Other “green” features Zalesky and Ward are planning include:
• A 16-by-4-foot raised bed garden. Zalesky said she is working with Green City Growers, a company that specializes in urban farming, on setting the plot up for intensive cultivation. Her plans include a variation on mil pas, a growing technique pioneered by Native Americans in South America where various crops, normally corn, beans and squash are grown in conjunction. She said they will also cultivate fruit and nut trees
• Kid-powered video games. The couple plans to set up a home entertainment system powered by a stationary bicycle, they said.
• A super-efficient refrigerator that utilizes outdoor air in the winter. Vermont-native Richard Travers originally developed this technology in the 1970s. Travers’ company, Freeaire, concentrates exclusively on commercial manufacturing these days, Ward said, but the company donated an old residential fridge for the project, Ward said.
• Bees. The couple plans to work with the local Golden Rule Apiary to produce honey on site.
David Taber