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River Picture

LuAnne Harley and Brian Kruschwitz are “Yurtfolk” and make their home in North Manchester, Indiana where they live in a yurt (click on "What is a Yurt?" for more information) with their two children. They hold great affection for music, experiencing other cultures, nurturing creativity and are particularly fond of discovering new children's books and reading novels together as a family while traveling or at home.  

Brian is a multi-instrumentalist and "armchair"  ethnomusicologist whose newest venture has been to start a "Ukelele Choir." He enjoys putting old and/or broken down instruments into working order (His most recent accomplishment: using an old X-ray film to replace the head of his bongo drum).

LuAnne has background as a Spanish teacher, traveling theatre member, library staff, language interpreter, camp adminstrator (with Brian), study abroad director and loves to create community through music. She enjoys finding ways to make rounds out of songs that aren't written or intended to be rounds!  Her new interest area is wool felting (current project being worked on: felting a miniature yurt).
 

This yurt (structure to the right of the treehouse at right) first housed a family of four in the state of Washington for four years.
LuAnne and Brian travelled to Washington in 2005, met and stayed with the family as they took down the yurt together. Since the 2,500 mile journey felt too long to make by camel or oxcart (a typical way to move yurts in Mongolia), they rented a truck to haul their new home back to Indiana.

A "Yurt Raising" then took place with the help of friends and family. As the years go by and the  children grow taller, people frequently ask, "Are you growing out of the yurt yet?" (30 feet in diameter, or 706 square feet not including sleeping loft)  Rather than  feeling "smaller" with time, they feel they are getting better at living in the space and add, "Living so close to nature and the elements can be challenging at times, but for the most part it feels luxurious to have the connection with the outdoors."



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