Building A Log Cabin As Your Primary Residence
well, whatever and all... just cut up a bunch of logs and stuff
Actually, a simple google search for "log homes" reveals that to be quite false. Log homes can be beautiful, complex, and as expensive as you wish.
[Edit] The log homes you see being sold today are just pre-cut kits. (Insert tab A into slot B.) Try actually cuting down the trees, skinning them, dragging them behind your mule to the build site, notching them out, mixing and applying layers of mud between the logs, etc. That's the skill that's been lost in the USA. Note that this skill still exists in other countries. The closest we have to it is the raising of barns by the Amish.
In the late 1980‘s Roy Underhill, host of the long-running PBS show “The Woodwright’s Shop,” built a log cabin over a series of several shows, in exactly the manner described above. So, with Roy still alive and the show still running for about 28 years, the skill has not been entirely lost in the USA! Roy has done hundreds of woodworking projects on his show, with tool technology no further advanced than the 1800’s.