Grass huts are mainstays of many cultures around the world.
Grass huts have been used by a number of cultures around the world for housing, including some Native American nations. A grass hut can make a fun hideout for kids or a realistic theatrical set component. In a day's work, you can construct your own grass hut with materials found in nature. Due to their strength and flexibility, willow, birch and sassafras sticks work best for the hut's foundation
Instructions
1. Choose an appropriate location for your hut. The hut will last longer in a calm, clear area in firm soil. Soft soil can't adequately support the saplings used in the hut's framework.
2. Drive a short stick in the desired center point of the hut. Tie a 7-foot long piece of twine to the stick, and tie another stick to the other end of the string. Use the string as a compass to draw a circle with a 7-foot radius.
3. Cut healthy saplings to an equal length and strip off bark, lateral branches and leaves with a pocketknife. You can leave the bark on, but the hut will last longer if you strip the bark.
4. Drive a wooden stake into 16 equidistant points around the circle to make starter holes for the branches. Label these holes in consecutive order from 1 to 16.
5. Drive saplings 2 feet deep in holes 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12 and 13. Bend saplings 1 and 10 across to the other side of the circle so that the tips of the saplings meet and overlap 6 inches. Tie the overlapping tips together using twine or long grass. Repeat this process for all of the opposite pairs of saplings.
6. Tie twine or grass around the intersection points of the saplings to reinforce them.
7. Drive saplings in all of the remaining holes. Bend and tie the saplings over the original saplings using the same techniques used to secure the original layer.
8. Wrap the remaining saplings around the hut's skeleton in belts, starting about 2 feet from the base and adding an additional belt every 2 feet up to the top of the hut. Secure the saplings in place at intersections with twine. Leave a portion of the hut unbelted to allow access to the inside.
9. Layer grass mats over the hut's framework, leaving the access area uncovered. Secure the mats in place with twine.
10. Cover the grass mats with loose grass.
11. Create four equally spaced holes around the perimeter of the hut, using the wooden stake. Insert four saplings 2 feet deep into these holes.
12. Bend the saplings over the grass mats to hold them in place. Lash the saplings together with twine.
