Hello!
My husband and I are in our fourth year of growing food and raising
dairy goats in the high mountains of Northern New Mexico. We have a third acre of annual crops and another area being established with hugelkultur-.terraced beds and fruit and goat fodder
trees planted as well as a couple of pastures for goats and
chickens which get irrigated from our acequia(
irrigation ditch). We’ve got plenty of clean water both from the acequia and from a productive well.
We live in a high elevation, arid climate and so the season is short and sometimes challenging but we’ve managed to grow/raise from 80-90% of our own food since the first year as well as some for the
intentional community we live in. We also grow and store
root crops for the goats as we work towards lowering their (sprouted) grain consumption. We make yogurt, chevre, kefir and hard cheeses as well as the meat from the wethers that we (compassionately) butcher.
We’ve also got a small
greenhouse for growing tomatoes and peppers in the summer and greens through the winter as well as a community-owned growing dome for winter food ( including lemons!)
Together we have many years of
experience growing food, building natural homes, animal husbandry, wild plant identification and uses, natural medicine( herbs and homeopathy), community living,
food preservation, aboriginal skills and are on a big learning curve with
permaculture.
We have been considering leaving this land/community to find a gentler growing climate and have had a few ads up here on Permies, to which we’ve received some great offers. But we haven’t as of yet found anything that is an improvement on our situation here and so we’ve decided to stay for now and continue deepening our relationship to the
land and community. But we could use some help and inspiration from other Permies. There’s only so much that two people can do plus the reality that we are not able to ever leave the homestead together for more than 12 hours at a time because of the milking and other chores( other people in our community of 23 are not as agriculturally- minded). So we are putting out some feelers to see if there might be some passionate permies/homesteaders out there who are looking for an opportunity to put their knowledge into action on the ground. We are happy to teach but would prefer a person or couple (a child too?) who have some experience growing food and a real interest/love for animals. A most important requirement would be a willingness to be self-motivated and to put your love, sweat and tears into doing something that you are incredibly enthusiastic about.
We can provide a small
cob 'hobbit' hut for
shelter and you can prepare your own food from the gardens here or eat with us. We are committed to eating mostly what we have produced and stored ourselves, not a lot of packaged foods or out- of- season produce. Depending on the season, there may be more or less food/variety available from the garden/goats and you may need to supplement your diet depending on your needs. It would be ideal if you had some income/money of your own as we live very simply ourselves and don’t have the money to support anyone financially.
We would like a commitment to working with us for the full growing season into the fall harvest and perhaps you will love being here so much, that you would join the community and build your own homestead here with us. There is plenty of arable land and we are hoping for the right people to join us for the long term adventure. We are living the change we hope to see in the world. Enhancing the Web of Life .We would love to be able to share the bounty, joys, responsibilities and regeneration of this farm with others to make it a rewarding endeavour for all.
Please tell us of your past
gardening and animal care experience. We also would like to see a few photos and hear what you are passionate about. Please contact us personally at;
faithinaseed@gobrainstorm.net
If you would like to check out the community website to see some pics :
http://www.hummingbirdcommunity.org/hbcommunity/eden-photos/ ( pics of the hugels are yet to come)
http://www.hummingbirdcommunity.org/hbcommunity/natural-building/
http://www.hummingbirdcommunity.org/hbcommunity/goats-and-other-critters/
