Towards a post-capitalist regenerative community

Oregon

41 reviews • Updated 23 days ago

Important: Please read this through carefully before contacting me. Thanks! Why: Why am I doing this? Because I want to live sustainably, improve the soil and land, and be more in touch with Mother Earth. I want to grow my food as much as possible, and to leave a legacy of at least this small parcel of land so that it will always be a permaculture homestead or even an international community for people after me. If I'm lucky I might be able to do even more, but achieving this will already make me happy. So come for a short or long visit, perhaps even stay long term and be part of this nascent ecovillage / homestead commons. The farm: Our 16-acre farm is located on the shores of Lake Labish. This is the seventh year of my farming adventure. There is a sizable vegetable plot and a nascent (and expanding) orchard with about 30 fruit and nut trees, plus chicken, ducks, and goats. The Work: Work includes lots of weeding and heavy shoveling, making compost, spraying with compost tea, planting, harvesting, etc. We expect wwoofers to do 5-6 hours of work each day, 5 days per week. Weekends are rest days. Generally it is good form to expect the weekends off after you have worked for at least 5 days. Please do not come on Friday, leave on Tuesday and expect to have Saturday and Sunday as free time. We are happy to host you from Friday to Tuesday or other similar arrangements as long as you are willing to work for at least 5 days straight before taking your 2 rest days. Typically work day is 7:30am - 12:30pm. We have a short powwow before the day begins to plan the work ahead and a short debrief at dinner to go over the work done and lessons learned. Food: Diet is healthy organic with one meal per day consisting of animal protein (most likely, egg, chicken, pork, or fish), and the other meal being vegetarian. The cuisine style is mainly Asian (Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indian) with a smattering of American and European cooking. We eat what we grow as much as possible and our main starches are rice and pasta. If you are a strict vegetarian we will try to have both meals be vegetarian some of the time, and make a bean stew for you at other times when we eat meat. If you prefer to buy your own grocery and cook your own meals due to special dietary requirements (e.g., gluten intolerance, must eat beef, etc), please let me know and I'll set aside some space in the fridge for you. Breakfast is at your own time. We usually provide bread, butter, jam, milk, tea, and fresh (in summer) or dried fruits (rest of the year). We don't drink coffee. Lunch is usually around noon and dinner around 6pm and eaten together. I am the cook but if you enjoy cooking and would like to volunteer cooking a meal or two, please let me know because we love to try new cuisines. If you are hungry outside of meal times, please help yourself with the bread, egg, butter, milk, and jam. Please refrain from raiding the fridge and pantry. Accommodation: Two large dormitory rooms can sleep up to 6 people each. You may have the whole dormitory if you are the only wwoofer here. But please be prepared to share your room with others, as I frequently host more than one. Transport: Our farm is accessible only by car. We can pick you up at the Salem train station if you don't have a car. Languages: English and Mandarin. Local sights: Best local sight is probably Silver Fall. It is rated as one of the best national parks in Oregon. Willamette Mission State Park is just down the road and is a great place for walks and picnics. Who we are looking for: We are looking for wwoofers who are fit and truly interested in doing farm work. Permaculture knowledge and farm experience are a big plus. We do almost everything without machinery so you must enjoy hard work outdoors or you will not like it here. If you are into self-reliance, healthy living, and getting off fossil fuel then you'll fit right in. We accept newbies if you are eager to learn and able to receive feedback. WWOOFers welcome in spring, summer, and autumn. You will either be hosted in a dormitory. If you prefer to camp, you are welcome to pick any spot on the farm as long as it does not damage the crops or disturb the neighbors. When you contact me, please make sure to include the following information about yourself: 1. Confirm that you are fit and able to do heavy farm work like shoveling dirt 5 hours a day, and lifting 50 lbs bags. 2. What other skills you may have, e.g., carpentry, etc. 3. Describe your farming experience and future plans. 4. Let us know the approximate date you plan to come and how long you would like to stay. Full disclosure: I am a classical pianist and will be practicing on the piano for several hours every day. I am a gay Asian man who has lived in cities most of my life but have decided to become self-sufficient by growing my own food and sharing this process with other like-minded people. Everyone is welcome, but we will prioritize acceptance of LGBT folks, especially LGBT people of color. Unfortunately, I can't accept wwoofers with children at this time. Finally, if you see yourself primarily as a victim, or like to weaponize your identity, or are easily offended by differences in opinion, you won't be a fit here. Organic methods: Compost, compost tea, no-till, companion planting, rotation, broad forking, integrated pest management Certifications: Not selling to the public. Focus is on self-sufficiency. Current projects: growing vegetables, fruit, and nut trees, grains; making compost; raising chickens, ducks, and goats.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Grain farming

Poultry farming

Sheep or goat farming

Beekeeping

Seed saving or production

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Food justice / sovereignty

Methods or systems

Biological pest control

No-till farming

Permaculture

Regenerative agriculture

Mentoring opportunities

LGBTQ+-operated

BIPOC-operated

Host type

Self-sufficiency property

6.5 Hectares | 16 Acres

WWOOF-Verified

Accommodation

2 WWOOFers

Bedroom

Camper / RV

Campsite

Children accepted

Pets not accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Length of stay

1 day (local)

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Chong Kee

Member since 2016

Languages spoken: Chinese, English Response rate: 95% Response time: typically within 2 days

November 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Oregon

Salem Train and Bus Station

Reviews

Van

United States • October 2025

It was an amazing experience being here. Chong Kee is so knowledgeable about what he does and is such a patient teacher, about farming and the world in general. His homemade meals were delicious and I always enjoyed the conversations we had around the table. Your days here will be spent around the loveliest animals, it’ll be hard to leave!! I would recommend this place to anyone!

Helix

United States • October 2025

I had a wonderful time here with Chong Kee! I stayed for a month and was the only WWOOFer for 3 weeks, so I had the dorm to myself. It was my first time WWOOFing and I enjoyed the variety of work there was to do, which included weeding, cleaning out the goat pen, feeding the goats, chickens, and ducks, harvesting, and processing crops (we made jam, fruit chips, apple juice, pasta sauce, chrysanthemum tea). I was really happy to have learned how to milk the goat by the end of my stay. Chong Kee is an incredibly knowledgeable, generous, and principled person. I enjoyed the wide-ranging conversations we shared, and he’s also an amazing cook as all the others reviews mention. Our meals came directly from the land and were fresh and abundant. His homestead is a tangible example of how we can do our part to resist capitalism and find creative ways to work with the earth without using fossil fuels and pesticides. I had ample personal time in the afternoons and weekends and treated my free time as a self-directed writing residency. I would encourage any artists/writers who are down to work hard and get dirty to come here for the chance to deepen their relationship to the earth and their creative practice.

Erin

United States • September 2025

Wonderful host, lovely farm, incredible food! I had a great time at Labishire and would recommend it to anyone looking to WWOOF for the first time. Chong Kee is incredibly knowledgeable about regenerative farming, and it's clear that he is passionate about the cause, which makes the learning experience both fun and insightful. Thanks again for hosting me! I had a great time.

Christopher

United States • June 2025

I just completed my first WWOOFing experience with Chong Kee and his homestead and I couldn't have been more pleased with my time there. I stayed for about 6 weeks (may-june) and it was both fun and educational in so many of the ways I had hoped. Firstly Chong Kee is an incredibly gracious host, he's willing to share his knowledge and experience with homesteading and permaculture and he went out of his way to make sure we were able to partake in a number of projects which helps change up the chores tasks and was educational. He has always been consistent in expectations from WWOOFers and we were never expected to work more than the standard 5hr/day 5days/week, and if something come up we were allowed to make up the hours on another day. Possibly the most notable aspect to my time there was that it was easily the healthiest consistent diet I've had in my life. Chong makes lunch and dinner for the wwoofers and we had access to basic breakfast products if we wanted breakfast (homemade toast, jam, oatmeal, etc). The meals were always filling and expertly made, usually from ingredients from the farm. Some chores include grass cutting or weed removal, planting seedlings, and of course harvesting. Some specialized tasks would be setting up the irrigation systems, helping with animal chores, or making compost tea among other things that will probably differ with the season. Truly this was unforgettable and leaving was harder than I expected, I can't speak highly enough of it.

Vedika

United States • April 2025

Chong Kee hosted an excellent first WWOOF experience for me. I would certainly recommend this farm as a space to honestly learn about farming practices beyond the jargon, to learn, re-learn, remember how to connect with food systems, and eat some chef-grade food every single day. Sky, the dog, is a joy. This space is healing, meditative, and absolutely beautiful. The valley has beautiful waterfalls, wind, and sky. I felt very safe here.

Maxwell

United States • December 2024

This was my first WWOOFing experience and I could not have asked for a better host! Chong Kee is extremely knowledgeable about organic farming and sustainability. Since I'm interested in building a similar community farm project with my friends someday, he gave me a variety of tasks so I could get a feel for different aspects of farming. He was patient and answered all of my questions. I had the dorm to myself since I was the only WWOOFer during the 10 days I was there and it was very comfortable. Chong Kee is an amazing cook and put a lot of effort into making things that I've never tried before. I really enjoyed our conversations as well, he's had a lot of interesting life experiences and has such a wide range of knowledge. Highly recommend this homestead to anyone who truly wants to learn about sustainable farming! I plan to come back during another season. :)