home is where yurt

an overcast blue-grey morning. the roads are still a little shiny from the rain that passed through yesterday to pin a little of the dust to the ground. the city i live in spreads sand liberally throughout the winter in order to aid the traction of the four and eighteen wheel traffic that requires a degree of grip while traversing the slick white stuff. when the slick white and shiny stuff has disappeared we are left with lots and lots of sand that has been ground to a fine powder that lifts with the passage of those same four and eighteen wheelers. this dust rises above the surface to quite literally envelope the city in a dusty fog that i see from the vantage point of the hill i descend in the morning. that i am breathing the stuff in and have the gritty feel and taste of sand and salt in my mouth while i am cycling into work - well that’s an occupational hazhard i guess! friends suggest that i am at least replacing the sodium i lose as i sweat it out . . . .

way back when i was reading the last whole earth catalogue - one of many of stewart brand’s brain children that have altered the course of my life - i remember one feature that dealt with a form of housing that is commonplace in many parts of the world and which appears in my own country in a very modified form suited to the environment. the heading of the article was “home is where yurt” a play on “home is where your at” a hippyesque epithet that rings true for anyone who reaches the point where they recognize that home is a state of mind as much as a material experience.

so what’s a yurt? well, described simply it’s a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling used in the steppes of central asia. as with all similar structures, it’s design and function are reflective of the needs of the nomadic people’s who use it. the wide range of temperatures experienced on the steppes means that the structure must be responsive to both high heat (up to 40 celsius) and freezing cold (minus 40 celsius).

here are a couple of examples that you can buy at mogultravel.com.
here are a couple of beautiful photographs taken by belinda schneider over at bel’s nook. if you visit belinda’s site be sure to read the article about her stay in a yurt.
my limited knowledge of yurts led me to believe that they were cumbersome to put together and take apart but watching the following two videos reveals that this is not at all the case!

a kazakh yurt being assembled . . .

a mongolian yurt being disassembled . . .
pacific yurts out in oregon are one of the largest manufacturers of yurts. celebrating their thirtieth year of operation they have a slick website with all sorts of information ranging from the usual faq’s “what is a yurt?” to customer testimonials from people living year-’round in their yurts in the bone-chilling backwoods of a minnesota winter. north american yurts tend to be more lavishly furnished as they are usually permanently situated and so not subject to the need for simplicity necessitated by the nomadic lifestyle of the building’s originators.

in canada you can visit yurtco out in british columbia. yurtco has a really nice photo gallery of their yurts being used in a number of b.c. parks as well as at various ski resorts. here are some interior shots of one of their yurts. remember. no matter what you choose or how you finish your yurt - home is where yurt.