Yurt work

We have been hard at work on the yurt farm, this year is proving great with the weather having been in our favor so far, and we have another three eager hands out helping which makes things go a wee bit quicker, I am certainly grateful for the help and friendships!

Since we moved the small yurt we have been busy, first we completed a small green house made with some scrap wood that was given to us and some old windows, we moved some more boxes and crates from Tylers work, moved the small aluminum shed from the large yurt along side the new greenhouse, started on the new yurt floor and sauna floor, we also cleaned up a lot of stuff from the winter, garbage, glass, thing that didnt get properly disposed of before the snow it because of the rush on my yurt floor and leaking issues. I was very happy about all of this, but best of all I build a prototype rocket stove, and it worked!! needless to say I am quite pleased with myself, next will be a thermal mass!

We have a workday planned all day Wednesday so we should get quite a bit accomplished then!

Cheers!

Back to Business

All the snow has melted, sunny days are with us, let the Yurting begin!!

Danielle and I moved the small 12' Yurt over to the pit where we will be concentrating most of our efforts this year, hopefully between now and th

e fall I will be buying property of my own to move our operations to, this will be a glorious task!

Until then we shall continue to work on the pit, building raised boxes, cleaning up and generally getting things in order for the new season, I am also moving my Yurt to a new location this year, that is going to prove to be quite the task as well!

Until then enjoy the photos!

New floor

I am going to build a new floor for my 18' Yurt this spring I have decided, I will use a similar design as this yurt built in 2008

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gymx/sets/72157606945231441/with/2795695142/

The end of Jan

Spent the Day at the Yurt Farm, its been nice... Dreaming again!! Spring will be fast approaching and its time for some brainstorming with my dearest brother Tyler, we are stoked for the spring, I have been looking for property to buy but with little luck (I am too picky) so if nothing come up by the time the snow is gone I will be at Yurt farm for another year..

We have our heirloom seeds ready, we have half the planters built (recycles boxes from Tylers work) and infinite top soil thanks to the neighbors behind us!! ALSO discovered we have a fresh water brook running though the property to which we will make excellent use of!!

our mission of the day was hunting for a beautiful white pine that called to us, I found one which I climbed 20 meters up into to harvest some needles for a fine tea!

there is no where I would rather be, than in a tree.

Welcome 2012

Welcome back! thats what I head my yurt telling me when I arrived yesterday, its been a few weeks since I was out, I spent some time at home & in Montreal over the new years though always nice to get back home!

This weekend was nice, it was a decent temperature, I am still frustrated about my floor but its a valuable lesson, and for the time being with the cold weather, it should be dry until at least march.

the road in was dicey, there was quite a bit of snow but someone had gone back not to long ago so there was a trail to follow, would not have tried this without 4x4....

Dawna brought her friend Queen out for the weekend as well, she was quite impressed, played some beautiful music, and we all just enjoyed in the beauty of the nature around us, the heat through the roof melted the snow to create amazing icicles, certainly added to the element, hoping to spend more time out there soon, though I broke my hand over the new years and am still recovering from that!

Cheers!

But the fire is so delightful!

My Compost box, this is where i have been dumping my ashs, humanue, and food compost waste

The Road in has been getting better but its only going to last until the next snowfall, I am going to be building a small loft in my yurt and possibly bringing out a larger woodstove for heating this winter, time will tell!

Dawna's Birthday!

BIRTHDAY PARTY AT THE YURT!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, my floor is leaking like a sinking boat, I wish I Could fix it :< the cold weather will be here to stay soon....

It Snowed today!!

here is a photo of my new door and small yurt in action!

Visions of Yurts

New door ready to go!!

finished fixing my small yurt, glad its up again, stood on the crown, pretty stoked! also bought three black garbage bages of wood shavings for $12 for my composting toilet, need some hay now also need to finish the Sauna, and get some hydro going on, almost there!!

Yurt v1.5

I mostly fixed up my small yurt now, its almost back to new I should have it up and running tomorrow, I want to bring to down south with me next weekend, we shall see!!


bought a CUTE little desk, going to try and refurbish it, not quite sure how yet I think I might know some one who can give me some advice....


Cheers

kindling, Kitchen, Naptha OH MY!

I fixed my naptha lantern, its much quieter now, and more efficient then that propane one, I still need to get onto a re-chargeable battery system, but that wont be for a few months yet....

Bought a cord of seasoned maple, and cut a bunch of dead dry pine for kindling, kitchen is operational, made a sweet Vege chili this past weekend, would like to finish the Sauna and small Yurt before snow falls.....

Remember Remember

November has been pretty stellar so far, the official move in date is this weekend, still need to order myself some seasoned wood, but all is well at the homestead, painted part of my floor and started to get my kitchen in a good place!!

That fall last week, really bruised me up good too....

Woodshed I has it!!

Almost broke my leg falling off the ladder but its complete!!

Stove Stove Stove

Back from a busy camping weekend! I hastefully took advantage of the good Sunday weather, I cut and split some wood, put the damper on my stove pipe, and cleaned up the area around my yurt a little, there is still much to be done, and the season is growing shorter by the day....

Yurt Tour & First guests

I figured I would get some mice, but so soon I was surprised, looks like one has decided to make my Yurt his very nice home!


Here is a little tour of my Yurt, still having water problems, and its sure getting cold, I relise that the firebox in my stove is not big enough to keep a fire going through the night.... I am going to have to start looking into other options

Leaky leaky

Due to some poor planning on my part, while I was away in sudbury today for work my yurt floor flooded fairly good... I rigged somthing up hopefully it works for the time being, its been raining hard for the past 24 hours and has just started to let up now, I am going to be away most of the weekend but will have to make sure everything will be fine before I leave.

Good night yurt

Last night a came out with Dawna to work on my insulation, around midnight her dog started freaking out barking etc, she decided to let him out neither of us thought much of it thinking it was only a deer or bear cub, needless to say vagabond got a mouth full of porcupine, we ended back in town to call the vet, he told us that vaga would be fine if left alone till morning then to bring him in, he got all fixed up today and is certainly a sad doggy, get well soon vagabond!!

Just finished eating a nice oven roasted pasta, and relaxing while the storm rolls in, there is suppose to be crazy winds and rain so I came out to tie down th hatches and see how the yurt holds up.

Goodnight all

Astro foil!!

Check it!

DOUBLE RAINBOW!

Despite the rain it was a beautiful sunday evning, I spent most of the weekend volunteering (as per usual) but got to spend Sunday afternoon & evening out at the Yurt!!

The priority of the night was getting the cook stove up and running, and I do say it was successful! I had to cut a few fire bricks to fit he stove, and remove a cast iron plate from the front (where you would insert the wood) not sure what the previous owners of the stove did, but I am sure it was a pain in the arse!!

once I got the new fire bricks in, I installed the stove pipe, and cleaned up the area, and oh boy did that baby burn! once going it was great, warmed the yurt up real nice and cooked our dinner perfectly, the oven works like a charm!

We were also blessed with a beautiful double rainbow!!!

My insulation is arriveing this week, I will be installing that ASAP!