(This entry was actually a part of my "morning pages" several weeks ago, but I've reworked it and am posting it here belatedly.)
We've been looking at land for what feels like months, but I know it's only been a few weeks. We were feeling pretty discouraged because pretty much every piece of earth we've seen is either too expensive or too far away, or it doesn't have utilities, or they won't allow yurts and camper living. Actually, the last problem has been the biggest factor. Most places have building codes that we won't meet, and even the really country places that would accept a yurt wouldn't allow us to live in a camper for 6 months to a year.
Has anybody ever seen Lion King 1 1/2? Remember the scene when the monkey mystic tells Timon that in order to find his haven, his home sweet home, he will have to "look beyond what you see?" That's what we had to do today when I believe we actually found our haven. Here's the deal: on the land we saw today, there was two junky broken down trailers, two old boats, and mountains of junk. Most people would have turned around in a heartbeat. But here's the deal: the owners had no problem with the yurt, the were fine with the temporary camper living, and the land itself was 3.3 acres, half wooded and half cleared, AND it takes only 15 minutes to get there from the university!! We couldn't afford to turn and run when we saw all the bad karma junk that the previous owners had left. We had to "look beyond what you see."
And we were really able to! We could see the yurt right up against the edge of the woods, we could see the garden on the elevated part of the yard, a beautiful rock wall along the side, a path through the woods leading to a meditation labyrinth, everything. Also, it seemed that the land was speaking to us, asking us to come save it--asking us to restore it to the beauty we saw the potential for.
So, we're making an offer and we're putting a stipulation in the contract that all the junk and the trailers and the boat will be hauled off without charge to us. Cross your fingers! This is our land--I feel it!
Why would you not be able to have the yurt on a specific piece of land? What part of coding does it fail to meet?
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating journey this has been and will be! I look forward to future installments!
ReplyDeleteMost cities and even country neighborhoods have restrictions about square footage, amount of brick a home has to have, and other structural design elements. Arkansas is really behind in the yurt world. There are almost no people living in yurts here, although there are yurts used as retreats, yoga studios, etc. Colorado Yurts told me there are yurts all over Texas, but not many in Arkansas or other surrounding states. We found a good bit of land that accepted a yurt--as long as it was county land outside of city limits. It was the temporary living in a camper that caused us more trouble.
ReplyDeleteLol Arkansas is behind in everything, though I didn't know there were some many restrictions. Its so awesome that you guys are doing this finally stepping out over the renting ledge. Good Luck Cuz.
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