The Almanac
Grow Together: Looking Ahead to a Better Future
Thank you for making our Open House event a success! We're thrilled to see our community grow! Last Saturday, October 13th, we were honored to host about 70 community members for our Open House event. Together we feasted, enjoyed performances by local musicians,...
Fall Reflections, and An Invitation!
First, an apology... You haven’t heard from us quite as often lately. We’re sorry about that. We want to share some of our recent progress, and invite you to our Oct. 13th Open House (more below)! As you might guess, it’s a lot of work to run a nonprofit,...
Terra Cultura and You
Hello Friends, Farmers, Gardeners, Educators, Artists, Activists, Philanthropists, and Stalwart Volunteers, We've been busy as ever turning this piece of raw land into a thriving community hub for education around agroecology and art. With the help of many...
Introducing Saturday Volunteer Days!
Hello Friends! Ready for some fun in the sun on the farm? We're beginning our Saturday Volunteer Days this weekend, and we wanted to answer any questions you may have. First of all, thank you for your interest in volunteering at Terra Cultura! To stay up to date...
Listen to the Land, Whispering “Horehound”
We’ve been asked recently what we plan to grow on the land. Our answer to that complex question was naively simple when we started out on this adventure a couple years ago: “We don’t know yet. We want to get to know the land before we make our crop plan.” While this...
Food Insecurity in America’s Salad Bowl
Our home on the California Central Coast has been called the Salad Bowl of the World. The climate, soil, and infrastructure make it a pretty ideal place to grow food. Driving down our canyon into the valley, we look out the car window onto countless acres owned by...
When Challenging Problems Become Creative Solutions
We’ve been on the land for two months now, and we’re learning so much. The early days are both exciting and challenging. As we get things ready to amp up our educational programming in agroecology, environmental stewardship, and the arts, two things strike me...
The Quantified Off-Grid Life
We got our first water bill from the Aromas Water District last week. In our first 30 days on the land, we used 220 cubic feet, or 1645.71 gallons of water. That sounds like a lot, but if you do the math, that works out to 54.85 gallons of water used on-site per day in April.
April Showers Bring …
Updates From The Three Of Us On What We've Been Up To Lately On The Land... Jessica: Helter Skelter Shelter As you walk through the gate to Terra Cultura’s new home, you are greeted by two wooden structures, strangely charming in their haphazard construction. We’re...
You Are Here
[cmsms_row][cmsms_column data_width="1/1"][cmsms_text] We can't believe it's all really happening. Our first few days on the land have been jam packed. There's so much to do to make this spot comfortable for ourselves, let alone future students, artists, educators,...
Goodbye San Diego
The time has come for Jessica, Travis, and I to say our goodbyes to San Diego, as we pack up for our move north to Aromas, Ca—Terra Cultura’s new found home. All three of us have lived in San Diego before, Jessica and I grew up here, and we are very lucky that this...
Composting Toilets, Solar Energy, and Greywater Systems, Oh My!
Updates From All 3 of Us on What We've Been Researching and Thinking About . . . Travis: Solar Energy & Childhood Dreams I’ve been fascinated by the idea of using solar panels to achieve off-grid energy independence for as long as I can remember. My...
A Tour: Early Explorations & Observations
Can I tell you about the land? It will take a long time to really get to know it. But can I tell you a little? Drive thirty miles south of Santa Cruz on the 101 and exit at San Juan Road, near the giant red barn that houses the antique flea market called Disneyana,...
This Land Is Your Land
We signed the title yesterday! We have landed the land. We want to share it with you. Terra Cultura is no longer just a theory, a manifesto, a dream, a business plan, a website, an ethereal nonprofit—it is a place. It is a place for anyone interested in exploring the...
Land Time!
Friends, we have some exciting news. It's official. We are moving forward to close escrow on the Cole Road property!! Thank you for following along with our series on the Great Land Quest. When the Hollister property fell through, we became full-time land questing...
In Which We Make An Offer
This is the third part in a series dedicated to Terra Cultura’s quest for farmland. I guess this is the Return of the Jedi post. (Or technically Revenge of the Sith, but I like to pretend those three don’t exist.) So you heard from Jessica about financial and...
The Land I Visited
This is the second of a multi-part series about Terra Cultura’s experience searching for a place to call home. You’ll be hearing from Rachel in the coming weeks about the next phases in our epic quest for land. Click here to see the first part of this series, written by Jessica.
I landed at SFO just as the rain started to pick up for the evening. I waited for my mom to pick me up from the departures level upstairs, a long-standing family tradition that I’m not sure actually saves any time in traffic. Instead of waiting for her to arrive hiding from the shower under the overhang, I stood out by the street, feeling the cool rain trickle down, rinsing the airplane grit and slime off my face and hands. Living in San Diego, it had been months since I’d seen any real rain. This storm felt like an omen, signaling a coming flood of opportunity, after a long and stagnant drought, devoid of forward momentum for us on the land front.
Terra Cultura and the Great Land Search
This is the first of a multi-part series about Terra Cultura's experience searching for a place to call home. You'll be hearing from Travis and Rachel in the coming weeks about the next phases in our epic quest for land. When we sat down to write Terra Cultura’s...
“Sow Good”–EcoFarm Conference 2018
If you haven’t heard from us quite as often lately, it’s because we’ve delved into a whole new level of intensity here with regard to finding Terra Cultura the right permanent home. Because it’s owed its proper due, we will be running a multi-part series in coming...
Thanks for Making 2017 so Bright!
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Reflections on Disconnection (And What We’re Doing About It)
California is burning, again. Every week there seems to be something new to be sad, anxious, and outraged about. Then fatigue zaps the energy that could be spent on working for change. So what can we do to come together, and fight for the people, places, and values...