Hello! We are a couple in our 40's, with 13-year-old and 1 year old sons. We live on land that has been in my family since 1970, we have built a straw bale home and have begun to develop the property in a conscious way. We are advocates for organic and sustainable living. We value living in nature and enjoying the beauty and gifts that provides. We celebrate life daily! We have been working towards creating a homestead that provides healthy food, fun, a healing space, learning opportunities, as well as being a community sanctuary in challenging times. It’s our hope to find people who want to join in this vision for a longer duration and are inspired by connecting with others through real life experiences, hard work and play!
We keep goats, chickens, dogs, cats, ducks and a pot belly pig. We have three vegetable/herb gardens and some young fruit trees. There is a pond which provides swimming and agricultural water throughout most of the year. Our homestead is in the mountains so there is a sense of the rugged lifestyle and adventure that comes with living in a rural environment. The property itself is visually dramatic with two gigantic rocks holding us on either side and two creeks bordering our land. We are 'off-grid' so we get our power from solar and generator power. We cut our own firewood, gather wild herbs and play in the forest as much as possible! We maintain a bit of the 'back to the land' feel that brought our first family members here.
We are still in the beginning stages of creating infrastructure so there is much to do to contribute to this awesome vision.
Our skills/passions range from organic/biodynamic gardening, permaculture, herbal medicine, spiritual exploration, music making, celebrating/honoring the seasons and cycles, environmentalism, community building, art, dance, Waldorf/nature education, carpentry, animal husbandry, to all things farm related. We appreciate humor, generosity, kindness and curiosity and try to foster those attributes in our lives. We appreciate people who are flexible and able to adapt to different circumstances and communicate their needs in a healthy way. We also appreciate folks who know how to laugh and have a little bit of grit, as living/working on a rural homestead requires getting dirty and going with the flow!
I am a certified herbalist, breath work therapist and nature obsessed stay at home Mom. My Husband is a carpenter, artist, musician and wizard of all trades. We love sharing knowledge and enjoy the curiosity and questions people have.
We need help with the day to day farm/garden chores i.e. watering, weeding, feeding livestock, cleaning pens etc. Help with planting/harvesting, food preservation, irrigation, animal care, cutting firewood, building fences, new animal enclosures and small structures...and just about everything in between! There are opportunities for experiences in organic gardening, herbal medicine, carpentry, animal husbandry and living 'off grid'. There are also opportunities for those with the drive and interest to create a long term space for themselves in this community vision.
You can get a sense of living a rural life in the hills of northern ca, in a small artistic and historically rich community. We live in a town and community that has many farmers, artists, activists and old ranching families with deep roots and a love for this beautiful and unique area.
For accommodations at this time we only have camp sites available, unless you have a camper or wish to car camp. There’s a sweet community space with an outdoor kitchen and outdoor shower.
There is food from the gardens and eggs from the chickens available. Meals will either be communal or 'make your own' style depending on the day and what we have going on. We provide staples for meal making, any extras or specialty items you must provide yourself, like coffee, desserts, snacks, treats etc.
Since we homeschool we appreciate mellow family centered mornings. Your breakfasts take place at the camp kitchen before we gather for the day. Lunch is usually communal at the main house. We do one community dinner a week, where everyone gathers together for a big meal. Cooking and celebrating together. Other dinners people cook at the community space individually or in collaboration with other volunteers.
It is important that those interested in staying at our homestead be comfortable around children and ok interacting and relating with them. (Enthusiastic about it even better!) Our children are creative, lively, engaging people and are definitely a central part of the scene around here :) We also have other young children who visit the farm regularly.
Willits is a small vibrant bustling community with many fun options to explore during down time, like swimming in the river, hiking on a redwood trail, museum, great bookstore, art gallery, library, small theater, movie house, farmer's market, community documentary nights, farmer gatherings, fun Irish pub and cider house with great local musical talent and many other cool things to explore!
We have been hosting WWOOFers for the past 10 years and have found it to be an enriching experience for all. Many who have visited come to love the area and either extend their stay or come again. We strive to create a mellow, healthy, fun, heart centered scene here!
*At this time we are not accepting short term stays and only considering folks who can commit to at least two months.
Please leave a phone number to reach you on in your initial email to save time.
We also kindly ask that you only reach out if you fully intend to reply to our response! Please don’t email us and then drop off the world when we send a reply 🤎 We get tons of email applicants and it’s a lot to respond to everyone! So if you aren’t going to follow through on the communication then it wastes our awesome precious time and yours as well! 😉
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Sheep or goat farming
Raising of other farm animals
Dairy farming
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Beer, cider, wine, or juice making
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Holistic management
Permaculture
Mentoring opportunities
Woman-operated
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
8.1
Hectares
|
20
Acres
