Nigh Ox Newsletter

October 2001

Dream Acres
An Island Paradise in a Sea of Modern Conveniences

By Dulcy Perkins

John Sarge and I traveled to Todd Juzwiak's and Evie Barr's farm this summer to set up some solar power and to welcome people to their Open House. The house, built during a Tillers' timber framing class six years ago, is not on the electrical grid. The fuel oil company does not deliver to them. There is no well, but a small hand pump at the kitchen sink draws water up from a water catchment tank. They've received mail addressed to them as The Kids by the Washed Out Bridge. It's been two years and the bridge isn't fixed.

Driving into their lane I am reminded of photographs of secret special places hidden just beyond the tree-lined pathway. The trees open up to the house and timber framed barn; a long field of hay with a garden laid out to one side stretches down a slope to meet with a ring of trees, a creek, and finally a climb up a steep hillside. I am tucked away from the sounds and smells of the city. I cannot be reminded of them by distant city lights. There are stars I haven't seen since my last visit to my Arizona home.

Ice cream awaits us, and we play Oh'pshaw into the night by kerosene lantern. The next morning we have farm eggs and oatmeal with Todd, his two little ones Stanley and Chester, and Mark Schieloer and Colleen Higgins, who have been working with Todd and Evie for the last two years. Our breakfast is cooked on the wood cookstove, whose fire is built up only enough to cook and take the chill from the morning. Our grandmothers' ovens and ranges were these, but to most people the wood cook stove is a piece of décor, and any attempt at baking leads to hard bread and fallen cakes. Both Evie and Todd have mastered the cookstove, however, and the brownies we eat at lunch prove it.

The farm grows crops as a CSA, community supported agriculture. Todd and Evie deliver organic produce to families in Rochester and Albert Lea on a weekly basis. It's been dry, so Atlas and Hercules, the oxen, are used to haul water from the creek to wet the earth for the crops. Todd and Evie have collected an array of farm equipment, and the oxen are used to make their own hay and cultivate the crops.

As in all farms, Todd and Evie have neighbors that help with advice or finding a certain piece of equipment, and these folks have also come to help with the classes. Herald Schwarz, Dan Rasmussen, Leo Thoreson and their wives came to the farm for DreamAcres' open house, and I had a chance to talk to them about the technical side of horse drawn equipment and animal health. These are the type of people that make you feel at home. A family has come to the open house on horses, and it seems appropriate. People tour the house and ask about the fireplace, the stove, the lanterns. Some say, 'This is my dream house, my dream lifestyle, I have always wanted to do it this way.'

The forge is set up and John is doing some demonstrations. We brought the forge and anvil with us from Kalamazoo for DreamAcres' use and future classes. John demonstrates making a pair of tongs to use with the forge; one can't always go to town to pick up tools. John, Todd, and Mark, with a little help from Chester, have set up the solar panel, inverter and batteries. There is now a plug in on the farm to run power tools and a computer. We also set up a water ram, but the creek is so low with the drought that it won't work. Until it rains they will have to continue to haul water.

As we get ready to leave I look around at what 'The Kids' have accomplished: a house, barn, greenhouse, and bunkhouse. A farm that provides organic produce to twenty-two families. A home to raise their children. They have taken the initiative and live a life of their choosing; one that, with its lack of amenities, has fulfillment and rewards beyond what home entertainment centers and nine to five jobs can offer.

DreamAcres holds several classes a year, including Timber Framing, Farming with Oxen and Horses, Logging, Canning and Preserving Food, and International Development for Youth. Call or write if you are interested in learning more about DreamAcres and sustainable living in the U.S.