Jesse alerted me to this neat article in the New York Times about a couple living in the back country of Alaska in a yurt. It is a very good article “Broadband, Yes. Toilet, No.” and I think you would enjoy reading it.
It has no running water or working toilet, but this Mongolian-style tent, called a yurt, in the remote town of Seldovia, Alaska, is home to Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman, and their son, 11-month-old Katmai.
Read the complete New York Times article “Broadband, Yes. Toilet, No.”
©2010 Stuart Isett/www.isett.com
How do they get broadband so far outside town? No clues in the Times article….
That is a good question Denis, I did not find out anything either. My guess would be some type of satellite connection but I have heard those can be pretty slow. I will try to get in touch with the New York Times and see if I can get an answer.
I’m interested in the internet part. The only thing I’m aware of is BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) from Inmarsat, but that is super expensive. I got service for one of my trips to Afghanistan just for doing college and it’s not something I would use for long term. It was planty fast and better than at the bases I was at too with speed around 290kbs on a terminal rated for 492kbs.
~Dan
The way to get broadband is to use version wireless wire less internet. I used it when I was out in the bush of AK. Verizon uses other phone towers in the area. It actually gets the best service, in my opinion.
Looks fun, but I think I would need a toilet.
We lived in a one room house in Germany without heat, or hot water, and an outdoor toilet booth in the courtyard while studying opera and my husband was a graduate student at Heidelberg. We got a chamber pot pretty fast to deal with nighttime toilet trips, and used a wood/coal stove with four cooking plates on top for heat and hot water. I always kept a large 5 gallon can of water on the back of the stove for hot water (along with a stock pot) and we got a metal washtub for baths. We dipped hot water out of the container to do the dishes, because no one wants a sudden diarrhea attack in the middle of the night when there is no nearby toilet, just a chamber pot. The little house we lived in was part of a complex that dated from the middle ages. We had three foot deep earthen walls and I kept food cool on the three foot wide window sills most of the year. Our cellar dated back to Roman times and we once found some Roman coins down there.
Jackie, do you have any photos from that experience? Would love to see them!
Hi Jackie – I would enjoy seeing pictures too and sharing your story here on the blog. Please contact me through the contact form if you are interested in sharing your story on the blog.
Mmmm, they can always set up walls, to block things off (like their bedroom) and give the baby his own room to. Those walls can have shelves as well, for more storage space.
Of course, only if they want it.
I live the idea of a yurt. Would rather go for a Tipi though. 😛
You can find lots of info about the couple, by searching Google. 😉
http://tinyurl.com/ygd4vcd
http://tinyurl.com/yzjss7l
Here are videos they have made, one includes their yurt.
http://www.vimeo.com/user1494699/videos
http://tinyurl.com/yfu5ubu
They can’t live to far from toen, they have an electric stove (1200 – 3000 watts)
Such a great lifestyle. I have a similar set up and it’s an amazing way to live. Life becomes a greater experience when you partake in the preparation of all the details which are seen as chores(negatively). Who needs a gym when you harvest and chop your own fire wood or heft drinking water from a spring or well? Most modern amenities are purely luxury and unnecessary. Especially a toilet. Less than a hundred years ago all our ancestors did just fine without wasting millions of gallons of clean drinking water on fecal waste disposal. Great article.
Agreed – I can live small, but I wouldn’t choose to live without a toilet. Otherwise, that’s a groovy yurt.
Yurts are finally getting their due in the mainstream. Although its exposure is great for people living in the round, there are a few things I would recommend.
1. The wood stove appears to be rather small for a Yurt of that size. If it’s 30′ in diameter, it would come close to 700 sq feet of space so a larger, more efficient stove would be required.
2. The Yurt model doesn’t appear to have sufficient insulation or reflective radiant bubble wrap, developed by NASA. Heat would leak without this important layer. Also another layer of felt or denim insulation between the external shell and inner radiant wrap would work effectively.
3. The space could be utilized more efficiently with a free-standing loft. This way, sleeping quarters can divided while freeing up space in the living areas.
Hi Kent! A visitor to my blog recently advised me to visit your blog. I’m so glad he did because we love your collection of tiny houses. I’m another Alaskan yurt dweller, my daughter and I build our own. We call them gertee, a Mongolian word that means “at home.” Here’s a youtube video we made in 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZiulKfj_-0
Epperson made the same observations I did, I just assumed it was warmer in Seldovia than where we live, because it usually is on the Peninsula. We have steadily added more insulation to our walls and ceilings, and now have a mixture of Radiant foil and R-19 fiberglass insulation. We cover ours with all kinds of interior fabrics.. canvas, linen, burlap, silk, cotton, some new, some recycled. Extra layers are absolutely essential to keep it at 68 above inside when it’s 40 below outside.
As for the convienence of indoor plumbing, there’s not a woman in Alaska who doesn’t do back flips when she gets her first inside toilet installed. Next thing you know, she starts wishing she had a shower, washer and dryer too. This is my 3rd winter in an unplumbed gertee, and my 2 year old grandson was born in the one we live in now. I will say it’s easier to toilet train when everybody uses a “potty chair”.
Hi Niki – I would enjoy sharing your story. Could you contact me using the contact form and share your blog and some more information about your life in a yurt. Thank you!
Im not sure if i would survive Alaska in Yurta. All best.
Satellite broadband can be plenty fast.
One of the things I really like about tiny houses, is usually they are very neat and tidy. Small spaces, in my opinion, demand organization because even a small mess fills the space.
The level of chaos inside this yurt made me itch! However, it certainly seems to be working for them. They look healthy and happy. More power to ’em.
This yurt is luxurious! I’ve spent Yukon winters in a wall tent with built up side walls that allowed a sleeping loft and heated with an old air-tight wood stove (basically a tin can) and no indoor plumbing or electricity. It was great except when you left for any length of time the fire would go out and the place would freeze up solid, spuds and all. The kids would always complain that the only time we could have ice cream was in winter. We were gradually closing in the wall tent with insulation and whatnot, which was a standard practice up there – several older houses in town had a wall tent beginning. Back then we got our water from a nearby creek, also bathed in it, cold water and all, even breaking the ice to do so on occasion. Much easier when you’re young! There were little log skyscrapers in Whitehorse built in 1947, a 3 storey and a 2 storey, each floor being a tiny apartment. http://gysde.gov.yk.ca:7777/pls/htmldb/f?p=111:10:90179917637542540::NO::P10_PLACE_ID,P10_VERSION_NO:3239%2C7
Great article, but I just wanted to mention how incredible the journey from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands where. They walked and carried small rafts 4000 miles. They are a rare breed these days, and it is nice to see that there are people out there that can still live happy lives without all the luxuries that we as a modern culture consider important. Living by the beat of your own drum! http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/index.php
While I wish them the best in their chosen lifestyle, I wonder how their child will develop with such a limited range of socialization?
Keira, I imagine just fine. The public school system and pop TV culture have dumbed down kids’ social skills. Hig grew up right where he’s raising his child. Looks like his social skills developed enough to get a PHd and meet a wife. Besides, nothing is mentioned about the people never interacting with others.
Thanks for another fine example of people living within their means. Happily I might add, too.
I’m guessing they have a generator to charge batteries or a really long extension cord to his parents house not pictured in the picture. The article leaves a lot to the imagination. 🙂
Great website!
Looks like a lot of fun. I would enjoy it. Except no running water and no toilet would make things a little difficult.