We are currently looking for help that could potentially evolve into a long term living situation for the right person. I have 3 different properties that I'm currently splitting time working on, and one of those in particular really needs a full time steward. It's five acres of recently (5 years ago) clearcut
land, so it has a ton of potential for someone wanting to participate in restorative
permaculture. There's a ton of
native food bearing plants already established, but the invasives - blackberry in particular- are working overtime to outcompete them. This is where we need the most help.
The long term vision is to incorporate goats, as they will be instrumental in helping manage the weed situation, but I don't want to do that until I have at least one other person invested in stewarding the property with me. Currently I'm not around quite often
enough to justify brining animals in without any backup help. The property is currently off grid, but we will be bringing power in shortly. There is one tiny cabin on the land, which is where I stay when on the property.
Water is from rain barrels and also imported for drinking. We plan on drilling a well eventually. Any person interested
should have a comfortable RV or camper van that they can abide in during the trial period. They should be accustomed to off grid life and confident in living self sufficiently in a very rustic environment.
The arrangement would be some kind of work trade and/or modest rental fee for the space. The real benefit here would be a section of property you could essentially make your own, doing whatever
permaculture oriented projects you can dream up. As mentioned I'm quite busy elsewhere, and I would really like to set the right person up with a situation they can take real ownership of. As long as the blackberries are being controlled, and when it comes time, the goats are well looked after, there would be few, if any, additional expectations. If things worked out and you came to love this land as much as I do, then we could look at building another permanent structure such as a yurt, another cabin, as well as adding an outdoor kitchen. RV power will be the first main addition, then everything would flow from there.
We don't have nearly enough work right now to keep a person employed in any way, so anyone interested would need to be economically stable and/or willing to get a job locally. Olympia isn't far at all and most people I know commute there for work. Again, we aren't going to require much of your time with the work trade. At first it would be just a few hours a week pulling blackberries, and once the goats are here, helping take care of them while they take over the blackberry work.
If it happens that you are working full time elsewhere, we could structure the arrangement however we needed to to accommodate. Most of all, our goal is the create a situation you are happy with!
My personal favorite thing about the property is its location. Being backed up against miles of forestry land, it has a beautiful wild essence and a huge assortment of wild animal neighbors. It's at the end of a long gravel road, and has that serene secluded feel that is hard to come by in this day and age. The land itself is very injured from former logging abuse, but our aim is to slowly help guide it back to a beautiful forest, complete with an abundance of
perennial food bearing plants. But we need your help to do it! Feel free to message me if interested. Thanks for reading!
3
