The Land
We have about seven acres of open bottomland fields and living area surrounded by about three acres of Banklick Creek, surrounded by about eleven acres of wooded hills. There is nothing atypical about our woodlands, as the usual tree species predominate. We have about fifty paw paw trees, two Kentucky coffee trees, and parts of the wooded areas are overrun with bush honeysuckle and multiflora rose.
What we have plenty of is water. About one quarter mile of Banklick Creek runs through the property and Mackey and I never stop counting the blessings and endless fossils of this treasure (it's also full of smallmouth bass but don't tell anyone). Most of the year, we can hear the creek from anywhere on the property. We have a hand-dug stone-lined well, a developed spring, and a quarter acre pond full of catfish and bluegills.
The House
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What we started with.
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We took a modest 1400 square foot ranch and added a 1400 square foot passive solar addition. We kept the walls, basement, and most of the roof of the existing house and gutted the interior. We added a metal roof, a wood stove, a geo-thermal system, and a 10,000 gallon cistern, just to name a few of the changes. We received our Energy Star rating on the house in August 2009.
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The house today
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