My Week in a Yurt
I feel as though I am a million years behind. Well, maybe I’m being a touch dramatic. I’m a few days behind. This time of year, is such a blur between getting the garden planted, working on containers and landscape projects for myself and others, and making sure I get in a photo day here and there. It’s a bit of a love hate relationship for me. I absolutely love and enjoy it all, but I hate feeling as though I am going in six directions at once. Right now, I’m missing the quiet, focused days I got spend in a yurt just a few short weeks ago.
Yurt…the perfect dwelling for those who would love the experience of camping but don’t own a camper and no longer find sleeping in a tent exciting or fun. It’s glamping, with the bonus, in my experience, of a kitchenette.
If you follow me on social media or receive my emails, then you’ve probably heard me mention Pammel recently. For those who have not, Pammel State Park is in Madison County, just southwest of Winterset, Iowa. A short 22 miles from my actual home, I am a bit ashamed to admit that I only became familiar with this beautiful park in recent months, all thanks to Jessie Lowry from the Madison County Conservation Board.
After meeting with Jessie in February to talk about my Iowa99 Project, I was lucky enough to be offered an artist-in-residence at Pammel. It was chance to spend a week living, hiking, and photographing Pammel State Park. An experience I am still processing along with the over 2,ooo photos I captured during my stay. The park itself offers fishing, hiking, camping, bird watching, a large lodge and a shelter house, and a small nature center, with a newly built nature center due to open soon. What I really loved was the feel of it. The trees, the wildlife, the water, the wildflowers…everywhere I walked offered beautiful landscapes and an abundance of various flora and fauna.
Several mornings, and couple evenings, I watched deer grazing right outside my door. I spent nearly 30 minutes one evening mesmerized by bluebirds feeding on some sort of bug. I came across two tom turkeys strolling down the main road together in the rain, witnessed several hilarious skirmishes between geese, and encountered two owls while taking a walk along Lodge Trail.
Then of course, there was the yurt. An entirely new experience for me and one I absolutely hope to have again. Much of my time was spent on the various trails but coming back to the yurt for meals, to download photos, write and sleep, was something I found incredibly fun and inspiring. A change of perspective is always welcome, but this was something completely new and different; allowing fresh ideas to flow freely, unencumbered by daily tasks and the same old scenes.
Being in a yurt feels surprisingly light and airy. Having nothing personal on the walls, and no windows was at first unsettling but without the distractions I had better focus. At the very peak of the roof, was a large cutout covered by a clear plastic dome. It allowed more than ample light in during the day and now that I think about it, not having windows available made me feel safer, less vulnerable to the eyes of strangers, not that there were many of those that early in the season. Still, I appreciated that I could retreat and be relatively hidden yet easily hear a good deal of the goings on around me.
My two biggest…what word do I want to use here? Not complaints…grumbles, maybe…in Iowa, in the spring, this is not a dwelling I wish to be found in should a tornado happen to drop in. And…bugs. While it was certainly far better than I imagined, these structures are obviously more vulnerable to the creepy crawly than a typical home. During my stay I dealt with a few ants and a couple wasps but to the wasps’ credit they preferred hanging out up near the cutout. So, I agreed to leave them be and they kept to the rafters. We got along swimmingly until one decided to make its escape as I was coming in the door, diving ever so gracefully in my hair. Tina – 1 Wasp – 0.
My only other issue during my stay was the bathroom situation. There is no running water in a yurt. The fact that I had a kitchenette was a luxury to those who live in these on a more permanent basis. I spend a lot of time outdoors. I’m no stranger to squatting in the woods to pee. However, I do have a healthy fear of roaming around in the dark at night. I tend to get up two to three times every night and I don’t sleep well in new, unfamiliar places so I knew there was no way I was going to make the trek 250 feet up the hill to the shower house even once, much less repeatedly. Turns out those five-gallon buckets from the hardware store are handy for more than hauling around tools and dirt.
So, aside from knowing that Pammel State Park is absolutely worth a visit, you’ve now learned that I’m not a big fan of bugs, I’m afraid of the dark and I’m not above peeing in a bucket, or in the woods, should circumstances necessitate. I look forward to sharing more about what I learned and more of the scenes captured during my time in this beautiful place. Keep an eye out for a bonus blog post or two in the coming weeks.
