A Barn Reborn

(Page 3 of 3)

April/May 2007
By Carola Kittredge 
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Throughout her property Naylor is replacing all non-native plants with indigenous species — particularly those that can survive with little water. She is gradually planting trees around three sides of a meadow that she seeded with native grasses and wildflowers, and after giving it one more year to become established, she plans to raise a flock of sheep.

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Living in harmony with the natural world, Naylor says, has resulted in some happy and unexpected relationships. “A wonderful brown bat spends his days hanging upside down in the old part of the barn and his nights hunting insects, which helps keep my home bug-free, even without screens.”

Many of the barn’s original inhabitants have returned, and wilder and shyer creatures have come back as well. A fox is back in his old lair and can be seen almost every day patrolling the borders of the property.

And the development next door, now more than 100 houses and still growing, is so well hidden by the evergreen hedge that you’d never know it was there.

Carola Kittredge has contributed to Architectural Digest and House Beautiful magazines. She hopes that Cassandra Naylor’s wonderful house will inspire others to live more sustainably.

This article originally appeared in our sister magazine, Natural Home, which provides ideas, inspiring examples and expert opinions about healthy, eco-friendly and beautiful homes. Mother Earth News readers can now subscribe to it at a discounted rate, six issues for $15. To order, visit 

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