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Lilac Moon - Homesteading in Northern Minnesota continued

by Sheri Dixon

This lovely little gem of a residence consists of a small but well planned and stocked kitchen with both gas and wood stoves and a sink with a hand pump to bring water from the well directly underneath.  

Cozy living room, library/office area and a bedroom, all surrounding the substantial rock sauna/woodstove. 

Tucked away to one side is the battery storage bank that connects to the solar panels on the roof.   

Down a peaceful birch-lined path is the outhouse, a tiny little room that is brighter and cleaner than most peoples’ indoor bathrooms (including my own).  Waste treatment here is by use of a sawdust toilet and then to the compost pile, and the only thing you smell on entering the outhouse is the pleasant scent of wood shavings.  It’s not buggy.  It’s not odiferous.  It’s not primitive.  It’s overwhelmingly sensible - much more so than a system that takes fresh drinking water to flush bodily wastes back into the environment.  And did I mention how cute it is? 

Behind the house proper is the garage/workshop/office - Bruce’s domain. This is a reasonably "mainstream" structure, the office part being the newest section with a wall of windows overlooking a wooded ravine.  A small woodstove keeps it toasty in the wintertime.

*Note to forum members - when Bruce is being "Lodestar" on the forum, this is where he’s sitting - windows to the left, wall of books behind, woodstove and futon for the cats ahead. 

There are several woodpiles on the property, and all are stacked, sorted, sized, and split according to need and use in a display of organization that I can hope to accomplish only in my wildest dreams.  

Back towards the garden and fire pit is the summer house - a screened room that accommodates guests in warm weather, facilitates outdoor cooking, and is a welcome retreat from mosquitoes when they are in season. 

Cheryl’s studio is a ½ mile stroll through the woods and around the wetlands. A straw bale structure, it staunchly 'pooh-poohs" any notion that straw bale must only be done in warm, dry climates - for northern Minnesota is neither. The secret, we are told, is in the overhang - there MUST be enough overhang so that the body of the building does not get rained/snowed on. The thickness of the walls gives a muffled feel to the interior, calming and relaxing, but uplifting and positive thanks to the light stucco finish and large windows.  A second vegetable garden, another outhouse, and the earth sheltered greenhouse are also nearby. 

The permeating aura of the entire homestead is one of complimentary alliances - forest and garden, structure and nature, self sufficiency and inter-dependence.  And at the heart of the homestead are the homesteaders themselves. 

Bruce and Cheryl are one of those truly great timeless couples that you must refer to together like Fred and Wilma, Hansel and Gretel, Ben and Jerry. Singly they are phenomenal - Bruce is explosive power and determination, constant motion and mental wheels always turning.  Cheryl is every bit as powerful in a quiet, calming, gentle and deliberate way. 

Together they are indomitable.

Together they have taken a beautiful parcel of forest and gently molded it into more than a homestead.

Once you pass through the gate at Lilac Moon, beyond the silence, beyond the beauty, beyond the very real workings of a homestead, is a quiet certainty that this is a home.

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