Important Details for Overnight Guests

Our home was built in 2007 by a local engineer who is one of our nearest neighbors. It is built largely from reclaimed materials, with 2.5 levels and plenty of natural light throughout the day. Visitors may occasionally find us doing improvements/aesthetic finishing work in other areas of the house, but we’ll be sure to avoid persistent loud noises or paint smells when guests are present! The home is big enough to allow one to easily feel “alone” or in private space if desired, and has a large common area and shared kitchen on the second floor. Guests use the downstairs bathroom and share with other visitors. Visitors are welcome to use our household spiritual spaces during their visit, with standard supplies (such as candles and incense) being complementary for use during your stay.

Our homestead runs primarily on solar energy, with modern electrical capacity– feel free to have the lights on, use fans or window-unit ACs, charge your devices, and anything else you would do at home! Just be careful plugging high-energy-use items (such as hairdryers, personal coffer makers, gaming laptops, etc) into the same outlet at the same time, or you may trip the outlet’s breaker. (Easily reset with the push of a button, if it does happen!)

In times of extended cloud cover or high energy usage, we use an outside generator to charge the household battery. This generator runs on natural gas sourced directly from the property. While we try to be mindful of when the generator is running and do not operate it during sleeping hours or pre-scheduled quiet times, be aware it IS a noisy machine and will produce a steady background drone much like a large lawnmower running outside, and usually has to run 4-10 hours to fully charge the house battery. Personally, we find the generator sound to be steady, unobtrusive, and easy to tune out with windows closed, at a reasonable distance, or with music or movies on, headphones in, fans running, etc.

There are operational natural gas wells in multiple areas on the property. They are owned and maintained by Diversified Energy, and we make no profits/receive no royalties from the wells. We assist in monitoring the wells and reporting when maintenance is needed. The small wells are safe to approach/take pictures nearby, but visitors should not use lighters/fire sources within 50 feet of any well, and should not sit/climb/stand on any of the pipes or equipment. There is one large well, which we call the Singing Well, in the central valley which runs twice a day, at roughly 10:00 am and 10:00 pm (daylight savings time) for ~45 minutes. This well typically emits a low engine sound and (in warm or damp weather) a rhythmic/metallic tone while running, which can be heard from other areas of the property. It is not heard from the house, but Rattlesnake Knob and Blue Brother campsites can hear the well when sound conditions are good. Summer foliage tends to dampen the sound. We personally enjoy the rather unique background noise, and find it easy to tune out with regular campsite noise, music, fans, etc.

We are a working farm! Expect to encounter chickens, dogs, a cat, and copious wildlife/insects.

For in-house guests, we can provide at no extra cost:
-Linens, towels, pillows, blankets, and extras of any of these you may need!
-Filtered drinking water
-Any essentials like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, contact lens solution, etc. you might forget or prefer not to travel with

It gets muddy here whenever it rains! Be sure to bring washable/cleanable shoes with good treads, and extra clothes.