About Us
becky kemery
Becky Kemery, author of “YURTS: Living in the Round” and its companion website, www.yurtinfo.org. Lived in a fabric yurt in north Idaho, USA, and worked with the yurt industry worldwide to share information on this most amazing–affordable, accessible and flexible–shelter.
Becky passed away in August 2012. The Yurt Forum continues to maintain this site.
HI Becky – great sites and interesting work – many thanks for leaving a comment on our blog and offering to send our friend Begonia a copy of your book. She would really appreciate it. As you can imagine, to set-up a ‘mongolian village’ in the middle of rural Asturias is a challenge to say the least. She attracts lots of school parties and the focus of her efforts is education about Yurts and the culture of the mongolian people. Her address is:
Begoña Montilla, El Rollu, Ceraceda, 33583, Piloña, Asturias, Spain.
Her website is: http://www.territorionomada.com.
I will send her your links – very best wishes to you. Remember, if you are ever out this way….
Ian
In such a conventional world how do you get along with town engineers in meeting code requirements. I live in Connecticut and wonder if you know of anyone in this state who has built a Yurt and where they are located?
Hi Becky,
Do you have any experience with Yurt living in very warm climates like Californias desert regions? Especially as full time homes. Thanks, Kevin
hi
i purchased a pacific yurt dome for my yurt. but it turns out i have a colorado yurt and the pacific yurt dome doesnt fit. the man at pacific said there might be a possibility of listing a dome for a 16′ yurt on your blog to be sold. i looked around your site and blog for a classified of for sale function and dont see one. do you provide a classified service? if so may i post this dome for sale on your site? if not, do you have any other suggestions for selling this new dome? thank you for your time.
have a nice day
tom
I’ve tried to navigate your yurtinfo.org site, but anything I click on says fatal error and nothing comes up. Is is not working now? We wanted to list a 2 year old Ranier yurt for sale. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Becky,
I recently put up a yurt in Colorado and am having a hard time finding insurance for it. I haven’t found much useful information searching the Web. Do you have any advice or experience with companies that understand what a yurt is and/or will consider insuring it? Neither my primary insurance company nor their general agency [that insures RVs] will consider it.
Looking to speak to any yurt owners in northern Pennsylvania or southern NY. Looking to put up a yurt on our Pa. property. Thanks for any info, mark 607-727-8795
I am needing some help with wind-reinforcing of my yurt, anf am concerend it might be destined for its fourth adn final year (as far as any decent integrity of the canvas goes, anyhoo!) if I’m not able to do something…
last night was nuts… here in VT, for about a month or so, it HAULS up in the mtns… made it through last year, but one storm nearly took me out. had three feet of play in the top of the walls! it was nuts. Gusts well above 100mph. oi.
so yeah… any help (or directions in which you might steer me to get some help, fast) would be MUCH appreciated.
HOpefully I”ll have a chance to read your book this winter!
thanks for all you’ve done, adn continue to do, Becky, in the realm of empowering people to live more simply!
Erin
Hi Dave,
I would check with Paul from White Mountain Yurts in New Hampshire and see if he knows of any CT yurts that are code approved. I believe it’s somewhat of a challenge in your state.
Good luck with the process, hope it works out for you,
becky
Hi Becky,
I was wondering if Steve Hammond’s Ger Instructions are still available, I get a 404 error?
Thanks,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Anyone who wants Steve’s piece should leave me a message here for now and Ill send the file your way. Hope to have it up on the website soon in the Build a Yurt section.
Sorry for the inconvenience,
becky
Hello Becky,
Thanks for your site. I have learned much from the comments on your site and the links I have found. I would love to get a copy of Steve Hammond’s Ger Instructions if they are still available. I, like many others, am building a Yurt/Ger and am learning as I go. Much of what I have learned has come through trial and error. I followed some instructions I found implicitly but was still able to make some mistakes i.e. 24in radius versus 24in diameter on the Tono (crown or roof wheel). Now my biggest problem is how to cut the ends of the roof poles to fit the holes in Tono and how to cut those holes. Should they be square or round? Should the Tono be solid wood glued together in sections or should I use a laminated wood i.e. drum like cylinder. I am sure many others have experienced some of this frustration but I must say. I am more obsessed with yurts/gers now than ever. Thanks again to you and those like you who share their experiences. They are a great help.
I am a 55 yr old woman who wants to live in a yurt. I am so inspired that you are managing in Idaho!
Please send me a copy of Steve Hammond’s instructions for building a ger. Thank you.
Please send me Steve Hammond’s instructions for a ger. Thanks
Hi Becky – Could I please have a copy of Steve Hammond’s ger manual. Many Thanks
Also is there a way that I can buy your book in Australia?
Hi Luke, I’m afraid I don’t know where the book is being sold in Australia. You might check in with the yurt companies selling in Australia (Blue Mountain Yurts and Golburn Yurtworks) and see if they have copies of the book or can tell you who might have. I’ll check with my publisher and get back to you if anything turns up.
Will send the Steve Hammond file your way…
All the best,
becky
Hi Becky, thanks for your site, good info here. I will be putting up a ger in the next few months and looking to build another one beside it for my son (who is old enough to want his own space). Could you please email me a copy of Steve Hammond’s intrusctions? I’m sure they’d be valuable. If you hear about any publishers in Australia or New Zealand selling copies of your book, I’d be keen on purchasing too 🙂
Best wishes, Jules
I love the website and all the information, your passion and willingness to share is evident. I am moving to Columbia South America and wonder if there is a yurt distributor there? I would like to have a yurt as my home there for myself and my fiance. I have not been able to find a manufacturer or distributor, but perhaps just haven’t typed in the right information. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I am considering becoming a distributor, I believe in the yurt that much!
Hello Becky, I would very much like to get a copy of Steve Hammond’s Ger Instructions. We are a nonprofit organization called TerraLucent, and we are launching a sustainability, community, and education center on a 300 acre farm in Southern Iowa. We are looking to quickly get some housing up, and yurts appear to be the best option for this. We are looking to get a group of people involved in learning and building a number of yurts here. If you know of anyone who may be interested in our efforts here, please pass along our info.
Best wishes,
Daniel
Hi Lauri,
There are no Latin American yurt makers or distributors to my knowledge. I think the concept is still pretty much undiscovered south of the US border. Have been doing yurt slideshows in Mexico and found that locals had no previous knowledge of yurts.
You’ll find a complete listing of companies worldwide on the http://www.yurtinfo.org Companies Page. If you’re interested in becoming a distributor, consider purchasing from Colorado Yurt Company and then becoming a distributor for them.
One word of caution–before you buy a yurt and set it up in Columbia, check in with the locals to see how the materials will hold up there. Here in Mexico the termites eat almost all the wood, so the wooden yurt frames from the states are not a good idea. There are two local woods that termites don’t eat, but each of them has their own issues when it comes to using them for yurt frames. Anyway, please do your “due diligence” (local research) before purchasing your yurt.
Also, if you don’t have my book (YURTS: Living in the Round, I would buy it or borrow it from a library and read the chapter on Fabric Yurts. I’d also read through the FAQ’s section on http://www.yurtinfo.org, esp. some of the climate sections (e.g., keeping yurts cool).
Wishing you the best with your move and your yurt dreams. Buena suerte!
becky