I have a question for everyone.

[Marshall Eppley]

I thought it might be interesting to ask What made you interested in yurts?

[Marshall Eppley]

For me it was CRAMPED UP POP-CAMPER lol i looked into tepees but thought of hauling 25 foot poles around didn't seem to fit my plans. Not sure how i came across Yurts but after months of research i found plans on the net. with usae of a drill press and table saw a yurt was born and i was hooked.

[Jafo]

For myself, I have a piece of property up in the Adirondacks that has gone Father to Son for a few generations. We never had a camp on our piece, we just used our relatives camp on the neighboring piece. When I bought it from my father, I decided I wanted my own hunting camp. After talking with a friend of mine, he got me interested in yurts. It wasn't long after that, I decided to go with it. I loved the idea of being able to take it all down and barely leave a footprint. I love our property because it is in the Adirondack Park. It is very isolated and wild. I can't think of a more beautiful, serene place to be.

Thanks for starting such a good thread!

[HawaiiYurts]

I got hooked when I started researching affordable housing alternatives. I was finishing up a psych degree and was working with the displaced indigenous population here in Hawaii. Rent was killing my budget. I built the first kit from a less than reputable company, had to do a lot of fixing and brain work. Finally got it permitted after a lot of struggles and education of the 'authorities', moved in and I was absolutely hooked. I switched to working with a top notch manufacturer before long and have loved the work ever since.

After going to the world yurt maker's conference in France in 09 and seeing the European versions along with the traditional styles, and the history and cultures behind them, it deepened my appreciation and the desire to see the American industry work together more for the benefit of these kinds of structures as a 'game changer' in the American concept of what makes a home.

Yurtists are some of my favorite people these days

[Woodyrock]

I attend a gathering in Central Oregon every early spring at 4000 feet. The road in is usually not passable for a camping trailer, so, tents are the next best thing. There are usually several tipi's, but the poles are problem transporting. One lone yurt comes, and that made my decision to research yurts. I have been aware of yurts since the sixties, but the early ones I saw were not really suited to camping. The traditional Mongolian Ger is, and that is what I have built. It goes up in an hour working alone, and comes down as fast, although help is much appreciated. Not having a source of heavy felt for the

insulation

, I sewed several layers of disaster blankets together. The disaster blankets are a felted mixture of synthetic material, and wool.
Woody

[Groovyyurts]

Hej Marshall - nice to see you here :-)
when I first drove my truck to Mongolia delivering school supplies in 2003 (globetrucker.org), i needed a back load to Europe and always had the dream to buy a local product to support local economy. Mongolian gers were ideal and I rapidly fell in love with this incredible design that has been shaped by the elements over hundreds of years... and the life of the Mongolian nomads. Being able to work with these yurts is a passion and a blessing that allows me to visit the most wonderful places and people in Mongolia and now North America. Life is good!

[Marshall Eppley]

Originally Posted by Groovyyurts

Hej Marshall - nice to see you here :-)
when I first drove my truck to Mongolia delivering school supplies in 2003 (globetrucker.org), i needed a back load to Europe and always had the dream to buy a local product to support local economy. Mongolian gers were ideal and I rapidly fell in love with this incredible design that has been shaped by the elements over hundreds of years... and the life of the Mongolian nomads. Being able to work with these yurts is a passion and a blessing that allows me to visit the most wonderful places and people in Mongolia and now North America. Life is good!

For sure you never know where ill turn up but if you think yurt ill be there sooner or later.

[Kira]

"affordable housing options" -- yeah, plus I love the idea of a round house. I stayed in a yurt on my honeymoon and really liked how it felt to be in there.

My husband and I were trying to decide if we wanted to buy a house or buy property or what, and then we realized that my parents already own property and perhaps we could take advantage of some family resources. Since we've had a baby I figured that they'd love it if we lived closer, and I was right. We're going to rent a section near their house and put up a yurt on it. Even with the decking, plumbing and bathroom enclosure/loft, we ought to have it all paid off in the next four years. That's a huge deal for kids in their 30s, you know? Without endless mortgage payments we might be able to afford to send our kid to college . . .

[amberoons]

interesting reading all the different stories... it was a good question to ask!

I built mine after moving to PEI when my mother decided this is where she wanted to settle for a while. Ultimately I wanted to spend as little as i could on a property, but needed land as I had 15 Alpacas at the time and 2 kids... and I have a real huge need for space. The places with large enough property had old old houses that were far from kept up and would need upwards of 50 k of upgrades... major stuff like new foundations whole new septic systems and wells and... well... pretty much everything else and they still wanted top price for this area of the island. So that was a pretty unsettling prospect. One of my good friends suggested the possibility of building a yurt... but making it as more of a permanent structure. It still ended up costing a lot, but not as a result of the Yurts themselves but the general setting up of a property in these parts... its still a massively better investment for this area than any of the houses. Its also become so popular here its been in the paper and on TV in the first year it was built... so much for my need for space and solitude :-P

[Dan R-M]

We had some friends in northern Indiana who bought a second-hand Pacific Yurt, and between the novelty of the roundness and the beauty of the character the 1st owner passed down (amazing wood floors, telephone-pole loft, etc.) I was all about it. And, like many other things in life, I filed it away as something I loved but would never do myself until it suddenly seemed like it was the perfect thing.
And it will be again, someday