That Good Ol' Tipi Living

(Page 4 of 4)

May/June 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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To tell the truth, if I had to winter in a tipi—with only softwood fuel—again, I'd abandon even more of the authentic Indian ways and figure how to run a stovepipe chimney out through the wall! (The Laubins' native American friends had a lot of winterwarming tricks. They added an extra lining, stuffed the first liner-to-cover gap with hay insulation, built a 12-foot-tall windbreak around the tipi, and even added an ozan ... an interior "raincoat" that was almost like a tipi within a tipi. But I'll bet every one those traditional cone-dwellers was burning hardwood!)

RELATED CONTENT

HOME, SWEET TIPI

I probably shouldn't gripe about our fire problems, though. After all, we were able to stay warm on the peak of a snowed-in mountain (if we'd been living in a NO, we couldn't have had any inside fires at all!). And—as I said before— are about the best possible semi-permanent dwellings ... and can make good full-time homes as well!

In fact, back in 1842—when John Charles Fremont tried to recruit Kit Carson to guide the explorer's first expedition—ol' Kit refused to go ... unless he could bring along a tipi. In the course of my six months on a Montana hilltop, I learned just why that famous tracker wanted one of the Indian dwellings: Ol' Kit-and generations of the original Americans—knew how to live in style.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Indian Tipi is available for $1.95, plus 95¢ shipping and handling, from Mother's Bookshelf. MOTHER NO. 1—and other back issues of this publication—be purchased for $2.50, plus $ 1.00 shipping and handling per order, ton, THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS ® . (Please address all mail orders to P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville , North Carolina 28739.)

And—if you want to buy one of these Indian homes—several tipi-making companies have advertised in MOTHER's classified section. Our own favorite shelter-stitcher is a cooperative group that lives in what it builds: NOMADICS, Dept. TMEN, 17611 Snow Creek Road, Bend, Oregon 97701,(503) 389-3980.

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  • michael goad 12/17/2008 9:22:58 PM

    Where is the best plce to learn of full time tipi living?

  • Craig Moorhouse 10/29/2008 7:12:42 AM

    I would think a "Rocket Stove" mass heater (like Ianto Evans' from Cob Cottage)would work well in a tipi. They are low cost and can produce and store alot of heat with little smoke.The chimmey would go outside under the tipi. It would be great for winter camping in a tipi with a ozan liner.

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