This week on the channel +463K views this week

A woodland smoker takes shape beside My Self Reliance's guest cabin

Shawn James prepares concrete footings and carries fieldstones as warm autumn weather leaves room for more outdoor work.

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My Self Reliance Story of November 1, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

What I’m Building Next to the Guest Cabin

Video summary

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7:42Shawn describes the warm, dry autumn and plans more smoker work and guest-cabin log preparation before snow.
10:12He mixes concrete and shovels it into a square wooden form for a footing.
12:12Traditional longbow practice breaks up the building work, using foam animal targets.
14:48Dirt and gravel beds are leveled, with strings and levels guiding the wooden form.
16:26Wheelbarrows of concrete fill the form before Shawn screeds and trowels the surface smooth.
17:31He digs trenches and carries fieldstones to build a retaining wall and foundation edge.

The smoker needs solid ground. Shawn James spends much of My Self Reliance's newest upload doing the unglamorous work that makes the next structure possible: leveling gravel, aligning wooden forms, pouring concrete and carrying heavy fieldstones into place.

"What I'm Building Next to the Guest Cabin" is the most watched of his two uploads this week, reaching roughly 111,000 views. Between construction stretches, Shawn practices with a traditional longbow, splits firewood and spends time on the porch with Cali, his golden retriever. The video also includes a sponsored nutritional-supplement segment.

"This fall has been just incredible," he says, describing unusually warm, dry weather. His work list includes continuing the smoker and preparing more logs for the guest cabin before snow arrives. Viewers are picking up on the stonework, the red-and-gold forest photography and Cali's familiar role as the unofficial site supervisor.

The other new upload, "I Need Help with this Old Musket in the Cabin", turns from building to an antique firearm, exploring its identity and flintlock mechanics. Meanwhile, "Building a Foundation for the Cabin | Autumn in the Wilderness", posted the previous week, remains among the channel's busiest videos, though the new smoker project is attracting substantially more daily viewing.

Subscribers held steady over the week, while daily views are currently well below the channel's usual pace. Across the library, the week brought about 463,000 additional views. For Shawn, the new work is less about another finished cabin than the careful preparation around it: a level bed, a solid footing and stone carried into position by hand.

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What viewers say

This is an interesting little project, making good use of the stone the way to go.
@RalphBliss-s4sSee it on YouTube
Hey Shawn it’s always nice to see you and your Supervisor Cali working together and it looks like great weather for it! 💪🏽💪🏽👍🏽👍🏽🤩🤩💯💯
@marygordon3032See it on YouTube
The photography in these is always really good but this one raises the bar to a new level. And I'm only a couple of minutes in...
@AuntieDeb71See it on YouTube

5 more comments

Hey, everyone! Our favorite show's on!
@MilwaukieSpartanSee it on YouTube
I really enjoy these videos, especially Cali's adventures. She is such a sweet girl.
@mikesavoie3142See it on YouTube
Having spent my childhood on the border of NY and Canada, fall is what i miss the most.
@nooneyouknowhere6148See it on YouTube
Its lovely to see the reds, oranges and golds of Autumn, the trees are changing more slowly here in the UK.
Its great that the koi carp are safe in their pond because I admit to thinking that maybe the bears would come and help themselves.
I enjoy the quiet building works too - seeing how you improve your lives by adding useful structures.
@denisemeredith2436See it on YouTube
Enjoying my ginger tea. Watching Cali and in a good place. My Friday afternoon medicine. Armand
@armandzottola1626See it on YouTube