Sophie's Nest

You are welcome to stay in our owner-built timber frame solar powered home with us. Sophie's room is upstairs, along with a sitting room. We'll share the main floor with you, which includes the bathroom, kitchen, and living room. We were early adopters of solar energy, having been off the grid since 1989. Daniel is pretty darned knowledgeable about many things having to do with alternative energy, sawdust toilets, gardening, building, wood splitting, rainwater collection, and more. Our home is a warm place of wood (mostly local) and old things made well in the distant past. We live by the maxim "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" and this makes space for much beauty. Everything where we live on 29 acres, plus walking trails through the woods to the creek and our neighbors at the Pepperfield Project. We're likely to bump into each other, sharing a bathroom and kitchen and the outside spaces. If you want privacy you'll stay in the bedroom, go out into the woods, or go to town. We live in a beautiful rural neighborhood just 6 miles North of Decorah, where there is much to see and do. Sustainable agriculture and grassroots education are happening here in a big way, and if you are interested in learning things about some of the systems we have in place at Fern Hollow we'd be glad to show you. Cars, carpooling, biking, walking, and hitchhiking are the ways to get around.