Posted by Sam Kigar on Fri, Aug 13, 2010
Our web developer Adam Silverstein grows things. He recently grew our web page, matured its navigation and improved it's search-ability. But websites are far from the only thing Adam grows. In addition to Earthbound Website Development and Hosting, Adam owns and operates the Round Earth Farm here in southwest Colorado.
Round Earth is a sustainable and organic farm, located on a fertile mesa above Hotchkiss, Colorado; and Adam's work on the farm is a community service. He sets to work each day with enthusiasm for working the land and the desire to get good local food to the inhabitants of his valley. Part of this service is passing his knowledge about farming onto eager young people. For this reason Adam brings on several interns (in addition to five employees) each growing season. He houses his interns in an Earthworks tipi and a Colorado Yurt.
Together Adam and his crew work the 25 acres. "We grow vegetables from a to z. That's artichokes to zuchinni. Plus," Adam says, "we just put in a 1/2 acre of mixed fruit and a 1/2 acre of raspberries and blackberries." In exchange for room, board and a modest stipend, the interns get to see the farm through an entire growing cycle. They are involved in all aspects of the farm--from planting to sale. The produce is sold to retail and wholesale outlets as well as through Adam's CSA (Communitee Supported Agriculture), called Turkey Hill.
The interns say good things about staying in the tipi and the yurt. While farming restores a connection with food, living in these structures allows interns to nuture their relationship with the land.
Round Earth is part of a growing trend among farms that find yurts and tipis present a viable solution to a variety of needs. Turns out that these structures are both philosophically and practically suited to these types of farms.
- They’re low-impact: Like sustainable farming methods, they leave a small footprint on the land.
- They’re (semi-)portable: As the demands of space change on this relatively small parcel of land, the structures can be moved to accommodate.
- They're round: The shape of these structures resonates not only with the name of Adam's farm but also with the cycles that support and sustain his farm.
It has been wonderful working with Adam, getting to watch his farm develop, and, of course, eating his delicious produce. Thanks Adam!
Thinking of a farming (or any other) yurt?
Here are some good things to think about!
Posted by Sam Kigar on Tue, Jun 01, 2010
Yurts run the gamut from DIY (do-it-yourself) to pre-fab. Most people who live in a yurt purchased a kit from a professional company. Recently though, I was looking at some pictures from a Colorado Yurt Company customer when hit me: all yurts, to varying degrees, are do-it-yourself. While some of our customers contract out bits and pieces in and around their yurt (e.g. site preparation and deck) the vast majority play a large role in giving shape to their yurt. Each customer builds a unique yurt; we just facilitate. Take the case of Samantha Swenson and Duncan Masters.
Envisioning
The first step in the building process for the Swenson-Masters began with a stroll across their land in eastern North Carolina. When they imagined a home there, they saw a yurt.
Actually they saw two
The Swenson-Masters wanted their yurt to be a physical expression of their ideals of economy, ecology, and luxury.
Samantha says their love of reading guided their use of space in the yurt. Between the newlyweds’ two collections there were a lot of books. Samantha says, “We figured out all the possible places to put shelves and then added everything else.” Using the bookshelves as functional walls, they divided the big yurt into quarters: the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, and the office/craft area and future nursery.
Luxury
Moving into a yurt was obviously a step into an “alternative” lifestyle but not as much as you might assume. In Samantha’s words,
"We are still interested in maintaining a relatively average lifestyle inside eccentric surroundings, finding balance between being eco-friendly and being your average active working individuals who love high-speed internet and crime drama TV shows..."
In addition to crime TV they love having people over. They left the front half of their yurt, the kitchen and living room open and inviting, while moving the clutter of everyday life to the back of the yurt.
Designing the Kitchen
For their kitchen they decided on IKEA’s Varde series, which appealed to them ascetically and because it’s freestanding. The counter space is movable and the table expands.
The smaller yurt houses a bathroom and utility area. Luxury found its home in the bathroom. It has a shower with bench, deep soaker jacuzzi tub (with a rubber ducky)...
... and a beautiful, handcrafted sink and vanity.
Another wonderful thing about this yurt is that it is handicap accessible.
Like all great homes, the Swenson-Master’s is a work in progress. They are currently adding a loft to the big yurt for Samantha’s craft projects. By the time their baby-to-be is school age they hope to add another yurt to the mix.
Some folks are more hands-off in their approach to designing their yurt than these guys, others do more. Regardless of where you fall on the DIY to Pre and Post-Fab continuum, the decision to live in a yurt is the decision to live in house that reflects you. The round space and flood of natural light provide an inspiring place to build a your unique home.
Get started designing your yurt with our "
Color Your Yurt" tool!
Posted by Sam Kigar on Mon, May 24, 2010
One stormy spring evening a few weeks ago, our display yurt played host to economic development officers from across Colorado. Sandy Head, of the Montrose Economic Development Corporation, worked to bring her colleagues from around the state to Montrose for an evening of mingling, food, and wine.
We were still glowing from being selected as one of the "50 Colorado Companies to Watch"; so, needless to say, we were pleased to have members of the selection committee with us in the yurt.
Economic Officers Drink Wine and Check out the CYC Brochure
As people ducked out of the harsh wind they smiled at the immediate calm of the yurt. I watched folks move around the space. They examined the lattice and rafters, and then moved toward the center where they began introducting themselves. The space was abuzz with conversation. People were asking each other questions about the yurt, "What do yurts cost?" "Where do they come from?"
The room was primed by the time I took the floor to give a bit of history about the company and our products. The boisterous group could barely hold back questions. "Why Yurts?" "Because we believe that their circular structure and inherent closeness to nature lends itself to powerful and positive human interaction." The party around us was proof enough and people nodded appreciatively; as they did when they found out how much a yurts costs.
I demonstrate the compression/tension system
After I finished speaking, local chef Anthony Damiano announced dinner and explained his upcoming restaurant and culinary school project. As the storm raged, the group tucked into a heartily sumptuous meal. They ate and drank well into the night.
With over thirty of our state's movers and shakers nestled into the yurt, the structure was serving one of its original, intended functions: a gathering place where community members come together, share ideas and have a good time. Plus, as guest after guest exclaimed that they or someone they know absolutely needs a yurt, I realized that the best testimonial for yurts is a yurt.
Find out where you can book a yurt for your next community function...
Posted by Sam Kigar on Mon, Apr 12, 2010
I love my yurt! It is a beautiful structure that evokes a kind of special magical feeling.
Last spring, I erected a 24 foot yurt in Evergreen Colorado, to house my 15 foot therapy pool.
I use the pool to give Watsu sessions to my clients. Watsu is a kind of water therapy that combines Shiatsu with water. I float people in a pool of warm water. I support their bodies while I move them through the water giving them gentle stretches and twists. It is both relaxing and rejuvenating. In July of 2009, I opened for business as Sweetwater Watsu.
When I was getting ready to establish my Watsu practice, I looked at a variety of structures that would work as a housing for my therapy pool. I chose to erect a yurt because I loved the round shape. I am so glad that I made that choice. The interior of the yurt is incredibly beautiful with the ceiling pattern of beams radiating out from a central dome. And the clear ceiling dome provides a view of the blue Colorado sky.
When people first step through the door of my yurt, their eyes light up when they see the inside of the structure. They frequently comment on the beauty of my space. As I work with my clients, the yurt lends to the calm feeling of healing energy. When people lay back in the warm water of my pool, they look up at the clear dome surrounded by radiating beams. It is a beautiful sight. My clients frequently comment on the shape of the yurt and the wonderful feeling they get when receiving a Watsu in the warm water inside of the peaceful yurt. It seems magical. The shape and energy of the yurt definitely lend to my Watsu practice.
For more information about my yurt or my Watsu practice, visit http://sweetwaterwatsu.com or become a fan of Sweetwater Watsu on Facebook.
Susan Lange
Sweetwater Watsu
http://sweetwaterwatsu.com
303-638-9843
Posted by Sam Kigar on Tue, Mar 30, 2010
We get the question all the time: is there financing available on yurts? The answer, in most cases, is a regretful “no”. Some people have used non-traditional finance companies, others are able to finance with credit cards; but most traditional banks turn down loan requests for yurts. They just don’t know how to classify them.
All that just changed
There is a new option for yurt financing. It’s called peer-to-peer or social lending. In simple terms, social lending is a financial transaction between two people without the intercession of a bank. If you’ve ever loaned $5 to your little brother, you’ve participated in social lending.
These days, thanks to the internet, social lending is taking place on a larger and more complex scale. Websites have emerged that connect people that want to borrow money with people that want to lend it. The largest and most well-respected sites are www.prosper.com and www.lendingclub.com. There are some important things to know before you jump into social lending. So, keep on reading...
It works like this
- Social lending sites vet potential borrowers for good credit and a favorable debt to income ratio.
- Borrowers make a loan request (stating the amount of money they need and what they need it for)
- Interested lenders get together to fund the loan at an agreed upon interest rate*
- The site consolidates the loan and deposits it into your bank account.
- Borrowers pay the site a small percentage of the loan
- Borrowers send loan payments to the site, which then distributes the payments to lenders
It turns out that interest rates on these sites tend to be favorable compared with your average bank. Unlike credit cards, they don’t change your interest rate halfway through payment. But remember: every loan is different, so be sure you’re getting a good deal!
To get a peer-to-peer loan you need (at minimumm) to
- Live in the US or be in the US military
- Have a US bank account
- Be able to use the internet (if you're reading this, you're covered)
- Have good credit
Jump in:
Research the different sites. When you’re ready, put a loan request out and see what kind of interest rate comes back. Sites let you leave your loan request up for 7 to 14 days, so you’ll know if you’re going to get a favorable deal in a short amount of time (with some sites you’ll know immediately) and you can always reject the offer if you don’t like it. Be careful with this: Some sites lock you in as soon as your loan is 100% financed.
- Know the rules of your site
- Check to see what (and when) the site charges you for their service
- How it determines your interest rate
- At what point you are locked in to the loan and obligated to pay it.
- Monitor your loan carefully!
Don’t accept any loans you can’t pay off but see peer-to-peer lending as a positive and unique way to get your yurt financed. With a bit of luck and a lot of good credit you won't have to shell out much interest!
I will stop short of recommending any one site in particular because every loan is different (I can’t emphasize that enough) but i do think peer-to-peer lending is a great idea. Who wants to give more money to the banks anyway? Peer-to-peer also fits well with the philosophy of yurts and our company; it’s outside of the box and personable. Give peer-to-peer a try. Maybe it will make your yurt-dream a yurt-reality!
Sam Kigar
Colorado Yurt Company
www.coloradoyurt.com
*Some sites allow the potential borrower to set his or her own interest rate while other sites set the interest rate on each loan based on the borrower’s credit score and current market trends.
Posted by Sam Kigar on Sun, Feb 22, 2009
In January I had the opportunity to travel to Paris, France to see 25 Colorado Yurts go up in the Grand
Palais. The yurts were for an installation by famed photographer
Yann Arthus-Bertrand and his group Good Planet. The art piece is called
6 Billion Others.
The Grand Palais is a structure of staggering proportions. It dates from 1900 but today it still has one of the largest glass ceilings in the world. Event organizers (from the design firm Scene) told us that although the Grand Palais
is an awesome space, it can be rather difficult to control. That's why they chose to use yurts as the space in which the art would actually happen. The 25 yurts were to comprise 25 mini-cinemas.
We arrived before the show opened and yurts were starting to pop up all around us. Some were fully pitched. The latice
and rafters were up on others. The effect was awesome. Normally we think of yurts as natural and traditional spaces, meant to be pitched in organic settings. But here they were surrounded by steel and glass- a monument to industrialisation. Colorado Yurts are
traditional but have adapted and because of this they work well in all sorts of environments. Even in the most modern of settings they fit.
Check out this video to see one of the most impressive yurt pitches ever:
We didn't quite know what the
organizers meant by saying that the Grand
Palais is difficult to control
until the
show's opening night. Of course, we liked the idea of yurts in Paris and we know that they make
beautiful settings in which to show movies, but there was a practical element to using them to too: Paris in January is
cold and it's very difficult to heat a space that is 72,000 square meters. Yurts, on the other hand, are very good at retaining heat when
necessary. So when we arrived on opening night we, along with the many thousands of other guests, headed straight to the warmth of the yurts.
Each yurt showcased a different film in which people from around the world responded to a
different
question. One film asked individuals what war has meant in their lives. Another spoke to the meaning of family; still another was about how to make love last. The films were honest, moving, and sometimes funny. As we watched regular people from around the world, we understood something more about the similarities and diversity among the world's population. At the same time we realized that we were sitting with people from around the world and there, inside the yurts, we began to feel a little closer to them.
Ask a question about the yurt experience
here.
-By Sam Kigar
*Photo by Dominique Erhard