After we enjoyed being around the firepit recently, Bracken has been wanting to do it again. We were inspired to find that old tent Jeff had somewhere and that hadn’t been used in over ten years. He found it! Jeff raked and leveled the ground in the spot where we wanted to put it and then we spread a layer of straw. It was like extra padding to sleep on and it made it warmer. We got the tent set up. We realized it was missing a part for the top to cover the vents for rain and dew, so we made due with a tarp to cover it for the time being. Not too pretty, but it served it’s purpose. (Oh, and did you like our front door step that was an old chicken feed bag? Classy campers. Ha!)

And then I wondered and I asked Jeff: “How in the world would we be able to fit in there?” To me, it looked like the tent was made for a hobbit, it was so small. I’m not a particularly tall person, but I still had a hard time squeezing in there. Jeff insisted they wouldn’t make a tent that was too short for people to sleep in, but neither of us were convinced. Bracken was so excited by that point, we went with it. I was determined to make it work. We had one sleeping bag, so we laid that across the bottom. We bundled up in wool for the night, since even though it’s been very hot during the day, it gets cold in these mountains at night. (Who knew all those handknits would come in handy in the summertime?) We brought out pillows and blankets and our tent was set for the night. I have memories of camping when I was a kid and I loved it. I wanted Bracken to have fun camping memories too. And I so love the feeling of sleeping so close to the earth. Wouldn’t it be great fun to sleep out in the tent in the backyard?

I was happy that I found organic hotdogs at the store, with grass-fed beef and good ingredients. They didn’t even have sugar, so I felt pretty lucky in discovering them. I picked up some hot dog roasters at REI. Bracken learned how to roast hot dogs over the fire for the first time. He loved it! (And has been asking to do it every night since.) It brought back childhood memories of doing that. We had hoped some friends could join us in roasting hotdogs around the fire, but we had a great time the three of us. Jeff brought out some homemade sauerkraut and some mustard and then we were really enjoying our hotdogs.

Jeff created our firepit with an old woodstove, that was in our house once upon a time. It didn’t work great as a woodstove. We tried it in the house, we tried it in his woodshop, and eventually we had to retire it. That old potbelly stove sat around and we didn’t know what to to do with it. And now we couldn’t be happier with it’s use. He dug the first part down, and put some concrete tubes underneath to bring in oxygen. Then he set the next barrel on top. The wood burns so well in it. That old stove has finally found it’s purpose, it makes a fantastic firepit.

The view from our seat by the firepit is the chicken coop, chickens, the grape arbor, and the mountains on the other side of the river. I love watching the chickens cluck around while we sit around the fire and I love watching the mountains across the river turn golden with the last of the sunshine. I like watching nighttime happen. First the sun goes behind the mountain and only the golden glow is left on the mountains across the river. Then it gets darker and eventually the chickens start making their way into the coop. Twilight comes. It’s always fun to spot the very first stars. And then, a sky full of them.

The coop was closed up for the night and we all got settled in the tent. We fully intended to spend the night in there. Bracken was in the middle and doesn’t like having covers on him, never has since he was a baby. So naturally he kept kicking the blanket off that Jeff and I were trying to share on either side of him. To be able to fit my body I couldn’t lay flat and stretch out, I had to curve to fit in there. The cars driving by sounded so loud in the tent. And then the train. The train! I couldn’t believe how insanely loud it was (or that Bracken slept through it.) There was grating metal louder than the loudest thunderstorm. After that I thought I’d finally get some sleep. But I was so darn uncomfortable. So was Jeff. We each got a little sleep. And then finally, in the middle of the night, when we both were awake and had hardly slept, we first breached the question of possibly going inside. Bracken was snoozing in the middle, all sprawled out with his feet on Jeff, and happy as a clam. I didn’t want him to be disappointed. I wanted for him to be able to wake up in the morning in the tent. But I also wanted to get some sleep. And I had a back cramp from my terrible position. We had a big day the next day, with lots of work to do, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to function well without sleep.

Finally we decided to go inside. As I carried Bracken inside, he woke up and looked at the stars. We lingered for a few moments before we went indoors. It turns out he wasn’t disappointed at all about not sleeping the whole night in the tent, he thought it was a grand adventure to sleep part of the night out there. I can’t tell you how wonderful it felt to crawl into bed, stretch out, and sleep! I felt like a totally pathetic camper, but in all honestly, to make it work we are definitely going to need a larger tent. And having three sleeping bags would be nice too.

So what has become of our little hobbit tent? It’s a permanent structure in our summer garden. It has become a fort for Bracken and he can play in it whenever we’re out working in the garden. I guess that tent has found it’s purpose too. And that’s the story of our almost backyard campout.