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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!

It Snowed today!!

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

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!!

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.....

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

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!

Rainy October

After a week of beautiful fall weather, we were gifted with a week of gloomy wet weather, which was alright by me because I wanted to test how the seal in my roof turned out. Turns out it doesn't leak as much as my floor does..... turns out since I left my walls bunched up at the bottom the water was collecting on them and pooling underneath, Dawna & I cleaned it up while trying to put a temporary fix on the problem until my insulation arrives later this week and I can properly cut the w alls and fasten them to the floor, hopefully it works.




Kijiji is one of the best tools for anyone starting/working/or planning any project, I have had so much luck with using this site its unbelievable, including the land I am leasing for this yurt project!! Last week while browsing I found something amazing....

1920's Singer Sewing machine!!

The pedal, the wheels and the machine seem to work great, I am going to clean it out a little then test it out as soon as I can! I have no doubts that it works like a charm!

Mongolia By Karl Schuler

Karl Schuler has done an amazing job with his photography of Mongolia, not to mention the whole world, please take a minute to enjoy some of his great work! http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=781569

5 Good Reasons to Consider Living in a Yurt!

Originally found @ planetgreen.discovery

5 Reasons Why It Yurts So Good

1. Yurts are the Real Green Deal
TreeHugger reports on Dave Masters (of the Luna Project) and his life in a yurt: "We talk all the time about living with less; Dave lives in 706 square feet with off grid power, a composting toilet, a shower and a full kitchen and didn't give anything up at all to live in comfort and style. When you live in 706 square feet you don't need much to run it; he collects water from his roof, power from the sun and wind, heat from sustainably cut wood. He spends about six hundred bucks a year for his propane barbeque, gas for his chainsaw and log splitter and that is about it."

Jupiter Images

2. Yurts are Eco-Friendly
Living in a yurt can help us re-connect to nature, sure, but the literal structure of a traditional yurt is also nature-friendly. The materials are recyclable and should you decide to pick up and move your yurt, there's no residual damage to the ground because no permanent foundation is used.

3. Yurts Have Stood the Test of Time
"They've been used throughout history by nomads in Central Asia," writes Molly Edmonds at HowStuffWorks.com. "Evidence of fourth century B.C. yurts has been discovered, and the oldest complete yurt was found in a 13th century Mongolian grave. The structures were well-suited for the nomadic lifestyle because only a few oxen were required to carry a family's entire home. But the structure was also easy to heat in the cold Mongolian winters where temperatures might reach 50 degrees below Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit)."

Jupiter Images

4. Yurts Can Be Modern, Too
By combining the durable yurt concept with a few modern updates, we now have something called a yurta. This form of micro-architecture has optimized the original yurt concept to create a shelter that is steadfast, quick to install, light-weight, easy to transport, minimal in footprint.

5. Yurts are Cheap
The Nomad Yurt, for example, costs a little over $5,000 (US) for a 22-foot diameter version with an insulated skin. If a few comrades pooled together for land, you'd have yourself a yurt commune and giant step forward and away from the unsustainable life.

The past Yurt

Since this is my first post here, I doubt to many will be reading it... But that being as it is I should explain some of the history behind the Ontario Yurt Project.

While reading a book written about survival the author spoke about living for some time in a Yurt, curious as I had never heard the term used before I decided to do some research of my own, originally I had thought it was similar to a wigwam built by the native Canadians, much to my surprise it was much more then I could have ever imagined!

My simple research which I had originally done for my understanding took a new shape, that of obsession! for weeks to follow (my friends and family can contest!) I spoke only of Yurts, I watched every video on YouTube, read every blog, Yurt manufactures online sites, and purchased several key books. I had a new goal set in mind, to build my own Mongolian Yurt in a traditional manner.

Over the next few months I started construction, most of my design was based on which features I personally thought best from the thousands of photos & plans I had studied. Yurt design changed dramatically in the 1960's when the design was brought over to North America for the first time by Paul King. Since then it has been changed & modified to suit the conditions of the West. Building materials changed, interior design changed, and perhaps the most real change was the purpose.

Originally I wanted to construct my Yurt using the most natural and minimal of designs, cutting the Khana from small trees, using natural insulation (straw, cattail down) etc, but I found that working a 9-5 Job working for the man & constructing an all natural Yurt was not going to fly, so I decided to take the easier rout, purchase my materials but construct the yurt in traditional fashion.

After 3 months of working during evenings and weekends, the yurt started to take shape, I was fortunate enough to have received two large sheets of canvas from my Uncle for the covering of my yurt, and the door was given to me by my father who works in the industry, the rest was constructed out of mostly 2"x6" and rope.

my 12' Yurt has been set up for most of the summer, it held up exceptionally well, and was quite popular, I will be taking it down for the winter months as I wont be around it to clear off any snow that could potentially cause damages (I would like to monitor it for myself). I plan to set it back up again this Spring along with what I hope is a finished 24' Yurt for permanent residency.

The ultimate purpose of this blog is to record my process and help those who wish to start living a free and sustainable lifestyle though the means of a Yurt!

Good luck and happy Yurting!