Little House UNDER the Prairie

Our house is a passive solar, earth bermed house. Our windows (sliders) are oriented toward the south to catch all the available sunlight during the winter when the sun is low on the horizon. We close "window quilts" at night to help us retain the daytime heat which is stored in the floor slab. The roof was designed with an overhang that prevents direct sunlight from penetrating the house in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky. We have two solar panels on the roof to preheat our hot water heater and we are able to heat the whole house with a vented kerosene heater. The other three sides of the house are concrete sheltered by an earth berm, a hill which was built up to the roofline - sort of like a blanket cozied around the house's shoulders. The design - built over 25 years ago - works pretty well.
















When we made the berm we needed to keep it stable against erosion, so we planted crown vetch and rosa rugosa to hold the soil. I also transplanted some daylilies which I found beside the road and they spread and prospered.
























































Over the years, the berm was invaded by bittersweet, a vine that I am continually amazed to see promoted in gardening catalogs. Don't buy it! Yes, it has pretty yellow husked orange berries in the fall and the birds like them. But the vines will overtake your property, strangle your trees, and crowd out any other plantings. It is almost impossible to eradicate.








Last summer we hired a landscaper to pull out the bittersweet and put down a layer of mulch on the berm. Things looked great for a while. This spring, with all the rain, it's BAAACK... I think the only solution would be Agent Orange - not going to do that.








So here is a north side view of our little house UNDER the prairie, showing grasses, Queen Anne's Lace, wild yarrow and, yes, Bittersweet.