Prepping & Patience

Well, it's been almost a year since I last wrote. There have been many thoughts, many experiences along the way, some changes to plans & many many days of patiently waiting (well, trying to be patient). Based on where our yurt site is going to be, we have to put our septic in first because you have to go through the spot where the yurt will be in order to access the septic site.

So first, septic. Then, prep the yurt site. Then, well? Then, yurt platform. Then, order, pick up & set up the yurt. This will mostly be a sharing of many photos...and a reflection of how waiting this year has been a lesson for us in humility. This dream, this process, has been a long one...longer than us owning this piece of land and hasn't been simple or easy, but we seem to continually come back to the same exact dream. We just gotta maintain that focus and patience.

First, to pick up where we left off last year -- we spent Winter Solstice 2023 plugging a bunch of mushroom spore into logs -- shiitake, oyster & then also some lion's mane got smushed in between some discs of maple. It took some time to clear and prep the site. We worked late into the evening, when our fingers were barely working by the end. We kept a large brush fire going and cooked chili on it while we worked.

Then onto 2024, winter:

(We very seriously considered buying this tiny house on wheels that was for sale just up the road.)

Then, the snow melted, all for one little pile in our driveway...and we were entering spring...somewhere in early spring we got our septic permit plan approved!

Then, we reached out to get some quotes on how much the septic would cost. The first quote was $35,000. The next one was $35,000. Yikes. We didn't hear back at all from some places. When we got quoted that high, we were eager to see if there was another option. We really don't even want such a large (2-bedroom household-sized) septic. After all, we are planning to just use it for graywater because we will have a composting toilet. However, Vermont has rules. In order to protect the waters, which we respect & understand. But, yikes. $35,000 is a lot for us.

I did some research & in hopes that maybe there was an alternative, I reached out to someone from the state who let me know that there are no alternatives that would be viable for us. But she filled me in on a program that was in the works, but not ready yet, really -- a pilot program where they were going to use recycled glass ground down to be sand in place of actual sand, which would help cut the high cost of sand right now. So I reached out about that, was in contact with someone and we were put on a waitlist if it were to come into fruition...

We made the decision to stick with our local trusted guy for our septic. But, there would be a wait...for how long, we weren't sure. So we bought a White Duck 13' canvas tent, found a source for some free pallets, and Keith saved some reclaimed wood from a job he was working on so that we could build a platform for the tent, after seeing how heavy rains can create pooling on flat-ish areas. After witnessing flooding events here in Vermont, we are now cognizant how water can be so damaging if it's not thought of ahead of time & prepared for. So we prepared the reclaimed wood & we found a secondary flat-ish spot high up near the back of our land, with a view when the leaves are off of the trees to set up a summer camp.

Transplanted some raspberry canes from someone who was thinning theirs out.

Planting & protecting our sweetgrass, given to as a gift from Keith's parents.

Lion's mane popped out just for a bit!

Native lamia transplant from the year before, doing her magical thing.

One of our library volunteers gave me this & it's now on a tree on our land.

In late spring/early summer, we had Green Mountain Power come to give us a quote of how much it would cost to get power. We received some unfortunate news, that power was not at the road, like we'd been told when purchasing the land. It is instead down the road...the poles that carry cables in front of our land cannot carry powerlines so we would have to do some quite invasive & way more expensive work to make that happen. Our immediate thought upon receiving this news was....okay, solar. So, as an experiment over the summer, we bought a small Bluetti solar portable power station so that we can have some power in our tent when we stay there, to do things like be able to sleep with a fan on, power a small lamp, recharge cell phones, etc. Purchasing this has helped us to start thinking how to best harness the power of the sun once we get a bigger set-up. For now, it has come in handy at home as we have experienced multiple 24 hr. + power outages this summer & also, borrowed it to a friend who had a power outage at their home after the flood in July. Highly recommend!

Spreading seeds from a dear friend, Michelle.

Mariel, our friend, came to visit our land & check out a local bog. She is fellow mushroom gal so we had to show her our mushroom set-up.

We pulled tons of invasive garlic mustard.

A neighbor farm dog, Blue, got out, ran away & came to our property while my mom & sister, Colleen were visiting our land -- we helped him find his owners...and wouldn't be sad if he came to visit us again. :)

On a whim, my sister Colleen brought my mom to Vermont and this was my mom's first time seeing our land. After hearing all about it, she was up for the hike to the top, where our tent is! We still laugh at ourselves that we ended up putting our tent so high up! But, it is a pretty sweet spot...

Maple creemee from our favorite creemee place just down the road!

Keith's sister, Bria, brother-in-law Justin & kids came to visit all the way from Michigan & we got to do some explorin' on our land on a rainy, very wet day. They found red efts (not pictured, but always amazing to find!).

First apples on our apple trees! We ended up having 5 total this year.

We have a chanterelle spot!

Building permit to get ready for the yurt!

A mouse chewed a hole in our tent 🙄

Amaranth is growing!

Fall is here, and with it we got word that our septic guy was ready for action, to begin on my birthday, October 7th. It's go-time! We spent a weekend cutting down trees that were at threat of falling on our yurt, and chopping them up smaller so that while site work was being done, they could move it around & burn it up along with any wood/trees they needed to cut down. A lot of work, and a lot more sun coming in surrounding where the yurt site will be. We were told the septic should be done in ~2 - 2.5 weeks.

While that got started, other things were happening, Keith made plans to go to Michigan to help his sister Megan & brother-in-law, Matt with building of their A-Frame & he was pumped about that happening while our septic magic was happening back at home but...he got slammed hard with Covid...so, we hung around, got ready for another family visitor, trying to keep the germs at bay & finally were able to go see the progress last weekend! Always strange, but exciting, seeing the changes...

My sister, Deana, came and stayed with us for the weekend & was able to check out the progress with us! 

Visions, dreams & planning for the future 😍

With this progress, we may be prepped & ready for a well sooner rather than later. We should be ready for deck-building for our yurt soon. And, shoot, we tried to put in a very last-minute order for a yurt, but they were sold out of parts we need for our size for the year. So, our plan is to order one now to be ready in the spring. And we will aim to have the well in & deck built, ready to go. Weather, depending, of course. At this time, we are waiting for completion of our septic and then it will need to pass an inspection.

As time was passing this summer, we had high hopes of being ready for yurt-raising in October and to have a standing yurt with a wood stove inside for the winter, not necessarily livable yet, but a warm, cozy place to visit this winter. Instead, we will accept the progress of where we are at. And be grateful for any progress at all. And take it as a lesson in patience, acceptance and as a sign to slow down...for winter. It'll be time to cozy in soon.

Grateful for the family & friends who have offered us love & support throughout this process. We gotta support each other's dreams y'all, dreaming is so important, and being able to make dreams come to fruition is a privilege. Even though this will be our home, it is still a privilege. To have choices, and be able to be patient. The alternative route for doing anything can be tricky, you gotta carve your own path & dream your own dream while sticking to your personal values. And bounce your ideas around until you realize the dream has really mostly stayed the same all along. This dream continues to ground us.