Cody Lundin is a living legend in the homesteading, survivalist, and primitive living fields. He has been living what he preaches for over 30 years and has taught all around the world.
If you ever fancied living off grid or want to know what to do if government breaks down and **** hits the fan… then this is the persons advice you what to follow.
He has inspired me greatly, and I owe most of my current lifestyle and skill set to him.
Let’s have a look at Cody Lundin’s life story:
He was born on the 15th March 1967.
“Knowledge is power, and it is very lightweight” – Cody Lundin
His grandparents in South Dakota lived by the ethos of the “good ol’ pioneer spirit”. They had their own homestead, where they lived with the mindset of living modestly and making the most out of their of their lives.
And just like most kids, the time spent with his grandparents was a special time, and it ultimately sowed the seeds for what would become a very successful and interesting life for Cody Lundin.
“All survival situations revolve around a host of variables… always adapt, think positive, and move forward” – Cody Lundin
The life of Cody Lundin was very different from his grandparents to begin with, as his parents were a part of the military machine.
He was an only child, and he didn’t always have time to make new friends. So, he found solace in nature and the great outdoors. Wherever they were based he would go out and explore.
The family moved around America and Europe a lot in his early years, and he wouldn’t know it at the time, but the experiences of different climates and locations would serve him well in the future.
“So, do you want a turd sandwich or a turd sandwich with mustard, I would go with the mustard but it is still a turd sandwich” – Cody Lundin
In his teenage years, his travelling settled down a bit, and he spent a lot of time in Wyoming, with its amazing mountains and wide expanses of prairies.
Here he would take the most spartan gear possible, with a fishing line, the appetite for knowledge, and he would disappear for days on self-sufficient multi-day hikes.
“The more survival skills an individual has that have been practised physically and otherwise, the better the odds they have for those skills coming to the forefront during a stressful emergency” – Cody Lundin.
This is when his need for adventure and lust for self-reliance escalated. He graduated from high school early and set off on his first step of true survival.
He left his parents home with a duffel bag and a bus ticket, and spent year surviving, thriving, and most importantly learning.
He didn’t just live in the woods and mountains, he also spent time living rough on the streets and spent time in communes.
“Moral of the story, try to get things right, figure out what’s going wrong with the scenario, and don’t give up” – Cody Lundin
After a transformative experience in the Arizona red rocks, he realised he has a message and skill set to teach people about the great outdoors and how to live within nature safely.
He didn’t just become a celebrity over night though, no, he had more practice to do so he immersed himself into primitive living whilst also working on himself and working through his faults.
“I feel like a nude little piece of white meat out here” – Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin isn’t just some sort of survival beast; he is also smart and well educated. He has a bachelor’s degrees in Depth Psychology as well as Holistic Health.
This means he has learned knowledge to supplement his huge range of experience. Which is a great combination to have.
“Where there is water, there are people” – Cody Lundin
Amazingly he set up the Aboriginal Living Skills School in 1991 with only $10. I suppose it would have been more impressive and self-reliant if it were set up with nothing!
Ha-ha, I am kidding; it is obviously super impressive with what he has done with his school.
What made the school a success in my opinion is that he lived the life, he wasn’t just some teacher that then went back home to his suburban detached house. Cody Lundin lived off the lands for many years, then after the classes he would go back to the wilderness. He is legit basically.
He has used the trials and tribulations in his own life, to teach others how to live a more basic, minimalist, and primitive life. As well as been able to survive disaster and emergency situations.
“Holy smoke! We lost our last match and there is a storm coming!
Party On!
A flash flood swept away all our gear and we're twenty miles from the trailhead!
Party On!
My femur bone's sticking through my skin and I've got to cross that river!
Party On!” – Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin is not one to look for an easy life and he hasn’t slipped back into societal norms as he aged and became successful.
He is always looking to push the boundaries of self-reliance, survivalism, emergency prepping, and primitive living.
If he wonders if he can live alone in the woods, in a brush shelter for 2 years, then he wont just wonder, he will try it, and that’s exactly what he did one time and he was successful at it.
That’s what sets him apart from the average outdoorsman.
“We can’t move quickly. You move quick out here, and you die quick” – Cody Lundin
The Aboriginal school is one thing, but he wants everyone to have access to his knowledge.
He has released 2 bestselling books on the art of surviving and being prepared for all eventualities.
These books changed my life, and I am sure they changed many more lives, I recommend you go and buy them immediately: 98.6 Degrees The lost art of keeping your ass alive & When all hell breaks loose stuff you need to survive when disaster strikes.
He partakes in speaking engagements, and he will teach people off the street, to private consultations, corporate weekends, and even government agencies and militaries.
On top of his own school teachings, he is allowed to teach his own curriculum at 2 colleges in his home state.
“The irony here is we are looking for water and we are looking out for water. Without it you die, and with too much of it you die” – Cody Lundin
The Discovery Channel basically built a TV programme around him in 2009 – Dual Survival. He and another survivalist would be dropped into harsh survival situations and show how they would get out of the situation.
Cody Lundin was the star power for 4 seasons, but unfortunately it came to an abrupt end when Discovery claimed he left, and Cody claims he was unfairly dismissed.
Cody even took the matter to court.
This experience hasn’t soured him too much though, as he still consulted on and appeared in many other TV shows, movies, newspapers, and magazines.
“I know I look like a piece of sausage to those lions. A Sausage with braids” – Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin has a homestead in Northern Arizona and still practises his minimalist beliefs to this day.
His earth home is an absolute marvel.
He believes it is folly to continually try to climb the property ladder, because no matter how many rooms, gyms, cinemas, and swimming pools you have in your home if you cannot maintain the temperature in it you are doomed.
If it is too hot or too cold, you are going to quickly learn to hate your mansion.
Therefore, every modern style home is at the mercy of the power grid to heat or cool it to the desired temperature.
With this in mind he believes his earth home is superior to any Manhattan penthouse or a sea view home on whatever millionaires’ row you like to pick.
He can heat his home from nature, from totally renewable energy, for zero dollars a month. So, if the government and power grid crumbled, would he even notice or care!
Amazingly he doesn’t even have to burn wood for heat in the winter, the home is heated and cooled entirely by the design of the home.
In the winter, he uses passive solar. Where the sun rays heat the stone floor, the heat is stored, the heat is released at night, then the insulation and thermal mass of the house retains the heat in the home.
To get this right you do need to calculate how many windows are required for the size of the home.
In the summer, the suns rays are higher. So, the windows and overhang of the roof are perfectly designed to keep these rays from going through the windows and warming up the stone floors.
The same insulation that keeps the heat in during the winter, blocks the heat getting in during the summer. Ingenious isn’t it, well it’s more of a forgotten lost art really.
He does have electricity which he gets from solar panels, he has a water collection and solar water heating system, and whilst he does have a solar oven, he uses a small gas cooking stove for convenience.
And if this somehow diminishes what you think of him, be aware that he makes a 20-pound gas cylinder last for over a year… that is about $13 a year. So, it’s a good job he gets those author cheques ha-ha.
So, for next to nothing he can live in a home that stays within the 70’s degree Fahrenheit range all year round, with water and electricity.
“So, I am pampering myself to a homemade pumice session, to sand down my feet because I am worth it” – Cody Lundin
If you are for some reason worried about how he lives and that he is somehow destitute, then don’t.
He is estimated to have a net worth of $1.5 million. Therefore, find peace in that he chooses to live this way, and it is not because he has too.
“You get diarrhoea out here, you dehydrate from the inside out, you leave the gene pool” – Cody Lundin
If you would like to follow his life a bit more closely, he is actually quite active on Twitter and Instagram.
Some people may be surprised by this and think he would be some kind of hermit that has no idea what an iPhone is.
In fact, he is technology savvy, and uses it to his advantage rather than the crutch that technology is for most people.
“lts like I am in a closet in a college dorm room.” – Cody Lundin
This could be a great pub quiz question.
Who is the only person in Arizona to have a permit to catch fish with his bare hands?
Yep, Mr Cody Lundin.
He also has a permit to collect roadkill, so even though he doesn’t rely on governments to survive, he will play by their rules if it is to his survival advantage.
Also don’t be surprised to see him in a posh hotel or at a Broadway show. He doesn’t shun big cities; he just doesn’t rely on them and quickly tires of them if he stays too long.
“You are my depth gauge, if I see your hat floating, I'll stop.” – Cody Lundin
Whatever your main interests are, whether it is homesteading, traditional shelters, bushcraft, wild camping, thru-hiking, hunting, survivalism, prepping… whatever it is Cody Lundin will have some unique knowledge to provide you.
But his information shouldn’t be the only knowledge you digest, you should immerse yourself in the widest possible range of information about the outdoors as possible.
I will leave you will this…
“Over the years, Americans in particular have been all too willing to squander their hard-earned independence and freedom for the illusion of feeling safe under someone else's authority. The concept of self-sufficiency has been undermined in value over a scant few generations. The vast majority of the population seems to look down their noses upon self-reliance as some quaint dusty relic, entertained only by the hyperparanoid or those hopelessly incapable of fitting into mainstream society.” – Cody Lundin
