Hands-on learning / Brimley, Michigan
Build something that stays.
Five days. Real tools. A permanent installation. Learn to build the power, water, and shelter systems your life depends on.
Beginners welcome. Tools provided.
01 / The Axe Weeks
Learn it together. Build it for real.
- 5 days
- Monday–Friday
- 8–10 adults
- Small groups
- $3,850
- Meals + lodging
- One real build
- Per Axe Week
The first three sessions
The essentials. In your hands.
Choose the system you want to understand. Leave with skills for your own land.
Session 01 / Planned
Power
Design, install, and commission an off-grid solar and battery system that actually carries a load.
Explore Power
Session 02 / Planned
Water
Get water out of the ground, into the building, around the property, and safely away again.
Explore WaterSession 03 / Planned
Shelter
Frame it, roof it, seal it, and heat it.
Explore ShelterSession photography is AI-generated concept imagery, not the property.
The Axe Weeks / Five days on the land
A week
well spent.
Morning instruction. Afternoons on the real build. Evenings at the fire, talking through what worked and what comes next.
How a week works- 08:00
Learn the system
Instruction and supervised practice.
- 13:00
Put it to work
Build the permanent installation together.
- 20:00
Around the fire
Questions, lessons, and tomorrow's plan.
Arrive Mon 13:00 / Depart Fri 15:00
38 acres / Waiska River / Eastern U.P.
Room to build.
Room to learn.
A working property outside Brimley, Michigan. Orchard, river, and a landscape that makes every lesson practical.
Launch sessions are taught by Matt Vorst on the systems he is installing on his own land.
Before you ask
You don't need experience.
You don't need to bring tools.
You will not be watching a demonstration.
The Axe Weeks
Five days, Monday to Friday, 8–10 people, $3,850 with meals and on-site lodging. The main offering, opening once the property can house it.
The 5-day formatField Days
Two days, Saturday and Sunday, 10–12 people, $650. You stay in Sault Ste. Marie or Brimley. The shorter format that gets the work started.
The 2-day formatThe Build Log
The work, as it happens.
Read the log01 / season
Black fly season, stated honestly
Biting insects run from late May into early July in the eastern Upper Peninsula. What that does to the calendar, and what we're doing about it.
02 / paperwork
Why the two-day format comes first
A five-day residential program needs a septic system, potable water, and permitted lodging. A day program doesn't. How that shapes the launch.
03 / plan
Three sessions, not twelve
There are twelve themes on the curriculum roadmap and about fourteen usable weeks in an Upper Peninsula summer. Why we're launching with three sessions and repeating them.