Lifestyle opportunity on permaculture homestead in northern CA

Looking for a motivated couple or young family with permaculture/gardening and/or carpentry skills. This can be for long or short term. The housing is a lovely and spacious 4+ bedroom home which needs some finishing touches to complete its last remodeling. The arrangement would be a mix of work trade and rent. It will also be a learning experience for all of us.

A respectful and thankful attitude for Nature is primary to living in this wild and natural area, A positive mindset while working/playing with the land is invaluable. More simplicity and sustainability are a big part of the vision here. This is a 94 acre homestead in an exceptional ecosystem (oak woodland). A lot of infrastructure has been completed. There is over 40 years of development from a basically natural state. This is off grid, has spring water, ponds, mature orchard, and multiple dwellings/buildings. It is one hour, 25 miles, to the nearest town, which is Garberville. The road is 23 miles county maintained. About 18 miles is paved. The rest is dirt. Then 2 miles more of private dirt road which is the access for multiple parcels. We are near the end, which means very little traffic. Our town trips are usually weekly.

All questions are welcome. I hope this has sparked some interest.

I wonder if you can share a bit of your vision, ethos, or longer term plans for this property to help candidates understand the picture (and what they are contributing to / benefitting from) better? Is there any local community efforts or enterprises nearby to engage with? I'm not directly interested in applying for this role now myself, but curious about your project, it sounds like a nice setting and mature homestead project! Photos would also be nice, if you have some online

Hi Ben, thank you for your interest.

Nature is our provider and teacher. Although people have 'made' a lot of things, we haven't truly 'created' anything. All that we have made originated from something that existed already in Nature. Thus, it seems obvious that being a partner with Nature is essential. To recognize Her as both the source and the destination, brings a much clearer perspective to our roles here. If we take care of Nature, she takes care of us.

Enhancing fertility inevitably invites more and more life organisms. They are our helpers each in their own unique way. They have been the inhabitants here long before humans wandered in and made claims. By respecting and accommodating them, as the innately intelligent beings that they are, deepens one's rapport with the environment.

As an example, our 8-9 foot high fenced area of about 4+ acres excludes deer and pigs. (With some electrification near gates it can exclude bears also.) All other wild animals have access. Our home, the poultry house, and adjacent pond, and three other buildings are within this area. An adjoining fenced area, which surrounds the majority of the orchard trees, two other residential buildings and a small pond, encompasses about 5 acres. It excludes only pigs. A few years ago, the one single area was divided in this way largely because of the frequent incursions by bears into the orchard. Their occasional damage to then 6 foot high field fencing facilitated entry for the deer. This required too much fence maintenance over 30+ years. So I created a compromise: the deer and bears can freely enjoy the mature orchard but not the rest. They reciprocate with cleanup of fruit and of course some pruning. Fortunately, most of the trees are standards so the bear pretty much climbs rather than rips. (The animals also forage a partial border of damson plums, and, outside of the fencing, blackthorns.) I have learned some things about trees and pruning from the deer and bears.

Here are some of my interests. I am breeding for a smaller sized, more 'naturally attuned' chicken that is much less dependent on purchased feed. I have started over 100 seedling quince trees that I hope to successfully naturalize. There are also likely to be more olive trees in the future here. We have 6 mature trees and another nineteen 2-3 year olds. There are sixteen varieties in all. For several years now I have been eating acorns. An amazing and ancient food!

My vision is for a small community here. There are 4 decent sized residences available. One of them is largely enclosed but mostly incomplete inside. A redistribution of ownership is quite possible. My wife and I are nearly 70 so new input would be wonderful.

Nearby is the Heartwood Mountain Sanctuary that has just been sold. From what I hear, the new owner is very interested in continuing the sustainable vision for the land. We have a local fire department. In Garberville is the Community Farm.

I will get some photos up shortly.

grand setting gopala, my name is alexandria am inquiring about the lifestyle opportunity  if still looking for good people who grow their own food and are sustainable.  i live and work on a cannibus farm growing vegetables, herbs and other edibles.  have 27 years  previous self employed landscaping business.  please let me know  or if you have questions.thanks alexandria