The Days of Dandelions

What is more reminiscent of childhood than Grandma's cookies and Dandelions? Spring has sprung at the yurts and we have begun to find all kinds of wonderful plants and creatures around here! The frogs serenade us in between rainfall each midnight. We have been stuck in the mud down by the creek while taking in the sweet aroma of skunk cabbage. We have witnessed a tiny cotton ball looking thing turn into a million tiny spiders. We have been thrilled by watching the grass seed turn into grass. A sparrow family has taken up residence in our garden bird house. Today we saw a crow catch a garter snake out in the tall grass near our garden. Everyday has been a wonderful adventure of exploration! I love seeing the world through the eyes of a child! Dandelions are full of beauty and magic, not something to disdain.

Almost 1 year!

Wow! It is approaching that time of year when we finalized our decisions about purchasing yurts! I love looking back on the pictures and the stories that make up our past year! Our yurts are so amazing. Our garden is coming together and now with the covered bridge between the two yurts, our home feels like a some kind of special spa retreat.

The Bridge

This is Coleman Barks speaking at the opening 1st chapter of his book The Soul of Rumi:

“In the early 1990s-it was December-I was sitting in meditation under the green dome that houses Rumi’s tomb in Konya. Some one came up and gave me a green shawl. As you might imagine, I treasure it still and use it in my meditation. I love the wrapped, rapt feeling.

Going in, feeling the limpid contentment in being oneself and the endless discovery there: the green shawl is that, reminiscent of a child’s tent-making delight, the rainy-day times when you spread a sheet over a card table and chair, anchored it with safety pins, and crept under the shelter where imagination could flower. How we forget this tent making for such long spans is a mystery in itself.”Our summer of tent making has come to an end, and the reality of an approaching winter is now very much reality. One last bit of construction we wanted to share with every one is the addition of our connecting deck between our yurts, or our Bridge as we have started to call it. I had not considered what an important role it would play, but it came out nicely, and I can see now how much it will contribute greatly to our home.

There is of course still much more to do and projects will continue through out the winter, but a lot of energy was used up this summer and I can feel the need for a little slowing down, to focus more on maintaining our selves nicely through out the winter and regroup to the necessities that are still needed. The summer was wonderful, to build a home is incredible, to have a taste of growing strong in body and sharp in mind is remembered as a kind of birthright I hope every one gets to experience in their own way, and pray will return to me as often as possible through out this life. There is more to do, maybe in any good adventure there always will be and that’s OK because it has been a very good adventure. At times it seems a little crazy to have made a home of tents, I am glad in reading from Coleman Barks that we are not alone in such a longing.

Round...and Round

Done… well its true that there is plenty more to do, but as this is one of those "it’s the journey not the destination" home building adventures, “more to do” is normal, and milestones are to be celebrated. So as of yesterday afternoon our second yurt is up with as far as the yurt itself is concerned nothing left to do. Yahooooo! somebody get me my yak butter and felt hat, I'm home.
The new yurt will be our daytime space with lots of big windows, tall walls, and high ceiling, housing our kitchen and dinning table/ living room. The used yurt will be for sleeping, more den like, its smaller size is appropriate as a nighttime or quite time space. It will be bedroom and office. If any one out there is interested in the differences we have seen between Rainier and Pacific yurts please contact us. I really have nothing bad to say about either. A comparison would have the usual plus and minus, but they are both wonderfully crafted yurts.
In the “more to do” categories there are many of those. A connecting deck between the yurts is a priority. Winter heating is on the top of the list, a sink that drains, and non-extension cord based electricity. We have been checking out this very cute mini wood stoves for sail boats. Which say they can heat 300+ square feet. We have yet to commit to a purchase but if your interested check them out at: http://www.marinestove.com/index.htm, cute, cute, and cute.

There are those rare moments in my life when I’ve stepped back and been truly amazed at some course of personal action, a “holy crap!” exhalation is made and for a moment the universe is pretty darn cool place to be in. When I step back and look at these yurts and the idea to make a home out of them I feel this summer’s yurt building experience fall easily into that list of rarities, and the universe is feeling pretty darn cool.

In every Yurt raising...

...a little rain must fall. Well, the other round in Round and Round is up. But not with out some good lesson's in patience, exhaustion, and weather prediction. With rain scattered through out the last two week we have had to run between getting as much done as we can, then scramble to protect our work against rain. But its up and its a beautiful addition to our home. Cindy and John gave us there left over Trex decking so we should be able to get the connecting deck up between the yurts very soon.

Do as you do

Well the summer is winding its way towards fall, its been a wonderful several months for us. We built our first yurt with another to go. Chloe is about to turn three (August 19th). Esmé is sitting up and is moving across the floor with what I would call more of a drag then a crawl but it seems to be just as effective.



Although the vision of our two yurts will not be complete until the end of August, the sense of “home” is well established. Between my jobs I have found I can bike every where I need to go and its been a great introduction to the surroundings. There is a lot of growth in the area but still many old farm houses, pastures with cows and horses, barking dogs, and old trucks. From my job with goats I have grown to recognize their particular smell, which I now find along my bike rides, and know that there must be goats not to far off.


The pictures included represent some of the last two weeks of building, the sense of summers end is pushing us forward with the second yurt. Next weekend should be the bamboo floors, with the yurt going up soon after. From then on all our priorities will revolve around preparations for fall. Evaluate our heating, establish drainage for a kitchen sink, build the covered deck to connect the yurts, take a better look at our electrical needs. It is fun to think about the winter, we had a good thunder storm several weeks back and it did feel a little more dramatic in our canvas castle.