I stick out
like a sore thumb.

Many hands make light work,

but housekeeping is definitely not
top of the tribe's to-do list.

So you don't always wash them?

Not usually personal dishes,
but like pots and pans we might

kind of scrub out,
wash out a little bit.

Because, I mean,
sometimes the dog comes here

and licks them clean for us. Right.

Yeah, sometimes I'll find
my bowl clean. I'm just, like,

"That's weird.

"Somebody washed my dish." Wow.

There you go. Cool.

If you just stumbled on what I did
this morning, you'd be freaked out,

but everyone's super friendly,
I have to say.

It feels like a warm hug rather than
a kind of teeth-baring snarl.

But they definitely
look...like that.

Nuts.

Breakfast is a social affair.

'And despite any extra bacteria,
surprisingly tasty.'

If you're late, though,
you don't get a hot meal.

But this morning,
Tod doesn't have time.

He's had a call from a local
restaurant and needs my help.

To work. To work.

There's no food involved.

Instead, we're here to pick up
the restaurant's used vegetable oil

to fuel Tod's truck.

They need to dispose of it
and Tod's happy to take it.

Hey, Tony. How are you today?

I'm great, I'm getting all oiled up,
you know.

Living the dream. Living the dream.
Living the oily dream, you got it.

There's enough to fill
two oil drums.

You're doing fine.
You make a natural veggie oiler.

Do I?
You're going to start doing this

when you get back to England.
I am, you know.

I'll sell you this truck,
you could ship it back.

I don't think it would pass its MOT.
Probably not.

How long will that drum last you?

Depends on how much driving I do.

That's... It's going to be...

By the time it's all settled and
filtered, it'll be about 30 gallons,

and that's, for this truck,
about 450 miles of driving.

That's not bad, though,
450 free miles. Free miles.

En route home, Tod just can't resist
a dumpster without an opportunistic

look inside.

Wow, there's a lot of stuff in here.

Look at these pineapples.

Those are still good.

I suppose we could use
a few more onions.

Yeah? Grab that. Yeah.

'Maybe Tod hasn't missed out
on breakfast after all.'

Back at camp, there's an excited
welcoming committee.

We have heard that
they've got two bears.

So some hunters have come round

and dropped off two bears,
so it's all hands to deck.

So did this come in pretty early?

It came in about an hour
after you all left.

Wow. Look at all that meat.
Holy shit. Whoa! Hey, guys.

What's in here? This is bone broth.

So we're cutting up all the bear
and cooking the marrow out them.

'Today is the first day
of the hunting season.

'Tod and his tribe don't take part,

'but the hunters sometimes
leave them unwanted prey

'from their day's shoot.'

'The two bears have been butchered
and nothing will go to waste.

'There's enough meat here to feed
everyone for a year.'

It's amazing and brutal
and shocking.

Well, I think what's amazing is
how matter-of-factly everyone's just

getting on with everything.

I hate to come back
and start immediately, but

knives left on the floor or on
the ground is not a good idea.

Everything from the bears
will be used,

including the skins to make clothes.

And it all looks quite tribal. I
kind of feel I could be in Africa.

I've seen a very similar scenario
in Africa, but we're not,

we're in North Carolina.

Ben, if you want to help out, you
can just grab a foot or something

and just skin it out and it's all
going in the bone bowl. OK.

Why have the hunters just dumped
the bears off here, Tod?

My guess is that they give us bears
they don't want for whatever reason.

But why would they be hunting
for the bear

if they don't want the bear?

There's a real camaraderie,
there's a real tradition of it

around here, but as far as I can
tell, they really enjoy killing,

and I shouldn't say THEY because
they're all different,

you know, there's all different
people doing this.

Some of them do eat the bear. Mm-hm.

Are you, to be clear,
are you a hunter yourself?

No, I don't hunt.

This is the most communal I've seen,
everyone's kind of appeared.

Is this what brings
the community together?

Food? Free food? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, plus, the community
hasn't been here until today,

everybody was gone.

This takes all
of the community resources,

so we all come together
and work on it.

Well, I love the way you jump in,
Ben. I respect that. Thank you.

The thing I find most difficult is
it was only a few weeks ago I was in

Canada revering these bears.

I was with a couple who were trying
to protect them from hunters.

Now, suddenly here, I'm with
a community who are butchering up

two of these magnificent creatures
that have been killed for no reason

except that these hunters
want to kill.

But I can also see that this is
what maintains their way of live.

They're, by their own admission,
scavengers.

The vats of bear broth
will be cooking all day,

so we'll need to cut more firewood.

It's a team effort, as our chosen
fallen tree is lying precariously on

the steep hillside.

That's probably good.

And if it starts to go,
everyone get out of there.

OK. Now bring it down gently.

OK. One, two, three.

Look at that. There we go. It's all
very physical, all of this. Yeah.

You look incredibly
fit and able, are you?

Uh, I've had some pretty
serious injuries

that were getting worse
and worse over the years.

What kind of big injuries
have you had?

Well, I worked for the forest
service when I was 21

and I got rolled over by
and pinned underneath a...

about a two-tonne log
that was on fire

and I broke my back
when I was 18 playing rugby.

Do you think very carefully now

about when you're about to
do physical...?

I do now. I've learned, yeah.

I have learned because I've hurt...
I've re-hurt myself so many times.

All the people who live here
know that. They kind of...

They'll kind of brush me away

when I go to pick up something
that I just shouldn't pick up.

Does it help having Chris and
Jonathan and youngsters like that?

It wouldn't work any other way.
You know, it just...

It wouldn't work you've got to have
the young people,

the young people whose bodies
are strong. I think so.

For any kind of community setting,
anyways.

No machinery is used here. Even
cutting wood is a communal affair.

But it takes skill to use
the two-man cross-cut saw.

You just go very easy
until you get a groove. OK.

And then you still go easy. OK.

At no point are you trying to whale
on this like a chainsaw would do.

Just you gotta...
Gotta pull it straight.

Once we get farther into the cut,
it won't be so difficult.

And when it's catching like that,

it means someone's doing
something...

It's not me. How do you know?

THEY LAUGH

You're starting to bend it
towards yourself.

There we go.

You don't push any harder
than I pull. Now we got it.

And now just slow down. Go easy,
just like when we started.

There we go. Oh, look at that.
There it is.

Beautiful.
It's like...it's like a dance.

Yeah, it is, isn't it? You're really
working with one another.

Yeah, and you're feeling the wood.

With these great big teeth, you can
almost feel every tooth engage

and disengage once you've done it
enough. You can really feel the saw.

Someone could probably give you
a chainsaw that they're not using

any more, you've got vegetable oil,
you could adapt it? No. No?

You couldn't do that?

A chainsaw wouldn't run
on vegetable oil, it's not diesel.

If you had an ecological chainsaw...
There is no such thing.

There's no such thing. What's an
ecological chainsaw? I don't know!

You invent one! It would be made out
of like, you know, leaf litter,

and things like that,
with no chemical ingredients.

There's no such thing as sustainable
in the industrial world, right now.

And the world you're living in
is unspeakably beautiful.

In my opinion, yes.

But not just because it's pretty.
Not just because it's pretty,

but because there's food here
and there's good water.

That sort of thing. But is your life
slightly tenuous here?

Because you don't own...you don't
own this, do you?

No, no. Someone else owns the land

and she lets us live here
and we pay the property taxes

and it's an open...
It's an understanding,

kind of an unwritten understanding
between ourselves who live here

and the land owner that it's
an open teaching community,

that anybody's welcome here

and that this is the sort
of thing we're doing.

I think if we started doing chainsaw
repairs she might sort of say,

"Hey, you know what?"

Does that leave
a slight vulnerability?

Do you have any vulnerability
in your life?

Yeah, of course. Yeah, I mean,
it's there, you know. It's there.

If this place were
taken away from me

or I was taken away from this place,

I'd be... It would
be very sad for me.

With the primitive skills that
are practised and learned here,

I can see how important it is that
this place runs as a community.

Nice!

The reason this lifestyle works
for Tod in particular is

because there's other people.
You need manual labour.

Everything is labour intensive,

everything from starting the fire
to collecting the water,

to processing whole bears
that come through.

So this is about, um...

volume of people. I don't think
you could live here solitarily.

And as much as Tod
needs the community,

they also need him.

I see him in a lot of ways as,
you know,

an elder for this community. Mm-hm.

But not because of his age,
but his demeanour, his countenance.

He probably wouldn't admit this,
but I think in a lot of ways,

he's very wise
and his counsel is heard.

And people do want to win
and gain his respect.

Over the past week,

I've been living with a host
and his community

who have created a very unique, wild
homestead on the fringes of society.

In all seriousness,
do you think there is

an outside perception of you guys?
A misconception, maybe?

A lot of people call us woods
hippies. Or dirty kids.

Dirty kids.
That's, like, another one.

Mm-hm. Um, I would mind it if I took
it personally.

Do you...? You don't take it
personally, then?

No. I don't give a fuck.

I... You know, I can I just say you
took the words out of my mouth.

You look like someone
that doesn't really care.

I care what the people that are
close to me think of me. Yeah.

It's funny, though.
Like, we'll sit in the shitter

and be reading the People's Magazine
or Cosmo...

Mm-hm. ..and just realise, like,

people really care about
what they think of...

like, what people think about them.

Tod calls that feeding
his negativity. Yeah.

It's like propaganda
to keep us here.

Oh, really? Is that a...?

Is that why?
Ah, now I get it, Tod.

That's why you leave them all there,
so these guys don't leave.

HE SINGS

Obviously, Tod and the rest
of the community don't approve,

necessarily, of society out there.

That's what they've come here
to get away from.

But this kind of scavenging,
if that's what we call it,

could probably only exist
here in America.

Supermarkets simply wouldn't have

that kind of waste
in other parts of the world.

It... It just wouldn't happen.

No-one in their right mind would go
and kill a bear just for the sake

of killing a bear
in other parts of the world.

You'd kill it to eat it.
So it's an interesting dynamic

that the only reason they can live
this lifestyle

is because
they're in the United States,

and they're living this lifestyle

because they don't like
the lifestyle of the United States.

It's very complex!

After two days of bear processing,

I finally get a well-earned break
with my tribal elder.

So, what's this here?

That is, um, apple cider from apples
that we picked nearby and then

pressed on a friend's press
and then fermented.

Can... Can I? Please.
Much as you want.

What do you think?
Ooh, that is nice.

I mean, that is really tasty.

That's the best stuff right there,
as far as I'm concerned.

During my time here,

I've noticed there is romance
in the forest.

Tod, too, even came here
with a girlfriend a decade ago.

But their relationship ended
last year.

Is there anyone else now?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's, uh,
there's Erica, a gal that I met...

I actually met her at one

of the primitive and homesteading
skills gatherings in, um,

in the Piedmont of North Carolina,

and she has a seven-year-old
daughter.

She comes to visit quite frequently.

Your eyes are lighting up
when you're talking about her.

I'm pretty darn happy. Well,
I've been wanting to be a parent

my whole life,
and to meet this wonderful woman

with a wonderful seven-year-old
daughter has just...

It's brought a lot of happiness
into my life.

A lot of happiness
and a lot of fulfilment.

While I continue with my tasks,

Tod goes to meet
the new girls in his life.

They've come to visit
for the weekend.

Hey. Hello, Ben.
Hey, hey, hey, we've got company.

Yeah, you want one?
You've got a handful there.

Who's this? This... This is Josie.

Hello, Josie. How are you?

I'm Ben, upside down.

You've got your hands full.

And? Erica.

Erica. How are you?
Really nice to meet you.

Listen, I'll let you guys settle in.

I'm sure you've had a bit
of a journey. Yes, a long drive.

I'm still getting used
to day-to-day life here,

but Erica and Josie seem to have
no problem easing into it at all.

And for a child, this forest
seems a natural playground.

Do you like being out
in the wilderness like this?

Yeah. Is it fun?

Which do you prefer,
being back in a city,

in a town, or out here in the trees
and the woods and the mountains?

Out here. Out here?

But why?
What's so good about out here?

Well, I just like it
out here more cos...

..if there's a house and a city,

there's not really any woods
to go do anything

and you always have to go pee
in a bathroom.

BEN LAUGHS

But you just pee out
in the trees here?

Yeah. I agree. That's the best way.

And you're pretty good with, uh,
knowing which plants you can eat,

aren't you? Do you have a favourite
plant to eat out here?

Yes. Which one? Clearweed.

Clearweed? Is it good?

So this is clearweed, is it? Yes.

Ooh, this looks good.

Just eat it up like that?

That's nice. That's really nice.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Tod's half-empty glass
has suddenly filled

since Erica and Josie have arrived.

He's got a spring
in his step, you know.

You see him being very tactile

and you can tell
he's a different person now.

He's relaxed and it's really nice
to see a very different side of Tod.

Did you always imagine that you
would end up with someone like Tod?

No. But, in retrospect,
he was exactly what I was...

..subconsciously asking for.

You know, he feels like
a...a real partner.

Back in Tennessee,
Erica home-schools Josie,

and when she's here,
the whole community help her learn

out in the wild.

You see something that she naturally
gravitates towards

and then find a way
to turn it into a lesson.

You know, she wanted to make money
making granola bars

so it was reading
and math, you know,

and she'd figure it out in her head.

So it's practical application
of things.

You know, I'm the biggest advocate

of using the wilderness
as a classroom.

This is, like, the most amazing
place for a child.

But presumably, the downside -

and I think most things in life have
some sort of negative -

is there aren't that many
other children around.

In fact, I haven't seen
any other children.

Uh, right now there's not,
but, um... You know,

we still go back to Floyd
all the time,

so she's got a lot of friends there.

And we're meeting people
around here too.

There's a lot of home schoolers
around here too.

And what about looking
into the future?

Do you imagine one day you might
both be able to move here?

I would love that. Yeah.

Cos it was just me and her for so
long, and now we have other people

that she loves,
and she's really growing up.

She's always been really
adventurous and daring...

..much to the mother's chagrin.

I'm sure.
She's kept you on your toes?

Yeah. But I guess
I was like that, too.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm not...

I'm not worried about her.

She's going to be just fine.

Pretty amazing that Tod's
found someone like Erica.

You know, she's very at ease here.

Takes a pretty unique person
to feel that comfortable here.

And so does Josie.

You know, on the face of it,
this might not be...

the most idyllic place for a...

a child of that age,
but you've got all these people,

you've got all these skills, you've
got people who are very concerned,

and it kind of makes sense.

# This is another prayer song

# Perhaps you'd like
to sing along... #

As night falls, everyone can enjoy
the fruits of their labour.

We really do feel
like one big family.

Beautiful. Yeah, really lovely.

Thank you.

It's, uh... You know,
work never stops here.

They're still working now, you know.

They're cooking,
they're skinning animals.

But music is their way
of kind of relaxing.

It's very traditional,
I suppose, in that sense.

No... No TVs or modernity here,
despite that...

that kind of connection
with the outside world.

It's my final morning
in this unusual forest home.

Hey, still going, still bubbling.

I'm off, guys. Thank you so much.

Everyone's got their own dream.

Everyone's got their own form of
wilderness, their own form of...

alternative living.

And it's kind of a beautiful thing,
isn't it,

that Todd and this community have
found theirs just off the main road?

And they're living their dream.

It's not everyone's dream.
It's their dream.

And this...this community,
it's so complex.

It's full of so many contradictions.

In some ways, I'm leaving with more
questions than I came with,

but I think that's exactly what Tod
would like me to leave with.

Thank you so much. I can't tell
you how much I've enjoyed it.

This has been one of the most
fascinating weeks.

Yeah? Genuinely, yeah. You don't say
that to everybody? No, no.

Really... Really, I'm still...
I'm intrigued. You're...

You're a mystery to me.
Well, come back again

and maybe I'll be more mysterious.
Who knows? OK. But I...

I wanted to say one thing, though.

There's a saying the locals have
around here when they

appreciate someone. They say,

"I appreciate you."
I just wanted to say that to you.

I've picked that up from the locals.

It's been good having you here.
That's really nice.

I'm really touched by that.
Bye, Josie.

Bye, Tod. Look after yourselves.
Good travels to you.

All right, Josie, let's go! Bye!

Come on, wave goodbye. Bye!

'Next time, I'm in Morocco...'

Ah, straight in the face, that one!

'..living with couple
Dinah and Mostafa

'who shunned the American dream...'

If you can survive without money,
that's freedom.

'..for a precarious
hand-to-mouth existence.'

I see ourselves at the bottom.
It can't get any worse than that.

Subtitles by Ericsson