images after beginning to brace the wall with supports and pushing it back out. we need to replace about 20 pieces of the lattice before we can begin to try and shift the yurt back into place- the french door frame is broken and the door is skewed, the dome is also still leaning down which you can see in the post before this one.

i'm trying to be realistic about this, about the trees coming down, about the idea of trying to live as self sufficiently as possible, about trying to make it all work. but damn, i wasn't ready for how i'd feel seeing 16 trees on the ground instead of in the air. for those of you who have known me since my undergraduate photo work, you'll remember that my exhibition revolved around the relationship between man, the earth, and our attitude towards pillaging for personal "growth". imagine going from this study to walking up to the land on friday and seeing that my own lifestyle and choices directly went against my strong held views of protecting the trees. but what am i supposed to do? if we had decided to not take down the trees around the yurt, i wouldn't be able to live there. i know we can replant, and we will. but in the meantime it is difficult to explain that within 7 hours, hundreds of years of combined life were spent with the swift action of a chainsaw. we hope to utilize the trees by milling them and using the wood for structures on the land, and we have plenty of firewood. but there is a feeling of loss that is not explainable.

ah cleaning time, little worse than i thought. the 2nd tree did do some damage- more rafters are missing with some over the french doors. it pretty much landed on that door frame, we haven't tried to open those doors yet. 3 punchers all the way through from what i can see, probably 20-25 pieces of lattice need to be replaced. all shifting and twisted so i think the next step is to slowly try to brace that wall up- with vertical and angle supports. then see about jacking the dome up on the one side and hopefully get a few rafters into place.

this is the lone oak tree that will be coming down today. someone is coming to take down 15 trees- possibly 20. believe all the others are hemlock. firewood for awhile. any suggestions on trees that do well in this area- please pass the information along, looking to start replanting for each tree we've taken down (did 5 in the beginning)

this is the most recent picture- ben and chris have been hacking away at the 2 trees for 3 days now, bracing the yurt and hoping for good weather... you can see the tree tops on the ground

interior with some supports holding the dome and walls

the yurt earlier in the day (12/18) before the tree fell













most of the wood from the rafters landed in the middle of the yurt

















ben's studio (without the awning now)

hello! well, my attempt at a blog had yet to see daylight- i thought at the beginning that i'd be able to keep up with something like this and that i'd get some good feedback about projects and problems we encounter. but, now that is almost the new year~ you can see this blog sort of fell off.

but now i'm glad i at least started it! i am editing this (1/5) as my dad pointed out that i did not clarify about a tree actually falling onto the yurt. friday, december 18th at 10:30 pm- after receiving 18inches of snow in one day, we were shaken up- although not completely surprised as ben had called the tree that would fall if any did. it was scary. aspen had just fallen asleep and we were planning on taking her back up to the neighbors because we could hear trees snapping everywhere. sort of one of those intuitive moments where both ben and i knew it was going to happen.

our most recent visit back to the yurt (1/3) brought about another surprise- a 2nd tree fell on top of the first tree- crating more tension on the yurt. ben is out there with our friend building supports holding the dome up as well as supports on the inside of the yurt in hopes that when the two trees are cut the release of tension isn't too much for the cable.

if you are able to help us at all with a donation for removing the trees around the yurt there is a link to a paypal account on the right of the screen. THANK YOU!!!!! anything helps, we don't know the amount yet- but i'm guessing we will have to remove anywhere from 6 to 15 trees. we are going to get some estimates and do what we can when we can.

winter is a great time to hibernate, and spring will bless us with new growth. thank you all, we couldn't be blessed with better friends and family!

where to begin

a bit of time has passed since my last post and lots has been happening on the land. going back to the pictures from march- we've successfully taken down 5 trees and gone forward with beginning the deck/platform. i say beginning b/c we were a bit behind schedule when our friends baron and jamie, their two boys soren and ammon came all the way from ohio to help with that feat. i am still amazed at how much help, love, and structure came out of those 5 days! we also want to graciously thank our friend fran and my brother travis for their steadfast help in getting us up and going. fran even spent three days helping us move in ohio- you rock fran :)

in addition to the deck/platform, we've arranged and rearranged our outdoor kitchen next to the airstream, set up the glass studio outside, made several fairy houses, swam in the river, visited the quaint town of burnsville, and just enjoyed looking at the light coming through the trees. aspen seems to love life outside and has had no problem adjusting to the different schedule/lifestyle. we've also connected with some great old friends in nc, and are hoping to talk our friends from ohio to come visit us soon!

festival season is here- after taking a week to move (i must say that was miserable, i tried to be pleasant, but i know i wasn't. i apologize to all who helped!) we were able to pick up the yurt with our 20' truck on the way to nc, that took a bit of maneuvering. only 5 hours to rearrange and get everything in there. once arriving we put everything in storage, which didn't all fit and have a few piles on the land... in due time...then we managed to get the truck stuck on the mountain :) ah, moving. back to festivals- so now we are working on getting life set up around that schedule, but the weather has been sunny and we've seen a lot of smilin' faces.