The Circle: The Benefits of Yurt Living for Anyone Dreaming of an Off-Grid Lifestyle
It was early October when my partner and I packed up our one bedroom apartment into the largest u-Haul we could find, picked up our yurt kit, and drove five hours into the mountains, with three kitties voicing their opinions the entire way.A little background info
The journey to yurt living begins
The entranceway to our yurt. Home sweet dome!
Fortunately we had a shipping container holding all of our stuff while we built the yurt, so we rearranged our belongings and set up home in the shipping container, which wasn’t much warmer than the tent to be completely honest. Our water also froze during this freak cold spell, obstacle number two. And, since we moved in October, we didn’t have the spring and summer months to help prepare for winter, so we are behind on fire wood, but we are slowly catching up. There is something meaningful about cutting wood during a big snowfall. It’s a very humbling, yet happy feeling.
What I miss most about city life are my family and friends. I must admit, I also miss the free list on craigslist. Living in a denser population equates to more free, “disposable” items.
Setting up our yurt. Here we have the frame set up and we’re adding the snow and wind kit made of 31 solid pine lodge poles.
The humble fulfillment of living close to the land
Lightning seen through the toono, the “skylight” in the roof of the yurt.
Some advice for anyone looking to try yurt living
– If you are moving somewhere with four seasons, move in the warmer months. Take advantage of the warm weather to prepare for the winter.
– Do not place items up against the wall in a yurt. Yurts need to breathe since they are not airtight. This will help immensely in minimizing condensation.
– Insulate your water reservoirs.
– Get thermometers. You will want to know the temperatures inside the yurt and of the wood stove.
– Have candles and flashlights nearby.
– Keep track of what is in your moving boxes. If you are like us and did not downsize enough prior to the move, you might have a shipping container full of boxes. It makes life ten times easier if you can locate an item without having to open all the boxes first.
– Rocks are your best friend when it comes to dirt roads. Collect large rocks and place them where it gets muddy and rutty. Then lay smaller rocks and gravel overtop. The large rocks provide a base so the gravel doesn’t get swallowed up by the mud. It also helps immensely for gaining traction.
– We opted for the standard, non-glass windows for our yurt. There is no insulation over them, so in the winter cold creeps in fast. Placing wool blankets over the windows, while impeding your view, will keep a lot of the warmth in. The toono provides all the natural light needed, so the windows can be covered up.
– Reliable internet is hard to get outside of major cities. If internet is important to you, research it before you commit to moving to a location. Also, shipping containers act as giant Faraday cages, so don’t expect to get the best reception or connection when inside of one.
– Try to locate your closest cell tower and/or satellite locations prior to placing your yurt or shipping container.
– Look into the Humanure composting toilet system. It is cost-effective, and brilliant, in my humble opinion. Zero smell, even when I add the cats’ business. It truly amazes me.
– Make sure your wood stove is rated to heat at least three times your square footage. We opted for the smallest Jotul wood stove, and it has far exceeded our expectations. In the future we may opt to get the larger Jotul, for the sole reason of not having to stoke it as often. Since I don’t sleep consistently due to my pain, having to stoke our fire every four hours or so throughout the night isn’t too bad. Though I can imagine it might bother others.
– Make sure your chimney cap is vertical. Ours was slanted slightly and it melted all the snow on a nearby tree, which ran right back down the chimney pipe, creating steam (which we originally mistook for smoke and thought our chimney was broken) and a goopy mess.
– Wood ash is an amazing resource. We use it in our composting systems, as well as on icey and snowy walkways. It provides great traction. We even have a bucket of ash in the car in case we get stuck in the snow somewhere.
– Get a good water filtration system. With the Berkey that we chose, we can melt snow on the stove if we needed to and filter it through. If it came down to it, we could even take river or puddle water, run it through the Berkey, and it would be safe to drink.
A typical day in the life…
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What an awesome article! I’m currently in a big city, that gives me regular panic attacks from the noise, but this year we are starting our search for rural property. I would love to set up a yurt like you did, but my husband isn’t as excited about circle living.
I’d love to know more about yurts in winter. Obviously, they originated in cold climates, but most of the off-grid yurt info I find out there is for warmer, dry climates. Can you insulate them so they have better heat retention?
Hey Melissa,
I totally hear you about the noise and the panic attacks. That’s one reason why we moved out of the city too. The property we live on now is still just off the highway and the traffic noises still give me anxiety and I suffer from panic attacks too so I totally understand. Our ultimate goal is to find a quiet, rural property off of a country side road (preferably a dead end!).
I’m not sure what the options are for insulation… This post was written by a guest contributor so I will pass on questions to her. But I do know she mentioned putting blankets over windows in the window to help insulate them. I’ll see if she might be able to provide a better answer.
All the best and hopefully you’ll be out of the city soon too!
Anna
I have never heard of a yurt, so this was interesting!
Hi Ruthie,
I had once stayed in yurt when I was travelling but had never considered living in one until Jade shared her story with me. With the whole “tiny house” movement along with more people looking to move off-grid, I think yurt-living might just gather steam too!