One-acre homestead and working flower farm/Floral design studio with a pollinator garden and orchard
Arizona
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
Kate
Member since 2021
Languages spoken:
English, Spanish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 75%
Response time: typically within 12 days
Arizona
Reviews
James
United States
•
June 2025
10000% the best experience. Kate, Mike, Kelly, Martin, and Juju (and the regular volunteers who show up so consistently) are absolutely wonderful. I spent 2 months here (early April to end of May 2025) and was delighted the entire time. The farm is a place of wonderful creativity and loving care. Daily tasks included potting/planting/weeding, plant caretaking, plant sale prep/execution, design, and a LOT of hands-on learning. Kate is a plant genius and great teacher. Much love to all involved here, and we're looking forward to coming back to visit soon!
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Julia
United States
•
January 2025
My experience with Kate and the farm team was beyond what I thought it would be. I am so honored to have spent time with such an incredible mentor and teacher. I learned about regenerative farming, permaculture, cob building, southwestern ecology, soil health, organic & natural ways to amend soil, utilizing grey water and humanure, composting tips, giving back to the community, RESTING, herbalism, medicinal flowers, native plant species, biodynamic farming, ruse & recycle everything that can be, and the list could go on. I learned new things every single day we spent together and it has impacted my day to day life. I am even in the process of turning my RV toilet to a dry one with her influence! Subsequentially I will be using less water, and returning waste into the earth by implementing a humanure system.
Kate is such a kind, nurturing, powerful being. I am in constant awe of her knowledge and passion. She has awakened so many dormant passions within myself that I didn't have time for previously, and passions I didn't even know I had! Like discovering a love for native grasses and growing corn and sorgum. She is SO humble; I had no idea that she had published books, is an esteemed writer and poet, obtained her degree in Botany, and completed a regenerative farming internship in Santa Cruz, and cherishes our mother earth in all ways humanly possible.
Her impression on my life will be a forever lasting one.
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Erica
United States
•
April 2024
I had a wonderful stay with Kate and the whole crew! I felt so welcomed and appreciated, and I'm so grateful. Helping around the farm was rewarding and fun, and I was able to work on a wide variety of tasks, from planting seedlings to arranging flower bouquets. I was lucky enough to have my visit coincide with a cob earth-building workshop, and was able to hop in and participate myself when not helping with setup and other event-related tasks. It was so inspiring to see the work Kate is doing within the community, and I'm glad I was even just a tiny part of it!
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Savannah
United States
•
October 2023
My stay at this farm was deeply transformational and educational, as Kate has created an environment that begs you to open your heart and mind. Delicious meals, cozy accommodations, beautiful flowers and friends. I completed an array of tasks from creating floral arrangements to getting my hands dirty planting and weeding, and still had plenty of opportunity to explore the amazing area the farm is located in. I have yet to meet a more kind and open group than those living and working at this farm, and hope to be back soon!
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Alyse
United States
•
May 2023
Kate and everyone I interacted with at this farm were wonderfully kind, accepting and warm hearted. I appreciated that Kate took the time to get to know which tasks I was most interested in. She is truly a wealth of knowledge on regenerative farming practices and the approach she's taking to give back to the land is inspiring. The glamping tent was excellent; complete with furnishings and electricity! I highly recommend adding this farm to your list if you get a chance to be in Arizona.
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Natalie
United States
•
November 2022
I had a wonderful time at Wild Heart with Kate, Mike and another wwoofer during my 2 week stay. Kate was very gracious to me in figuring out the logistics of my stay and I had very cozy lodging in the bell tent (full size mattress and electricity inside the tent!) Kate asked me thoughtful questions to get to know my interests and skills to set me up with farm tasks that were beneficial to both of us. She also gave me a lot of education on the tasks we were doing, as this was my first time really doing farm/gardening work. Kate is passionate and purposeful in her work which really showed in her patience and kindness towards myself and others. Kate is also very conscientious in her projects, including conserving resources and respecting the land and its inhabitants.
The food was also wonderful and the various folks we met on the farm and on journeys in the community were a huge blessings. I would highly recommend visiting Wild Heart and am so grateful for my time spent there. A very rejuvenating experience for me that I still carry ❤
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