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About the Maker
About the Maker
My name is Prairie Sundance. I have worked in reforestation and habitat restoration, low impact logging, carpentry and cabinetry, and am a visual artist. I live in rural Iowa County, Wisconsin with my partner and two kids, near my mother and many other community members who are our friends, neighbors, & chosen family.
I met my partner, Lindsey at a friend’s homestead where she was working as a homebirth midwife. Sharing a love of nature, a belief in natural living, and a passion for social justice, we eventually began looking for a homestead where we could grow roots.
In 2010 we bought this land from a community friend, Phyllis Hodgson, who was no longer able to live independently in her beloved home. She entrusted us to care for it in her spirit and to bring new life to the place. Two years later our friend, Joel Gaalswyk, a homesteader and environmentalist, died at his home. His wife Chloe gave us the gift of asking for help with his green burial. Building a trundle and transporting his body to a local cemetery for a community-supported burial was a profound experience.
In 2014 our daughter was born at home and then two years later, our son. In 2017, our friend Phyllis died. To honor her wishes, we buried her here in the forest on the land she called “Jamalistan,” or “Place of Divine Beauty.”
Phyllis’ simple burial was a beautiful gathering of neighbors and friends. It renewed our commitment to care for the woods, working to develop and restore a native forest, understory, and savannah habitat. Using timber salvaged from the woods, we rebuilt her home and repaired her barn, looking forward to the time when we’d start using the forest to support our family.
In 2019 we built an addition to our home for our grandmother, who lived with us for over three years. When she died, I built a casket for her using the wood from our land, and the spark was ignited for Firefly Woodcrafts.
The Woods
The Woods
This land was tended by the HoChunk and Meskwaki people since time immemorial, maintained in a relationship which provided for their needs and supported unique habitats for thousands of species. When this land was taken by the first white colonizers, the ecological balance was disrupted as the original people were forced off their land and the oak savannah habitat was logged, grazed, or plowed under. What we found when we moved here was a young mixed hardwood forest, the remnants of the open-grown oaks and native understory, as well as many introduced and naturally seeded species.
A relationship in progress, we’re taking slow and careful steps towards establishing balance by using the traditional practice of burning the understory and other techniques to adapt to the changing climate we find ourselves in today. As trees die in this process, we do our best to harvest the useful timber with a responsible attitude towards the environment.
The Shop
The Shop
A number of years ago an elderly woman surprised us with a visit. Her grandparents had farmed this land, and she shared her family’s story. Her grandfather spent a year building the barn foundation, was called to fight in “The Great War,” and returned home able to complete their dairy barn. When we arrived nearly 100 years later we found holes in the roof and extensive damage to the structure. We soon put new roofing on the worst parts, and moved on to other priorities of home and work.
In 2024-25 we were able to put in enough time and money to make a workable shop, which we’ll continue to build as we grow. This year we bought the components for a solar system, which we plan to install when time allows.
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