Ran across some old photos and began to reminisce about the two years we spent living in a straw bale yurt. I designed the yurt while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT), and built it during my first quarter of grad school at Ohio University. My AT journal is littered with numbers divided or multiplied by 3.16-something. Thinking in the round will do that to you.
We had “walking water” instead of running water, and kerosene lamps provided the lighting. Pots and pans, utensils, a lighter, and headlamps hung from the rafters. We still use the bed, part of which was made from trees I cut nearby. Tree limbs also contributed to the little table for the Coleman stove, shelving, clothes rods, and coat hooks. A plastic sheet sufficed for a door for the first three months, and occasionally a bird would fly and wonder what they’d gotten themselves into.
My adviser’s accountant’s dad (say that 10 times) owned 3,500 acres nearby and we worked out an arrangement. For $100 bucks a month and I could have the run of the property agreeing to keep an eye out for poachers. Rumor had it that he’d ice-picked several poacher’s tires over the years. Can’t say I blame him.
The yurt was about 150 yards from the dirt road, and everything had to be carried in. I once managed to get the car down to the building site while towing a trailer full of lumber, nearly ripping off the exhaust system in the process. The muffler eventually did let go, making my 12-year-old Pontiac sound like it was running hot into turn four at Talladega.
Everything in the yurt was built from scratch. I cobbled up a smoky woodstove with a barrel-stove kit, and about a year later I built a windmill based on some reading at www.Otherpower.com. While the windmill never generated enough electricity to mess with, it was fun to watch it spin in the breeze and predict the weather. Southeastern Ohio is not exactly known for its wind potential.
This cozy little 256- square foot love nest was the most efficient place I’ve ever lived in. Everything was in sight and within arm’s reach. It was like living on a sailboat more than anything else. The yurt and its occupants reacted to all stages of weather. Storms would rush over, making a cacophony until things settled calmed down. Snow would first pile up then slide down the roof in one fell swoop. The three-foot skylight lit up the room up with every full moon.
Living in the straw-bale yurt wasn’t always easy, but it was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Anyone else live in a funky place like this? Would you go back?
I haven’t YET, but I wouldn’t say no to it. In fact, I am thinking about building a healing center with like minded people. Buying some land and living on there in Yurts, tipi’s, tent’s and whatever anyone likes to start off with.
That sound’s fantastic! Get everything on paper to clear up any confusion and go for it!
-John
I am interested in building my own yurt here in Ohio (about 1.5 hours north of Columbus) and I am interested in knowing how you came up with the plans and if you were willing to make them available to others. I haven’t seen a straw-bale yurt so far!
Hope your trip is going well!
I lived in a tipi for 8 months in Oregon near Wolf Creek [there are no secrets in Wolf Creek]. I thought of it as primitive living 101. Wood was available on a nearby hillside that had been slash cut some years before and water from a nearby creek. Luckily it doesn’t get too cold in that part of Oregon, if it snows it usually melts off the next day.
So many locales will deny anything but “traditional” housing apparently required to ensure the “proper” locals and their firms will obtain their “proper” share of the funds required to create the shelter needed for survival.
Changes had better be made as a growing number of Americans are forced down into a 2nd-world life-style.
” There’s class warfare, all right, Mr. (Warren) Buffett said, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
I lived in a tipi for a year on a chunk of Alberta prairie. It had an isulated floor, an airtight woodstove, and insulated pipe which went up through the closed flaps. The tipi had a canvas liner on the inside that went up about 7 feet. It was the coldest winter in 40 years. I stoked a fire at bedtime and turned everything down. In the morning, I woud open up the damper and draught and get back into bed for half an hour. Lots of cool memories from that year. The yurt sounds more comfortable and practical though. Great story.
I agree, and think it’s something that needs attention. Take care of the sanitary issues, and you can help folks get a leg up by living in “sub-standard” housing on a short term basis.
First of all there is nothing about straw bale construction that is sub standard. Having worked in the construction industry for a number of years I can say that the box mentality is overwhelming. I was also a Fire Marshall and Fire Investigator (retired). Straw bale is a very affordable and efficient building material (R-2 per inch). With a concrete foundation, concrete bond beam (cap) and plaster inside and out, straw bale walls become nearly fire and vermin proof. Yurts and other forms of housing in reality become the preference of those who live in them. I did an addition to my home a few years ago using straw bale construction. I wish the rest of the house was constructed the same way. It is complete insanity to think that we can continue to cut down forests to build housing. Obbop sad but true.
I agree completely. Bale homes are quiet, energy efficient, and (with practices becoming more standardized) the same or less cost than conventional construction. When we build, we’ll be building with bales.