Cages

It's a rare bird upon being set free that can look back and realize the benefits of its cage, but instead of moving back in to the ease of it all, sets out with wings anew, striving to implement in its own way, while keeping the lessons of the master and time spent in the cage as it ventures out to be a master of its own.

This story of a rare bird is given here, illegally maybe, in its well deserved sanctuary - away from the commercialistic click-bait and the blight of opportunism.  I'd imagine this is just like the liver of the tale would want - giving fire to mere mortals freely and without strings, and this time keeping his liver. ;)

A Strange Cabin in the Woods

The forest was remote, masking its secret well. Indeed, Mark Andre, the Environmental Services Director of Arcata Community Forest in California, hadn’t explored the area for 30 years. When he finally did, though, he found hidden behind thickets and brambles an isolated, mysterious cabin.

The Forest Guild, a professional association of foresters, describes Arcata Community Forest as a “Model Forest.” Encompassing hills, ravines and nearly 800 acres of woodland, the forest is not only a popular recreational site, but also a self-sustaining enterprise generating up to $700,000 a year from sustainable logging.

But back to the story. In 2015 Andre traveled deep into the woods to tag trees for the annual timber harvest and found the cabin by chance. “I didn’t see it until I was 12 feet from it,” Andre told Mad River Union website. “It’s in the perfect out-of-the-way spot where it wouldn’t be detected.”

Situated close to the city of Arcata, the forest has long drawn its share of squatters. In fact, in the same year in which Andre found the cabin, the Arcata City Police and Environmental Services dismantled about 15 illegal camps in the forest. Even so, this cabin was different. Why? Because it was carefully constructed and sturdy enough to survive the seasons.

Camouflaged with branches and leaves, the plywood cabin had windows, a porch, and a peaked roof rising 15 feet. Furthermore, stationed on concrete blocks and covered with waterproof tarps, it measured 12 feet long by eight feet across.

Meanwhile, there was no garbage or waste, and there were no signs of environmental destruction. Whoever had built the cabin apparently had a high regard for the forest. Yet why had it been built in such an isolated location? And whom did it belong to?

Peering inside, Andre discovered a rustic, unoccupied-at-the-time but well-kept living area. Moving around, a compact kitchen featured a curtained window and a tranquil view of the forest. And, elsewhere, a wooden ladder led to an upper compartment with a cozy sleeping area.

The cabin housed a plethora of eclectic possessions, too. For instance, there was a rocking chair, a desk and a round stove with a chimney. And, indeed, there were fitted shelves together with an array of cans, bottles and glass jars stocked with spices, sauces and grains. But how long had this structure been standing?

Well, providing some indication, a scrawled list of “things to do and get” included items dating back to 2011. And it seems that the builder was very methodical in his or her work. Certainly, the list included items such as “build bench,” “extend brush wall,” “season cast iron” and “label jars.”

The occupant was more than a handy builder, however. An antique typewriter sat on a desk next to an oil lamp. And on the shelves were crumpled manuscripts, a dictionary, a book about public secrets, and field guides to local trees and medicinal plants. Whoever lived there seemed to be a deep thinker.

There were, though, few clues to the owner’s true identity, and yet the carefully constructed house and its sparse possessions suggested a mature and solitary individual with minimal needs and a well-honed sense of identity. Still, what had inspired him or her to construct such an offbeat enclave?

Perhaps we can turn to a man of letters for pointers. The famous American nature writer Henry Thoreau once wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”