Our farm is just over an acre located on the edge of a rural neighborhood in Rimrock, Arizona next to Beaver Creek in the riparian zone, elevation 3400 feet. Towering Arizona Ash and mulberry trees create a shady oasis for our gardens and living/work areas. Just beyond us the hot desert scrub environment prevails. The WWOOFer will be living in the midst of our homestead and with perennial and pollinator gardens and an orchard. Our land is on the edge of a cul-de-sac with neighbors on two sides, so although it is secluded you will hear the occasional lawnmower and barking dog.
At Wild Heart Farm our mission is to nourish body and spirit by connecting people with the beauty and wisdom of nature. We are transitioning from growing primarily flowers to perennial gardens, rest retreats for women and education.
Our goal for the farm is that it is a creative epicenter, and a place of inspiration, rejuvenation and healing for those who live and here and visit. I am an artist, botanist, writer and gardener. My partner Mike is a naturopathic doctor and mindfulness meditation teacher. Our daily joys revolve around gardening, cooking, making herbal tinctures, playing music, meditating and sunset walks with our dog, Juju.
The main activities for WWOOFers are helping with our implementation of permaculture design, building infrastructure with both traditional building and natural building techniques, perennial gardening and native plant nursery, supporting rest retreats and education. Building trellises and shade structures. During the fall/winter we are making wreaths, tinctures, and doing holiday fairs and markets. This is a two sister operation and we are turning it into a place of rest and education. We want to help women and children connect to Earth in wonder and women to rest. We aim for our farming practices to be reciprocal: we do biodynamic preps, make our own compost, soil amendments, grow cover crops, do vermiculture and also recycle our humanure into particular areas of the farm beds.
Our ideal WOOFer(s) have their own camper, is comfortable with rustic farm stay conditions, and is a handyperson who is good with tools. Creating rainwater and gray water harvesting systems—for our outdoor shower and outdoor sinks, and installing gutters and barrels on other buildings. If you have an interest or a skill you would like to develop or share with us we are very open to your passion and creativity!
The suggested length of stay for WWOOFers is three weeks for a minimum to six weeks. If you have an RV, the stay could be longer. We highly recommend you have an RV for a winter stay December - February. We want people to be able to experience the flow of the farm and learn something valuable as well as have time to see the area.
Our expectations of WWOOFers is 25 hours per week. The schedule will vary from week to week depending on the time of year and if we have floral design events. Some weeks it may be possible for a WOOFer to work 3 full days and then have time to explore for the rest of the week. Other weeks we may need to work a few hours a day to keep up on farm flow. We want people to be able to see the sights and enjoy their time outside of farm tasks! A daily schedule may look like this April - October: breakfast on your own. Begin farm work at 6:30 or 7:00 am (depending on heat) — snack break at 10:00 am — lunch at 12 or 1 pm. Then swim and afternoon off with perhaps an evening planting. Often you will be called upon to cook for our community as we rotate meal preparation. If it is a little cooler in the morning we may shift to beginning our workday around 9:00 am. I like to create a schedule at the beginning of each week and go over it with the WWOOFer so we can plan together. Winters are a little different due to cold mornings and short days.
WWOOFers are needed mostly in spring and fall March-May and September-November. For the desert adapted, summer may be an option and we definitely have winter projects but only if you have an RV to live in, however winter lows are in the 20’s and summer highs are over 105.
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Learning opportunities
Fruit or nut farming
Wild foraging
Flower farming
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Traditional crafts
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Biodynamic agriculture
Holistic management
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Mentoring opportunities
Woman-operated
Host type
Production farm
0.4
Hectares
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1
Acres
