I am not a fan of reality type shows. But, Big Timber on Netflix caught my attention and I binge-watched the entire season. It follows Kevin Wenstob who along with his wife runs a timber company on Vancouver Island, Canada. The show covers the lifecycle of the timber, from the identification of the tree to cut down, chaining the log, hauling it from the slopes, transporting it to the sawmill, and finally the sale to a customer. While doing this, Kevin faces challenges from nature, machines and staff – how he resolves them keeps us invested with the show.
I found Kevin‘s experience in identifying the right talent for the job to be interesting. His son Erik is the chief mechanic, in charge of keeping all the old, preowned machines like Bulldozers, Forklifts, and Tower yarders running and maintained at the lowest cost. Coleman Willner, the go-to man for Kevin, handles most of the logging and hauling.
The slopes of the mountains in Vancouver Island are beautiful, and some of the drone shots are breathtaking. The series says the Canadian state follows sustainable harvesting of timber, I hope it is true in practice.
The initial episodes keep you thoroughly engaged, but as the season progresses it does get repetitive and less interesting. Check out this series if you want to watch something different.
Big Timber (TV series) on Netflix
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