Little Earth Education and Event Center

30/01/2023

These big rains brought so much life to our three seasonal creeks this year. The amount of water that flows through this land is incredible. Our pond does a great job at slowing it down, but after it leaves the pond, it flows quickly through deepening channels, off and away. One of our biggest goals is to slow, spread, and sink as much water as possible before it moves onward.

This is where we turn to the beaver to learn from their innate wisdom. They are masters of slowing, spreading, and sinking water. While walking along the creek, Brian Wood Capobianchi and I stopped to admire a deep natural pool where some well-placed rocks had created a space for the water to slow and rise. A thought came to our minds to move rocks to build little dams in spots where the water was shallow and fast-moving, in the way that beaver moves wood, mud, and vegetation.

Here are photos of the results. Pay attention to how much higher the water level became on the sides. Notice how much the water slowed down. This helps to slow or even reverse erosion, provides more habitat for wildlife for longer into the season, provides the water more time to recharge our aquifers, and makes this land more fire resilient. We had so much fun moving rocks, watching the water slow and rise with each intentional placement.

22/01/2023

Today was Cymbre’s first full day off leash in a fenced-in area with the piggies. They did amazing. What a relief.

The gilts pushed their way through into the boar and barrow’s area while I was working on restringing the electric fencing. I let them enjoy a moment of enjoying some alfalfa together before separating them again. Cymbre kept watch over them and responded well when I scolded her for trying to play with them. It’s dangerous for an LGD (livestock guardian dog) to learn that their stock are playmates. She settled for playing with toys, sticks, and moss instead. It is also not recommended to start with two LGD puppies without an adult dog for them to learn from, which is why I am starting with training Cymbre alone for at least the first year.

I fed her some raw chicken in addition to her regular feed today. I’m so proud of how she stayed with her piggies today. She didn’t even challenge the fence or whine about it. What a great dog.

21/01/2023

Cymbre 💛

21/01/2023

Oh, Cymbre.

This sweet, rambunctious, determined, cute little puppy has completely dominated my life for the past couple weeks.

If I’m being completely real with you, she has absolutely pushed me to the brink on multiple occasions and I have even attempted to rehome her.

Puppies are a lot. Raising a livestock guardian dog puppy on land with 4 other dogs who are pets is next-level. She continually manages to break though enclosures to go hang out with them instead of the pigs.

The torrential downpours that didn’t let up for the first two+ weeks of her living with us didn’t help either. I don’t know about you, but that amount of rain had me feeling like my whole life was falling apart and I just wanted to give up completely and leave for “higher ground.”

But, here’s the thing: homesteading is hard work. Living with family on land is incredibly challenging. Unlearning lifetimes of unhealthy ways of relating to self, other, and the Earth is seemingly impossible. Getting everything right the first time, every time actually IS impossible.

Struggling is a sign of strength, not weakness. It means I am trying something that is difficult. It means I am growing. It means I am learning.

I don’t always need to be strong either. I can be soft, weak, sad, hopeless, tender, sensitive. I can forgive myself. Admit when I’m wrong. Put love on those places that are hurting. I can throw in the towel sometimes. I can even try to give up, then change my mind.

Life isn’t a highlight reel. It has depth, darkness, and mistakes. That’s okay. Really. It’s really okay.

I’m here now. I’m trying. Sometimes I’m struggling. Sometimes I’m thriving. Sometimes I’m both at the same time. Anyway, I’m here. And as long as I’m here, I’m going to keep trying and I’m going to keep failing and trying again and forgiving myself the whole way through.

I hope you can too.

For now, Cymbre and I are working through this together. I have a feeling we have a lot to learn from one another.

04/01/2023

So, I mayyyyyy have gotten a puppy. 😁

Meet Cymbre. Her name means heroine, as in female hero. She is our newest Little Earth family member. She is a purebred Maremma livestock guardian dog, not a pet. She is a working farm dog and will grow to protect our current and future animals here!

So far, she seems to be very intelligent and has a very calm and friendly temperament. She is spending her first night out in a crate inside of the gilts’ (female pigs’) shelter.

More pictures to come!

28/12/2022

My home is here!!

This traditional Mongolian ger (called a “yurt” in Russian) made its way all the way from Mongolia, hand-painted and crafted with almost completely natural materials. The insulation is sheep wool, the ties are camel sinew, the rope is yak hair, the structure is wood. Delivered to Little Earth last week by a dear friend. Unloaded by friends and family.

So excited to get this set up in the coming months to finally live inside of it in the woods here!!

17/12/2022

Look how stinkin cute these sweet boys are in their new space in the woods. I gotta say, it is a lot of work being a pig farmer…and I am enjoying every minute of it.

🐷👩🏽‍🌾😊

14/12/2022

Meet Toad!!! 🐸

He is our newest Little Earth family member. He’s a barrow (castrared male) here to keep Typha company. Typha needs to be separated from our gilts (young female pig who has not yet had a litter) and needs a buddy to live with.

Isn’t he just the sweetest little thing?! He is Tule’s brother. They both came from a neighbor who breeds Kune Kunes!

13/12/2022

It is really beautiful here.

26/11/2022

The other day, one of my closest friends came for a visit and she helped me to activate our biochar kiln with the first burn of this kiln’s life AND the first burn on the land this season!

This video makes it look like a fast and easy process, but thankfully the sun gives away the hours it took and the disappearing giant pile of brush gives away the amount of physical labor that it really took. To me, this sort of work DEFINITELY beats going to the gym. This is how I like to burn my calories. 😆

My dad and brother popped in for a bit to help as well, which was very nice on multiple levels. Making biochar is a very engaging way for communities to work on something beneficial for the land together. It connects us back to the land and to one another.

I’ve decided to include the videos of our failed attempts here too. I think it’s important for us to see other people learning, especially on social media, where we often are told a very particular story (often painted with success). We are learning. We don’t always get it on the first go. The main thing is that we KEEP GOING. And also rest when we need to. Be kind to yourselves. 💛🙏🏼

13/11/2022

It snowed here last year on my birthday (December 29th) and the pond was completely full. 10 days later, it was half emptied, and it drained completely not long after that. I thought I’d share these photos of our pond when it is full with you to give you an idea of why it is important to us to try to seal it.

12/11/2022

Here at Little Earth, we are learning to live in right relationship with the land again.

This means stepping into our keystone species role within our ecosystem as land stewards.

This looks like returning to direct, symbiotic relationships with the more-than-human beings who live alongside us.

This is honorable harvesting and eating of acorns and other native, wild foods.

This is learning how to tend to the oak trees again.

This is creating a more abundant ecosystem that supports our bodies and the bodies of our ecosystem family.

The indigenous people of this land, the Nisenan (and likely others over the past millennia), have lived in right relationship with this land for thousands of years. They knew each and every plant, animal, insect, fungus, and spirit that lived/lives here like family because when you and your ancestors live in a place in direct relationship for that long, you come into a way of being that many of us cannot fathom today. Myself included. I am using my life force to return to direct relationship, to be a good steward, and to be a good ancestor.

May we continue to learn how to give to the land. May the land continue to give to us. May we be generous. May we be grateful.

09/11/2022

Photos of our pig journey!! 🥰🐷🙏🏼💛

08/11/2022

So, these piggies recently joined our Little Earth family to help seal our pond. Many of you may be wondering how the heck these pigs are going to help do that! Well, I found an example of pooling happening already when I went to feed and let them out this morning. I hope this video clarifies any questions you have. Let me know if you have more!

10/09/2022

For the website domain name for Little Earth, which do you think is best? LittleEarth(.com) is not available unless I want to buy it for $45,000! 🤣

In no particular order:

1. LittleEarthEEC.org (EEC= Education & Event Center)
2. LittleEarthHappenings.org
3. LittleEarthEcoCamp.org
4. Little-Earth.org (LittleEarth(.org) is already a thing)
5. LittleEarthEducation.org

08/09/2022

Welcome to Little Earth Education and Event Center.

Our mission is to inspire active hope and foster community and ecological resilience through offering nature-based educational experiences about ecosystem restoration, TEK, regenerative agriculture, and community care to solutions-oriented people.

This is our 20-acre oak woodland homestead and education and event center in the making, located in Browns Valley, CA.

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/little-earth-56cfc1d529de48b2acf5a7bcd2047bdf?fbclid=IwAR3n3JRFTkQI9CaxqMmSY9znhri5AgOYMpj6iA1SuIucGPCBZsTSEmczPBU

Supported devices: iPhone 6S+ & iPad 5+ on iOS 12+ and Android 8.0+ with ARCore 1.9 support Open this page with such a device to experience AR.

21/01/2020

Spent some time cleaning up the forest yesterday for Deanna's birthday. This park is a place filled with memories from her childhood and more recent memories of playing with children here as an outdoor educator. This land has held her and many others and now, we return to give back.
At the end of our cleanup, Deanna invited us to sit down on the Earth. She led us through a love and gratitude meditation for the land we were on. We gave thanks and sent the love we felt in our bodies into the Earth, that it may bring healing to this sacred place.

20/01/2020

In order to create a new, regenerative system, we must first understand the system that we are in and how it came to be this way.

This article breaks down the reality of the founding of the empire of the United States and the White Supremist system that allowed our economy to develop in the way that it has.

Understand the past to inform the present and generate a future in which you would be happy to live and pass on to future generations.

Knowledge is power.

(Apologies for the low res photos. Here is a link to the article:https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/fdf2bd_9cd8420ddd5d45baa61f0ae4c0e0a105.pdf )

18/01/2020

First stop on this journey: a birthday celebration for a dear friend in Pasadena.

Ceremony is a powerful portal for deep introspection and honoring of our spiritual, interconnected nature.

When we come together in ceremony, we acknowledge the sacredness of this life and of all living and non-living beings.

In deep gratitude for shared experiences of love, healing, medicine, song, and story.

🙏🙏🙏

17/01/2020

About to embark on a journey of learning and creating. Heading north for three advanced permaculture courses in Oregon and Canada. Along the way, I'll be celebrating and connecting with friends, attending a talk at the EcoFarm Conference, visiting the Mushroom Farm, recording a few songs I wrote at my friend's recording studio in Davis, snow camping in Shasta, and so much more. I'll be connecting with loads of inspirational and beautiful humans on this journey and I hope to post some interviews with them to our YouTube channel to share with y'all!!

Tryna save this planet and have a fun time doing it!! 🌍🌎🌏

Here's to yet another adventure on the horizon. 🌤

(Also, check out my new duds!! Carhartts ftw 💛)

16/01/2020

https://youtu.be/hmh6BkTVE1k

15/01/2020

Let's be vulnerable y'all

https://youtu.be/eakOlITXr-g

Let’s be vulnerable! Sharing a bit on my new intention to be vulnerable and express myself, and why I think it’s important for us to share.

14/01/2020

“Such [an ecocentric] society cannot be created by simply sitting down and planning one, no matter how enlightened the designers or design principles. It arises only through a natural process of cultural evolution galvanized by soul-infused actions. The specific form the society will take is unpredictable.” -Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul

07/01/2020

"I want to call your attention to something. Please observe how far [your concerns for the state of the Earth] extend beyond your personal ego, beyond your individual needs and wants. This says something very important about who and what you are. It says you are capable of suffering with your world. That capacity to suffer-with is the literal meaning of compassion, a central virtue in every spiritual tradition. It says you are a compassionate being. Another word for that, in Buddhism, is bodhisattva.
So don't you apologize for the tears you shed or the rage you feel about what's happening to our living world. They are just the other face of your belonging." - Joanna Macy

06/01/2020

06/01/2020

Welcome to RegenerVision, a page for visioning a regenerative present and future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB4ymADUBBs

Introducing RegenerVision- a collection of stories, interviews, songs, & inspirations that express our work in building a life-sustaining planet. Our mission...

06/01/2020

This is a story about a time I set an intention of devoting myself wholly to being of service and what the impact of that decision was. We are powerful beings, capable of giving our time and energy to whatever we choose. In this time of the Great Turning, may we use this power to devote ourselves to being of service to this Earth and all living beings.

"Today, scientific research provides compelling data to support the notion that giving one's time, talents and treasures is a powerful pathway to finding purpose, transcending difficulties, and finding fulfillment and meaning in life."

(https://www.livescience.com/52936-need-to-give-boosted-by-brain-science-and-evolution.html)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve5FmC83ovM

This is a story about a time I set an intention of devoting myself wholly to being of service and what the impact of that decision was. We are powerful being...