My search for a home base

Thoughts on finding a place to live and work seasonally in the US

Women gather at a sacred site, Indonesia.

I have been working out a vision, revising it, replaying it in my head. Now I want to give it a shape and share it with you.  By refining this vision, and voicing it, asking for feedback, the chances of it moving into reality increase.  Essentially I am hoping to find a home base in the US, where I can spend 6-8 months of the year.  Ideally this would be in Arizona, New Mexico, or California, but I am open to considering other regions.  In the following paragraphs I will elaborate this vision, putting it out there as an exercise, a request for help, and an example of moving intentions forward.

A Buddhist shrine with incense and offerings, Cambodia

A home, a kitchen, a table to share meals, a bed and space I can offer guests and travelers.  This is what I miss most being a full time traveler.  I have thought of the lack of these things as being a price I pay.  I sacrifice the belonging to a community and place, the comfort of predictable days and regular social engagement.  But now I think I can have a bit of both, and bring more balance intonmy life.  I feel a need to establish a home base, on a piece of land I can return to after traveling.  I want to build a relationship with a landscape, with human communities, livestock, and built spaces.  I am looking for a home, a place to belong to, with a group of others. I want to work, in exchange for being provided a space to live.   Perhaps this will become more permanent, if I decide I would like to stop traveling.

My host family in Mongolia in the early days of Milk Trekking.

This is not a new vision, but a revised draft of one that has been in my consciousness since I was 18.  It has always involved joining a group who are producing healthy food on a farm/ranch, with various living structures and communal spaces spread around a natural setting.  It is somewhat removed from the noise and pollution of cities.

Perhaps there are already dairy animals on this land.

• It could be an established commercial dairy/cheese business that I can help with, develop natural cheese programs, doing milking/making/aging.  Pack goats could be incorporated in to dairy herd, as a side project.

• Or it could be homestead level, and I could help process milk and come up with various ferments, ways to preserve milk.  I enjoy many non-livestock or dairy focused farm activities, such as vegetable gardening and orchard work.

• Another possibility is a primitive skills or other type of school that wants to establish a cheese component or dairy/pack goat herd.  I could teach dairy animal/herding/cheese courses within that framework.  Farm dinners, experiential culinary tourism, food fermentation, courses.

• It could be a struggling farm/ranch looking for ways to generate income, by moving into experiences or education.  I could bring the Sour Milk  School to a site, milk a herd, graze the land.  Tie animal husbandry and herding into the curriculum.

• Maybe it is none of these things.  I am open minded about what this could look like.

Milking Brown Swiss cows in New Hampshire.

I feel I have many tangible skills to contribute.  I have done most basic farmhand tasks (repairing fences, moving and setting up water, giving shots, caring for infant livestock, mucking barns with shovel and tractor, setting up and maintaining electric fences, planning grazing, moving livestock outside of fences).  My specialty is milking and cheesemaking, but I have a decent amount of experience with other types of fermentation/preservation such as lacto fermented vegetables, winemaking, charcuterie, and drying fruits, vegetables, meat.  I have some experience with butchering and hope to gain more.   I have worked with hides a bit, and really want to advance my skills with the butchering and hide/fiber side of livestock rearing.

Feeding sheep on a prescription grazing job In California.

I feel I have developed abilities that make me well suited for the lifestyle I envision.  Waking up early and getting to work.  Having the initiative to organize my work flow efficiently, coordinating with others about farm tasks and shared chores.  Juggling kitchen tasks such as cooking/processing/preserving a range of foods, and cleaning.  Doing physical labor, solving problems as they arise. Persevering inclement weather, isolation, long days doing repetitive work.  I look forward to learning new skills associated with land based living.

Hitching a ride out of Las Vegas.

For the last 20 years, my path has been focused on growing by moving, by being exposed to new places, ecosystems, cultures, ways of living.  I have developed the ability to adapt to change and uncertainty, to be comfortable in awkward situations.  I learned to be ok with discomfort, with sleeping on the ground, being cold or hungry.  This entailed challenging my preconceptions of what feels good, tastes good, of what I need to be happy.  I have realized that I need very little, but that it is important to voice what I do need, and not let interpersonal difficulties fester into irreconcilable antagonism.

Parting gifts in a colorful Tibetan Home.

These nomadic years have been beneficial, but I now feel that to grow I need to find a place where I can stay still, and have the space and time to practice sitting, breathing, meditation, stretching, and taking care of my mind and body.  I crave a routine, the regular repetition of tasks, the ritualized daily work of chores and projects. Chopping wood, carrying water.  So I am putting this intention out there, voicing my sense of what my spirit longs for.