Oak Forest Collaborative

The goal of Oak Forest is to create a collaborative that focus's on personal creativity,growing organic food,and developing marketable products to sell at area farmers markets and craft-shows.The intention is to create affordable housing that will foster personal enjoyment of area,a exchange of creative ideas,and hopefully a sense of community.Well,I should say the house incorporates many energy effecient and saftey systems.Saftey first, each room has a fire sprinkler and a monitored,hard wired smoke alarm.Additionally there are monitored smoke/carbon detection monitors in the hallways.Beyound that, the house was designed using the Home Energy Rating System or HERS,that increases energy effeciency up to 50% through use of increased insulation and energy effecient windows and doors.The house will be heated by natural gas and a outdoor energy effecient/low emmision wood fired water boiler .So the plan is to have tenant spaces.The price range is from rooms to go for $550{including heat,hot water,wi-fi,cable TV}to $625.Beyond that, oh boy.The house itself is on 40 acres of land,however, it's surrounded by Nature Conservancy, State land, so it's extemely rural.Beyond that it's on a limited access road, with further dedicated nature trails, a large brook.Beyond that, Lyme itself is a paradise.Through zoning laws they have kept the population very low and aggresively purchased land for nature preserves.As a result, it's like stepping back into the 1850's.You can bike for miles on country roads, very little vehicular traffic.On the weekends you can go two days without seeing another human face with little planning.Nature in the raw.I find it's a very effective way to unwind, get away from the rat-race, and get in touch with yourself and your projects.Nature is so begnin, a force for good,to just immerse yourself in it.We are up and running.