Yurt Platform Progress

So, we left off with the C horizon, clay.  We made a big pile of clay outside of the yurt circle.  That took a few days effort as we just worked mornings until lunch time and then called it quits for the day.  It’s hot, Brent has paid work to do and we’re not twenty years old anymore, so there!

The day finally came when we could level our yurt circle/platform.  We bought a 10# tamper and Brent beat it into submission while I was off gathering small rocks we’d need later.

10# tamper

Leveled and pounded into submission.

It was looking good!  Then, it felt to me like we ruined it all! 

We are creating a rubble trench “foundation” for a “bond beam” to sit on.  The bond beam is where the lattice for the yurt will rest and be attached and the bender board will hug the outside of the bond beam (will in fact be the outer form for the bond beam).  So, you have to dig down beneath the level that frost can affect your foundation.  We read that that is about 18” here.  You can do that or dig down to bedrock, whichever comes first.  Well, our location isn’t perfectly level, so we had to dig a lot deeper on the uphill side than on the downhill side. 

North part of trench.

South part of trench.

Supervisor Suki.

Moat/Trench and pile.

So, we’ve been digging and digging and shoveling and Brent’s had to bring in the pick axe, too.  Lots of clay, lots of rotten rock and lots of decomposed granite.  We’ve been at this for what seems like forever, though it obviously hasn’t been (3 days really).  So, why do I feel like we ruined our level yurt circle?  Cuz all the crap we dug out of the moat, I mean trench, got tossed onto our nice level circle.  Now there’s a big mound of clay/rotten rock/decomposed granite.  Much of it will get used in place, but there will still be plenty that needs moving.  Ugh.  There just wasn’t a way to do this without having to move some of the same dirt more than once – so inefficient!  

 We have enjoyed having a little shade addition to our worksite thanks to Brent's folks:

And we've enjoyed some pretty wildflowers:

Desert 4 O'Clock

Sweet 4 O'Clock

 

 













Our next step is to go for a fun mountain bike ride tomorrow morning and maybe a hike with Suki on Friday.  Then, we need to gather rocks to put in our rubble trench.  Rocks is something this place has a LOT of.  Oh, we also need to create a drain out somewhere and fill that with rock, so some more digging to come.