How We Started Making Yurts

By Nalina Uehlein,

Owner Spirit Mountain Yurts

My experiences living in Yurts and also building Yurts are chapters in the story of my love affair with mother nature. I've always had a fascination and deep respect for native cultures around the world, and specifically their lifestyles, spirituality, and the homes they live in. I grew up in a very conservative home in the Midwest, so I was always the odd one. I just listened to a different drum.

I quit college at age 19 to seek a more simple and natural lifestyle. This included a vegetarian diet, Yoga, meditation, and many long hikes in nature. This taught me about plants, animals, and natural rhythms. In order to work for myself and maintain the freedom that I craved, I created a line of natural fiber clothing that kept food on the table for over 10 years. In 1989 when my second child was born I decided to semi-retire and be a mom. This helped in my exploration of the natural world and I was able to set up a very simple lifestyle. Five years later my third child was born. Less than a year later I made the very difficult decision to leave my partner (it was not a healthy relationship for any of us) and go about setting up a homestead in the mountains of NW Montana for myself and my children.

My First Yurt Was My Home

I was able to purchase 20 rural acres with a creek running through it! Wow! I had a friend with a Yurt and decided to copy the design and make a Yurt myself. (At this point my children's ages were 1, 6, and 8.) This initial Yurt took many months to complete, and on the 4th of July in 1995 we moved in! This was a very positive experience and I will always treasure those early Yurt days! We lived with no power, just a wood stove for heat and

candles for light. And yes, there was an outhouse out back by the goat barn and the garden. We collected water from the creek with buckets and enjoyed our simple life. This property was very rural, and after four years I decided to sell it and purchase property closer to town so that my home schooled children could be more involved with dance, theater, martial arts, and friends.

I found a beautiful property just 10 minutes from town with a natural spring up high on the land. The first year there we set up our Yurt and developed a gravity fed water system.

Making Yurts for Others

All these years I was doing various types of art work to create an income and allow me to be home to raise my children. Friends began asking me to make Yurts for them and I really enjoyed doing this. I also had a very vivid dream one night that showed me that building Yurts was what I should do, so I started putting more energy into building the Yurt business. Spirit Mountain Yurts was born! Orders just kept coming in and before long I needed to hire friends and family to keep up.

I decided to enhance our Yurt design by creating a heftier lattice structure and building Yurts with taller walls. I also changed the pitch in the roof a few degrees to help the snow fall off easier. This is still part of our design and it works great. Our Yurts are still very "Yurty" looking, yet these two design changes make our yurts unique and more functional.

Spirit Mountain Yurts' original shop was on our property, which was on a steep mountainside. In the winter the road was very challenging. One year we had a couple of very close calls hauling trailers with lumber and yurts up and down that icy mountain road. It was obvious that we had to move to continue growing this Yurt business, so we decided to move to a warmer climate where our work would be much easier, and where we could also grow gardens all year long! (Organic gardening is an important and enjoyable aspect of creating a sustainable lifestyle).

We are now located in Northern New Mexico and we love it here. We are more centrally located, which makes shipping to many locations more reasonably

priced. There are also many pro-active people and groups who are seriously working on earth friendly lifestyles.

We have a great team of Yurt builders and we steadily continue to grow. We are developing a reputation with satisfied customers, so we are able to keep our advertising costs down. We also keep our shop on our property where we live, which is another huge way to save money. Keeping expenses down is key in being able to produce a quality product and sell it at a reasonable price to our customers. We have made many wonderful friends along this yurt building journey and life is good.

In researching Yurts, I have found that the original Yurt living peoples in Mongolia are a very special people. They are Buddhists, and have a belief system that I strongly embrace because its respect for all life and the compassion that one learns with these teachings. In many ways, I believe that these teachings have brought me peace.

It is my hope that this story inspires you to follow your dreams! If you are one of those people who dream of getting out of the rat race and creating a simpler lifestyle, then maybe a Yurt is for you! Most of our customers live in their Yurts, and some of them go on to build homes from natural earthen materials such as straw bales, cob, and cordwood. These earthen homes are very labor intensive to build, and Yurts provide a wonderful and beautiful home during this process! Most people fall in love with their Yurts and continue to use them for art studios, guest houses, and other purposes.

Spirit Mountain Yurts home 551 W. Cordova Road #422, Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505) 757-2547
Quality Custom Yurts Providing yurts across America as well as Canada, Costa Rica, Israel, Japan & India. History of Yurts FAQ's Standard Yurt Design Pricing/Standard Features/Options Fortress Yurt Design Yurt Owner Information Successful Yurt Living: Be Prepared for Big Winds Yurt Living in Deep Snow How to Stay Warm & Cozy in Your Yurt in Cold Climates Contact Us	How We Started Making Yurts By Nalina Uehlein, Owner Spirit Mountain Yurts My experiences living in Yurts and also building Yurts are chapters in the story of my love affair with mother nature. I've always had a fascination and deep respect for native cultures around the world, and specifically their lifestyles, spirituality, and the homes they live in. I grew up in a very conservative home in the Midwest, so I was always the odd one. I just listened to a different drum. I quit college at age 19 to seek a more simple and natural lifestyle. This included a vegetarian diet, Yoga, meditation, and many long hikes in nature. This taught me about plants, animals, and natural rhythms. In order to work for myself and maintain the freedom that I craved, I created a line of natural fiber clothing that kept food on the table for over 10 years. In 1989 when my second child was born I decided to semi-retire and be a mom. This helped in my exploration of the natural world and I was able to set up a very simple lifestyle. Five years later my third child was born. Less than a year later I made the very difficult decision to leave my partner (it was not a healthy relationship for any of us) and go about setting up a homestead in the mountains of NW Montana for myself and my children. My First Yurt Was My Home I was able to purchase 20 rural acres with a creek running through it! Wow! I had a friend with a Yurt and decided to copy the design and make a Yurt myself. (At this point my children's ages were 1, 6, and 8.) This initial Yurt took many months to complete, and on the 4th of July in 1995 we moved in! This was a very positive experience and I will always treasure those early Yurt days! We lived with no power, just a wood stove for heat and candles for light. And yes, there was an outhouse out back by the goat barn and the garden. We collected water from the creek with buckets and enjoyed our simple life. This property was very rural, and after four years I decided to sell it and purchase property closer to town so that my home schooled children could be more involved with dance, theater, martial arts, and friends. I found a beautiful property just 10 minutes from town with a natural spring up high on the land. The first year there we set up our Yurt and developed a gravity fed water system. Making Yurts for Others All these years I was doing various types of art work to create an income and allow me to be home to raise my children. Friends began asking me to make Yurts for them and I really enjoyed doing this. I also had a very vivid dream one night that showed me that building Yurts was what I should do, so I started putting more energy into building the Yurt business. Spirit Mountain Yurts was born! Orders just kept coming in and before long I needed to hire friends and family to keep up. I decided to enhance our Yurt design by creating a heftier lattice structure and building Yurts with taller walls. I also changed the pitch in the roof a few degrees to help the snow fall off easier. This is still part of our design and it works great. Our Yurts are still very "Yurty" looking, yet these two design changes make our yurts unique and more functional. Spirit Mountain Yurts' original shop was on our property, which was on a steep mountainside. In the winter the road was very challenging. One year we had a couple of very close calls hauling trailers with lumber and yurts up and down that icy mountain road. It was obvious that we had to move to continue growing this Yurt business, so we decided to move to a warmer climate where our work would be much easier, and where we could also grow gardens all year long! (Organic gardening is an important and enjoyable aspect of creating a sustainable lifestyle). We are now located in Northern New Mexico and we love it here. We are more centrally located, which makes shipping to many locations more reasonably priced. There are also many pro-active people and groups who are seriously working on earth friendly lifestyles. We have a great team of Yurt builders and we steadily continue to grow. We are developing a reputation with satisfied customers, so we are able to keep our advertising costs down. We also keep our shop on our property where we live, which is another huge way to save money. Keeping expenses down is key in being able to produce a quality product and sell it at a reasonable price to our customers. We have made many wonderful friends along this yurt building journey and life is good. In researching Yurts, I have found that the original Yurt living peoples in Mongolia are a very special people. They are Buddhists, and have a belief system that I strongly embrace because its respect for all life and the compassion that one learns with these teachings. In many ways, I believe that these teachings have brought me peace. It is my hope that this story inspires you to follow your dreams! If you are one of those people who dream of getting out of the rat race and creating a simpler lifestyle, then maybe a Yurt is for you! Most of our customers live in their Yurts, and some of them go on to build homes from natural earthen materials such as straw bales, cob, and cordwood. These earthen homes are very labor intensive to build, and Yurts provide a wonderful and beautiful home during this process! Most people fall in love with their Yurts and continue to use them for art studios, guest houses, and other purposes.