Living, Visiting & Work-Trade at the Magical Food Forest

Please read this before asking to stay with us.

* We are not actively recruiting residents. This page exists for people who have already asked about visiting, work trade, longer stays, or becoming part of what we are building.

Reading this page does not constitute an invitation to stay. All visits and extended stays require prior approval.

What We Are Actually Building

This isn’t simply a place to park an RV or find inexpensive somewhere to stay. There is a much bigger vision here. Our long-term goal is a self-sustaining community built around food, medicine, nature, creativity, cooperation and personal responsibility.

And I mean it when I say, I will probably not stop planting until every square inch of this property is covered in food or medicine. 😂

What began as land is slowly becoming a beautiful and abundant medicinal food forest with fruit trees, herbs, medicinal plants, vegetables, perennial foods, wildlife habitat and all the strange experiments I haven’t thought of yet. To us, the garden isn’t decoration.

The food forest is part of our medicine. It feeds bodies. It feeds pollinators. It teaches us. It gives people something real to participate in.

And eventually I would love for it to feed far more people than it does today.

SOME of our plans include things like:

– a community center
– a covered outdoor community kitchen
– outdoor shower and toilet facilities
– more gathering areas for events
– a pavilion
– a community market
– ever-expanding gardens and food forest, tree house, rv pads and cabins.

And yes…

There are other dreams too.

Those plans are something I will share more deeply with people who have actually spent time here, contributed, and demonstrated that they are part of what we’re building.

What You Actually Get Here

This place is rural and peaceful. There is virtually no light pollution and very little sound pollution. We have clean water, several springs on the property, forests, wildlife and a beautiful lake view. You can walk through the woods and reach the lake in a relatively short walk. Every night you hear animals instead of traffic. Some mornings you wake up surrounded by fog, birds and trees. That’s the luxury here…not pavement, room service or catered meals from a 5 star resort. 😂

At the moment, we do not provide RV hookups at the individual sites. Water is available on the property, but it does not currently reach every potential living site. Anyone considering an extended stay therefore needs to arrive self-contained and genuinely capable of living that way. If you’re accustomed to boondocking, off-grid living or creating your own simple systems, you’ll probably understand immediately. If you need somebody else to provide every utility and solve every inconvenience, this probably isn’t the right fit. You are welcome to build or bring your own shelter, structure or long-term setup. We have more flexibility living rurally outside city limits, but nobody should assume that staying here means all normal legal requirements disappear.

Work Trade Means PARTICIPATING

The general expectation for work trade is approximately One hour per day on average.

Not eight hours. Not somebody standing over you with a clipboard. No time clock to punch, not us managing your schedule. You have more than plenty time to yourself for your own hobbies, businesses or work and social life off the property if you desire.

One hour a day average does not mean daily…Some days you might do three hours because you’re happily involved in a project, another day you might do none. Sometimes life happens.

We care much more about consistent contribution than punching a time clock. Whenever possible, I want people doing something they actually enjoy.

If you love gardens, there are gardens. If you love animals, there are animals. If you build things, OH BOY do we have ideas. 😂 If you love preserving food, organizing, cooking, woodworking, art, landscaping, harvesting, mowing, repairing things or creating something I haven’t even thought of yet…

Wonderful.

And depending upon your skills and our needs, additional paid work may sometimes be available beyond the basic work-trade contribution.

Those arrangements are separate and discussed individually.

The Garden Is Shared – The Labor Is Too

This one deserves its own section. Our food forest produces beautiful things. But those tomatoes, figs, melons, herbs, vegetables, fruits and medicines did not spontaneously materialize during harvest season. 😂

Somebody planted them, watered them daily in over 100 degree temps, mulched them, fertilized, fount bugs and other predators, pruned, planned, endured……somebody moved the hose approximately 9 billion times in 107-degree weather.

So we have a pretty simple philosophy… If you participate in growing the food, you participate in sharing the harvest.

What we are no longer interested in are what I jokingly call “harvest-time friends.”

People who disappear through the miserable planting, weeding, watering and maintenance seasons…..then suddenly appear when the weather becomes beautiful and everything is ripe. 😂

This is a community garden in the truest sense: Community participates. Community shares.

Nobody needs to calculate whether they personally watered that exact tomato plant. That’s silly…But there needs to be reciprocity.

We Are NOT Your Landlord, Boss or Mommy

People staying here should be capable of managing their own lives. We don’t want to tell adults when to clean their homes or surrounding areas. We don’t want to remind somebody repeatedly about commitments they made. We don’t want to chase people around asking whether something got done. And we certainly don’t want to start feeling responsible for another grown person’s food, transportation, paperwork, finances or daily functioning.

Occasional help is community. Permanent dependence is something else. A really good arrangement here should feel like…

Independent people choosing to cooperate.

Some days I may help you. Some days you may help me. Most days we should all be capable of helping ourselves.

Build YOUR Place

We will always have a soft spot for travelers who simply need somewhere peaceful to breathe for a while. Sometimes people need rest. Sometimes they need time to figure out their next move. That’s okay. But what excites us most are people who genuinely want to put down roots and begin creating their own little space.

We will encourage that. We will share ideas. And there may be tools, knowledge, materials or helping hands available depending upon the situation.

But there is one very important change from the past:

We will no longer build or pay to build someone’s home for them.

If you dream of creating your little corner of paradise… you need to participate in creating it!

There’s something important about that anyway. The person who builds a place tends to understand what it took to create it.

Community Does NOT Mean Mandatory Togetherness

We love communal meals. Sometimes somebody cooks and everybody wanders over. Sometimes several people cook together. Sometimes somebody brings something from the garden. And sometimes we sit around laughing for hours. Wonderful.

But we cook together because we want to, not because anyone is required to attend community dinner at precisely 6:03 PM. 😂

Privacy matters here. We value ours and we will respect yours. You are allowed to disappear into your own space and we are allowed to do the same.

Healthy community needs connection and solitude.

Animals

Our livestock guardian dogs live and work here. The goats, poultry and other animals live here too. Their safety is not negotiable.

Visitors’ animals (if approved) must remain safely contained and under control. Calling an animal a service animal does not excuse aggressive or dangerous behavior toward livestock, people or resident animals. Individual circumstances can always be discussed respectfully. But no visiting animal gets to terrorize the animals whose home this already is.

Protecting the Land

We are actively working to restore this property. What goes onto the soil matters. What goes into the septic matters. What enters our water matters.

Therefore pharmaceuticals, recreational drugs, alcohol and other contaminants cannot simply be disposed of into our septic system, drains, soil, springs or elsewhere on the property. If you use something personally that requires disposal, you are responsible for making sure it leaves the property appropriately. Our land is not a disposal system.

The same goes for trash. Pack in, pack out. Period. 🙂

Personal Boundaries

No sexual pressure or advances towards anyone on the site at any time. No propositions disguised as friendship. No unwanted touching. No persistent advances after someone says no. No expectation that being invited onto this property grants romantic or sexual access to anybody living here.

No means no here without explanation or negotiation.

That applies to everyone.

Politics & Religion

Have yours. 😂 We don’t require ideological conformity. You may believe differently from somebody living 20 feet away from you. You can also share some tea in the garden that grew there together…That’s life. What we don’t want is campaigning, conversion attempts, political warfare, religious intimidation or endless arguments designed to prove who is RIGHT. Discuss ideas respectfully if everyone involved wants the conversation.

Otherwise, let people believe what they believe and go plant something.

We care much more about someone’s actions than the label they use for themselves.

“I Hate People” Probably Isn’t a Great Starting Point for Community

This may sound obvious, but apparently it needs saying. 😂 We are trying to build community. That requires liking humanity at least a little. You don’t have to be an extrovert…none of us really are…lol And you don’t have to want company every day. You can absolutely be private, quiet, independent, socially awkward, introverted, or happiest alone in the woods. We understand all of those things.

But there is a difference between:

“I need a lot of solitude.” and “I hate people.”

One of those is a personality preference. The other becomes very difficult to build a healthy community around. Our nonjudgment policy applies to everybody. That includes people of different generations, incomes, religions, politics, lifestyles, backgrounds, homeowners, renters, homeless, rich, sex or gender…

We aren’t interested in replacing one kind of prejudice with another. You don’t get to demand that nobody stereotype or judge you while openly stereotyping everybody else.

We Pay Attention to Patterns

Everyone has had conflict. Everyone has been misunderstood. Everyone has probably dealt with at least one awful boss, landlord, neighbor, partner, business, family member, government employee or random human being. 😂

That alone doesn’t concern us. What matters is the pattern.

If every landlord was evil…Every employer was abusive…Every neighbor was crazy…Every former friend betrayed you…Every relationship ended because the other person was terrible…Every authority figure was corrupt…And every disagreement somehow resulted in warfare…we may quietly wonder what the common denominator is.

That isn’t condemnation. It’s discernment. We have learned to pay attention not only to what someone tells us about themselves, but to how they actually move through the world. Do they resolve conflict? Do they communicate? Do they take responsibility when they contribute to a problem? Can they disagree without immediately creating an enemy? Can they recognize that two people may experience the same situation differently? Or are they always looking for the next fight?

We also listen to what is not being said. Sometimes even more than what is. 🙂

We Are Looking for Builders, Not Professional Victims and Enemies

There are plenty of genuine problems in the world. There is injustice. There are bad landlords. Bad tenants. Bad businesses. Bad governments. Bad neighbors. Bad people in every imaginable category. We don’t deny any of that.

But if someone’s entire energy is focused on who they hate, who is oppressing them, who is wrong, and which group deserves blame, they are probably not ready for what we’re trying to build here. Because we’re interested in a different question:

What can we create? How can we create a better tomorrow?

What can we grow? What can we repair? What can we learn? How can we cooperate? How can we make this place healthier because we were here?

Criticism has its place. But eventually somebody has to pick up a shovel.

Nobody Here Is a Category

I’m Gen X. Nothing offends us. We raised ourselves since childhood and have become pretty independent.

My partner is a Boomer, AND one of the most authentic, hard working, kindest individual I have ever met in my life.

I was a disabled single mother and was homeless for years before landing here to build this childhood vision. We also have a mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance and all the other expenses involved in keeping land….animals….etc…

Those labels tell you almost nothing about who either of us actually is. Someone hearing the word “landowner” or “landlord” and arriving with a pre-written story about who we must be is no more fair than us deciding who they are based on one label attached to them.

We ask the same courtesy we offer. Meet the human being first. Then decide what you think.

Come Looking for Community, Not a Fight

If someone arrives already expecting exploitation, hostility, conspiracy, conflict or an enemy…they will probably find evidence for the story they brought with them. We can’t build community around constantly having to prove that we are not the ones you are angry at. We would rather begin with curiosity.

Ask questions, observe, communicate…give people enough room to show you who they actually are. And if after doing that you discover we’re simply not compatible?

That’s okay. Leave peacefully. No villains required.

Self-Responsibility Matters Here

We aren’t looking for perfect people. God knows we wouldn’t qualify either. 😂

We are looking for people capable of saying, “This happened to me.”

AND, when appropriate, “This is the part I played.”

Those two sentences can coexist. Taking responsibility does not mean accepting blame for things you didn’t do. In fact, no blame, no shame on anyone…

It simply means possessing enough self-awareness to recognize that we all affect the situations we’re part of and choose to better themselves with self reflection and continued growth. There is no one time ascension telling you that you’re done learning…lol

That ability is VERY important when people share land.

Our Rule Is Pretty Simple

You don’t have to love everybody. You don’t have to agree with everybody. You don’t have to socialize with everybody. But if you want to participate in a community… you do have to recognize everybody’s humanity.

Including people whose generation, politics, religion, income, history or lifestyle differs from yours. We are not interested in building a community united by a common enemy. We are interested in building one united by a common purpose.

There is a very big difference.

Peace Is a Requirement

This property is intended to remain peaceful. Violence, credible threats, dangerous behavior, criminal activity, harassment, or conduct that brings law enforcement here because of someone’s actions can end a person’s stay here immediately. We are not interested in becoming the setting for somebody else’s ongoing drama. Of course, someone needing police, fire or medical assistance because they are the victim of something or experiencing an emergency is completely different. I am a first responder so you have front line access to these services. 🙂

The rule isn’t “police vehicles can never enter the driveway.”

The rule is:

Do not bring chaos here.

If someone’s behavior reaches the point that everyone’s safety or peace repeatedly requires law enforcement intervention, the arrangement isn’t working. Any departure or termination of a longer-term living arrangement would, of course, need to be handled consistently with whatever applicable law and signed agreement governs that situation.

This Address Is NOT Automatically Your Address

Another important one………. Please do not use our property address for government records, driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations, benefits, court paperwork, business registrations, banking, mail forwarding, or other official purposes without express permission first.

Getting permission to stay here does not automatically mean permission to establish this property as your permanent governmental or mailing address.

Ask first.

Always.

Business Partnerships

There are opportunities here beyond work trade. We have businesses, land with resources, products, gardens, markets, events, ideas and a BUTTLOAD of things still waiting to be built. 😂

There may occasionally be opportunities for business partnerships, revenue-sharing arrangements, collaborative projects or paid work.

Those conversations happen:

IN PERSON ONLY.

We do not negotiate business partnerships through random social-media messages with someone we have never met. People need to know each other first. Trust comes before partnership and we hold sacred that which we’ve worked towards all these years. We need to ensure you feel the same.

Trial Periods & Agreements

Everyone considering an extended stay will begin with a trial period. Before arriving through an online arrangement, there will also be information to read and agreements to sign. Not because we want to make this place bureaucratic….quite the opposite. Clear expectations prevent a tremendous amount of unnecessary conflict and misunderstandings.

We want everybody to know:

What are you offering?
What are we offering?
What are the boundaries?
What happens if this doesn’t work?

Nobody should discover the rules and routines after they have already rearranged their life. And nobody needs to be trapped in a situation that simply isn’t a good fit.

What We’re Hoping For

We’re not trying to collect people. We’re not trying to create followers. We’re not trying to become somebody’s authority.

We’re trying to find something much rarer:

Good humans who can stand on their own feet and still understand the value of standing together.

That means:

People who mean what they say.
People whose actions match their promises.
People who respect privacy.
People willing to communicate.
People who contribute without being chased.
People capable of disagreeing without creating enemies.
People who recognize that land requires stewardship.
People who aren’t merely looking for what they can extract from a place.

People who want to add something to it.

Because eventually, I’d love for this property to become an example of something I think we’ve forgotten:

Self-sustaining doesn’t have to mean self-isolating.

We can grow our own food, create our own medicine, build things, trade skills, share meals, protect our safety, privacy and peace, run businesses, help one another and still remain independent human beings. That’s the community we’re interested in. Not dependence, control or rulers…

Interdependence.

And if you’ve read all of this and thought:

“YES. THAT sounds like the kind of place I want to help build.”

Then maybe we should meet.