N.C. family aims to make a softer footprint

Markus and Gunther Heyder and their father, Die-trich, strolled through a part of their 80-acre Currituck County property where a giant oak fell five years ago in the winds of Hurricane Isabel.

Rotting among the weeds, the old tree remained where it fell as a part of nature replenishing itself.

"He calls it sculpture," Markus said of his father.

Dietrich and his wife, Jessica Heyder, live in a three-story house built 22 years ago on high ground surrounded by marsh and woodland along the Currituck Sound. The homestead is designed to have the least impact possible on the environment.

A wood stove warms it and water is piped underneath, holding the heating bill to $60 a month. A large garden, honey bees, a few sheep and a coop of chickens provide food. What family members don't eat fresh, they preserve in jars.

Large windows, 82 of them, allow heat to enter but not escape. Special tile near the door absorbs heat. Clothes are hung on a line between house pilings rather than thrown into a dryer.

The Powells Point home is an example of a larger effort in Currituck County to raise awareness and put into practice environmental conservation on a broad scale.

Led by the Cooperative Extension office and by environmental experts from around the state, the environmental effort kicks off Jan. 31 at the Currituck County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Maple.

"No other county has done this across the board," said Rodney Sawyer, director of the Currituck County cooperative extension. "This is a big, big thing,"

Projects include 10 families that will use rain barrels and measure the amount of water saved in a year and 10 families that will implement energy saving practices such as wind and solar power and track the savings.

Some developers plan to build homes designed to save energy and have a light environmental impact, Sawyer said.

The range of projects will include urban forestry, landscaping practices, storm water drainage, recycling and retrofitting older buildings and homes to make them easier on the environment.

Jessica Heyder, an officer on the Cooperative Extension citizen advisory board, plans to install a windmill at her home, she said.

The family's lifestyle stems as much from Dietrich Heyder's rural upbringing in Germany as from social consciousness, said Markus Heyder. Dietrich, who lived through the Great Depression and World War II, with Jessica raised two sons and a daughter, Erika, on this place, teaching them how to live from the land with a minimal impact.

"I thoroughly enjoy it," Gunther Heyder said.

Modern technology is still part of life. Markus is a dentist who has the latest equipment. Erika is an attorney and Gunther attends dental school at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"We all use cell phones and iPods," Markus said.

Dietrich, 83, is a psychiatrist. Many of his patients get therapy from walking around the property.

"He's a minimalist when it comes to making a footprint," Markus said.

Teaching that mindset to as many people as possible is the purpose of the Currituck County environmental initiative, Sawyer said.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com