Participate in a non-profit forest sanctuary in the Sierra Foothills, California, USA

Details

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  Description

  This is a rural, intentional community sanctuary under the care of an Oakland, California-based nonprofit. We are a small farm, large forest and budding educational center, an intentional community, and an experiment in faith-based activism, nonviolence, and restorative justice.
  We are located in a remote area in the Sierra Nevada foothills, in Central Sierra Miwuk lands. Surrounded by vast areas of wildlands, we have frequent encounters with a rich diversity of non-human kin, ranging from the smallest of organisms to large ones such as bear and cougar. We are currently building the foundation of our relationship to this place by learning how to harmonize ourselves with the ones who have already been living here in the form of human, plant, animal and elemental beings. Life here can be rugged at times which requires some resilience and adaptivity. Examples include bumpy rural roads, social isolation, power and/or water limitations, being snowed in, chopping wood for wood stove heating, and living with fire hazard. Except for Starlink internet and a landline, we are off-grid. Currently there are three adults, a toddler and one newborn living full time on the land, a large flock of chickens, two guardian dogs, many cats and plenty of visitors. We host a variety of events for the beautiful extended community members, who come through fairly often.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Among our residents, we can guide experiential learning in the following topics, and likely much more...
  
  * Raising children as an integrated part of running a homestead - screen free, toxin free, minimal to no processed foods & cooking together from scratch using organic ingredients, minimal plastic & "toys" so our work together is also playful, spacious, exploratory, as means of teaching our children essential skills and preparing them to participate in this beautiful, natural world
  * Food, water, shelter and medicine sovereignty
  * Carpentry & natural building
  * Permaculture
  * Seasonal food preparation and preservation
  *Ritual for building meaningful relationship with the seasons, land, water, human & non-human beings, and elements we share this home with
  *Super "crunchy" infant raising - cloth diapering, exclusive breastfeeding, elimination communication (potty training from birth), low stimulation environment
  * Nonviolence, community council, restorative justice
  *Wildfire fuels reduction

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We are delighted to be in the phase of land tending where we are ready to create more space and facilities for the village we envision living in harmony with this land. We are especially excited to welcome folks who enjoy being with children and who have some experience with and/or are ready to learn about tending to the full season cycles of a small organic (semi-biodynamic) farm!
  
  Some of the tasks we welcome support in include:
  
  * Forest tending, fuels reduction, fire wood preparation and harvesting for milling wood
  * Many building projects are our current priority, including a small cabin with outdoor bath house, garden gates, a small bridge
  * Earthen plastering of a small cabin
  * Various seasonal gardening tasks - prepping and planting out the garden beds, seeding, thinning, weeding, watering, trimming, harvesting, processing and preserving, etc...
  * Animal tending - just the chickens & cats, pretty minimal

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Hawaiian: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  We are happy to support English learning, especially from Spanish as a native language, as we always seek to improve our Spanish as well. One of our residents is a native Hawaiian elder and teacher of their traditional ways.
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  Accommodation

  Our main accomodation for guests is a spacious canvas walled, wood floored tent. There is a possibility of opening up a bedroom in the Community House, which are typically reserved for shorter term guests. Either way, you'd have access to the shared spaces of the COmmunity House which include a bathroom, shower and our shared kitchen. During warm/clear weather, we encourage outdoor sleeping, as that's what we do from about April to October.
  
  You'll be provided with a basic pantry of dry goods, fresh seasonal vegetables as well as some dairy & meat if desired. When possible, we ask guests to bring any personal snacks you may enjoy. We generally like to share at least one meal each day when we are working together. This collaboration is most enjoyable and easeful on us all when we share the cooking and cleaning up along with other projects that we'll be teaming up on.

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  What else ...

  This is a very rural sanctuary on 120 acres, nearby extensive public forest land, which can be endlessly explored. We have a pond about an acre in size as well as a fresh creek nearby where we spend a lot of time staying cool in the summer. We are about a 40 minute drive in any direction from local amenities, so we mostly enjoy the expansive space, exquisite silence and each other.
  We stay pretty active, but not stressed, as we really value the quality of connection in our tasks. Evenings are often spent hand crafting and enjoying good meals.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have Starlink internet which is mostly very fast, though dependent on clear skies. We're super grateful for this amazing, and imperfect technology.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have many level, shady spots where you could park a self-contained vehicle. They range from right up near the house, to further off in the woods if you prefer more space and quiet. We can also set up composting toilets to accomodate needs for camping a bit further from the Community House.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We have two livestock guardian dogs and we have free range chickens and cats, so any dogs or cats would have to get along with all of them, prioritizing our animals' safety and well being. We have been able to integrate many guest dogs, with some leash time and familiarizing.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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