Our Clients : Mongolian Yurt : Groovyyurts.com

Read Shannon's complete report of their yurt purchase and experience in Massachussetts...http://yurtal.blogspot.com/

Our yurt seems to have turned into a Quinzee or looks like one. Dwight and I slept in it last night and all was great, we needed to test it as the temperature was dipping down to minus 19°C (-2F). Got the wood stove on at 4pm, and filled two mason jars with water and put them on a rack on the woodstove. In t

wo hours they were hot and I put them under the covers to warm up the bed.
We were toasty warm, its awesome. There was a tiny Christmas tree with solar powered lights. Dwight threw a log in every couple of hours.
Just practicing as we have guests coming this weekend. I will send more pics later this week.

and asken later about the success of their B&B[...]: Oh yes, I am waiting for a couple that I expect any minute, tomorrow another couple comes and on Monday I have four more!!!! It has been much better that I would have thought. I put up a youtube video on the web site to give people more perspective on the local.

Stephanie in Northern California: "Since I'm doing my massages in the yurt, I have tripled my clientele. And they come back!!"

We are very impressed with our yurt experience. They are very forgiving. The yurt stands pretty as we set it up back in Sept. (remember the first time you set one up?) - lots of good wind, rain and snow since then. We are learning alot. They are exremely practical for someone getting on to a raw piece of land while constructing their living structure - a point that we are making. We are really looking forward to doing this our selves.

...I will try to get some pictures for you, it is an awsome place to hang out, cook meals, just being inside is so relaxing, everyone has the same responce that visits. I am living there full time now, and actually have a yurt mate. Hope your having happy days.

Marjolaine et Chritsian live in their 26' yurt in Quebec and have already comfortably experienced tempretaures down to -40° and winds up to 110km/h (70m/h)...

Caro and Max in Quebec: "Here are the yurt's pictures. We just installed it and it is simply wonderful!"

i've gotten the cover and the yurt is pretty much erected. the cover came in a bit small but for being for a mongolian yurt it fits really well. i am going around the base now and adding the extra 2' to cover to the base.

"We survived a hurricane last month and lots and lots of rain- still doing well in both yurts." Larry and Wendy, ON

Yves, thanks a lot, the new "canadian" kit is awsome. no humidity problem anymore! everybody just loves the yurt!

Have a look at Shannon's description of the set up of his first Mongolian yurt in B.C. .click here!

Jerzy in Estrie, bought a yurt to open a B&B, but likes it so much that he lives in it : "we have been living in the yurt since July. Its great.
The only problem is that for a guy who always got up at 4:30 am now I sleep until 7 am..."

Radhé has now lived four seasons in his yurt in one of the harshest climate in the Outaouais (QC). He says he is extreemly satisfied with the experience... and the service. Read his note on our French page...

and watch two little movies from Catherine and Louis's yurt in the eastern townships... video1 & video2

In November 2007, I spent the weekend camped out at Fairview Mall, Toronto. As the host of CHFI’s annual campaign to collect winter coats for kids, I lived in the parking lot without a coat for 50 hours. In previous years I had lived in a flimsy tent and a drafty tipi. This year, I discovered Groovyyurts. I had never imagined how comfortable it could be to live outdoors – even without the stove.
As part of the rules, I wasn’t allowed to have a heated “anything.”

Learning the traditions and beauty of the Mongolian yurt from Yves only added to the enjoyment of the thousands of listeners who stopped by to drop of a snowsuit and meet the “guy living in the yurt.” And, I can’t tell you how many times I said, “Right foot first,” when people stepped through the door. The belief that it would bring prosperity resonated with the audience that weekend. It was a great connection. Thank you Groovyyurts!

watch Radio Canada French speaking tv's report about our yurts and they way they came from Mongolia by clicking on the picture on the left....

If you are lucky enough to have a little land somewhere, land enough that when you get there, almost every time, you find that you breathe differently, then you'll probably have the chance some day to start wondering big thoughts about where you and the people you love are from, really, and how you might live a little differently if you knew, and how in some mysterious way that little piece of land is part of your wondering and part of the answer, too, since it would give you the place to do your wondering and a place to be from.

If you are reading this, you've already done some due diligence on yurts, to use the Russian word, or gers, to use the Mongolian word. You've seen how companies in Oregon, California and elsewhere figured they have made very nice adaptions of gers for the North American climate and market. Some have track lighting, windows and the like. They are some kind of dwelling, but there's nothing of their origin in them. They're more like a Disneyfied tourist idea of how the Mongols would do it if they had the time, money and infrastructure. And they cost, too, you have noticed.

Whey you find someone who is doing some good in this world, you should sing their song. Yves Ballenegger and his partners in a little shoestring business called Groovyyurts, once in a while when the weather, the wars and the frontier customs will allow, drive their truck across Europe, Eurasia and into Mongolia loaded with donated medical and school supplies for a country just now trying to find its way out of almost a century of colonization, and they drive back months later loaded with gers made by ma and pa shoestring businesses in Mongolia. Near as I can tell, no one on this end is making a killing, or even a living, from selling gers. People on the other end, though, are making a living building and selling something precious and noble and well known to them, a true thing from a living culture. You could poke this story with a stick, I don't think you'll find slave labour or exploitation or expropriation or mercenary, predatory cultural piracy or any of the other things that tend to paralyze North Americans with a conscience.

But how good can the gers be for the price they're charging, coming from half way around the world as they do? I didn't believe they could be very good, and so I went to look for myself. The millwork is handmade, which tends to make people used to machined stuff nervous: you can see the carpenter's thumbprints, and everything isn't regular, and they are spectacularly beautiful. I can't say the same about the furniture, which I don't think would fare too well in anything other than a very dry climate, but the ger woodwork is good for your heart to see and stand in. So I bought three. They don't go together like the modular backyard shed kit you can buy, or look like the slick post and beam one room thing you can get from a good contractor. They go together like a living thing, not quite dead level, not quite ninety degrees. That's their genius: their irregularity is their great strength.

Yves at Groovyyurts is an honourable, handshake deal kind of man, and he believes in what he sells, especially after he sells it. That means if you feel out of your depth a little his experience and willingness to show up at your place and help you put the ger up is solid. He and I are still talking, six months later, as we've worked through a few minor kinks with my gers as the seasons have changed, which tells you something about the ger's quality and about his. I still plan to talk to him someday about changing the business name, though.

All in all, this whole endeavour is good for your soul and good for the soul of the world, without qualification. The price is fair, the people you are dealing with on this end are good, and the people making the gers have some tangible encouragement to keep their corner of the world alive. Please consider buying your ger from Yves, anywhere in North America.

In case you were wondering, I've already paid in full months ago for my gers, and I've got no kickback of any kind for this. My only motivation is to reassure you that, all in all, this is as good as it sounds and looks.

and here's a direct access to the forum Groovyyurts sponsors on www.yurtinfo.org: The Mongolian yurt forum


	A few of our clients share their yurt experience ... Read Shannon's complete report of their yurt purchase and experience in Massachussetts...http://yurtal.blogspot.com/ Dwight & Lucy from www.lonewolfcabin.com : Our yurt seems to have turned into a Quinzee or looks like one. Dwight and I slept in it last night and all was great, we needed to test it as the temperature was dipping down to minus 19°C (-2F). Got the wood stove on at 4pm, and filled two mason jars with water and put them on a rack on the woodstove. In two hours they were hot and I put them under the covers to warm up the bed. We were toasty warm, its awesome. There was a tiny Christmas tree with solar powered lights. Dwight threw a log in every couple of hours. Just practicing as we have guests coming this weekend. I will send more pics later this week. and asken later about the success of their B&B[...]: Oh yes, I am waiting for a couple that I expect any minute, tomorrow another couple comes and on Monday I have four more!!!! It has been much better that I would have thought. I put up a youtube video on the web site to give people more perspective on the local. Stephanie in Northern California: "Since I'm doing my massages in the yurt, I have tripled my clientele. And they come back!!" Eric and Cynthia in Utah: We are very impressed with our yurt experience. They are very forgiving. The yurt stands pretty as we set it up back in Sept. (remember the first time you set one up?) - lots of good wind, rain and snow since then. We are learning alot. They are exremely practical for someone getting on to a raw piece of land while constructing their living structure - a point that we are making. We are really looking forward to doing this our selves. Tucker in New Hampshire: ...I will try to get some pictures for you, it is an awsome place to hang out, cook meals, just being inside is so relaxing, everyone has the same responce that visits. I am living there full time now, and actually have a yurt mate. Hope your having happy days. Marjolaine et Chritsian live in their 26' yurt in Quebec and have already comfortably experienced tempretaures down to -40° and winds up to 110km/h (70m/h)... Caro and Max in Quebec: "Here are the yurt's pictures. We just installed it and it is simply wonderful!" Hey Yves! i've gotten the cover and the yurt is pretty much erected. the cover came in a bit small but for being for a mongolian yurt it fits really well. i am going around the base now and adding the extra 2' to cover to the base. thanks so much for all your help yves! Matt, NV has a contemporary US made yurt "We survived a hurricane last month and lots and lots of rain- still doing well in both yurts." Larry and Wendy, ON B. from Montreal, Yves, thanks a lot, the new "canadian" kit is awsome. no humidity problem anymore! everybody just loves the yurt! Have a look at Shannon's description of the set up of his first Mongolian yurt in B.C. .click here! Jerzy in Estrie, bought a yurt to open a B&B, but likes it so much that he lives in it : "we have been living in the yurt since July. Its great. The only problem is that for a guy who always got up at 4:30 am now I sleep until 7 am..." Radhé's yurt (clic on picture to enlarge): Radhé has now lived four seasons in his yurt in one of the harshest climate in the Outaouais (QC). He says he is extreemly satisfied with the experience... and the service. Read his note on our French page... and watch two little movies from Catherine and Louis's yurt in the eastern townships... video1 & video2 Bob Magee - 98.1 CHFI In November 2007, I spent the weekend camped out at Fairview Mall, Toronto. As the host of CHFI’s annual campaign to collect winter coats for kids, I lived in the parking lot without a coat for 50 hours. In previous years I had lived in a flimsy tent and a drafty tipi. This year, I discovered Groovyyurts. I had never imagined how comfortable it could be to live outdoors – even without the stove. As part of the rules, I wasn’t allowed to have a heated “anything.” Learning the traditions and beauty of the Mongolian yurt from Yves only added to the enjoyment of the thousands of listeners who stopped by to drop of a snowsuit and meet the “guy living in the yurt.” And, I can’t tell you how many times I said, “Right foot first,” when people stepped through the door. The belief that it would bring prosperity resonated with the audience that weekend. It was a great connection. Thank you Groovyyurts! watch Radio Canada French speaking tv's report about our yurts and they way they came from Mongolia by clicking on the picture on the left.... Steve's testimonial tells a lot about Groovyyurts: If you are lucky enough to have a little land somewhere, land enough that when you get there, almost every time, you find that you breathe differently, then you'll probably have the chance some day to start wondering big thoughts about where you and the people you love are from, really, and how you might live a little differently if you knew, and how in some mysterious way that little piece of land is part of your wondering and part of the answer, too, since it would give you the place to do your wondering and a place to be from. If this is true for you now, or if it might come to pass some day, read on: If you are reading this, you've already done some due diligence on yurts, to use the Russian word, or gers, to use the Mongolian word. You've seen how companies in Oregon, California and elsewhere figured they have made very nice adaptions of gers for the North American climate and market. Some have track lighting, windows and the like. They are some kind of dwelling, but there's nothing of their origin in them. They're more like a Disneyfied tourist idea of how the Mongols would do it if they had the time, money and infrastructure. And they cost, too, you have noticed. Whey you find someone who is doing some good in this world, you should sing their song. Yves Ballenegger and his partners in a little shoestring business called Groovyyurts, once in a while when the weather, the wars and the frontier customs will allow, drive their truck across Europe, Eurasia and into Mongolia loaded with donated medical and school supplies for a country just now trying to find its way out of almost a century of colonization, and they drive back months later loaded with gers made by ma and pa shoestring businesses in Mongolia. Near as I can tell, no one on this end is making a killing, or even a living, from selling gers. People on the other end, though, are making a living building and selling something precious and noble and well known to them, a true thing from a living culture. You could poke this story with a stick, I don't think you'll find slave labour or exploitation or expropriation or mercenary, predatory cultural piracy or any of the other things that tend to paralyze North Americans with a conscience. But how good can the gers be for the price they're charging, coming from half way around the world as they do? I didn't believe they could be very good, and so I went to look for myself. The millwork is handmade, which tends to make people used to machined stuff nervous: you can see the carpenter's thumbprints, and everything isn't regular, and they are spectacularly beautiful. I can't say the same about the furniture, which I don't think would fare too well in anything other than a very dry climate, but the ger woodwork is good for your heart to see and stand in. So I bought three. They don't go together like the modular backyard shed kit you can buy, or look like the slick post and beam one room thing you can get from a good contractor. They go together like a living thing, not quite dead level, not quite ninety degrees. That's their genius: their irregularity is their great strength. Yves at Groovyyurts is an honourable, handshake deal kind of man, and he believes in what he sells, especially after he sells it. That means if you feel out of your depth a little his experience and willingness to show up at your place and help you put the ger up is solid. He and I are still talking, six months later, as we've worked through a few minor kinks with my gers as the seasons have changed, which tells you something about the ger's quality and about his. I still plan to talk to him someday about changing the business name, though. All in all, this whole endeavour is good for your soul and good for the soul of the world, without qualification. The price is fair, the people you are dealing with on this end are good, and the people making the gers have some tangible encouragement to keep their corner of the world alive. Please consider buying your ger from Yves, anywhere in North America. In case you were wondering, I've already paid in full months ago for my gers, and I've got no kickback of any kind for this. My only motivation is to reassure you that, all in all, this is as good as it sounds and looks. Joël and his family's retreat:* Fabrice lives in his "3 wall" yurt all year long since 2004: You will find more yurts on page "yurt & breakfast " and our latest news here... and here's a direct access to the forum Groovyyurts sponsors on www.yurtinfo.org: The Mongolian yurt forum