Cabin: Off-the-grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison
Warmer weather and longer days are an invitation to take up home renovation projects, and weekend warrior homeowners often lean into YouTube videos and DIY books checked out from the library for guidance. If you’ve experienced home renovations that go sideways or take much more time, money and skill than expected, “Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman” by Patrick Hutchison will help you laugh instead of cry and feel less alone in your bungling.
After college, Hutchison spent time traveling through Patagonia, working at random jobs and dreaming of being “a gonzo journalist travel writer-type person. Think Hunter S. Thompson meets Paul Theroux and Anthony Bourdain.” He was living in Seattle, dreaming of being a writer, but primarily sitting at a desk churning out marketing emails while feeling that his life was not amounting to much.
As an antidote to discontent, he often thought nostalgically about the endless, magical days of his youth spent completely outside in nature. So, when he heard about a leaky, moss-covered 10-by-12-foot cabin near the Skykomish River listed for $7,800, he convinced himself that this was his ticket both back to that elemental sort of happiness and into the world of successful adulting. Never mind that the cabin was rudimentary — nothing level, built from sketchy materials, rot- and critter-infested — and that he knew absolutely nothing about carpentry, owned no tools and considered himself basically math-averse.
Not to be discouraged by these shortcomings, Hutchison bought the cabin and began gleefully investing in some basic tools. Friends enthusiastically volunteered to help on weekends, many of them finding the permanence of the little cabin in the woods an “immense comfort” when so much was malleable in their lives: new relationships, new apartments, new jobs. The healthy feeling Patrick got from getting away from office fluorescent lights and unplugging from technology reminded him of a time when doctors would prescribe “clear country air” to address ailments associated with life in industrialized cities.
Despite good intentions, not all the cabin renovation projects go smoothly, but the mistakes become reminders of fun weekends spent outdoors with friends; every board, nook and cranny in the cabin comes to have a story or memory associated with it.
Hutchison is a funny guy and there are plenty of good laughs to be had reading “Cabin.” It is also an inspiring story about what can happen when we dare to embrace our dreams and listen to “the quiet, persistent voice that nags us into wondering what else might be possible.”
Hutchison said, “This story is about what happens when we give that voice room to grow.” For him, the experience of buying and renovating the cabin led to quitting his soulless writing job and pursuing carpentry full time, as well as publishing this widely acclaimed “Walden for the modern age” about the experience. “Cabin” is an amusing and uplifting debut memoir that will make you want to pick up a hammer and saw and build or fix something with your own hands.
Patrick Hutchison is the featured guest at the Thursday, May 15 episode of Chuckanut Radio Hour. Info: kmre.org/programs/chuckanut-radio.
Lisa Gresham is the collection services manager for the Whatcom County Library System, wcls.org.
(Originally published in Cascadia Daily News, Friday, May 16, 2025.)