Ten Things We Will Miss on Our Oregon Homestead: Yurt Living

We have lived in this yurt for the past five years and can hardly believe that we will have to leave it behind as we shift to a new cabin home in Idaho. There are so many wonderful things to say about living in a yurt, so where to start…oh, the shape…the circular line of our home brings a deep sense of satisfaction that I can enter my home and see everything in it's place and what is going on. I find this particularly reassuring with a toddler running around. I don't have to wonder what he's getting into or about to fall off of since my eye can scan the entire home in a second. The sweet sounds of rain on the roof will be my deepest sadness in moving out of the yurt. I can hear the softest sprinkling to the thunderous drumming of hail (which makes it impossible to carry on a conversation with someone standing face to face!). I have never slept better than when it rains and I am home.

The illumination from the sun and moon will also be something to grieve. With the clear dome on top of the yurt along with six windows, we rarely use any kind of light until well past the sun setting. The light was so bright that we eventually had to build a small bedroom loft one weekend after realizing that our 6-month-old baby was never going to take regular naps or sleep during a full moon (nor were we) if we didn't have a space with minimal light. 

There are little repairs that had to be made every so often, such as patching holes on the roof, scrubbing mildew from the edges where the interior canopy meets the canvas wall, annually washing the mossy mildew from the exterior surface. Overall, I have very few complaints about yurt living. Yes, there were times when I wished dearly for a bit more privacy, to just lock a door and be alone. There has been times when I considered, quite seriously, putting up a concrete barrier around the deck of the yurt to keep our rooster from sleeping under our bedroom at night and waking us up at 3 in the morning due to our close proximity. Having to vacuum up thousands and thousands of flies that tuck themselves under the warm crevices of the tied-down roof for winter hibernation was not a pleasant task either, but overall, this yurt has served as a tiny sanctuary of a home where we began our lives as farmers, bore my son, and have a closer connection to the elements because of the simple structure that is our home.