Reason #547 of Why I Love Yurts (Creative Yurt Interiors 101)

Know why I love yurts?  OK, there are fifty million reasons, but the one that is really on my mind today is the fun of decorating/designing the interior.  Having a space that is so removed from the norm in America, so outside of what we have been culturally raised with, really opens up a world of creative possibilities.  Wanna hang hammocks all over the place inside?  Go for it!  Want a raised platform bed smack in the middle of the yurt?  Try that!  How about a full circle library? 

(That's not our yurt, BTW.  The rest of the ones below are.)

 

 

How about hanging beautiful lace randomly from the center window?

 

Or maybe prayer flags?

 

 

 

 

Or go really crazy and paint the stairs to your loft in rainbow colors!

 

There are truly no rules in yurt  interior décor.  It's a big circle.  Go crazy.  Make floors out of stones and slices of trees.  Or paint it purple.  Hang drying herbs from the center ring.  Or a kite.  Or hundreds of peace cranes.  That's my next project:

Or maybe you're classy and not so crazy.  Cool.  Decorate your yurt in nothing but shades of white and cream with occasional punches of pale blue.  Hang yards of gauzy fabric everywhere.  It doesn't ever have to look like anything you've seen in the design magazines, because it already won't because you live in a YURT!  I've never lived in a place that I felt more free to do whatever my heart desired than in this old used yurt.  It's a small enough space that projects aren't too big and nothing costs too much.  And there's always, always the reminder--through the sounds of the forest that the walls don't hold out and the breezes flowing through on any day over 60 degrees--that no matter what we do to the interior of this home, the truest, most important beauty, is not indoors at all:

 

 

 



 

 



Yurts and Cold Weather

Any time I mention that I live in a yurt, the second question--right after "What is a Yurt?"--is always about the weather.  "How can you stay warm in the winter?"  "I bet they don't have many yurts up north!"  Ha-ha, say I.  Think again.  They're all over Canada and Alaska. Look at this:

Of course, here in Arkansas, it's a lot easier.  We don't get nearly that much snow.  We have our trusty woodstove:

And we wrapped the entire yurt in polar fleece before we put the cover from Yurts of America, www.yurtsofamerica.com, on the outside.  When the temp outside goes below about 55 at night, we build a fire.  If it goes below about 30, we add a space heater or two and put on heavy socks and a sweater.  That's all it takes.  We don't have too many nights here in the teens, but when we do, we just bundle up and we're comfortable.  We also get most of our wood from fallen trees on our own land.  

So, the answer to your question is:  Yes.  We're warm enough.  We're toasty most nights and comfortable on practically every night.  This is the way our ancestors lived.  They woke up to cold mornings.  They used the fuel the land willingly gave.  They piled on the blankets and they snuggled.  And so do we in Yurt-land.  Come over sometime and I'll make a cup of soy Hot Chocolate for you and we'll put our toes up in front of the fire.  It'll be grand!

A Poem for LGBTQ Teens and Young Adults from a Mom and an Ally

I'm going to start sometimes posting blog entries that aren't related to yurt life.  Here's one such:  a poem I wrote after hearing a story about a teen in crisis.  Please feel free to share, as long as you credit me! :-)

LET ME FILL IN

Let me fill in, for just the space of

One poem,

As the mother who tells you:

You are Perfect.

You are exactly as you were meant to be.

You are a physical manifestation of Divine delight.

Let me fill in, just for the time being,

For those who should have said these things to you;

For those who perhaps would say these things to you,

If given the chance.

It doesn’t matter to me if you are a boy who loves boys,

A girl who loves girls,

Or even someone who just simply LOVES.

It doesn’t matter to me if you were birthed as one gender

But your soul can only fly as another.

Let me fill in, just in case it’s what you need,

As the one for whom none of that matters.

My mothering heart is big and aches for you.

I want you to know that if you were mine,

I would hold you and comfort you and tell you that all will be well.

Maybe your mother or father didn’t say these things to you.

Maybe they couldn’t see you because their fear or prejudice got in the way.

Maybe they would say these things, but your fear got in the way.

Maybe they just don’t understand.

Let me fill in, though I know it’s a poor substitution,

For the adults who didn’t stand for you when they should have,

Whose own path was too narrow to help you on yours.

If you were mine,

You would never for a minute think that you were less than whole.

I may not be just like you, or always understand you, but

I would fight with my superpower of tender-mama-fierceness for your right to be you.

Let me fill in the holes left

After the weak hurtful words were said

By the bullies who sought to ease their own pain

By inflicting it upon you.

I would fill those bruised and empty spaces in you

With light and love and magical mystical mom hugs

That would somehow make it all alright again and forever.

Let me fill in, until your someone can take over,

Or until your spirit, so strong and free and brave,

Can be all that you need to soar.

I am here.  I see you. 

I honor all that you

Spectacularly

And beautifully are.

There are so many more of us than you know,

Loving you, cheering for you, valuing you.

It will be better one day.  You will be fine.

And until then,

We will try to fill in, if we can.

--Monica Clark-Robinson, 2013    

Our Yurt Journey Continued: The Best and the Worst of Year One

Ok, when we last left off in the yurt journey story, we had just bought a small storage barn to add to our camper for living space.  It was 14' by 20', had one window, big doors (which we often kept open), and a window-unit air conditioner.  I'm sure that, to many of you, living the way we did that year sounds crazy.  It kinda was.  But we were done with renting and throwing money away.  We couldn't afford a big mortgage and still live the simple, follow-your-bliss and make-a-difference kind of lives we wanted to live.  This was our answer.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I present the best and the worst of Year One, AKA as the Year Before We Got the Yurt Up:

Here's a picture of the camper during this time period.  That sweet kitty, Columbine, is no more.

First, the crap times: 1) The rains that spring were intense.  Flooding like crazy.  Our land had just been bulldozed, so there was not much grass yet to stop the erosion problems.  The land has still not completely recovered from those rains.  2) Late May and early June, before we bought the air-conditioner. So hot.   2) Caring for two 17-year-old cats and six baby chickens in such an unusual space.  Not easy.  Kinda stinky.  3) The camper shower just got crappier and crappier.  3) Carrying Beatrice to go to the bathroom in the middle of a rainy night.  The camper was a 30-second walk away at a quick pace.  4) Getting ready for school in the mornings, walking back and forth between the barn and camper—more on that later. 5) July and August during the day, even with the air-conditioner.  It was stifling.  The air in the camper went out.  We simply left every morning by 11:00 and returned around 6.  Thank goodness for Barnes and Noble and Greg’s office. 

The hardest of all were the morning routines.  A Montessori school in Little Rock was our choice to return to the world of the schooled masses. The girls both started in late August 2011. The school began at 8am and it took 45 minutes to get there in heavy traffic—only 20 in the off hours.  To make matters worse, the uniform for that school was as confusing to me as trigonometry or Glenn Beck.  We just couldn’t figure it out.  And, of course, we had no washer or dryer in the camper.  Forest green shirts were okay but emerald green ones were not.  Dark blue was right and light blue was, too, but only in the short-sleeve variety.  (I’m sure I got those details wrong, but you get the gist.)  I won’t bore you with more details of the uniform.  Suffice it to say that the uniform store told us that this particular school’s policy was the most confusing in town.

We woke at 5:30 to make it on time by 8.  It was a rush of still-sleepy bodies tromping back and forth between the camper and the barn, looking for socks and aluminum foil and all the other daily details, all the while trying not to step on a cat or knock over one’s sister or spouse.  If we woke at 5:35, we were late.  We were often late.  The school asked us to please make being on time more of a priority.  We did our best.  We left that school after Spring Break, for other reasons not important here.

If we had been more organized, more type A people, we could have made that routine better.  We could have done it smarter.  Of course, if we were those people, we probably never would have done this at all.  We did our best.  We learned.  We’re still married and the girls got over it through therapy and hypnosis (kidding!), so it’s all good.  Truly, the girls were great during this time.  They had fun.  They were never lacking anything.  They became more resilient.  They fought and played and scraped their knees and learned what it’s like to truly make friends with one particular forest.  The bad times weren’t, after all, so very bad.

Now, for the great times.  The good stuff is harder to convey in words, and some of it is a little embarrassing.  For example, in the embarrassing category, there’s no way you can know how enjoyable it is to pee outside on a warm June evening with the owls hooting and the full moon dancing on the leaves until you’ve actually done it yourself.  Don’t judge.  Our ancestors have been doing it for thousands of years. 

We watched “My Neighbor Totoro” dozens of times in that little barn, all piled on the big bed, eating chips and salsa and singing loudly “Hey, let’s go!  Come on, let’s go!”  We chased fireflies and played in the sand of our driveway, which resembles a Florida beach more than it does Arkansas soil.  We took nature into us and gave ourselves over to it.  We saw the moon and the stars in a different way, becoming familiar with them, making friends with them.  We had campfires and sang at the top of our lungs at midnight.   

We learned about living that spring and summer in a way that we never had before.  Living on the edge of living, I call it.  There are only a few things we humans really need, it turns out.  Someplace dry and not too hot or cold.  Protection from the weather.  A softish place to sleep.  Enough food to eat and clean, readily available water.  Community or family and loving connections to other people or animals.  Access to medical care.  That’s about all I can think of that we actually NEED.  If you have all those, you’re better off than a whole lotta people on this planet. 

That first year on the land, this was our gift.  We appreciated, for the first time, things that our grandparents and great-grandparents knew.  We learned about how amazing running water is and how air conditioners are a marvel and a gift.  We learned how fun and sometimes hard it is to live so close with the people you love the most.  We ate simple food because it was a lot of work to cook complicated things in the camper.   The seasons became characters in our lives.  The weather was sometimes the antagonist, sometimes the deus ex machina, and sometimes just the scenery.  I wish every American could experience some of what we did that year, both the good and the bad.

And, of course, all year we worked to raise money to make the trip to pick up the yurt in Indianapolis in May and build the platform it would eventually stand on.  We held a cabaret performance of all the Robinsons and some talented friends to get the money for the gas and hotel for the trip.  We borrowed some funds from my parents for the platform materials.  We used tax return money and the money that used to be paid in rent.  Little by little, we were gonna raise a yurt! 

The trip to get the yurt was grueling, to say the least.  We had to take the yurt down, board by board, screw by screw, and pack it all into a giant truck.  We had colds.  We had brought our aging kitty with kidney failure with us, because she had to be given subcutaneous water several times a day.  We were wishing we had paid attention in stagecraft class every time we failed at appropriate screw-gun use.  We had amazing help—shout out to Eddie Ryan, who is the most bad-ass septuagenarian we’ve ever met, her daughter, kindred spirit Dawn Ryan, Dawn’s awesome kids, and her crazy husband Bo, may he rest in peace—and we hired a wonderful Marine/ultra triathalon man named Dwayne, AKA Epic Ninja Dwayne,  after the first day.  The previous owners also provided assistance.  Five days later, we were home, sore, and had a yurt in pieces in storage.  Still no platform and not enough money to build one.  Most of the platform materials the previous owners had used were deemed unsafe to rebuild with by our building expert advisors, including awesome Uncle Larry and the wonderful handyman who was born with the delightful name Dick Hopper.  Not even kidding.  Great handyman.  We were unsure of our next move.  Still living in our little 14’ by 20’ barn. 

There were some times that summer and fall when we got really down.  I remember standing on the hill that overlooks the property, crying, and thinking that we had made a colossal mistake.  We had no real skills.  We had no savings that could be easily retrieved.  In my haste to be independent and rent-free, I had thought that the fact that we homeschooled and I did things like canning and making my own cloth diapers and yogurt somehow meant we could build a yurt and sculpt land into something livable.  We were going to have to admit that we were wrong and just find some cute affordable little bungalow to rent in Hillcrest.  The student loans would default, but defaulted student loans seem to be a mark of shabbily genteel education nowadays, right?  It would be fine.  It was a big mistake, but we had made bigger ones, hadn’t we? 

We all had those times of doubt, even little Beatrice.  For her, it was always after going to visit some friend with an awesome big girly bedroom.  Those times were pretty rare for each of us, but we always rallied around the person struggling at the time.  It would be OK.  We were gonna figure this out.  One thing was certain: there was no way we could do this alone.  We were going to need help.  And that, my friends, is the best lesson/gift this process has given us. 

YEAR TWO to be continued soon. . .    

10 Reasons To Live in a Yurt You Never Thought of Before!

1.  The wind rustling the roof.  That doesn't happen in brick and wood homes.  It sounds so lovely and makes me feel like I'm closer to nature.


2.  You know that cacophony of sounds at night when you go camping?  Remember how it's so beautiful and magical and remember how annoying it is when it keeps you awake all night?  Yeah, that sound happens in a yurt, but if you live there full-time, you get used to it and sleep like a baby.


3.  The magical sound freaky echo thing when you stand in the middle.



4.  The owls at night.  How did I ever live without the sound of the owls at night?

5.  Feeling like you are living in "shelter" rather than a more formal indoor space.  We feel like we live outdoors, except we're protected from the elements.



6.  The drama and excitement when tornadoes are possible.  Yeah, this is probably technically a downside, but we have friends in town and we are careful.  A storm shelter is also in the works.


7.  We automatically have an interesting conversation opener at parties.  "I live in a yurt" is definitely an unusual ice-breaker for this part of the country.


8.  Our living space is so modest that we don't feel bad about paying a little more for a particular tile or rug or fixture.  There aren't that many to have to buy, so why not make it good?


9.  More conversation as a family.  It's easy to see right where everybody is, so there's more interaction.  The teenager does have a private yurt loft, thank goodness, but the family closeness is
nice.


10.  Automatic green-living brownie points.  If you live in a yurt, you are saving so much in energy and materials that you sort of have a surplus of greenie points.  We used ours to buy a Toyota Tundra, which we would have felt way too guilty to buy if we weren't yurt dwellers!

Happy Yurting!

Used Yurts R Us! (More about the yurt journey!)

Hard to believe that picture is where it all began.  Wow!  How far we've come in just two years!

I’ve put off writing this for quite a while because I simply don’t know how to give you even a tiny idea of what the last two years have been like for us.  How can I put words to the joy that a flushing toilet or hot water can bring?  Or the bliss that a night sky, seen from land that is yours, can mean?  Or, on the other end of the spectrum, how can I explain the agony of a frigid night when the damn fire just won’t stay lit?  Or how much it sucks when everyone’s sick and there’s only one tiny camper bathroom?  Most people who know us have heard the basics about how we decided we could no longer afford student loans AND rent AND still prepare for retirement, so we came up with the Grand Yurt Plan. 

Buy cheap land in the country, live in a camper while we save money to buy a yurt, build the platform, put up the yurt, and poof!--become rent and mortgage-free in 2 years.  Those are the basics, but I haven’t written down the details because I believed that these things can never be explained with any sense of the reality of the situation.  Lately, though, I find that I am composing this in my mind everywhere I go.  That usually means it’s time to just get off my bum and put the proverbial pen to paper.

Two things happened that put the wheels in motion: first, we took a class called “Possibilities” with a wonderful friend named Marna.  Through guided exercises, we saw clearly the ticking clock of life and knew it was time to make some dreams come true.  Financial freedom.  Our land.  Our home.  Gardens and goats and chickens and forests.  I had always imagined myself a sort of theatrical Tasha Tudor, singing and writing and cooking all day long at my beautiful bohemian farm.  Greg calls himself “Dr. Forest Fractal Moonshadow.”  Clearly, we needed to leave our urban gentility and make a scary left turn into new territory.

Secondly, our landlord in Hillcrest wrote an email to us on October 11, 2010 stating that our lease would not be renewed because he planned to sell.  Crap.  We hated being at the mercy of someone else’s whims.  Once, in Missouri, we were kicked out of our house when the Assembly of God foundation bought our house.  Renting is useful when your credit is less than ideal and you don’t have thousands of dollars at the ready for a down-payment, but it sucks for feeling free and independent.  We needed a new option.  The “Owner-Finance” land signs we saw all around rural roads gave us the germ of an idea.  A plan began to form, and the adventure began. 

On January 1^st, 2011, we spent our first night on our newly-purchased 3.5 acres of land.  We had bought a 25-year-old camper from an old fella who had used it two weeks every year for hunting.  It was 26’, with a “bedroom” at the back, a tiny bathroom, a kitchen, and a couch that converted to a bed.  A pull-down bed completed the sleeping arrangements.  Our first night was wonderful.  We lit a campfire outside, had stew and smores, and watched a movie with Greg and I on the couch and the girls crowded on the top bunk bed.  We marveled at the sky.  Stars had never meant so much before. 

Reality came crashing in two forms:  a “hundred-year” snowstorm, and the simple act of getting ready in the mornings.  The snowstorm was a wake-up.  Nine inches of snow—a giant amount for Arkansas—was dumped all around our little camper.  As luck, AKA the Universe, would have it, both of the girls were away at the time.  Bee was with grandparents, Maddie was with cousins.  Thank goodness.  When one is in a large house made of steel and wood and bricks, a big snowstorm can be a delightful, cozy thing.  When all you’ve got is a tiny camper and a few space heaters, being surrounded by acres of deep snow is a bit of a fearful thing.  Beautiful, but fearful.  Were we warm enough?  Yes.  In the camper, we were pretty much always warm enough.  It was such a small, narrow space that the heaters did just fine.  Our heads got cold back in the adult bedroom during that record-breaking cold snap early in that year.  That’s about it.

After four months of living in the camper, we bought a rent-to-own storage barn so that we could move our furniture and things out of one of those PODS things.  As we moved beds and boxes and furniture into the little 14’x20’ barn, we realized that it could become another living space!  We were positively giddy!  We put down our bed, Bee’s bed, and the couch for Maddie to sleep on.  We had just enough space for those and a dresser, a refrigerator, and a wee bit of floor space in the middle.  Everything was sort of scrunched together, but there was so much room compared to the camper!!  Maddie spun in a circle in the middle of the cabin, loving the “roominess” that a 14’ by 20’ space gave her.  What luxury!  We put the television on top of the dresser.  A small window provided a breeze (and later a window-unit air-conditioner) and on warm nights, we opened the doors and enjoyed the sounds of tree frogs and the donkey down the hill, who sounded just like Chewbacca. 

That spring was lovely, blissful, and filled with moments I wish I could give to you.  There were also plenty of times of uncertainty, fear, and what-the-holy-hell-were-we-thinking.  And those opposites are what my next post will be about!  Stay tuned for the best and the worst!

Yurt Living and Owl Hollow

Folks have been asking for more yurtiness, so I figured I've give in and give ya some! How about some pictures?



This was quite a long time ago, December 2011 to be exact. With the awesome help of Superstar Uncle Larry, and a lot of awesome friends, we got the yurt up in just a few days. Flash forward a year and a half and we are loving the yurt life. We've decided to call our place "Owl Hollow," due to the plethora of owls that hoot and holler every night on the land. Here are some more recent pics, although they're still not current yet. I'll get to those in a few days.  So much has happened since then.  Lots of work.  Lots of fun.



We've recently paid the yurt off, so it's our free and clear now. Two years of payments was a heck of a lot better than a 30 year mortgage! Here's the company that made our yurt:

www.yurtsofamerica.com

We'll be purchasing a new vinyl cover from them in just a couple of years. The past year and a half have been hard and easy and wonderful and the best thing we ever did. Tomorrow, I'll post a piece I wrote about living on the land in the little camper and storage barn for a year, before the yurt was up.

It's Finally YURT Time!

After 10 months and much scrimping and saving of money, AT LAST we are about to put up the yurt!!!!!! Our goal date has always been 11/11/11, and that is now only a month away! Things will have to go really smoothly and money will have to hold out to get it up by then, but it's possible.

What we've done so far:

We've chosen the site on our land; we chose a spot back against the forest because of its proximity to water and electricity and because of its relative level-ness. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade, which is good. There will be a large-ish area in front of the yurt for a "front yard." It feels very secluded except in the winter when the leaves are gone and we can see a neighbor down the hill. Ah, well, that's what bamboo was made for.

We've had the area brush-hogged. What a difference that made!

We've moved all 26 of the 50 lb. concrete piers from the front of the property to the site and placed them.

What's next?

Levelling the piers, and building the platform, of course! Though Greg and I have perused deck-building books and yurt-platform building plans and web posts, we still don't feel confident enough to proceed on our own, so we are hiring a bit of professional help. I've been calling home renovators, deck builders, and general handymen on Craigslist today.

Once the platform goes up, we put up the yurt. It's actually the easy part. Should take a weekend or two with plenty of helpers. We took it down back in Indiana, and that was the best lesson in knowing how it goes up. Funny, we took down the deck, too, but that seems much harder. I think we were too exhausted by the time we got to the deck to pay much attention.

After we get the yurt up, we then put in the systems, such as electricity, graywater lines, water, wood stove, etc. We still haven't decided if we want to use our composting toilet that was a part of the yurt package or if we want to hook up to the septic tank. The good thing about all these systems is that they can happen slowly. We're close enough to our electric pole that we can simply string some extension cords for a while--and we also have some solar panels that provide a bit of power. We have the camper hooked up to water, electric, and sewer, so that can also be our back-up until we get all systems going. The most important thing, I think, is the wood stove. Of course, we can use space heaters--in a small space like a yurt, it would be feasible, but we don't want the expense or waste of that for long.

Once the systems are all working, we begin the fun part--building the loft and interior walls and decorating the place! I can't wait to put in the kitchen and create the bathroom! I've seen clawfoot tubs at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, and there are always plenty of countertops either there or at IKEA that are affordable. And we have some lovely furniture to put in the yurt--I have pieces in storage from Great Aunt Lena and Grandma that I can't wait to bring out.

Everyone wants to know 2 things: Has this been hard and is the yurt up yet?

Answers:
1. Yes, it has been hard, but it's been fun, too. Money has been tight. We're still paying off the yurt, of course, and the girls are in a private school this year. That was important, because Maddie really needed a place to transition from homeschooling to public high school. Also, Beatrice isn't old enough for kindergarten. Next year, Bee will be in kindergarten and we'll have the yurt paid off around next summer. That will free up a good bit of money.

Managing simple things like showers, meals, and morning rush has been the other hard thing. We have to wait for forever for the propane heater to heat the shower water after one person uses it. The kitchen is a camper kitchen. I am not a camper kitchen kind of cook. I CANNOT wait for my yurt kitchen!

The fun has been the closeness, the land, the feeling of freedom, and the joy of ownership.

2. No, the yurt isn't up yet (said with a crazed smile for the millionth time) BUT IT SOON WILL BE!!!!!!!!!

Here are a couple pics of yurt platforms to give you an idea:

I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to write an update. I'm battling too many things to do with kids/jobs, etc., and also frustration at the slowness of the process. Everyone asks: "So, are you enjoying your yurt?" OR "How's the yurt life?" or some variation on those themes. Well, the unfortunate truth is that the yurt is still not up yet. Why, you ask?

1. Money is tight and we can't afford to hire professionals to build the platform.

2. Though we have studied deck-building books for hours, we just don't feel qualified to do it by ourselves. Our house will be sitting on this deck, and it's gotta be done right.

3. My brilliant cousin, Mike, who had a home renovation business, recently got a full-time job in another field AND he just bought a house that they have been spending the summer renovating. So, he hasn't been available as early as we had hoped--but we're so excited about his wonderful life changes! He's going to give us some expertise and guidance as soon as he's more available.

4. It's been 150 million degrees in Arkansas, and we can't ask our volunteers to work in these conditions.

So, we're waiting until the weather cools at least a bit and when we've saved a bit more and Mike can give us some guidance. I'm guessing September through early October will be our work time. All along, we've had a goal to be in the yurt with all "systems" operational by 11/11/11, so we're still on target.

The summer hasn't been easy, I'm not gonna lie. The air conditioner in the camper went out, and even though the window unit in the storage "cabin" is working well, it still gets really hot during the day. It doesn't have insulation, so these 110 degree days are too much. Here's a pic of the interior of the cabin:




We've got two beds, a couch, a chest of drawers, a desk, and a refrigerator in the cabin, and there's still room to move around! It's quite comfy at night. We've got our TV and a DVD player on top of the dresser, so we snuggle in and watch movies together. The girls have occasional nights away at sleepovers or Grandma's house, so the hubby and I are managing to keep the "romance" alive through this period.

Meanwhile, we're planning things like decoration in the yurt, interior wall placement, window orientation, etc. I can't wait to have it up and make it beautiful! I'm thinking tapestries, splashes of bright color on the interior walls, funky but very natural-looking furniture, and plenty of twinkle lights! Upscale Zen Hippy, I think I'll call it!

Though this year has been sometimes difficult, I think we'll always look back on it with great fondness. We are, if possible, closer than we were before. Our girls have learned adaptability, and we have gained numerous skills. There have also been many fun moments. Here are a few random pics from the year, including one that is the view from the window of our yurt in Indiana before we took it down and moved it here.

The Final Day

The final day was the hardest! We showed up with sledge hammers and a demolition mindset! This deck was comin' down! Even though we destroyed a lot of the pieces of the deck, we were able to keep most of them. Dewayne, our hired helper, turned out to actually be a super-hero in disguise that Maddie named, "Epic Ninja." I'm not sure what we would have done without him. Dawn Ryan's family showed up again and did incredible work! It tooks us another nine hours on the final day, but we finished at 5:00 EDT/4:00 CDT. The truck was packed at 16 feet, which saved us about $200 (which paid for most of the hired help we received).

We began driving back to Springfield, Missouri to pick up our little Beatrice and stay the night with Monica's parents. We had a great feeling of "OMG, we can't believe what we just did" combined with "OMG, we can't believe how tired we are!" It took some tag-team driving, but we arrived safely at Grandma and Pawpaw's house at 12:30am!

The truck will be picked up by the ABF driver on Monday and will begin transport to Little Rock. It should arrive around Friday of this week. We are all tired and sick, but satisfied that one major hurdle to our pursuit of mortgage-free, ecological living has been passed! Now all we have to do is build us a deck, put up the yurt, build the interior loft, etc. But I think we have shown ourselves that much more is possible than we ever thought before!

Day Three

Today was really, really hard! Taking apart the floor is proving to be an arduous process, and loading up sheets of plywood onto the truck is tiring! We are still not done!!! We have our hired helper arriving at 7am to begin working without us, and we will show up at 7:30. Storms are set to begin around midday, so we don't have much time left-- not to mention that that rapture thing is supposed to happen! WE WILL GET DONE TOMORROW!!!!!

Thank you to Dawn Ryan and family for putting us up tonight! They are the best!

Day Two

Today was filled with a lot of hard work, but we learned a ton and still had fun! We hired a man off of Craigslist to help us, but he ended up getting sick before the end of the day! Dawn's 70 year-old mother, Eddie Sue, helped, and she was an inspiration to say the least! I think she may have out-worked all us younguns!

We loaded in the 500 pound woodburning stove, removed the vinyl covering that serves as the exterior wall and roof, and we removed the rafters and the center ring that hovers above it all! We are all achy and sore, but with a good night sleep, we will be ready to go tomorrow! Oh, I also learned a lot about using solar panels to generate power!

Tomorrow, we will need to take down the lattice walls, the door, the loft, and dismantle the deck! We are hiring TWO men to help us tomorrow and Eddie Sue has instisted that she will return to help as well! There is a lot of work to do tomorrow and we are hoping to get it all done, especially considering that, according to the weather report, tomorrow is our last sunny day! Send us your good thoughts and energies!!!! ONE DAY MORE!!!

DAY ONE

The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind for us! We left Beatrice with Monica's parents in Springfield on Monday, and we started driving to Indiana to pick up the yurt! Despite several attempts to actually enter yurts before, it may surprise some of you that neither Monica nor I have ever been in a yurt-- that is until yesterday!!! We spent last night in the yurt that will be our home, and it was so much fun! We also got to use the composting toilet, which was really not that bad at all! It kinda makes us wonder why we Westerners poop and pee in perfectly drinkable water and flush it down everyday! It really makes no sense when you think about it, especially when there are people around the world who don't even have enough water for their own citizens to drink!

Today, we began loading in all of the furniture, walls, and, yes, even the kitchen sink! We were a bit surprised to discover that the moving truck had to be parked a considerable distance from the yurt! However, Matt and Connie have a truck that we load up and drive to the moving van. It actually was a lot less trouble than we had feared! We had our friends, Dawn Ryan and family who live in Indianapolis come to help us, and we had a fabulous time visit as we worked together. Day one of moving was really wonderful!

Tomorrow, we will begin taking yurt apart, moving the wood-burning stove, and possibly even begin taking the deck apart. We have another friend, Dawn's mother, helping us tomorrow and we have hired someone who answered our ad on Craigslist. Stay tuned!!!

4 More Days!

Though I can hardly believe I'm writing this, there are only four more days until we leave to pick up our yurt in Indiana! We're very excited, but also have a lot of concerns and worries. Will the truck be big enough? Do we have enough adults to dismantle the yurt and the platform? Do we have enough money for gas and food and all the other unforeseen things? This is a little scary, but we're taking it one day at a time.

We have had a little trouble getting help with the actual dismantling and move. My awesome cousin, handyman Mike, was blessed with a great new job, but that unfortunately meant he couldn't come with us. We'll definitely miss his spirit and his expertise! Then a friend from church who has grandkids in Indiana thought he could come along with his truck and a flat bed trailer. Sadly, we just heard from him today that he has a conflict after all. It was so wonderful of him to even offer, though!

So now, it's just us. One really strong but scrawny man, one really not scrawny but super scrappy woman, and one 12 year old who is way stronger than she looks. (The preschooler is exempt and is staying with Grandma!) The man we're buying the yurt from will be there to help, too. Can we do this? I think we can. We're going to try to find some local help in Indiana, perhaps through our local UU church or through some friends we have there. Wish us luck!

We're also gearing up for our fundraising and awareness-raising concert this Sunday night, at the UU church, at 7pm. It's us and five other super-talented friends of ours, singing songs we like and showing a short video about alternative and affordable housing. It's been fun to put together--I really hope we can raise the money we need to bring the yurt back! We've raised most of what we need through various extra jobs and shows, but we're still a bit short. Several people have already donated through the Paypal button on this blog, so we're off to a good start! (Thanks--you know who you are!)

We've decide on the spot for the yurt on our land--it's on a hill, near the front of the property, close to the garden. Very secluded and we can just SEE the yurt there, when we look at the space. Strangely, when we first moved to the land, it's where we put the campfire, even though it was very far away from the camper. Perhaps we knew it was the soul of the land and would eventually be the site of our hearth.

I could bore you with all sorts of details about composting toilets, hot water heaters, heirloom tomatoes, flooring options, etc., but I think that's enough for now. Besides, I have a million billion papers to grade and laundry to do and an ailing great-aunt to go visit. Much love to the cyber-world!

Let Me Catch You Up. . .

I know, I know, I haven't written an entry in well over a month. Forgive me--I was holding possibilities so gently in my heart that I could not put it down on this blog. Much has transpired over the past six weeks! Some grass has been growing, although right now our land looks like a 14 year-old boy trying to grow a beard! Three garden boxes have been planted, filled with peas, kale, swiss chard, potatoes, carrots, spinach, romaine, and more. Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, beans, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers will be planted starting April 15th. A Master Gardener friend cautioned me to never, ever plant warm season veggies before April 15th in central Arkansas. Since she's a "Master," I'm gonna stick to that rule!

We got a storage barn with 2 lofts--it's 14' by 16', I think. We moved most of our boxes and other storage stuff into it. We payed $225 down, and we pay about $140 a month for a couple of years. The crazy thing is, we still had so much room in the barn after moving all the stuff into the lofts that we decided to turn the main floor of it into a bedroom! We fit our queen bed, our couch, a twin bed, two dressers, and a TV comfortably into the barn. We even have a space for our seven new baby chicks and their heat lamp under the entertainment center! The cabin has a window that we've been putting a fan in when it gets hot. We also got an extension cord and put a power strip in the barn so that we can have lights, TV, and a space heater for cold nights. Are we crazy? Absolutely! But we love our "Magic Cabin," as we have dubbed it. We even hung up pictures and decorated with colored lights! It's much more comfortable sleeping there than in the camper. Of course, the kitchen and the bathroom are in the camper, so we spend lots of time there, too.

Let's see what else is going on? Oh, yeah--WE BOUGHT A YURT!!!!! There's a lovely family in Indiana who posted their yurt for sale on the internet. I'm a Facebook fan of the Tiny House Blog, which I HIGHLY recommend, and they happened to feature the classified ad on their Facebook page. I responded to it, asking if they would consider payment arrangements as opposed to immediate full payment. And omigoodness, they said YES! As it turns out, most people who are in the market for a used yurt don't have thousands of dollars laying around. We didn't have the time off or the extra money to make the trip to Indiana to see the yurt, but we had a friend who lives there go for us and take pictures. That, along with pictures from the owners, convinced us that this was a perfect choice for us. The yurt comes with all sorts of extras, including the wood for the deck, the loft, a large wood stove, kitchen counters, solar panels, a solar shower, a composting toilet, and many other goodies. The outside certainly has some wear, but the essentials are in excellent condition. And we can purchase new outer vinyl coverings from the company that made the yurt for a very affordable price down the road! We feel so blessed right now, and we can't wait to go pick up our yurt--we get it in the middle of May. The total price tag? $11,000, paid out over a year. Not bad, huh? We signed the contract and mailed it off just today!

We're still fairly worried/concerned about putting up the deck, siting the yurt, fixing some erosion problems, and affording things like water hook-ups and sod and all the little things we're not even thinking about. But we're working a LOT, trying to save money, and we're just going to take things one baby step at a time. Patience, patience, is the lesson for us on this journey. May we learn it easily and well!

Here's a couple of pictures of the yurt we've bought:

Winter Blahs

Leave it to us to choose to move into a camper in the country during the worst month of weather in a decade! I don't recall a winter in Arkansas with this much snow and freezing temps since I was little. Yes, we're staying warm. Yes, we're still certain of our decision to move here. But we are SICK of the winter!

The land is beautiful in the snow and we are happily planning our garden. But cabin fever--or shall we say, camper fever--is a problem. We're expecting a pretty hefty snow late tonight and most of tomorrow. Joy. We knew there would be times when this wasn't easy.

Meanwhile, Greg's show is supposed to open tonight. He's had a good time and he looks lovely with his new short haircut. I just secured a gig with the local wind symphony doing a historic portrait performance of a famous Little Rock woman for their summer fundraiser. Should be lots of fun.

I'm also working on an exciting new book about a forgotten bit of Civil Rights era history. I have high hopes that it will be published. We'll see. More shows coming up, and all that money is going to the yurt fund. Our goal for delivery of the yurt is 11/11/2011--isn't that perfect?! It's the ultimate wishing event!

We gave our heirloom seeds to a local master gardener that has her own nursery. She starts them for us for only $8 a flat! Try though I might, I can't seem to grow seeds inside. Plus, she invited Maddie and I to go over there every other Friday to work and learn. Maddie is going to take her herb seeds and learn about herb gardening. Wanna see where I buy my seeds? I just love it when these catalogs arrive in the mail! It's the perfect cure for the winter blues!

http://rareseeds.com/shop/


www.southernexposure.com


www.seedsavers.org


OK, I don't know why those last two wouldn't become a link, but you can copy and paste, right?

Just When You Think a Decision is Made,

someone posts about a new yurt company that intrigues me!!

http://tinyhouseblog.com/

This blog, which is one of my favorites, posted about a new yurt company that has a very intriguing product. I will be watching them closely! Here's their tiny website:

http://turtlebacknomadics.wordpress.com/

You can get lost for hours looking at all the small, beautiful, and quirky homes they have featured on the Tinyhouse blog.

Meanwhile, back home, I just sent off my seed order for the early veggies and the ones that need to be started inside. Joy! Over the past several years, we've just had a garden at a community garden that is far from our house. Now, we can see our garden from our windows. During the Spring, I'm either gardening or thinking about gardening--except, perhaps, when I'm onstage. This year, I'm planning six raised beds. There are also several veggies and fruits I'm giving up on--cabbage, watermelon, etc. Maybe later, when I'm a better gardener!

We are also getting some topsoil and sod early next week, and we CANNOT wait! (Not to self: Call Uncle Larry!) We'll be glad to get something over this muddy clay soil, although the water drainage is MUCH better after they sculpted the land with the dozer!

Let's see, what else can I tell you? Oh--Greg and I went to some local theatre auditions last night, and it went very well. I think Greg got offered another show, and we stand a good chance at the summer musical, I'd say. Woo-hoo! What a joy, to do something we love AND to get paid for doing it! AND to put all the money we make in the shows toward a new YURT! As Dame Candyce Hinkle says, "We're very lucky people!"

Lastly, you may notice that I have placed a Paypal button on the blog. After much thought and advice from some wise friends, we decided that we feel ok about placing it there just in case anyone wants to donate. I'm also considering it a call to myself to really make the blog real, useful, and enjoyable. If it can inspire anyone, I'll just be tickled pink!

Money Matters

OK, in the interest of full disclosure, I thought I'd give you all the dirty details about money. How much we need, how much we've already spent, how long we anticipate the saving process taking, etc.

Here's the breakdown:

Land: Down payment--$2000 (although they were only asking for $1000) about $300 a month, but we're paying $400 so we can pay it off quicker. It should take 8 years to pay off.

Camper: $3000 It was $3500, but we managed to talk him down with little more than a pretty please. We had a budget of $4000 for this purchase.

Pipes, Water Lines, Sewer Pumping, Trencher Rental: Total of about $600 (This was smaller than it would have otherwise been thanks to Uncle Larry and Cousin Mike!)

Electric Pole and Equipment: $300

So, our initial outlay of money came to just about $6000, which is exactly what we borrowed from my parents. We start paying them off as soon as the yurt is up and completed. We'll probably pay them $500 a month until it gets paid off, wich will take a year.

We still need to buy some sod and grass seed, and expect to spend about $300 on that.

Now, for the yurt:

Here is the company we've decided to buy from:

http://www.laurelnestyurts.com/

They are well-respected and more affordable than some of the bigger companies. A couple of the smaller, affordable yurt companies weren't respected and had bad rating with the BBB. We are buying the 30' yurt, and we're adding an extra door, several extra windows, complete insulation, and a working glass window to put an air conditioning unit in. We plan to do some sanding and staining ourselves. The total cost, according to their price calculator is $10, 445 minus shipping, which will be around $800.

The deck and flooring for the yurt will be in the $5000 range. We plan to do much of it ourselves with help and knowledge from my cousin, who owns Dunamis Home Restoration.

Initially, we plan to live in the yurt without interior walls. As soon as we can get the shell of the yurt up and heated/cooled, we will move our furniture in and hang curtains for partition. Over the next six months after that, we will build a loft, with a bathroom and rooms underneath, and with a kitchen. We will pay for that gradually, as we can afford it. We hope to have everything completed two years from now.

Here are some examples of interiors anf lofts to give you an idea:










How we're going to save the money:

Theatre, baby! So far, we're in two shows--Greg's in one and I'm in another. That adds up to $3500. Hopefully we'll both be in a show this summer. (I think we have a good shot--cross your fingers!) I have a possibility to be in two. Maddie may also be in a show this summer. Each show pays between $1100-$1700 dollars. This is over and above our usual pay for teaching. We also hope to do some voice-overs over the next year.

Additionally, starting in March, we should be able to save $500 of our "regular" pay since we are saving on rent. All in all, we estimate we should be able to order the yurt by the end of the summer, if all goes
well.

We're also considering what one blog reader suggested regarding adding a Paypal button to this blog. It feels kind of wrong to us, but I understand lots of people do it on their blog, and if we're giving any information that entertains or helps people, I suppose donations for that service make sense. We're still in the "thinking about it" phase!

And that's pretty much all I know about money right now. By my count, at the end of two years, we will have a camper and a 30' yurt for about $25,000. You can't even buy a run-down crack house for that! In eight years, we will have paid for the land. I'll be sure and post money updates as they come!

Downsides and Upsides

Everyone has been asking the same questions about what we're doing, so I decided to write a blog post addressing most of them. Without a doubt, the first question is always "Are you managing to stay warm?" The answer is a complicated "yes." We are staying very warm, sometimes too warm. The main difference between our cozy camper and a home with a traditional heating system is that we have a difficult time maintaining a level temperature. It fluctuates between 66-76, and we're often turning it down or off or cranking our space heaters up. It's a tiny little annoyance, but we're blessed to be warm and our bills are going to be tiny!

Another big question that has been asked: "Aren't you all tripping over each other and getting angry with each other and just wanting your own space?" For the most part, no. We generally like each other and are a pretty close family already. Greg and I don't often fight or even nag at each other, so that helps. Maddie and Beatrice do fight, but they do that no matter how big or small the size of the home! When someone needs space, they can go back to the back bedroom and close the door. I (Monica) am the one that the closeness bothers a teeny bit sometimes--especially when my little one is climbing on me. As soon as I can get out in the garden, though, even that will have a solution! (And truthfully, I got those feelings when we lived in a "regular" house!)

"What are the downsides?" There are a few. #1--Getting ready in the morning is much more difficult. We're going to have to give ourselves two solid hours, I'm afraid. Tomorrow is the first day of classes at the college we teach at, so stay tuned to hear how it goes! #2--It's REALLY hard to be patient! We want the grass NOW, the garden NOW, the driveway paved NOW, and we wouldn't mind having the yurt NOW! Unfortunately, these things take money and timing also depends on pesky things like weather. Currently, we are swimming in mud and would love to lay some sod, but we have to wait for it to dry up a bit. One of the saddest questions we get is when people get confused and ask us how we're enjoying our yurt. We have to break the news to them that we're only saving for the yurt right now and meanwhile, we're living in a CAMPER! That always produces a look of mixed horror and disbelief.

And the final downside is simply adjusting to the lack of close restaurants and good grocery stores. That would be difficult, though, even if we had moved to a mansion in the country. It's an adjustment. We'll adjust.

OK, upsides!! #1--Feeling ownership and independence. This cannot be overstated. If you have rented or even if you are swimming under a big mortgage, you know what I mean! Also, we are giddy with joy over what we can do with the land--so many choices! #2--Movie time! We have been watching lots of movies we've always meant to watch. It gives us something to do after Beatrice goes to bed and makes us forget that we don't have much room. #3--Simplicity, baby! Things don't get lost very easily, we can have a conversation at normal voice levels no matter how far apart we are in the camper, and our bills are SO much lower! Between rent and bills, we're saving over $1000 a month! #4--We've discovered that we are really changing minds and informing others of options. We didn't expect this. It's kinda cool. We've even decided to start a "Yurt Club of Arkansas!"

Most of all, we really want Spring to hurry. We did this move at the absolute worst time of the year. Our first two weeks are Arkansas' two coldest weeks! It would have been SO much easier in a milder time of year. Bring on those mild Arkansas Spring days--their beauty will be greatly appreciated by these "Two Tramps in Mud-time" and their two baby tramps!

Dozer Day, Snow Day

Fun weekend here on the land. (Note to self: must come up with a name for new digs--calling it "the land" is getting a little old.) Saturday was exciting--the little dozer came at about 11am and worked for about 4 hours to sculpt the land, working to fix some water drainage issues. It was a freebie job we had negotiated when we bought the land. It was fascinating to watch. What was an unsightly short cliff became a lovely gentle slope. Our driveway was smoothed and a nice drainage swale(sp?) was created. After it was all over, it was like the place had gotten a drastic new haircut. It was beautiful, but very different--it made us rethink the siting of the garden, the coop, and the outdoor theatre. (Yes, you read that right--we plan to have a small outdoor theatre eventually!) Walking around after the dozer had gone, I think I truly felt myself falling in love. It's finally beginning to look like a place I can really sink my heart into. Here's the new gentle slope, although it desperately needs grass:




So, that was dozer day. The next day was snow day. We estimate we got six inches, which happens about once every five or so years in Arkansas. It was lovely and quiet and magical, but I'm not gonna lie--it was a little scarier in a camper than in a house! We weren't sure if the roof would hold! We were quite cozy warm, though, and the deer tracks going all around the camper the next morning were delightful! Here's the view of the trail that runs the perimeter of the land:




Greg has proved himself quite useful over the past several days. He fixed a small leak, finished the insulation, and is currently working on a tiny septic problem. I've mostly been focusing on learning to cook in the small space and taking care of aging kitties and mischievous daughters. We're going sledding on our new slope tomorrow! Here's to snow days!