Finishing touches

We survived our first month in our yurt!  In doing so we have thoroughly enjoyed discovering all that our land has to offer.  As we have shifted from a hectic schedule of traveling from our rental house to the yurt/building site, we have stayed busy round the clock with chores to make our yurt more cozy.  Tanner has installed a door to the bathroom, and a ceiling fan to help cool the yurt during our warm July, which will become even more convenient in the winter in circulating warm air.  I have gone to the plant nursery to get flower pots started, as well as trying my hand at landscaping with a walking path to the main entrance of the yurt.  Tanner found some reclaimed metal roofing at our local re-use store, in order to protect and side our ground level to the yurt.  All in all we are exhausted, but elated at the developments in our yurt and on our land.  We were able to enjoy bear grass blooms in the early summer, and are now reaping the benefits of droves of huckleberries right in our front yard. 

pocket door to the bathroom

Hauling gravel for walking path, 15 loads in the first round

Gravel path, helpful dogs

Once the gravel was laid, the path was left for a few days, and in doing so I discovered that it needed much more work than just throwing gravel down.
First off, there was this obnoxious stump in the way:

The stump I dug out all by myself!!

 Once all of the gravel had a chance to show me how it was going to shift from being trampled on for a few days, I set to work lining the path with larger rocks to help hold the smaller gravel in.  In order to keep the larger rocks in place, I took 'duff' (top soil from earth already moved from the yurt platform) to fill on the sides, and eventually seed. 

Probably another dozen loads of gravel to thicken areas that had slid on the slope of ground, another dozen loads of duff and countless trips with large rocks...

Pretty Path!

 Notice the metal roofing.  Gives our yurt an even more rustic look. 

 Huckleberry picking!! 
We are blessed to have at least half of our property covered in huckleberry bushes.  Huckleberries are similar to blueberries in shape, but have a sweet-tart flavor that will forever ruin you for blueberries.  They grow in higher elevations, and are like gold to folks who live in the northwest.  Picking them is laborious, but can be addictive once you fill a pail or two.  I am slowly filling my freezer, and trying to beat the dogs to them, since they eat the berries right off of the bush!!

My jug of berries, purple fingers, and huckleberry hound

Tanner, identifying some flowers from an earlier hike & nursing a banged-up leg with a gin & tonic.  I am just enjoying the view!

Chilko and Moose, next to their puppy ramp off the back porch.

All in all, we are thrilled to be living simply and enjoying our new home.  Glad to put in long hours making it all ours!

Getting plumb settled

With all of our moving deadlines met, and all of our belongings in the yurt, we were ready to have Tanner try his hand at plumbing.  The plan was to have a shower and kitchen sink for running water.  One very long day later, Tanner was happily taking his first shower, and I was washing my dishes with the sink faucet rather than heating water on the stove.

Drilling a hole for Shower faucet

Getting water connections to kitchen sink

 Aside from getting water to the desired faucets, walls were framed in for the bathroom.

drain for temporary sink

water is running!

 Who knew he could plumb?!

Celebratory shower cocktail

Our shower curtain rings didn't fit the temporary curtain rod, so zip ties worked in the mean time.  With water running, the only other luxurious necessity I longed for was a closet.  Our yurt layout plans called for a closet bar on the opposite side of the bathroom wall, across from the plumbed kitchen/bath wall.  I must have been behaving myself because I got two shelves out of the deal too!

Closet!

eventually we will have full walls and a door, but it is starting to come together!

my humble, functional kitchen

I love it!

sitting area, catching the ball of light from the dome

entry

North side of the yurt

West Side

 Now that we are settled, we can focus on house plans and finishing touches on our temporary home.  We are both thrilled with how comfortable our yurt is.  Now to celebrate!!

Moving In

With our yurt standing, we've been scrambling to get our belongings moved from storage unit and rental property before month's end.  While much time was spent moving our possessions, we got to really rough-it in the yurt for a few days with no running water or indoor potty, and a single extension cord for power.  Let's just say that I was so ready to be out of our rental property that I was willing to get in touch with my tougher side in order to never return to said rental property.
 We began our yurt adventure with just an air mattress.  By the third night we had our bed platform, our new refrigerator, and the puppies were happy to have their beds.

 Nathan was our ever-trusty moving helper.  He was very necessary and instrumental in our move from storage/rental to yurt.

just one of the many things we own and don't need....came in handy....

I had a huge mess on my hands=lots of organizing

We got a make-shift kitchen going right away.  Water container with spigot, sink emptying into a bucket.

First meal made in the yurt: Salad, fried potatoes, salmon burgers, and corn on the cob...yum!

Doing dishes by camp lantern, not so much fun.

 The first of our basic creature comforts to arrive at the yurt was our composting toilet.  Tanner spent a fair bit of time researching compost toilets and found them to be quite practical in the right environment.  They come in different sizes, makes, and models to fit your situation.  Many national parks and state forests have gone the route of composting toilets over standard outhouses.  Compost toilets reduce water usage and are environmentally friendly.  Beyond these attributes, I, personally, was sold on this brochure photo:

I can't quite understand what message the Sun Mar toilet company was trying to send with this photo.... If you are fancy enough to wear a suit, it's still hip to have a compost toilet.  Our composting toilet will not emit fumes that might kill your fern...  I guess they can't really advertise someone using the thing, but the ads (not to mention the DVD that came with all of the information) provided at least a few chuckles from yours truly.

The unit we decided worked best for us, is self contained and has a fan built in to take all smells out of the space in which it is housed.  Mulch is added with use, and there is a handle that you turn to rotate the drum inside to keep everything composting.  I couldn't be happier to have an indoor potty, and with a view to boot! 

For more information on composting toilets:
www.sun-mar.com
www.compostingtoilet.com/