Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast and Farm

Harvesting the Good Life

Browntown, Wisconsin

To co-owners, John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist, their 5.5-acre hobby farm, ecotourism and agritourism enterprises, and a creative services marketing company all share something in common. The goal of their diversified operations is not about earning money, but rather, making a life. They believe their interconnected businesses have a triple bottom line: profits, yes, but also meeting ecological and social priorities. Located outside Monroe, Wisconsin, Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast -- recognized as one of the “top 10 eco-destinations in North America” by Natural Home & Garden magazine -- is powered by 100-percent renewable energy. Its innkeepers serve vegetarian breakfasts to their guests mostly prepared with ingredients from their organic gardens.

Renewable energy experts or third generation farmers, they’re not. Hailing from suburban upbringings–Lisa from Chicago and John from Detroit–this husband and wife team settled on the farm in 1996 because of the opportunities it held to craft a livelihood that was truer to their values and interests. They’re representative of what some researchers have called “lifestyle migrants,” emphasizing quality of life over size of bank account.

“We realized that while we said we valued family, friends, and wholesome food, we lived and worked in ways that denied us what we yearned for,” says Lisa, her toddler son, Liam, close by. “Raising our son, being outside in the gardens, eating fresh, local food, and having time to spend with friends and family was more important than the bi-monthly paycheck. Moving to the farm gave us a chance to craft a livelihood where we could do the things we enjoyed while caring for the planet and our community.”

Besides operating the nationally-recognized bed & breakfast, the couple also rent out a cabin in the woods of Vernon County, about two hours northwest of the farm, write books, consult on marketing topics, speak at a wide range of venues about conservation and sustainable living, and occasionally sell surplus vegetables, fruits, and herbs at a farmers’ market in Madison in the summer. John is also a free-lance photographer for numerous magazines including Mother Earth News, Hobby Farms, and Wisconsin Trails. Out of the upstairs bedroom that serves as their home office, the duo manage a diversity of endeavors that vary by the season–just the way they now eat from their garden.

“Our goal with our operations is to be fossil-fuel free and significantly more self-reliant than we were when we worked for a large advertising agency that offered one paycheck, one job title, and lots of stress,” smiles John. “By downsizing our operations and making them human-scaled, locally-based, and more ecologically sound, we discovered economic self-reliance.” To meet even more of their food needs (presently about seventy percent), they’re working on growing year-round in their active-solar-heated greenhouse insulated with straw bales. With an entrepreneurial spirit, John’s previous endeavors have ranged from restaurant start-ups to marketing consulting. As his photography and writing developed, he also started co-authoring award-winning children’s photobooks with Maya Ajmera, executive director of the Global Fund for Children, that include To Be a Kid, To Be an Artist, Animal Friends, and Be My Neighbor.

“At any given time, we have at least five or six business activities going on,” adds Lisa, who matured as an entrepreneur in her 20s, with work for Earth Day Chicago and event marketing for various clients. “One day we’re sharing a campfire with B&B guests, the next day we’re completing an article on deadline, weeding the gardens, teaching a cooperative pre-school class with other families in the community, and finishing up the day with follow-up phone calls to the media for the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Our life is quite diversified, both in projects and income.”

Set up under an umbrella “S” corporation, JDI Enterprises, Inc., the many complimentary enterprises cultivated by Lisa and John keep them learning, growing and connected to the land, their community and the planet. Their hospitality businesses–the B&B and cabin rental–account for about 50-percent of their annual income as a business and provide the funds to turn back around to help fund the conservation and restoration activities on the land. At the 30-acre cabin property, a riparian buffer of mostly hardwood trees was planted next to a stream that passes through the property.

Akin to the way businesses were commonly operated before large corporations became widespread, Inn Serendipity and the other enterprises under JDI Enterprises, Inc. are integrated with the family’s lifestyle. While receipts and documentation is extensively kept for the IRS and tax purposes, many of the household’s daily activities seem to blend from one thing to another. “We’ve developed our own sense of a workstyle,” explains Lisa.

“So much of what we are able to do today is a result of the ever more powerful computers and the rapid expansion of the Internet,” admits John. “Also, there was a time when we worked out of our downtown apartment in Chicago and had to hide the fact that we were self-employed. Now–with the chickens clucking in the background–calling a magazine editor in New York City offers a more acceptable and memorable connection. Businesses and the non-profit community have increasingly embraced sub-contracting projects out to freelancers and free agents, in much the same way that out-sourcing has caught on. It saves them money but offers us lots of control over our schedule and projects.”

“Our strategy has been to craft a farm-based livelihood that balances our consideration of food systems, energy systems, living systems and livelihood in a way that can sustain us and help heal the land, clean the air and purify the water,” continues Lisa. “From our wind turbine to the straw bale greenhouse, from the organic gardening strategies to co-parenting our son, we’re constantly evolving our endeavors as we seek to recreate the good life in the 21st Century. We’ve also rediscovered our interdependency with our community, both local and regional. Mentors, neighbors, and expertise from non-profit organizations like the Midwest Renewable Energy Association have made our journey possible.”

Documented at length in their book, Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, Lisa and John have woven together these four main aspects that define their ever-evolving journey. In terms of renewable energy, they’ve added a 10kW Bergey wind turbine, .5kW photovoltaic system, woodstove for heat, two solar thermal systems–for domestic hot water and to heat their greenhouse–and they’re making their own biodiesel along with their neighbors for back-up heating systems. Due to their comprehensive use of renewable energy systems and sustainable living strategies, Inn Serendipity is on the National Tour of Solar Homes, an Energy Star Small Business, Gaiam Real Goods “demo home,” and a Co-op America Business Network member.

“We’ve joined thousands of others in re-framing what it means to be farmers and entrepreneurs in America,” says John. “Instead of commodity crops, we’re harvesting wind and solar energy, growing our food with no synthetic chemicals, and re-creating commerce in a way that sustains us and the planet.”