Our cozy cabin sits amidst our beautiful gardens, is impeccably clean, ‘green,’ and full of charm — a perfect place for a peaceful country getaway, yet only: 5 miles to Athens 7 miles to Ohio University 6 miles to Bailey’s Trails (mountain biking) 2 miles to Strouds Run State Park (our land borders this park) Near numerous wineries, breweries, and distilleries. We offer paddle board rentals—Dow lake, is 5 minutes down the road. The space Welcome to our cozy cabin on the ridge top. The cabin sits amidst our gardens, which are currently displaying all of their glory! Enjoy the open view of the stars from of our ridge top, sit by the fire, relax in the hammock, enjoy a hike in the woods, or relax in the air conditioning. If you are looking for an impecably clean, nontoxic, beautiful space that offers a taste of country living with the convenience of being 10 minutes from the town of Athens, then this cabin is perfect. Please read the description of our cabin below, as our cabin offers many unique features: This well-loved little home was designed to be simple, yet comfortable, practical, and beautiful. This is a ‘green’ space in that we do not use harmful chemicals for cleaning, pesticides, laundry, soaps, fire starter, etc. Luxuriate in the feel of the 100% cotton or linen textiles (sheets, towels, rugs, couch fabric). The cabin is a beautiful, nontoxic space—surrounded by our gardens and finished with all natural materials, much of which is local lumber. From the finish on the wood, to the composting toilet and the homemade cleaning supplies— you will experience a ‘green’ environment in this little home. This cabin sits on our 12 private acres, which borders Strouds Run State Park. It offers 216 square feet of living space on the main floor, in addition to a loft with a full-size bed. Numerous windows let in plenty of light, and the tall ceiling gives a spacious feel. In addition to the full sized bed in the loft, the sofa bed sleeper pull-out in the living room area is perfect for relaxing with your feet up, or offers an additional place for a child or small person to sleep. The bathroom consists of a shower, composting toilet (sanitary, impeccably clean, and not scary) and washer/dryer. The kitchenette is equipped to cook your meals. It includes a mini fridge and freezer, 2 burner electric stove top, and all the necessities for cooking small stove-top meals. There is a tea pot and French press in addition to freshly ground coffee and tea grown in our gardens. This cozy cabin, located in our back yard (about 150 feet away from our home) and sits upon one of the highest ridge tops in Athens County. The ridge top offers a beautiful view of the countryside in addition to a dark sky for nighttime stargazing. The cabin has a small porch from which you can enjoy the ridge top view of the valley and surrounding hills, and the starry nighttime sky. Build a fire in the fire pit and enjoy an evening by the warmth of the fire and listening to the songs of the whippoorwills (April - June), coyotes, owls, …and sometimes our Appalachian neighbors and their dogs (keeping it real). We have hot running water, electricity, electric heat, and air conditioning. We do not have WiFi, but have found that most phones work well from our ridge top cabin (we have not encountered one that does not work). If you love nature, you’ll love the 12 private acres you are welcome to explore, which connects to hundreds of acres at Strouds Run State Park to hike, bike, swim, fish, paddle, and more (less than a 5 minute drive). We also offer paddle board rentals. We have two boards, both with detachable kayak seats. Feel free to visit our chickens if you would like, but be careful not to touch the electric fence. Convenient Location While our cabin is a country retreat, it is: 5 miles to Athens (10 minute drive) 7 miles to Ohio University (15 minute drive) Less than 7 miles to Bailey’s Trails (14 minute drive) (mountain bike trails) 2 miles to Strouds Run State Park Near numerous wineries, breweries, and distilleries Whether you’re staying for an OU event, a country retreat, a motorcycle adventure, fishing, mountain biking, hiking, hunting, to explore the local wineries, to unplug, or for a myriad of other reasons, our ridge top cozy cabin home may be just for you. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: It has come to my attention that many have never used and/or may be intimidated by a composting toilet. Our composting toilet is impeccably clean, sanitary, and virtually odor free. It is my personal preference to recycle waste, instead of pollute clean water. It is not scary, I promise! Most sceptic guests are happily surprised at the cleanliness, simplicity, and ease of use. Below I describe what a composting toilet is and why we feel strongly about its use in our green space. What is a Composting Toilet? Our composting toilet is just like a regular toilet except you are not going to the bathroom in fresh water. Instead of polluting water, we use human waste as a compost resource to eventually feed our orchard. It’s cleaner than any ‘regular’ toilet that I have ever used. It’s simple, easy, hygenic, and virtually odor free. A composting toilet is not a pit latrine, nor is it a ‘porta potty.’ It does not smell. It does not create pollution. Using a compost toilet is a good way to take refuse and turn it into a resource. A composting toilet takes human waste, and dry material such as sawdust, wood shavings, leaves, weeds from the garden, or wood ash from the woodstove (we use whatever we have from the land) and composts it with straw at a high heat to kill potential pathogens. At the end of the process we are left with sweet smelling, clean, and hygienic compost that feeds our orchard and flowers. Why a Composting Toilet? There are several reasons why I am an advocate for use of composting toilets and mostly this boils down to environmental reasons. First, we are not using the precious resource of clean water as a toilet. Instead, composting toilets take something which is commonly viewed as a waste material, and transform it, through the process of composting, back into a valuable resource in the form of Humanure, or human manure. This nutrient dense, pathogen free, completely safe resource can be added to ornamental gardens, fruit trees and even onto vegetable gardens if people choose and if it’s been correctly and thoroughly composted. Right now, we have a broken nutrient cycle, where food is grown, eaten and human waste is discarded and treated as sewage which often involves harsh chemical treatment before dumping into our oceans and waterways. Chemical fertilizer is then used to (ineffectively) replace soil nutrients in order to grow more food. On the flip side of that, an intact nutrient cycle is where the waste is composted, and turned into a nutrient dense fertilizer which can then be used as a valuable resource to replenish soil nutrients, build topsoil and help things grow. Nature after all, is a closed system. Waste is not natural. How to Use Before using a bucket the first time make sure there is a few inches of cover material in the bucket. (This is done for you). Use as you would any toilet. Completely cover all contents with the cover material. The cover material is the big key to making this system work. Guest access Private gravel driveway, approximately 300 feet long, with parking alongside the cabin. The gravel driveway up to the cabin is a bit steep. It is navigable with 2WD or 4WD most of the year. In snowy, icy, or extremely wet conditions 4WD is advisable. We recommend that you do not stop your vehicle at the crest of the hill, where the driveway curves sharply to the left. Keeping momentum at this spot will allow for the most success in navigating the driveway. During winter, please be advised that the driveway is at times impassable (after heavy snowfall, or in icy conditions). Guests are welcome to park at the bottom of the driveway and walk the short distance to the cabin. I will let guests know of any recent or upcoming weather events that may cause the driveway to be impassable. Other things to note We do not have WiFi, although most (all?) phones work from our ridge top cabin. We have a composting toilet. It is immaculately clean, ‘green,’ and easy to use. We do not have a microwave, instead we offer a two burner stovetop. We do not use harmful chemicals for cleaning nor do we use toxic pesticides. While the cabin is new construction, and is impeccably clean, this is a country cabin, and insects, such as stink bugs, water bugs, ants, and lady bugs, may be found. While it may be unpleasant to encounter an insect, we feel strongly that the detrimental effects of pesticides to our health and to our environment has far worse consequences. Again our cabin is an impeccably clean, toxin-free country cabin. The cozy cabin is in a country neighborhood. Often it is quiet, as many reviewers comment on. However, there are times that you can hear all the neighborhood sounds. Approximately 200 feet from the cabin, are the closet neighbors. At times you may hear them and/or their dogs. They can be noisy. Unfortunately, we have no control over the neighbors. There is a white noise machine available in the cabin. We also offer earplugs. We have 2 dogs that live on the property. They are friendly and you may see them on occasion. We also have outdoor cats, chickens, and bees. The roosters can be talkative! We offer firewood for $10/bundle. We also have matches, a lighter, and plenty of kindling (paper, cardboard, and small pieces of wood)— so no harmful chemicals are necessary to start a fire— no lighter fluid please. We sell flower bouquets, cut fresh from our beautiful gardens (seasonal). Let us know if you would like a bouquet for a special occasion, or would like to take one home. We do our best to respect your privacy, and the cabin is in our back yard. You may see us working around the homestead.