Carya Grove (https://www.ic.org/directory/community/carya-grove/) is an intentional off-grid sub-community within Bear Creek Community Land Trust (https://bearcreekcommunitylandtrust.org/) on current Bear Creek Community Land Trust member Tanner Radig’s 11 acre leasehold consisting of a mix of clay hills with oak + hickory woodland, prairie, and cedar shrub land.
Right now it is just me and my family (Tanner (30), Cera (27), one boy (9), and one girl (6)) along with occasional visitors, friends, and wwoofers but we would like to find other folks to collaborate, live, and work with longer term and or seasonally. We do not have strong set in stone ways on how to go about this, but do have some vague ideas, are informed from past community experiences, and are open to ideas and figuring it out along the way.
Tanner runs a plant nursery (Perennial Crops Nursery LLC) on the land and is slowly building off-grid infrastructure. So far there are two access gravel roads installed, selective tree/brush clearing, a pond for swimming/fishing/habitat/gravity fed water to the plant nursery, compost toilet outhouse, small cabin, camping spots, bus, and an in-progress multi-purpose shed/outdoor kitchen being built. It is off-grid in the sense of not having grid water or electricity. A future root-cellar, greenhouse, workshop, outdoor kitchen, seed/food processing building, laundry and shower house, office and other 4 season dwellings are envisioned being built eventually.
We could imagine sharing space with up to 10 or so long-term communards as well as visitors, work-traders, education events, and part-timers. In this intentional sub-community we are interested in possibly sharing a homestead (land, housing, infrastructure, gardens, equipment, vehicles, livestock, work, etc) communally/cooperatively. We currently have a shared coop truck and try to carpool when possible. Ideally meals, cooking, gardens, harvest, land projects, child care, and infrastructure can be shared in ways that make sense for everybody.
Some reoccurring activities are perennial plant propagation, grafting, seed collecting, weeding/weed-whacking, mulching, watering, selling at farmers markets, potting, and planting/protecting/maintaining plants around the homestead. Other projects around the homestead include building, land management, controlled burns, food processing/preservation, perennial herb cultivation and processing, foraging, pruning, selectively clearing to plant, trail maintenance, cooking, and firewood processing. When it’s hot it’s nice to cool off in the pond and spend time in the shade. Certain work is seasonal but there are always things to do. Working with wild raw land, there is always improvement's and maintenance to be done.
Meals can be arranged according what is comfortable for the guest. We eat anything but are open to working with specific diets. There is a shared rustic outdoor kitchen. We can eat together or arrange to have food aside for them to prepare themselves. We have weekly potlucks that guests are welcome to attend to connect with neighbors and other projects. Cooking is done on a propane stove and/or fire.
Right now there is only a couple beds open in the first floor of a tiny cabin and a bus with a bed for short visits. If a WWOOFer has their own camping gear or camper/bus/van, they would be better equipped to stay on the property longer term until we build more housing. There currently is no running/hot water or electricity available onsite but plan to develop that in the future. There is a pond to rinse and cool off in.
I enjoy finding and harvesting seed, foraging, bicycling, swimming, and hiking. I sell at several different farmers markets a few times a week. Kirksville is a nearby college town with some things to do. There are sometimes events, potlucks, workshops, plantings and campfires open to guests at our neighbors around Bear Creek Community Land Trust, The White Rose Catholic Worker Farm, and Emberfield HeArt Collective Ecovillage.
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Learning opportunities
Fruit or nut farming
Forestry
Aquaculture
Wild foraging
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Meat processing
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Food justice / sovereignty
Methods or systems
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Former WWOOFer
4.5
Hectares
|
11
Acres
