Life in a tipi

Amy Woodruff has found that she can experience “being close to the land” right in her Eagle Rock yard in her tipi.

Woodruff, who is of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, grew up on a family farm in Norco, where they raised their own food.

“We had a year-round garden and orchard where we raised oranges, peaches and other fruit. We also raised and butchered our own chickens, rabbits, goat, sheep and cows,” she says. But it was hard, she explains, to kill animals that had names, and she more recently chose to adopt a vegan diet.

Woodruff had been living in New York for four years, doing photography and other jobs. Though she found New York exciting and fast-paced, she began to realize that there was also something missing.

“I wanted to be close to the land. In New York, there wasn’t even a front yard,” she says.

When she moved to her current home in Eagle Rock, she was happy to have a place where she could grow a small garden and do her Native American craftwork.

Woodruff began to get interested in outdoor skills and primitive living arts and attended the Winter Count event in Arizona in February 2007, a weeklong gathering with classes in pottery, wild plants, fire-making, weaving and other skills.

“I began to realize how easy it was to live outdoors when I met people who lived in a traditional tipi,” says Woodruff, who purchased her own tipi shortly thereafter.

The unique Native American tipi of the Great Plains has long been the focus of artists and even urban planners who recognize it as a uniquely economical shelter that is easy to cool and heat, and which provides an almost religious experience to those living inside it.

“I began to appreciate the tipi even more after I began to live in the tipi. It is really special to be able to see the stars at night through the smoke flap and to be able to hear birds in the morning,” Woodruff says as she glances around in her airy 16-foot diameter tent. She uses it for a bedroom and living room, and has a cooking grill in the middle where she can heat water or cook meals. She has only slept indoors for two months since she got the tipi more than a year ago.

“I recently began to study kundalini yoga,” she adds. “You really begin to find out who you are when you do yoga, and things from the past come up when you are working on yourself,” she explains. Woodruff has been taking classes five times a week at the Golden Bridge Yoga Studio in nearby Hollywood.

“This has also inspired me to do research on my ancestry and on Native American culture in general,” she explains, pointing to a number of Native American books.

In the big city of New York, it was different and there were things to explore, but it brought me back here. Being in New York made me realize that I already have it, it is all right here, now,” she says, reverentially touching the grass floor of her tipi.

“I love it because I feel that I can be anywhere when I’m in here. I don’t have to be in a front yard in Eagle Rock. I feel that this is sacred space, and I feel that it is so good to be out here on Mother Earth,” she explains. “Even though I’m living in the city now, LA is good, and I’m only 20 minutes from the ocean and mountains, and only one hour away from the desert,” she says.

Woodruff creates Native American-inspired jewelry, such as leather belts, necklaces, purses and clothing which she sells at shops such as Scout in West Hollywood, Cactus on Eagle Rock Boulevard and Show Pony in Echo Park. She also sells online at www.daughterofthesun.net.

What do Woodruff’s neighbors think about her tipi in the yard?

“I had the tipi up since March of ’07, but I didn’t really get any reactions until Halloween of last year when the tipi was open for the trick-or-treaters. Everyone said they loved the tipi and they wanted their children to look inside. Everyone was very supportive of it,” she says.

Woodruff offers simple advice to other city folks who want to experience a little of her lifestyle.

“Begin by doing simple things like composting your kitchen scraps to make good soil. And grow some of your own food, even in pots. Dry your clothes in the sun on a clothesline, and use cotton napkins that you wash. The most important thing is to educate yourself so you learn what you can do in your own home and yard.”

Christopher Nyerges is the editor of Wilderness Way magazine and the author of “How to Survive Anywhere” and other books. His Web site is www.ChristopherNyerges.com.