Developing homestead in NorCal looking to expand our community

[mathelsom]

This is my first original post on STP and I'm very much looking forward to the responses i might get.

I'll start off by saying a little bit about myself, ill keep this short. I'm a 26 year old female originally from Pittsburgh, Pa. I've spent most of my adult life (after dropping out of college and opting out of other societal bullshit) traveling with just my pack and dog WWOOFing on farms all over the country. I spent most of the last few years working as a grower on ganja farms in humboldt/mendocino.
In 2015 some friends of mine purchased a good chunk of off grid land in Trinity County which borders both the Shasta/Trinty national forest and the Chanchelulla wilderness area. This past year, these friends reached out to me looking to find someone who could work as a caretaker here over the fall and winter and awarding me with the invitation to be a permanent member of the community here. I decided to take a chance dropping out of the cannabis scene and jumped on board with this project. (I love mama ganja, the money was right, but personally I dealt with some toxic circles within the pot scene and also never felt the virtue I had growing food, there seems to be alot of ego involved in cannabis) I'm glad I did!
WE are still in the very early stages of our vision here. The property itself had fallen victim to some pretty negligent owners in the decade+ before they bought the place, who had no regard for packing out what they packed in so dumping garbage in random spots on the property, bringing in camping trailers letting them go to shit and then filling them up with garbage, I could go on but you probably get the idea. I share this to convey that there is a lot of clean up work that we are and will be doing even as we begin to build/create and make headway on our own projects.
In discussions we have about the future plans for our homestead we often talk about it within framework of creating an intentional community, a radical space where other like minded people can come to, also holding festivals, events, workshops on the land (both of my friends involved have tons of experience with event organizing in and around the bay area and up/down the west coast, they know people.) as for me I draw my own feeling of purpose from growing food and homesteading alone as a means to fight capitalism and opt out of the bullshit like I said. I believe in sustainable ag/permaculture principles and eventually want to grow/raise as much of our own food as possible. Overall my friends that own the land have a very egalitarian approach to their goals here, so a lot of this is finding other legit people who are looking to do similar things and willing to offer real help. Which I guess is sort of the reason for this post.

On a more personal note I'd like to add something that is particularly relevant to why I'm posting on here. Like I mentioned before, I'm very accustomed to intermittent periods of nomadiscism in my life. I think because of that I always have this sense of freedom in my back pocket knowing I'm capable of taking off with my pack and my dog if I need to or even just feel the whim. This is the first time I've settled into something like this with long term motivations, and as grateful and excited as i am it amazes me how many times over the past couple months I've found myself fantasizing about dropping everything here and heading out to do just that. It's been a test and an exercise in patience for me personally, and although nomad life is still something I want and will have, I'm convinced that sticking with this and further establishing myself here will pay off for many reasons but one of them being so that I can open it up to members of my tribe, if you will.

we're coming into the warm season now (finally) and we've got many projects in mind for the spring and summer this year, we will definitely have workshare out the wazoo and I'm part of the crew who's responsible for seeking these people out sooo I'm posting this as a summons for any travelers/vagabonds who might be interested in a workstay opportunity. Especially some peeps who have experience/skills knowledge with homesteading and the like. I'm also open to any thoughts, ideas, reactions questions people reading this might have for me. I'm fucking tired of typing and I'm not sure where else I'm going with this so CHeers!<3

 

[Kevin Stephens]

I'm an electrician so I don't know if my skills would be of a premium to you but I have a good back and know how to use a shovel and am willing to work. looking to hit norcal by late spring/ early summer. I'll be hitchhiking from Texas, so you know that could take a week or a month. I'd be interested in doing a workstay

 

[meatcomputer]

Best of luck, were the timing different I would have definitely loved to see the place and help out.

You may already know this but http://ic.org is something you should definitely check out if you're interested in starting an intentional community.

 

[iamwhatiam]

Very exciting prospect you have going there! I know how much work it is to get things started and clearing brush and trees and working the land. Been slowly trying to improve our property here in WA. We didn't have campers full of garbage like you do there, but when we got this place on an auction (bank repo) the workers who remodeled the house for sale threw all the old roofing materials and other trash in the bushes around the property and I'm still finding shit buried here and there 2 years later. And pretty rocky/sandy soil, so it's been a lot of digging up big boulders and having to add ammendments trying to get the soil built up good.

Do you have any photos of your friends' property you could post? Do they have any machinery to work with i.e. tractors, rototillers, etc? Are they going to feed people who help work until the garden is established? How far is the nearest hospital in case of a medical emergency? Are they cool with people bringing their dogs? Just a few ideas you might want to address in yer post.

 

[Minky]

Keep us posted on your progress. You have a lot of work ahead of you but the best parts is you will see progress each day! Good luck and take care.

 

[mathelsom]

Thank you for the suggestions! And also keep em coming
I'll do what I can with what pics I already have to illustrate the landscape we're working with out here but can also take more photos and update at a later time. The property is big, 80 some acres, most of this is heavily wooded and steep but our valley has 2 large fields already cleared one of which we have already started to develop for the garden area n chicken coop. We have multiple water sources flowing on the land as well as springs to collect from, and tank storage installed. Oh and we do have a tractor! gotta love and appreciate the tractor<3
We also have a decent solar/battery and generator set up in place and are in the process of adding to it. and satellite internet, so wifi with limited bandwidth
The biggest challenge here is definitely the degree of remoteness. Not only are we off grid but we are at the very end of a very old forest road. At least 10 miles from the nearest paved road. Closest town is Weaverville however I think for hospital it would be Redding, CA. Really it would be best people interested in coming out to have a vehicle but of course that's not a bottom line
Most dogs are welcome, I like to think of travelers always having well behaved dogs, or at least having some of the best behaved ones, but I'll add anyway that you should be confident in your ability to control your dog.
Not all the resources as far as food/booze/drugs are shared 100% here so it's hard for me to affirm that we would be able to feed everyone that came to workstay especially for longer arrangements BUT food stamps are a welcomed and workable source of contribution in that regard.

I'm going to leave my email here as well for another line of communication in case anyone is reading this post sometime in the future and is interested in coming to check the place out, offer skills, do some work whatever. get in touch with me and we'll talk
floormadeline@gmail.com

 

[Dahloaf223]

People love to rebuild those old trailers or just keep them around for housing, so something to check out. Also, that creek could be dredged down to bedrock if you're into prospecting for gold. Really cool property, interesting project also. Thanks for sharing. I had one short term gig in that area, luckily ended up being with a really good guy, so kind of understand the work trade aspect, really it's good to not have too high of expectations I found out, and you get what you put in.

 

[Gerald]

Best wishes for your project from Aotearoa-New Zealand.

 

[blastoise]

I'm not very knowledgeable in anything in particular but I can make the website and I'm down ass

 

[Deleted member 2626]

definitely seems to be a jump in this "movement". Good to see. sounds like a great place. sort of my plan as well to find people who wanna live on some land and take er easy and sustain

 

[Kaine]

I would love to come help out with this project. I have worked on a few different urban farms over the past few years and feel that our morals and ethics are both aligned towards long term sustainability. I've actually been looking at a few different WWOOF farms in the Shasta-Trinity area but there don't seem to be as many as I'd like that are focused on the Forest/Wild food and medicine aspect which is my primary focus as an Earthworker. I am planning on catching out in a month or so from Colorado to head that way, to do basically this anyway so let me know!

 

[Hobo Mud]

Awsome idea friend. Certainly look forward to any upates pertaining to this subject. Wish you the best of luck.