UPDATES:

The yurt is well into deconstruction now and should be on the way to Clatskanie, OR by June 1st.

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. We closed on the property only a few days before my sister and her boyfriend came down to begin excavation on the property. The property already had a rough build site cleared and trees cut down, but the old growth trees are a mess all over the ground. They came down last week and leveled our build site and moved many of the trees out to edges. We cleared the driveway to make way for the shipping container to be delivered and spent some days camping and just BEING on the land.

Meanwhile, back in Portland, we made some huge progress with deconstruction. The roof came off 2 weekends ago and all the walls were cleaned and rolled into the container this last weekend. I’ve had so many flashbacks of the joy and excitement that I felt moving into this neighborhood… and of course, that’s mixed with the bittersweet feelings of leaving this home as well. I have loved this home, my wonderful neighbors, and my 23 years living in Portland, but for now, I am trying to focus on what the future will hold for us moving at a slower quieter pace out in the country. The soil is filled with potential and I can’t wait to see our garden grow.

We are stronger together, and I believe that supporting each other right now is vital. I know that there are some powerful beings in my community, because I’ve seen the way that you impact the people around you. I’ve seen how powerful you are when you put your mind to it. You are a force to be reckoned with. I need your help to manifest a home for me.

With all of the instability and changes coming from our government, I cannot imagine a worse time to be uprooting and trying to find a new place to call home. I am committing to viewing this as an opportunity to embrace change as I enter into the next phase of my life. My anxiety shakes me daily, but I believe there is something better on the other side. I have to. I am accepting that the universe has a place for me to continue doing what I love- creating beautiful designs that reflect your transformation.

My new home is calling me and the universe is going to make a way. The yurt’s new location is waiting for me to trust that everything is going to be ok.

Your contribution is greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving if it is within your means to do so.

Curious about yurts?

Yurts are considered a semi-permanent structure. So, if a “stick built home” is a permanent structure, and an RV or a Tiny Home that has wheels is impermanent, a yurt lands somewhere in between. We can deconstruct it, piece by piece, but we cannot simply pick it up and drive it away.

A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Inner Asia.[1] The structure consists of a flexible angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent as a roof. The roof structure is sometimes self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts or columns supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Yurts take between 30 minutes and three hours to set up or take down, and are generally used by between five and 15 people. Nomadic farming with yurts as housing has been the primary way of life in Central Asia, particularly Mongolia, for thousands of years. - Wikipedia

For me, the yurt started with an idea that maybe living could be simpler and smaller. Giant houses with lots of stuff has never been very appealing to me. There are a lot of conveniences that come with stick built homes, but also lots of space for things to accumulate. I’d rather spend my time adventuring than keeping up with maintaining a large home. If you’ve ever had roommates, you know exactly the type of emotional and physical labor that goes into that lifestyle. Living tiny makes sense to me.

We built our 24 foot diameter yurt in 2018, starting with the deconstruction of a dilapidated out building. Demolition is fun if you’ve never had the opportunity to participate. We repurposed some of the floor boards that were still viable to later become our porch. Once the area was cleared, we began constructing the floor, which consists of cement blocks with posts and big joists to create the framework for the floor boards. Next we pieced together the tongue and groove planks for the floor and trimmed them into a tidy circular platform.

Once the platform was complete, we stretched the lattice around the outer edge to meet either side of the door frame. Then the tension cable was set into the top edge of the lattice. This tension cable is what holds the entire structure together! Then we carefully balanced the center ring as we placed each of the 42 rafters to create the framework of the entire yurt. This was a tedious process that required a few people and some scaffolding because the center ring is 12 feet high! We did attempt to do it without the scaffolding (like in this photo) but we quickly decided that it wasn’t going to work.

Once the framework was completed, we had to add the insulation and waterproof cover to keep the interior nice and dry. We moved in shortly after the covers were applied, even though the yurt did not yet have a kitchen or a bathroom. Luckily, our neighbors let us come by and use their washroom for about a month.

Once the exterior structure was complete, we added in some glass window frames, and began construction of the interior components. My friend taught me how to do tilework, and I made my kitchen backsplash all by myself! I found some really great items at The Rebuilding Center that fit just perfectly to create our tiny but fully functional kitchen. We framed out the bathroom and closet, installed the composting toilet, shower and plumbing and added the grey water system leading out to our bioswale. Electricity came shortly after that.

Overall, the entire project took about 4 months to complete, with the final pieces being the ceiling fan and the pellet stove to keep the yurt warm, just in time for winter. It was about 1 month of initial construction to get the roof on, and many of our friends showed up to help with the project. I’m sure you can imagine the anticipation we are feeling as we prepare to deconstruct the yurt, piece by piece and load it into a shipping container to be transported to it’s new home in Clatskanie. We are anticipating at least a month to break the yurt down and load it up. After that, the container will be delivered to the property to begin again. We anticipate our move in date being somewhere near the end of July… That’s a long time to be without our belongings, since those will need to be stored somewhere until the yurt has been fully reconstructed. If any of this process sounds interesting to you, we would absolutely love your help with deconstruction in May, or rebuilding in June and July. If you are interested in helping out, check out the scheduling link above and thanks for reading!