the story of sona

In 2020, like the rest of the world, our little family was experiencing an onslaught of changes.

In January of 2020, my grandparents had to move from their California ranch into a retirement community. This was most difficult on my grandfather, who had spent over 50 years loving, living, and tending to that land. He had built their family home, Walls that my mother and her siblings were raised within. My father had spent a year there planting a pomegranate orchard, and over that year my mother fell in love with him. when EVERY SUMMER MY MOTHER’S FAMILY WOULD PACK UP and COME TO Clarklake, MICHIGAN, MY GRANDFATHER would ONLY be ABLE TO ESCAPE to the lake FOR SHORT PERIODS of time BECAUSE HE NEEDED TO GET BACK homeTO THE RANCH. SAN PASO RANCH was the setting of mOST OF stories I had heard around the dinner table growing up. the sale of it was heartbreaking, for my grandfather losing SAN PASO RANCH ON WELLSONA ROAD was like losing a family member.

IN april 2020, my soon-to-be husband and I were saving up to move home to MICHIGAN FROM PORTLAND, Oregon. We were DEBATING WHETHER TO TRANSITION TO ANOTHER CITY OR MOVE BACK TO Clarklake, MIchigan (The same LAKE TOWN my mothers family summered and that I GREW UP IN). ONE AFTERNOON of lockdown WHEN CASUALLY SCROLLING ZILLOW, THIS LITTLE PIECE OF PROPERTY west OF THE LAKE APPEARED. silently hopeful, I SENT IT TO my fiancé NICK. thankfully, HE WAS IMMEDIATELY INTRIGUED. IT WAS A 23-ACRE OLD CORNFIELD AND BACK COUNTRY LOT THAT COULD BE THE PERFECT SETTING TO BUILD A HOME, and plenty of land for him to hit golf balls. SO WE BOUGHT IT, AND ENVISIONED IT OUR LITTLE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

NICK AND I STILL HAD A YEAR TO GO FOR OUR PLANNED MOVE DATE, AND WE COULDN’T JUST CALL OUR SOON TO BE HOME OUR “PROPERTY,” IT NEEDED A PROPER NAME. THERE WERE PLENTY OF NAMES THROWN OUT OVER DINNERS OR SATURDAY AFTERNOON COCKTAILS- BUT WE BOTH REALLY WANTED SOMETHING THAT HONORED THIS HUGE TRANSITION WE WERE ALL EXPERIENCING. PERFECTLY, WE DECIDED ON “SONA.” SHORTENED FROM WELLSONA ROAD, THE STREET MY GRANDPARENT’S RANCH WAS ON. This was a way to bring home to clarklake the land that meant so much to my family.

“Sona” is also the feminine given name for gold, also meaning close to heart. Learning this other meaning, “Sona” became my mantra so to speak. i strived to Put it in everything i dID. I changed the name of my side business to SOna BY Em, hoping to one day Host and Grow the business on our land. I wanted this name tied into everything that made up our future together, make everything a little bit gold.

Moving back to michigan, the plans for putting a house on sona changed. With the exuberant prices of lumber and extremely long wait times for new builds in the summer of 2021 - we decided to buy a house instead, determined to never let go of our little piece of gold at the north end of the lake. WE have lots of plans for this property, (gardens, walking trails, etc.) but the first one was to find a way to share it with others, so in fall 2022 we began building the yurt.

I could say that the yurt build was a quick, fun, easy side project- but that would be a lie. literal blood, sweat, and tears were shed during this build (in the spirit of honesty, the only shed tears were mine). Very little injuries were sustained (thankfully), and very many lessons learned. i am so grateful to my husband and father for seeing this through. after months of weekends and weeknights sacrificed, we are so excited to have this unique place to share with our community. Plus, despite all the obstacles, the phrase “when we build the next yurt” is still frequently spoken by my dad and nick - so it couldn't have been all bad right?

For more information on renting the yurt & photos of the build process, visit the yurt page.