Breaking from the herd to smalltown Maine

When we arrived, co-owner Ed Curtis was bent over in his backyard, picking stems from a tub of Concord grapes from a small arbor near the main house. "Yesterday was apple cider day," said Karen, his wife and the farm's other co-owner, pointing to a cider press out by the garage. "Today is grape juice. Next comes grape jam."

She showed us to our room: a second-floor, gabled unit with an unusual ceiling that forms an inward, eight-pointed star. "It's like being inside an orange juice squeezer," my companion quipped. The room is small with no TV or phone, but it's cozy, reasonably priced at $115 a night, and has a private bath, private entrance, and an attractive view overlooking Sullivan Harbor and Frenchman's Bay.

After we settled in, we toured the main house, with its beautiful post-and-beam construction and elaborate power system. A huge Russian fireplace and a passive solar setup with wide, south-facing windows heat the main house, while photovoltaic solar panels on the rooftop provide electricity, supplemented by a propane generator. "But we only use that about 120 hours a year," Karen said. In the basement command center, solar power charges batteries with inverters that convert it for household use.

Everywhere there are signs of industry. On one deck by the main house, fishnet bags with beans dried in the sun. Nearby is a small kitchen garden, the grape arbor, a henhouse with exotic chickens raised for their eggs, and a sugar shack where Ed makes maple syrup. There's also a system to treat and filter water from their well.

The Curtises are aerospace engineers who spent much of their professional lives working on jet turbine engines. But they wanted "to take better care of ourselves," Ed said. They aimed to be as self-sufficient as possible. They had no experience in farming or innkeeping but were eager to give them a try. They bought the Hancock property in 1994 and began work on the home, which they designed themselves. They built it in 2001 and opened for guests in 2002.

Now, both at 51, they're the ultimate do-it-yourselfers. Roaming around their farm is like visiting a huge science fair, with mini-projects at every turn.