From Sparta with love

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Samples of Jonas Miller’s bookhouses are on display in his shed. He says his bookhouses can be found in 128 different countries.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Plyboards are pushed through an industrial sander to make the wood smooth on both sides.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Jonas Miller keeps his workshop clean and organized. He says his business, J-Line Woodcraft, builds 5,000 to 6,000 bookhouses each year.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Jonas Miller keeps an inventory of 800 bookhouses in his warehouse.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Jonas Miller attaches a Little Free Library nameplate to every bookhouse.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

A Miller bookhouse stands outside a printshop in Sparta, Wisconsin.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Jonas Miller builds both wooden and composite bookhouses. Composite bookhouses are made with plastic lumber created from recycled milk jugs; they come in a variety of colors. Miller says they are more durable and easier to maintain than the wooden variety.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Bob, Jonas Miller’s Border Collie, smiles for a photo.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

A flock of Jonas Miller’s Dorper Sheep wait patiently for their evening meal. The Dorper breed is primarily raised for mutton.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Jonas Miller’s farmstead is located near Sparta, Wisconsin.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

One of Jonas Miller’s Dorper sheep peers through a hole in a wall. Dorper sheep are considered easy to raise because they don’t require shearing; they self-shed.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

A cart is filled with stacks of plastic-wrapped bookhouse kits ready to be boxed. Visit littlefreelibrary.org for more information.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Pine boards are pushed through a machine called a molder that planes the wood along all four sides in a single pass. Jonas Miller holds a piece from the molder; it will become the back corner of a bookhouse.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini/For Agri-View

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini For Agri-View

SPARTA, Wis. – Little wooden boxes are mounted on posts in almost every community. They come in different shapes, sizes and colors. But they all offer the same thing – free books.

Sarah Pfaff-Cavadini grew up on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin. A retired elementary teacher, she and her husband, Tim Cavadini, have six children and 13 grandchildren. They enjoy their 175-acre farm near Mindoro, Wisconsin, where they raise registered-Angus and Simmental beef cattle as well as horses and other small animals.