A tree house yurt: but it's not for living in (that's what the RV is for), because it would fill up with "stuff"!

It has been a couple of years since we first wrote to COUNTRYSIDE sharing our dreams of building a tree house in the backwoods of the Sierra Nevada's in California. Even though we experienced problems with our neighbor, we did end up building our tree house, which sits 15 feet above ground and is dedicated as a guesthouse. When we do not have guests, we use it as recreation space (since we are still living in an RV), but we do not live in it because we don't want it to fill up with all that stuff that seems to appear in one's living space. So we use it like a bonus-room when we want to roll out that new fangled thingamajiggy--the DVD player. Or we use it as a space to retreat to for quiet time. We decided that since we have already had problems with the neighbor calling the county on us, we would not build a permanent structure in the trees but instead we put a 16-foot diameter yurt atop the 20 x 30-foot platform. That way, if we ever have to tear it down, we will not be heartbroken nor would we lose a building. The yurt is a portable structure and can be assembled in a weekend by two people. We built a loft bed with curtains hanging below, making the space directly below the bed a private space for the portable toilet and storage (books, movies, the rolling DVD unit). The only other furniture is a couch, coffee table, chair, and a two-drawer filing cabinet with radio on top. We have a tiny wood cook stove that will eventually be installed but for now it is heated with propane.

We have an annual Summer Solstice Campout/Work Party that is growing every year. We started five years ago with just four visitors and now we have extended it to be two weekends in a row and/or anytime in between, giving people lots of options. This year we had 37 visitors and campers! Over the years, the community projects on our land have included building raised garden beds, assembling a canopy swing, a wood-fired hot tub, the yurt-kit, building a suspension bridge through the trees to the tree-house-yurt platform, and creating a spiral walkway out of wood rounds. In fact one couple who helped us with the raised garden bed and bridge last year read our article in COUNTRYSIDE a few years ago and they have land just a few miles down the road from us. (Hi, Fran and Gus!)

Realizing Karina was soon entering high school and would be leaving us in just a few short years; in 2005 we began our research into lenders and log homes with the hopes of building a house together as a family. Besides, we figure she has paid her dues as a teenager living in the backwoods for four years and we all deserve the comforts of an actual house (no matter how small).

We had hoped to build our log cabin in 2006 but delayed engineered plans and then the county requiring revisions to the plans threw a wrench in our narrow weather-window for building, and so now we are paying through the nose to maintain our construction loan while absolutely no construction progress is being accomplished (aaarrgh!). So as soon as the snow melts (hopefully end of April although we have had snow in May in past years), we will be building the log cabin between May and November, and we will need all the help we can get. Yes! That is an invitation to come camp on our land and roll up your sleeves. Come one, come all! The official 2007 Annual Summer Solstice Campout/Work Party will be June 15-24, but COUNTRYSIDE homesteaders are welcome anytime. All ages welcome. Please RSVP (4060 Ol' Chamberlain Rd., Georgetown, CA 95634; [e-mail]).

We do have dreams of forming a small co-housing sustainable community on our land and so we have been doing our research in that way as well. We are ready to talk with seriously interested parties at this point but the first thing to consider is, "Can you handle living in the snow?" If you don't fight the snow, it is gloriously beautiful. We also live within walking distance of the hiking trailhead to University Falls and just a 10 minute drive from Stumpy Meadows Reservoir and Campgrounds.

SHAUN, ANN, & KARINA O'QUINN GEORGETOWN, CALIFORNIA