Hashtags. I don’t really understand them….Well, I understand them on the basic level. People add them to the end of social media things so that they can later be searched for according to the hashtag used. It’s simple, really. I guess it could also be useful for some things–like major breaking news in countries with strict media laws or whatever. However, their pervasive overuse on social media has long ago surpassed ridiculous and is now comical. I read a funny thing the other day that went something along the lines of this: “I just saw an old phone from the nineties and it had a hashtag on it! Why would an old phone need one of those? Hashtags didn’t exist back then!” Haha. Silly teenagers who don’t know what a pound sign is.
Anyhow, I digress as per the usual.
On New Year’s Eve, my friend stayed with us and applied the hashtag #yurtlyfe to the pictures she took that evening. We thought it was clever and amusing; we had a good laugh. Well, I searched the internet with this hashtag and it turns out she is not the first one to use it (sorry, Emma). #yurtlifebestlife didn’t bring up any Google hits, so what does that say? Perhaps I’m a social media word genius…or maybe, just maybe, yurt life isn’t really the best life…
You know you’re in a yurt when every picture has a lattice in the background!
Joan 
Alexandra Wilson 
Wendy Curling 
Pamela deMarrais 
Diann 
Judy Mac 
MM Eagan 
Deb Bosworth 
Gail Willie 
Joan D. Mcguigan 
Carol A Hagemeier 
Elizabeth 
Maureen 
Kim 
katie perryman 
Cheryl Damberger 
Trishia Herbst 
Dena 
Jenna 
Donna Bailey 
Marion 
Gaill Pederson 
Margo;) Jakoubek 
Laura R. 
Janice K. 
Adrienne 
Diana Henretty 
Debby Carrico 
Carmen 
Nancy 
Judy 
Deedee McDonald 
Pam deMarrais 
Cindy 
Mary Fenske 
Denise Ross 
I have a few questions and a comment. The comment first is that you have wooden floors – how pretty! Question 1: do you get a lot of bugs or other unwanted visitors in your yurt? Question 2: do you have any security issues? and 3: What type of stove do you have? Thanks!
Hey Diane, I’m happy to answer! Thanks on the wooden floors, they are what really tied the place together in the end. 1: I have just started to notice a few spiders around as well as mosquitoes. However, I’ve always had spiders in my homes, and I think the mosquitoes just come in the front door and on the dog because there aren’t very many. We haven’t had any problems with little rodents…only gross dead ones the dog has brought in. The yurt is raised off the ground a few feet on a platform, so I imagine we’d have more bugs if we were on the ground. 2: Security is worrisome sometimes. If someone really wanted to get in and they were small enough they could just cut through the walls and slip through the latticework. Similarly, people in bear country have to take many precautions to prevent bears from tearing their yurts to shreds to get the delicious food inside! This often involves raising the yurt on a huge platform with metal spikes to prevent climbing or surrounding the structure with an electric fence. 3: We have a used Princess Blaze stove. It is pretty big and goes through wood very quickly, but it keeps us warm even in -20 degree weather! It has a nice flat top for cooking food and heating up water if we need it. The only downfall is that gets the place too hot once the temperature rises above 30. We often find ourselves stripped down to t-shirts and undies in the fall and spring!
Thanks for sharing more about your experience. I really enjoy your blog.
Thanks for the kind words, Diane!
WOW a great learning curve, so reminds me of the one room apartment we once lived in and how ‘deprived’ I felt but we had all the amenities. Then into a one bedroom place and then THINGS came into the space – more – more – more and well you get the picture – now we have downsized and so wish we had the big house but glad we have just what we have. The reason for me saying this is your story is so familiar and I am so happy you are able to do your best to make a lovely home for Evan and Emma, she will learn a lot about living by #livingyurtlifebestlife. Thanks for the message. God Bless
Isn’t it funny how we accomodate things? We are kind of like goldfish in that way, we try to fill up any space we have with the right amount of things…I’m okay with cutting down on the stuff for now! Definitely makes life a bit simpler.
Have you ever considered a solar shower? They only cost about twelve bucks, and heat up either in the sun, or you can just pour hot water in, hang it up and have a nice hot, luxurious shower. 1 full solar shower can easily clean two of you, if you don’t dilly dally. I use mine when camping- I have a volkswagen bus, and I open the back hatch, hang a blanket around the outside, a tarp across the opening inside, and put the shower on top, with the hose coming down between the hinges. So great!
Hey Shari, we do have a propane shower…but have yet to remove it from the box. This is one of our projects for this summer! Solar showers are great, too. If the propane one doesn’t work out that’s our next move. Thanks for the suggestion!
Very interesting. I grew up in a home without electricity or running water so you are a way step up. I remember bringing my daughter to the farm and taking her to the outhouse when she was 2. She informed me the you could freeze your buttons off. I agree. Looking back it was great. We live in the same town in a cabin and travel when we work. We have 200 acres and a great person that takes care of our place when we are gone but no cell phone service. Such a great tragedy.. NOT! We have a facility for youth and I am amazed how they think this is the end of the world. I should send them to visit you. Love your stories and AVA is a real luckly little girl to have her mommy home with her….
Thanks, Karin! Kind of funny how a lack of cell service can be so challenging! 200 acres sounds heavenly. Thanks for sharing!
AH! Nothing like a confined space to help us see how much “stuff” we really have :). We lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment with 2 kids. Needless to say that is what started our journey of “less mess is best” :).
Now, 25+ years later, we still keep our “stuff” under control….though it is getting to be more of a challenge now that i know we won;t be moving again (please, Lord! NOT again!!!). I want to pretty things up and that takes…stuff!
I think I would like living in a yurt though. Man, we would have to get rid of more than I care to think. But simple is better—not easier mind you.
One thing I think would really be a HUGE adjustment is the “honeypot”! The hubby calls me McGruff the crime dog when it comes to smells.
I wonder if this would work using a honeypot???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY
I can’t see why not…in either case this commercial is worth watching if for nothing else…a good laugh!
Happy yurting :)…there’s a new hashtag for ya #happyyurting
Enjoy the day…
Hey Donna! I can’t wait for the day when we are done moving. I counted recently and I have moved eleven times in as many years. That is sheer craziness, but I guess not out of the question for twenty somethings. That commercial is hilarious! I wonder how it really works? hmm…Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE the photos of AVA! Thanks for sharing her with us. Also appreciate your frankness about life in a yurt…interesting and educational and resourceful. Best wishes to you and your family. BTW we wore out 3 baby carriers raising our children. Wish I had discovered them sooner. Keep your posts coming; I look forward to them. Peace and All Joy from Pennsylvania
Thanks, Joan! Sometimes we need a bit of frankness, yeah? We love our baby carriers so much. We don’t even have a stroller because we use them for everything from house cleaning to grocery shopping to long walks. Baby wearing is the best!
I just looked through more photos than I would like to admit marked with #yurtlyfe on Instagram. I’m a little disappointed that I’m not the one who came up with it first, but I took solace in seeing that yours was the coolest yurt of all (and that it contains the cutest baby).
Yeah, maybe there are just other hashtag geniuses out there like you. I wouldn’t take it too hard. You rock!
Alex, this is lovely! I loved the part about how some of the bad would still be there just in a different way if you weren’t living in a yurt (because it shows that you are realistic..not grass is greener sort of person). If you have a bigger space, you’ll somehow end up filling it and then at some point be annoyed with all the stuff you have and that you then have to clean that bigger space! Not that it’s not nice to be able to spread out, and possibly ignore a mess in another room. If you and Evan can do this together, you can do anything together! 🙂 Love you so much woman!
Thanks, Yen! Love you, too. I try to be a pragmatic idealist if at all possible. I’m already way too good at ignoring messes in the rooms I am in (as you know from living with me!! ha)…This whole having a baby thing has made me a bit cleaner and more organized, though. So, we’ll have to wait and see what house living has in store for us when it happens. Miss you and your fam (even the two I haven’t met!)