We finally have a name for ourselves…

After many months of head scratching and deliberating, our little piece of hillside in the Kentucky foothills finally has a name: South Slope Farm. Not only that, we’re now incorporated, too. My dream of becoming a corporation is finally coming to fruition… now, isn’t that strange to say?

Actually, South Slope Farm is not just the name of our homestead, but our small egalitarian community in the making. This is more than just a place to hunker down and grow food and plant trees and build cool stuff. April, Jacob, and I have been actively planning to cultivate a small intentional community for a couple of years now, and getting incorporated is just one of the steps towards that goal.

Goals of South Slope Farm

The name is probably self-explanatory. We’re quite blessed to be on a south-facing hillside with abundant water, open land, and many many permacultural & agricultural possibilities. Our goals for South Slope Farm are two-fold, or maybe three- or four-or-more-fold. South Slope Farm is home, and it’s a place to cultivate plants, food, our livelihoods, creativity, and community.

The big picture goal is to have a small membership in which we all share income and resources, responsibilities, and a passion for natural building, permaculture, woodworking, and all the good stuff that keeps us creative and energized. Our passion for living sustainably is a core focus here…. and by sustainable, I mean not just ecologically, but socially and economically, too. I do want to dispel the story of “living simply”, because it’s anything but “simple” to try to grow your own food, live peaceably with others while sharing income, develop your own infrastructure in a conscious manner, and provide for your own needs. In fact, it’s extremely complicated and difficult. But that’s a rant for another time… (maybe a future post!)

South Slope Building Co.

Something that’s very important to us is that we can eventually meet most of our income needs from the land. This is something that will take quite a bit of time to develop and flourish. Hopefully as we attract new members, we’ll have a greater ability to make progress towards this goal. We’re making headway already, however. One of our first community businesses that we’re launching is our building & contracting business, South Slope Building Co. Unfortunately, there isn’t a huge market for natural building here. However, we hope to infuse our penchant for natural materials into existing homes  — there are huge possibilities for integrating local and natural materials into conventional homes. (Give us a ring if you’re somewhere in central-eastern Kentucky, eh?)

What You Can Expect…

South Slope Farm represents the biggest project we have taken on yet. In fact, these 28 acres represent a lifetime full of work. When I walk outside every morning, I see the potential for so many great things on the land, in the form of resilient agriculture, beautiful natural buildings, new business ideas, workshops and other education events, building soil… it goes on and on.

The Year of Mud will continue, and the story will continue to evolve. Things are a lot different now from when I started this website as a 22 year old trying his hand at building a tiny cob house for the first time. Natural building is still a major fixture in my life. And organizing workshops is still a huge priority for me. However, so is raising a baby and starting an egalitarian community, and figuring out how to balance the increasing list of responsibilities in life. I have full intentions to continue to share all stuff that you’ve seen here over the year, with a likely expansion of the scope of the story.

I hope you’ll keep posted, as there is plenty of excitement ahead.

p.s. Thanks to Mark Mazziotti for our supersweet new logo!