Agafia Lykova

A fifteen minute video about her

Agafia Lykova is a Russian Old Believer who lived in Southern Siberia her entire life. She is currently 81 years old. Her nearest neighbors are 150 miles away. There are no roads, only the river and helicopters.

On a scale of 1-to-10 where 1 is the difficulty of surviving in the Garden of Eden and 10 is the north-slope of the Brooks Range, Miss Lykova survived into her old age with almost no outside technology in an environment that is a solid 9 for difficulty. 

Her family moved to the remote location in 1936 to escape the repressive, godless, Soviet regime. The family was discovered by geologists in 1978. Exposed to diseases that they had no antibodies for, several of the family members died shortly afterward.

She grows her own food and saves her own seeds. She grows her own fiber (hemp) that she uses to make fishnets*, rope and weaves it into a burlap that she uses for rough outer clothing. She presses hemp seeds for oil. She harvests wild game and milks goats. 

Outside inputs include a few metal buckets, an ax and some soft clothing.

What does she do with her spare time? She praises God.

"Survival" doesn't always look like our preconceptions. You don't have to look like Rambo and have three CONEX containers filled with "gear". 

*She now uses a monofilament net and her target catch is Grayling.