desert

The Tiny Houses of Black Rock City: Fertility 2.0

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The theme of this year’s Burning Man had a few people scratching their heads. However, the idea of fertility taken to the next level describes the burgeoning annual event very well. Burning Man is a completely fertile location where spontaneous creativity and ideas are allowed to naturally flourish without any … Read more

Tiny House in a Landscape

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mining shack

I came across this tiny mining shack this spring, while hiking for tortoise surveys in the Mojave desert. Well actually, we saw it from a distance during our assigned 7-mile hike, and just had to hike a few extra miles at the end of the day to get a better … Read more

The Ephemeral Architecture of Burning Man

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All over the world, participants of Burning Man live the entire year in anticipation of the month of August. In about two weeks, the yearly event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada (which is expected to host 60,000 people) will begin, and Black Rock City will burst out of … Read more

The Tiny Houses of Black Rock City: Rites of Passage

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This year’s Burning Man was a rite of passage for two of our good friends who decided to come along with my husband and me to this popular event. It was their first time attending, and many of our discussions revolved around how impressed they were with the organization and creativity of the event…especially the building of Black Rock City. I agreed that the ingenuity of the camps and shelters that make up the city grows each year.

The art, the shows, the dancing, the fires and fireworks are all wonderful, but personally, my favorite part of Burning Man is visiting the camps and admiring the multitude of styles and designs of shelters. These shelters (most of them specific to Burning Man) are built to create shade from the blistering sun, as blocks against the wind that sweeps across the desert, and to protect Burners from the ubiquitous dust that gets over everything. Each year I’m in awe with how the artists transport these structures across the country and erect them in this stark desert, only to take them down again a week later.

This year the weather couldn’t have been better. The dust was minimal, the winds were mellow and the temperatures were fairly low. In fact, you needed a shelter warm enough for the very cold nights that affected most Burners this year. Here are a few of my favorite tiny houses of Black Rock City 2011.

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Idaho Sheep Wagons

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Kim Vader and his family have lived in Boise, Idaho since the early 1900’s. His ancestors were sheep farmers, his aunt was Basque, and their lives in the high desert have inspired Kim to design and build classic sheep wagons. This style of wagon was originally used by sheep herders who needed a portable place to live while tending their sheep in the high desert and mountains of the Western U.S.

Kim has been a craftsman for over 35 years and builds the wagons from scratch. You can purchase a finished wagon or have a custom sheep wagon built to your specifications. The wagons can be built on running gear that is freeway worthy or they can have original antique wood spoke wheels.

Typically, each wagon will have a bed with a memory foam mattress, a sitting and eating area with storage underneath, an antique wood stove or an electric stove, and a small kitchen area with custom cabinetry. They can also have several 110 electrical outlets and a storage area on the back of the wagon. The wagons are painted in traditional white and green colors and will have the classic canvas roof that is rated to last up to 10 years. The wagons are built with 2×6 Douglas fir and the cabinets and doors are built with 3/4 inch birch, pine and Douglas fir.

These sheep wagons can be used as a tiny house, on a farm or ranch, as a guest house, or an artist’s studio. Idaho Sheep Wagons also offers delivery. The prices range from about $9,000 for a 12 foot wagon to $13,500 for a wagon with original spoke wheels. Currently the company has a wagon for sale for $8,300.

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The Tiny Houses of Black Rock City: Metropolis

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The theme of this year’s Burning Man was Metropolis, and the event’s temporary home of Black Rock City was buzzing with urban energy, wonderful, creative neighbors, and interesting camps.

Many of these camps had their own versions of tiny houses, and like last year’s post, I thought I would feature a few of my favorites.

This year, our neighborhood of 3:30 and Istanbul (see the Black Rock City map) was lucky to have the Neverwas Haul as a corner beacon. This “mutant vehicle” is styled as a steampunk Victorian house that you could actually live in. In Black Rock City, it’s helpful to camp near a larger structure so you can find your way back to your little home in the dark.

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