Prairie Woods Franciscan Spirituality Center – Hiawatha, Iowa
www.prairiewoods.org

Contact
Helen Elsbernd, FSPA, 120 E. Boyson Road, Hiawatha, IA 52233-1277; 319-395-6700/
ecospirit@prairiewoods.org; helsbernd@prairiewoods.org

The retreat and conference center was established in 1997 by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of LaCrosse on 70 acres of woodland and prairie to be sacred space in which persons of all faiths can explore relationships with God, self, others and Earth. In addition to prayer, reflection, and retreat experiences, services include spiritual guidance, counseling, massage therapy, reiki, healing touch, and shiatsu.

The Prairiewoods campus includes the Center, a 20-room Guest House and two hermitages located in the woods. The facility is a model for alternative energy and energy efficiency. Solar panels provide hot water for the Guest House and berming provides insulation. Passive solar energy helps heat the atrium of the Center and berming provides insulation.
Compact fluorescent lighting throughout. A trombe wall provides solar heat for two apartments in the resident. The hermitages are of straw bale construction with solar panels providing electricity and low-keep refrigeration. Buffalo grass is used instead of bluegrass which reduces mowing. A root cellar is used for storage of root crops.

Organic principles are used in community gardening. Bushes and trees are selected to provide food and shelter for wildlife and to serve as windbreaks. Two ponds catch run-off and provide habitat for water creatures.

Low flow faucets and shower heads are used in all facilities to conserve water. A wetland sewage system is used at the hermitages.

Courses are offered to the public on spiritual, theological, ecological and psychological topics. They are currently analyzing power load, site, and system integration needs while raising funds to install a wind turbine. [2009]