Off-grid kitchen and scullery

Most people couldn’t imagine doing dishes in the snow or cooking in the rain. Since we started with bare ground here, we’ve done both. Often. We’re thrilled to say that is no longer the case (for the most part). Two years in the making, we are now settled in to our more permanent arrangement with an efficient compact kitchen inside the yurt, and a full-featured utility sink and storage area within steps on the deck. Read on to see a review of our progress in photos!

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La Nina leaves this lady leery

Forty below they said. Nine feet of snow they said. First flurries by Halloween they said. All of these threats weighed heavily on our minds since loading in at the start of summer. We prioritized our to-do list accordingly by trying to amass a mound of firewood, situating and insulating the water tank to avoid freezing, raising our solar array, mounting our snow tires and securing chains, ordering snowshoes, stocking up on dry goods, and enclosing the potty, among other things. While there is always more to do – And you never quite feel adequately prepared going into the cold season no matter what you do – we were also making mental preparations to steel ourselves against a typical bitterly-cold winter to arrive on schedule. Now, it’s almost Thanksgiving and we’ve barely touched 20 degrees overnight with only a random rain shower. As if we didn’t have enough to anticipate for the first of the year with the election fallout, we’re left wondering if La Nina is going to make this winter a non-event, or bring it on with a furious force.

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Home is where the hearth is

Suddenly, all seems right with the world.

We spent a full day on Saturday laying in the new flooring in the front half of the yurt so we could place the stove, pan, pipe, and cap. Everything came together on Sunday with the custom installation since they don’t sell pre-fab yurt roof chimney vents at Home Depot.

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Let's get cookin'

Following the suggestions shared in Vivint’s tips for moving, we are doing our best to “come up with some creative meals using only what’s left in our fridge and pantry.”

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The check is in the mail

Well we finally did it!! We decided to go with the Super Ger Yurt from Groovy Yurts, it will be delivered in June.  We have an amazing amount of work ahead.  Time to start liquidating the vast majority of our possessions from this materialistic life that we have grown accustomed to, it was great while it lasted but it’s time to get back in touch with our true selves!!  We need to start working on plans for our deck that the Yurt will go on.  Then we need to build the platform that will go under the Yurt on the deck.  Other things that need to be done include getting the plans ready to build an outhouse, find a good stove that we can use to stay warm, figure out how we will have internet connectivity as our workplace is being awesome and giving us the opportunity to work remotely, plus many more things that I am sure will pop up as this transition continues to take shape!!  Feel free to leave your suggestions, thoughts and advice below!!