John Ivanko, Off-Grid, Self-Reliant Homesteader
Name: John D. Ivanko
Occupation: Author, National Speaker, Photographer, Journalist, Innkeeper of Inn Serendipity, Organic Grower, Farmstead Chef, Homesteader
Place of Residence: Browntown, Wisconsin
Background and Personal History:
John Ivanko loves the self-reliance journey he embarked on with his wife, Lisa Kivirist, on their 5.5-acre farmstead known as Inn Serendipity. Since 1996, they’ve learned how to power their home with renewable energy, grow enough organic food to meet about 70 percent of their food needs, prepare their meals in their farmstead kitchen, and create various enterprises they have a passion for. They manage all this while still consulting for a few organizations that are, in various ways, making the world a better place — through organic farming, fermentation or fostering rural revitalization.
Ivanko is the co-author or contributor to eleven books, including Farmstead Chef, the award-winning ECOpreneuring, Rural Renaissance, To Be a Kid, Be My Neighbor and To Be an Artist. He has been published in Mother Earth News, Urban Farm, Natural Home, E Magazine, and Natural Awakenings.
Recognized as one of the “Top 10 Eco-Destinations in North America”, Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast and Farm is completely powered by the wind and sun. The homestead and “micro-corp” office for John’s and Lisa’s diversity of small enterprises features a greenhouse made from straw bales, two solar thermal systems, a “life-sized” chess set, wood-fired pizza oven (and Sun Oven solar cooker), and a Ga Ga Ball pit for playing this popular dodgeball-like game. John shares his abundant organic farm with his Harvest Ninja and Minecrafting (and home-schooled) son Liam, a 10-kw Bergey wind turbine, and millions of ladybugs.
More Places to Find John on the Web:
