Building the Yurt at Florence Farmstead

Building the Yurt at Florence Farmstead

(Part 1 — The Build)

By midsummer, the clearing we had worked so hard to shape finally began transforming into the outline of our future home. July was all about the platform — long days measuring, leveling, hauling lumber, and slowly building the 30-foot circle that would hold our yurt. When the last board went down, the land suddenly felt different. Still. Ready.

“Circle is done… next up roughing in plumbing and electrical, blown-in insulation, then flooring, framing windows and doors… then yurt.”

A Night on the Platform — and the Owl That Sparked The Arrival

The night we finished the platform, Nick and I stood right in the center of it and looked up at the stars. Sawdust still clung to our clothes. The July air was warm. The woods were quiet in that deep, settling way only summer nights can be.

And then the owl appeared. Well actually two. Two juvenile barred owls were calling to each other as they practiced flying from branch to branch. We couldn’t see them, only hear them. One circled around us in the trees. The other was coming our way.

And then we saw it as the owl swept in silently and perched nearby, watching us with steady eyes and fluffing its feathers. There was something grounding about its presence — something that felt like acknowledgment, like arrival, like a witness to this new chapter taking shape.

Months later, I painted this moment and titled it “The Arrival”.

The owl, flying into view, became the symbol of that moment — the threshold between what our life had been and what it was becoming. The painting carries the stillness and wonder of that night, the feeling that we were exactly where we were meant to be.

Finding Water

Before any walls could rise, we needed a well. On July 31, the drilling truck came rumbling up the driveway, and we stood nearby hoping for the best.

“Praying for water.”

And then — water. Clean, steady, cold. A turning point. Months of carrying in our water from a local spring were over. 

And two very happy dogs got to cool off in the first overflow.

The Containers Arrive

Soon after, two shipping containers arrived. They’ll eventually become Nick’s workshop, the utilities hub, storage, and someday a rooftop garden. Seeing them settle into the clearing made everything feel suddenly real.

Raising the Yurt

August was all yurt.

Yurt rising begins.

Day one: lattice walls, window frames, door frames, and most of the rafters — a wooden skeleton reaching upward. We worked through sunset and into the dark:

“Working in the dark — rafters and insulation.”

On August 26, the dome and roof went up, sealing the structure and marking the end of the exterior build.

Where This Chapter Ends

By late August, the yurt stood complete — a bright, simple shelter in the clearing. After that came the interior:

• bathroom framing
• loft construction
• utilities
• heat

…but that chapter belongs to another post.

For now, this is the story of how our home first took shape:

a circle in the woods, an owl arriving under the stars, water in the ground, containers settling in, and a roof rising against the sky — the beginning of the life we’re building here at Florence Farmstead.