The Yestermorrow Yurt

The Yestermorrow Yurt built by roughly a dozen students and teachers this past summer, now is sheltering folks from the wind and the storm.

Green Yurt Workshops 2011 !!!

UPDATE: COSTS AND REGISTRATION DETAILS AT:

http://www.blacksheepdesigns.com/fling2011.html

Bruce Wm Sargent has committed to a yurt frame building intensive, August 20-23, 2011


at Snow Farm, in Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley.

The frame intensive will coordinate with a second intensive on making felt yurt covers by Annemie Koenen, a Dutch feltmaker with extensive yurt making experience in Kyrgyzstan.

The intensives are parts of a larger program, The Felters' Fling Conference 2011, lead by Sharon Costello of Black Sheep Designs.


For answers to questions and more information, email Bruce Wm Sargent at forloveofyurts@gmail.com

UK Luxary Yurts From Tara

Amazing yurt images from Tara.

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GoYurt.com For an Affordable Yurt Experience

Portable, green, innovative yurts for a simple and direct yurt experience. Worth a look. Check them out!

Yurt Work Shops in Vermont and Elsewhere 2011

The planning for several yurt building workshops is underway for 2011. Helping to build a simple 12 ft yurt gives a person an experience to build a larger yurt of their own, all at a very low material cost. The curriculum is shifting a bit to include green and sustainable coverings and framing by working with people from Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Stay tuned for details.

The Yestermorrow Yurt/ Your Costs To Own Today

Two 12 foot yurts, have been produced by 12 students in two day classes, twice this summer at Yestermorrow: Design/Build School.

Lumber prices today from Allen Lumber, Montpelier Vermont would look like this:

(80) 1"x3" x8' furring strips @ $1.16 ea. $ 92.80 for wall rods and rafters
(3) 2"x4" x8' @$2.64 ea. $ 7.92 for door frame
(4) 1"x4" x6' @$.47 linear ft $ 11.28 for door trim and frame support
(1) 3/4"x 4'x8' exterior plywood $ 26.17 for roof ring
(4) 2"x3" x8' @$2.12 ea. $ 8.48 for roof ring and roof ring supports
(36) 10x24 x2 1/2" machine screws, nuts,washers $ 31.68 for joining wall rods

Prices today from Sportsman's Guide:

1 roll, 300' parachute cord $ 25.00 for joining wall rods
2 French Military tow straps, 5 meters long, rated at 6,000 lbs. $30.00 for tension band

Total Cost for Yurt Frame with Tension Band: $233.33

Covering the Yurt today would cost:
From Wholesale.Tarp.Net
(5) 6'x8' 17 oz canvas tarps @ $22 ea. $110 for wall covering
From MyTarp.com
(9) Heavy duty white poly tarps @ $5.50 $ 49.50 for roof covering
From Home Depot:
(2) 50' rolls of RhinoGrip Double Sided Carpet Tape @ $10 ea. $20 for joining roof panels
Stanley 3/8" Grommet Kit @$9 $ 9

Total cost to cover $188.50

TOTAL MATERIAL COST OF YOUR 12 FOOT DIY YURT TODAY: $421.83

A plastic dome for the yurt from Ez Tops/Global Plastic will run about $500 with shipping or you can make a dome from scrap plumbing pipe (comes in red or blue) Mongolian hunting yurt style, for no cost. Which one makes more sense, $500 or $0? The choice is yours!

The construction would also require nails and glue for the door frame as well as ropes and cord to lash the covering tarps down.

The whole deal is as simple as that.

Detailed plans of how to build these yurts, with a plastic dome or with a Mongolian hunting yurt dome, will be available November 15, 2010. Check this website for additional information in the coming days. Oh by the way, the plans will be in metric measurements as well as English measurements.

Yurt Magic

Happy yurt dweller, Claire Wolfe, has posted an article today entitled Yurt Magic: Building an Enchanting Instant House at Backwoods Home Magazine. Could anyone say it better? Great article! Check it out. It is a must read for folks thinking of a used yurt.

Hand Built Yurt in Adirondacks

A hand built yurt, 1970's style, has been completed and commented on in two blogs: Matt Hickman and Treehugger . Just beautiful! Be sure and visit.



Image: Liz Vidyarthi via Re-Nest

My Book Website Has Been Down

My Book Website Has Been Down....Frustration....I have notified by email my website provider minutes ago and am looking forward to an early resolution of this difficulty...

The site is up and running again within two hours on Friday night after the close of business...there is no one better in the industry, than Aaron Handford at http://www.floatingworld.ca/ ...he is the best

Bruce Sargent

Green Yurt Building Workshop 2011

I've just agreed to running a three day workshop with felt makers next August, in Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley, on yurt building. A big step toward creating Green yurts!
August 20-August 23, 2011. Watch here for details or email me at forloveofyurts@gmail.com

Stephen Gelly Farm Yurt

Recent post on an organic farm in the UK, Stephen Gelly Farm, that has guest accommodations of a Mongolian style yurt. I am noticing that yurts in the UK and Europe tend to be simpler camping yurts based on the old style, while yurts in North America tend to be the heavily engineered yurts that are permanent structures. This can't be all snow loads a building codes. What's with that?

Tracking down the link went through Elaine's British & Irish Food Blog that had pictures of braised lamb shank posted. Great fare for a traditional yurt.

Elaine writes: "There are many recipes for Braised Lamb Shanks but this is one of my favourites. The Lamb Shank is cooked very slowly in a good red wine (I emphasise good, never cook with wine you wouldn't drink) which tenderises the meat until, when it is cooked, the meat will quite literally fall from the bone."

Extreme Adventure: Yurt Living

A traditional yurt in Kyrgyzstan near Song Tul Lake, as photographed by Noll. The yurt's resident has arisen at sunrise for breakfast and early- morning tea.

Ex-Patriot American couple, living in Prague, travel way beyond civilization, seeking a full life.

Another Student Built Yurt

Eleven students at Yestermorrow/Design-Build School built this yurt from scratch in two days this weekend. It was a joy working with them and I am feeling proud to have led them in their work and study.

Luxury Yurts: "Roughing" It In Style

In a travelchannel.com post by Matt Villano, a list of luxury yurt accommodations from around the world...British Colombia, Spain, California and Mongolia.

Yurtel 2 = Yurt Hotel in Spain

A yurt hotel in Spain uses the term "yurtel" to describe itself (a yurt hotel).

Laurel Nest's Yurtle

From Tiny House Bog:

"Asia contacted me the other day about an interesting tiny house concept. Asia is the owner of a company called Laurel Nest Yurts. Here is what Asia had to say: We just “invented” a yurt on a trailer, with a round deck."

WaY CoOL!

Jennifer McChristian's Ecstatic Oil Painting of Yurts/10 Ways Yurts Tranform You

Many yurt projects have kept me busy recently (study of my 16' yurt, planning a second 12' yurt for a workshop class, rewriting plans for building a 12' yurt) and I was happy to discover Jennifer McChristian Paintings of yurts to be a breath of fresh air. Her post was entitled Exquisitely Ecstatic Esalen Workshop. Seeing her yurt images in oil on canvas inspired me to continue to refine the the idea of a simple and direct yurt for providing homes. To engage the idea of yurts is to really change your relationship to shelter...yurt shelters move your being toward the

1. Simple
2. Affordable
3. Sustainable
4. Dry and well ventilated
   
5. Warm/Cool in appropriate season
6. Moveable
7. Comfortable
8. Natural World
9. Spiritual World
10. Ecstatic

Change your shelter and you will change yourself.

Sail Making Technology Applied to Yurt Covering

A David Cain photograph at Yurtville.

The yurt making workshop used sailmaking technology to join ployvinyl sections cut from tarps to cover the yurt. Double sided carpet tape, 3M product, was used to join sections. The joints were hammered down with a rubber mallet to tighten the joint. Quick and easy solution derived from sail makers making sails from tarps. See Making A Polytarp Sail, by David "Shorty" Routh at Duckworks for details. Messing-about.com also has some helpful ideas on polytarp sails and other sail/yurt cover solutions.

A Little Big Yurt

Some details of a little big yurt are shown above. The 12 foot yurt seems big inside. The dome is shaped from constructions scraps, "pix" plastic piping from a plumbing job. Cost=$0. Total material cost of the yurt was under $650. See more details in a post by my co-teacher, David Cain, at Yurtville. and at Maggie Neale, my partner's site, Colormusings.

My Work in a Yurt Workshop

I have been busy preparing and giving a yurt workshop at Yestermorrow in Waitsfield VT. My co-teachers, David Cain and Mary Kate Wheeler were outstanding, as were the dozen students. We constructed and covered a yurt from scratch, turning lumber and tarps into a dwelling, in two days. The total cost of the project was about $650. Thanks to all who did really hard work to make this happen.

My DIY Yurt Goes Up

Chris and Twig taking a break after putting up my DIY sixteen foot yurt in its fourth location. The floor panels, walls, door frame, rafters and roof ring come apart and fit in my pickup truck. A crew of six made easy work of the walls and putting up the roof ring, the crew all friends of Jonah Neale. Without Jonah and his friends I would be several Sundays away from getting it to this stage. Have thoughts of insulation and a wood stove and keeping warm in cold fall and spring nights.

Yurts and Chaco Canyon

Photo by JOHN PEEL/Herald

I discovered today in and article entitled Astronomers Will Admire Chacoans' Knowledge
that a visitor center at Chaco Canyon is a yurt.

Yurt Accommodations In Europe

I received an email today:

Greetings Bruce

I write from the online travel community Airbnb.com

Currently I am creating an area on our site specifically for Yurt rentals. You seem like an authority in the field and by far the most frequent blog contributor, so you are the first person I wanted to contact in my search for exposure on the blogosphere.

Recently we began offering these Yurt accommodations on our site:

In UK: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/26890
In Ireland: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/27398
In Hawaii: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/28739
And this Yurt from Rob Matthews at the Yurt Workshop and Hooting Owl in Spain:
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/27440

Any coverage you could oblige would be greatly appreciated. I love your story and notions of human shelter; you would be a welcomed member of the Airbnb community. Please let me know your thoughts and if there is anyway we could possibly reciprocate the effort.

Thank you Bruce and I look forward to hearing from you.

Justin

Justin Hauge
415.287.0208
847.881.6237

Check them out.
They seem to be way out front on yurt accommodations. AND!!! Wa-a-ay cool links in the email. Reciprocate? Let's keep sharing yurts with the world. Thanks for letting us know about what you are doing. Accommodations

Yurts 101

Recent blog in The Examiner answers question: What is a yurt?

And of course much more.

Yurts and Souls

Beautiful article at www.ooh.com: Remote Retreats and Rejuvenating the Soul....

Song Kul yurts, Kyrgyzstan

Maybe not the obvious choice for a hotel stay, but a night’s rest in a nomadic yurt in Kyrgyzstan will at least give you a memorable experience. If you’re not fussed with fluffy pillows and bath robes, you’ll loving staying in the yurts at Song Kul Lake, located 3,016m above sea level. Live the Genghis Khan dream, trek, watch the fantastic wildlife and breathe some seriously fresh air. The nearest town is 500 miles away, so rest assured: no one will disturb you. More details can be found on Dragoman’s website.

Flirt With A Yurt

Recent article from the UK entitled Flirt With A Yurt from The Northern Echo.

IN TENTS: A yurt with its own decking area

A Look at The Colorado Yurt Company

A YouTube post is a fun look at Inside the Colorado Yurt Company

Yurts, "white wool wind," and a winter journey in spring

A travel blog details recent experiences in Mongolian yurts.
Wonderful story about winter, connections and yurts.

May children feel joy, without restraint.
Taking pictures, we yet leave on the plains
The impression of a smiling face.
Following dreams, we leave footsteps
Trailing in a snowy place.

Yurts & Top 25 Summer Festivals

Revellers enjoy the dance stage at the EXIT Festival in Serbia

Timesonline yesterday wrote of the UK and Europe's top 25 summer festivals, some with yurt accommodations.

Pennsylvania Yurt Camping

Yurts introduced at Yellow Creek State Park

Yurt camping is now available in Indiana, Pennsylvania's Yellow Creek State Park.

"The rental fee for the yurts during the offseason is $55 a night on Fridays and Saturdays, and $33 a night Sunday through Thursday, or $216 per week. Prices are slightly higher during the peak season that begins June 11."

Sounds very affordable to me.

For Love of Yurts: The Book

Several years ago I wanted a yurt and couldn't afford a yurt kit. So designed and built two that I could afford, yurts that cost me well under $1000. I wrote a book about the experiences that is intended to open people to their own explorations, designs and constructions. If you want a yurt, I believe that you can have one. The book is offered as an e-book that is instantly delivered to your computer as a pdf file. Your investment is $12.95 USD and is made through PayPal at my website: http://www.forloveofyurts.com. This process sends you to a page that delivers the book to your computer. (The book is also offered in a paperback version at Amazon.com, bookstores and the website).

Affordable Vacations: Yurts in Oregon State Parks

Young visitors scan the beach by the century-old shipwreck of the
Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens State Park, one of 18 Oregon
coastal parks with camping.

State Parks in Oregon offer vacations close to home in affordable yurts:

"What's more, most of the campgrounds feature free hot showers, many have yurts for rent, and even a full hookup site won't cost you more than $28 in the peak summer season at the most popular campground (or about $21 for a tent site) -- just down the road from hotels that might charge $200 a night. Got to give Oregon credit for keeping all those state parks open in tough times. It gives lots of folks a close-to-home vacation option that's hard to beat."