Life in a yert in Alaska. Brrrrrrrrrrrr

[Cattusbabe]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/ga...agewanted=2&hp

This is a tad too minimalist for my tastes. Ah youth.

Quote:

"With no dishwasher or running water, they sometimes enlist dogs — their family’s and those of the neighbors — to lick plates clean before scrubbing the dishes in hand-drawn well water, which they said saves energy. For pragmatic reasons, Mr. Higman said, “We do have lower standards than a lot of people about how clean things have to be.”

Ya think?

[W2R]

Being a city girl at heart, I absolutely require potable running water and city sewage. This is not something I would want to do.

[hankster]

I've camped in primitive conditions for up to 5 days at a time (in my younger days) The older me requires hot and cold running water, climate control and other comforts.

[Notmuchlonger]

Long as you have broadband whats to worry. Lick plates clean? Please. I see snow in that picture cleans it good nuff. Plus a handful of snow when you wipe. Good as some TP just need to grin and bare it. YUK YUK

[toofrugalformycat]

DH and I chose to live somewhat like this (except more remotely and primitively) for awhile when we were younger. It proved to be the perfect base for LBYM. You really learn what you need and don't need.
BTW you don't really need an outhouse.
Now that I'm older I really do enjoy my mod cons. But I know I could do ok without them.

[kumquat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by toofrugalformycat BTW you don't really need an outhouse.

You haven't "done your business" at -45 in a windstorm.

[megcrispin]

Thank you for posting this article!
I have considered living in a yurt before. It is a dream to live out in the country on lots of land and as primitive as possible. I would require electricity, but not broadband.

I've found a place in KY that is selling for $70,000. It is a house using solar panels. No running water (an outhouse), and 35 acres of land.

I love it.
Hubby ... not so into it as I am. :-)

Maybe one day.
Just not right now.

~M

[Tesaje]

You mean the dog doesn't exist to pre-clean the dishes?

As long as they get washed in hot soapy water afterwards, there really isn't any problem with this.

I've done extensive camping in my youth and it was a lot of fun I wouldn't trade for anything. You can get dishes just as clean in a bowl of hot soapy water as you can in a dishwasher.

My older self is not so sure how resilient I would be now but I certainly can camp again for a few days.

[Sarah in SC]

We've stayed in yurts (they are called gers in Mongolia) and I can say that I could do it for short periods of time, but not full-time. As with others, I find that the older I get the more I need those mod cons, but I do like to suffer periodic hardships just to make sure I can still do it.

We lived on a very small sailboat with hand pumped water (cold) for three months and I know that the boats we are looking at now have A/C and hot/cold water. I need a shower on-board now that I'm hollering down the corridor at 40!

We stayed on a small island off the coast of Belize a number of years ago and the French family that owned it had these two lovely twin blond 5 year old children who offered right away to pick the weevils out of our rice before we cooked it! Yikes! Imagine the gross factor of kids in the US to that. We rinsed our plates with sand and seawater and let them airdry, no soap or dogs around.

To each his or her own, but yeah...I'm getting soft.

[brewer12345]

Not sure I would want to do that all the time, but been there, done that many times in the past (camping) and Gawd willing some day I will get to do some serious, long term hiking and do that stuff again.

Nowadays we have gone soft via the 16 foot camper that has heat, AC, running water, etc. Its nice enough, but the real point was to get DW and the kids to come along on a regular basis, and they are less interested in deprivation.

[RonBoyd]

For all you "softies":

Happy 'glampers' pitch luxury to the camping averse

Canvas and Tent Australia

[Cattusbabe]

Those kids have got all that. Hubby and I toyed with the idea of chucking our current home and living in ones of these.
Floor Plans
We really like the whole idea but in the end we decided to stay put.

[Orchidflower]

Cattusbabe, I've done a whole lotta work on round homes like those. I love them--and they are the best you can have in hurricane areas. So worth it to me.
Did you get any prices for these homes?

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower I love them--and they are the best you can have in hurricane areas. So worth it to me.

I'm curious - why?

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cattusbabe Those kids have got all that. Hubby and I toyed with the idea of chucking our current home and living in ones of these. Floor Plans We really like the whole idea but in the end we decided to stay put.

Way cool! Bookmarked for later perusal and daydreaming when I need a mmental escape from the upturned termite hill that is work.

[haha]

Years ago I lived in a small town on the WA coast. A hippy couple lived in a shack alongside a river where I fished. I used to stop by a and give them a fish from time to time. An Indian friend of mine did the same. He was amuch better fisherman than I, and so a better food source.The guy was kind of an idot and true believer, the woman must have been all of 18 and had a they had a little baby. It was too cold and wet and windy and too primitive and they were too isolated and inexperienced. The baby was getting sick, and looked really poor to me. I convinced her to head into town to see a Doc the next time Dear Idot went out. She did, the Doc hospitalized her baby and mama and baby never came back to the drafty shack and the lazy hippy.

Ha

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Years ago I lived in a small town on the WA coast. A hippy couple lived in a shack alongside a river where I fished. I used to stop by a and give them a fish from time to time. An Indian friend of mine did the same. He was amuch better fisherman than I, and so a better food source.The guy was kind of an idot and true believer, the woman must have been all of 18 and had a they had a little baby. It was too cold and wet and windy and too primitive and they were too isolated and inexperienced. The baby was getting sick, and looked really poor to me. I convinced her to head into town to see a Doc the next time Dear Idot went out. She did, the Doc hospitalized her baby and mama and baby never came back to the drafty shack and the lazy hippy. Ha

And you did a mitzvah, clearly. The couple in the article are free to torture themselves as they see fit, but having an infant in a shack that is freqently below freezing is beyond the pale.

[Lazarus]

This guy did it himself in Alaska.

The Story of Dick Proenneke and how he built a cabin by hand in the wilderness, DVD and VHS

A better man than me.

[unclemick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger Long as you have broadband whats to worry. Lick plates clean? Please. I see snow in that picture cleans it good nuff. Plus a handful of snow when you wipe. Good as some TP just need to grin and bare it. YUK YUK

I always wash after the dogs lick my plates - and I sure as heck 'ain't' going outside to use the snow in the yard.

I did my snow camping a long long long time ago in Boy Scout's on Mt St. Helens - and didn't like it - froze my tuckis.

heh heh heh - Born and raised my first 26 years in the ole PacNW - never went north of a Vancouver BC night club.

I do now regret never going to Hawaii - but I can always hop a plane out of Kansas City if the mood strikes.



heh heh heh -

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 And you did a mitzvah, clearly. The couple in the article are free to torture themselves as they see fit, but having an infant in a shack that is freqently below freezing is beyond the pale.

My thoughts exactly.