Katherine Marsters – Blue Rocks, NS

My desire to build a yurt came from a deep calling to be both place based and transient. I love the idea of building a home in hours and then being able to move by simply untying knots and taking down poles. The yurt has given me freedom. It was my seasonal home for several years and is now a part of my income. During the warmer months it sits on an island in Blue Rocks and is a getaway for travelers, tourists, and locals who need time away by the sea. It is also my getaway!

Building the yurt was a beautiful and grueling undertaking. I wish I had more photos of those months. I was working full time and spending all spare moments cutting down roadside trees and shaving poles. I always had my drawknife and billhook at my side. I spent long nights stripping bark by candle light. I was determined!

My yurt needs care. It needs me to oil its poles, clean it's canvas and be put it away each winter in a safe dry place. There are times when I resented it's need for care and dreamed of a stable cabin that didn't need maintenance. Those thoughts have drifted away. I now have so much love and appreciation for my yurt. It is a part of me. My dear ones who help me put it up and take it down every season are woven into it's structure. I know it's parts. I remember cutting down specific trees. I love putting it up in the spring and remembering our journey together. And I love most of all that the poles may outlive me and that when the time comes they will go back to the earth to decompose and create life once again.