What makes your home a Green or Healthy Home?
Super insulated and earth bermed
Passive and Active PV Solar
Wind Turbine
Geothermal water furnace
All electric - ( no natural gas from fracking )
Tile floors
Organic raised bed gardens and orchardProperty Description
This is our 4 acre sustainable homestead. We have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, earth-bermed, super-insulated passive solar home that is 1600 square foot with all tile floors, knotty pine vaulted ceilings, a Vermont castings catalytic wood stove and geothermal water furnace for back-up heat, cooling and hot water. The house is built from a professional design called the Sun Cottage in Mother Earth News magazine. It is an open floorpan with an open kitchen, dining and living room. There is a family room that could easily be converted into another bedroom if you like. There are three walk-in closets, 3 regular double closets and an air lock entryway. The exterior doors are brand new and we did one set of French style double doors so it is easy to move furniture in and out. There is a nice patio in back for barbecuing, etc. The 4 acre property is divided in half with the back half being a nature preserve with a pond stocked with fish, walking trails, bridges over a small creek, a wildlife viewing blind and a gazebo. We have a 3.5 Kw wind turbine and two solar pv arrays that were professionally installed. They produce more electricity than we can use, even charging our electric car. So we tied on to the grid and get a check from the utility for excess production. The wind turbine is on a 60 foot, tilt-up motorized tower for easy maintenance. We have two sources of water - a very good well and also rural water supplied by a rural cooperative. There is a nice root cellar for storing produce. We have an orchard with apples, pears, cherries, plums, nectarines, peaches and apricots. We have established grape vines, blueberries, raspberries and asparagus. There are established hickory, walnut, chestnut, almond, pecan, oak and filbert trees. There is a conifer wind break planted to the north and west of the property. We raise all kinds of organic vegetables in the raised bed gardens. We love flowers and have planted tons of different perennials all over the property. We are rock hounds so there are lots of neat rocks from all over the country blended into the landscape. We have a small greenhouse, a chicken coup and a fenced one acre pasture with a cedar barn. In the past we have raised horses, sheep and show cattle. The place is set up to raise goats if you like with built-in goat feeders and a milking table but we never got around to it. There is good woven wire perimeter, garden and pasture fence. The 24x40 pole building we use as a workshop and garage with a loft for storage. There is a play area with swing set, a nice tree house in the woods, a picnic area with stone fire circle and a tree swing. We have observed lots of different wildlife over the years on our land including deer, wild turkey, foxes, rabbits, etc. If you like to hunt it is excellent hunting around here. Otherwise it is fun to observe or photograph the wildlife. This is a quiet area in the country, which feels secluded, yet we are only 2 miles from an on-ramp to both north-south and east-west interstate highways. We are lucky to have a good, new cement road and driveway to our house, so fortunately absolutely no gravel to drive on and new cement well maintained road from your garage to a nice town of 10,000 people. The town of Mount Pleasant is 5 miles away and has all the modern convenience stores, groceries, hospital, movie theater, a small college and very good public schools, etc. The school bus stops right in front of our house. It is a 45 minute drive to Iowa City and the University of Iowa which has world class health care, cultural events, etc. There are no problems with traffic around here as it is mostly farm country so you just get on the road and go where ever you want without any interruptions. If you like to golf there is a nice course 2 miles away that is never crowded. All our buildings have new permanent seamless green metal roofing so you will never need to worry about shingles. We recently remodeled the kitchen with new solid oak custom cabinets and quartz counter-tops and have a custom built-in oak bureau and shelves in the living room. We have a brand new Kinetico RO drinking water system. Also a whole house air filtration system so the air is very clean. We live on high ground so never any danger of flooding. But if you like to canoe, kayak or go fishing in the outdoors we have a pond and about a mile away is a beautiful little river so you can be in the middle of nowhere literally in minutes. Did I mention the bathroom has a jacuzzi tub which feels really good after a hard days work? Our children have moved west so we would like to be closer to them and although we will miss our Iowa Homestead it will be available for sale. Drone video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtC9H5-IXJoNeighborhood Description
Quiet rural area near town of 10,000. Lots of nature. Woods, fields, pasture.Market Area
Nice town of Mount Pleasant, IA ( 10,000 pop. ) which is 5 miles away ( 8 minutes ) on new concrete road and has all the modern convenience stores, groceries, hospital, a small college and very good public schools, etc. It is a 45 minute drive on Interstate 218 to Iowa City, IA ( 76,000 pop.) and the University of Iowa which has world class health care, cultural events, etc.School District
Iowa schools are among the best in the nation usually ranked #1 state in ACT scores, etc. The school bus stops right in front of our house.Community
It is a nice rural area near town. Lots of recreation opportunities. Very low unemployment. Iowa has a state budget surplus ( balanced budget is required by law here).Location of Home or Land
Rural
Air Quality
| Agriculture in Area | yes |
| Industry in Area | no |
| Air Pollution in Area | no |
| Pesticide Free | yes |
| Fragrance Free | yes |
| Cleaned with Green Products | yes |
Interior Environment
| Heating System | Geothermal |
| Cooling System | Geothermal |
| Ventilation System | Part of Cooling System |
| Whole House Filtration | Active charcoal |
| Whole House Vacuum | no |
Energy & Water
| Energy System | Photovoltaic (PV) |
| Water System | Municipal |
| Wastewater System | Septic System |
Construction Information
| Exterior Finish | Wood |
| Interior Finish | Gypsum Board - Sheet Rock |
| Interior Paint | Low VOC |
| Floor Material | Tile |
| Roof Material | Metal |
| Window Material | Wood Dual Glazed |
| Insulation Material | Other |
Garage / Car Port
| Garage / Carport | yes |
| Garage Type | detached |
| Number of Cars | 2 |
| Garage Area | 960 sqft |
