Homestead Farming

We raise Dorper/Katahdin hair sheep and a few goats. In addition to our 5 horses, we currently have 1 llama, 4 sheep (soon will be 6), 3 goats, a livestock guardian dog, 4 family dogs, 5 cats and 2 beehives. We have raised bed gardens all around our homestead in multiple locations.

Raised Bed Gardening

We live on a beautiful, 150 acre homestead farm. Our gardens are all natural, with only diatomaceous earth and sulfur used as “pesticides”. We host wwoofers from all over the USA who come live with us and learn all about what we do here. Please scroll down to see photos and our wwoof profile to learn more.

Wwoof-USA

Click here to see our wwoof-usa profile of 12 years.

Here’s what it says:

We are a multi generational family and community with many places to rest and recover, including hammocks, multiple dwellings where one can stay, and shaded areas including the huge pavilion where our camp kitchen is located. Reesa has a little one and visits frequently. Jenny is our garden and insect expert, along with our animal care specialist. She lives in her offgrid cabin full time and welcomes your questions. We encourage strong, outdoorsy independent folks to apply here at our farm. For this precious Sanctuary, we are especially grateful and give thanks for the many blessings from our Creator, Jesus Christ. Please note: For us, nature is the closest we can be to our Creator.

We are a home base farm sanctuary serving local youth, combat veterans, law enforcement professionals and their families who wish to enjoy our horses and farm. Our website: www.heartsinhandhorsemanshipllc.com explains how we operate. Please note, if the police and/or military make you uncomfortable we are not the farm for you and wish you the best on your journey. Having some knowledge of what grueling hard work goes into creating and maintaining a farm is helpful. Please read past wwoofers comments, both bad and good, for a flavor of what we do here. It’s hard work followed by more hard work.

Dirty, grungy, unforgiving hard work. The rewards are great, and we love stopping work in the middle of the day to go jump in the nearby lake, followed by hours lounging in the hammocks, wandering in the woods, or exploring the local area which is incredible. We have a beautiful archery range, with bows and arrows available to share with you. Mountain biking, kayaking, hiking in the local state and national parks is only minutes away. Our own farm has miles of marked trails that you can explore. Does this sound like you? Are you ready for a real farm experience? Then please, contact us. We would love to share our world with you. Big projects include taking the horses for walks on our wild mountain trails, building a forest trail mounted archery course, building a 10×16 foot off grid hunting lodge WAY up on our 150 acres, near the NY DEC line, adding sheep fencing for rotational grazing and creating a wild forest camp. We built a trail system over over 3 miles, and will be maintaining that in our spare time (LOL what spare time?). We are setting up our wildest 100 acres, adjacent to NYS DEC land, for the ultimate bushcraft experience. If you are minimalist low tech bushcrafters we want to hear from you.

There’s a LOT we do during the growing season. Our style of gardening is all raised beds with occasional cattle panel trellises. You’ll like the ease of both planting, weeding and harvesting produce. Farm educational exchange is 25 hours per week. We share time together to teach, to learn, and to share farm activities. Your true commitment with a willingness to our honor our system is vital to the Farm Sanctuary. Since we are a non-commercial and small-scale family homestead, your time living with us in our home here is fairly relaxed except when we are doing something serious like moving a bunch of hay right before a rain storm, building a new structure, or harvesting and fermenting or canning produce.

Our farm is located in the mountains of the Great Northeast, nestled between Vermont and Massachusetts, We are adjacent to 1000s of acres of state and federal land (NY/MA/VT), including the Green Mountain National Forest, the Berkshires, Petersburgh Pass, Cherry Plain State Park, Pittstown State Forest, and the Taconic Crest. Somerset and Harriman Reservoirs are nearby for clean water kayaking. Eagles and hawks are a frequent sighting here. There is also a state park lake about 15 minutes away that we often frequent to swim! If you walk in it is free of charge.

Living spaces include a barn loft, complete with electric, a full sized futon, a TV and tea kettle, our rustic Tipi up in the pasture, complete with two cots, a fire pit and solar Luci Lights, Ft Sky, a more secluded hut in the back pasture, and lastly, another small hut closer to the main house that we call the Tiny Hut. Wwoofers have also camped in the past and we welcome that. We have a fridge and flush toilet in our basement for wwoofer use, and two other composting toilets. The shower is outside and very “low tech” but it gets the job done! We purchased a propane water heating system and hope to get that up and running this next summer, maybe with your help?

Meals are primarily fend for yourself as our schedules vary wildly. First and foremost you have full access to the unlimited vegetables and berries in our garden. We provide store bought staples for woofers to prepare and cook for themselves. These include coffee, tea, half n half, one dozen eggs per week, cooking oil, oats, lentils beans and grains, pancake mixings, bread, jam and peanut butter. Occasionally we will probably grill you a steak from local farmers beef . If you have something in particular that you crave such as ice cream, we have small shops nearby where you can find it. When we make a big meal we often invite woofers to join us. We also recommend you bring your favorite snacks.

Do you love horses? Our rescued horses are a big part of this Sanctuary. We are a Similar Ministry of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch. Training our horses is a daily exercise and we welcome horse people, especially those who want to experience Natural Horsemanship. Our equine assisted services program, which we provide via scholarship (for those in need) to at risk youth, Police, Firefighters. Military and EMS providers is funded by our LLC, “Hearts in Hand Horsemanship.” With our equine business, Jenny and I train rescued horses. Praise the Lord! Some (not all) of us here are Jesus believers. We do not attend conventional church and all beliefs are welcome here. Our primary church is outside and we love our native, pagan, Buddhist and “other” believing community. At present, we are Jerome, Jules, Reesa, River (part time), our good friend Jenny, with occasional friends. Amongst us, we have 5 dogs on premises, 3 goats, 4 sheep, 5 cats, 5 horses and 1 llama spread out over 30 of our 150 acres. Your well behaved pets we will consider on a case by case basis.

We especially appreciate visitors from May through October, with the possibility of an early spring or late fall stay. You would be welcome to remain here for longer if you are willing to help us continue with the farm work that has to be done, and have a strong desire to learn about new ways of homestead farming. Preference is given for wwoofers who stay for a month so as to get a fuller experience. Please note, if we find that we are simply not going to be a match, a quicker departure will be requested and ensue. To wwoof with us, a note expressing your wish to visit us through wwoof-usa, a phone Interview, photo ID and references are required. Cigs, drugs and alcohol discouraged. All belief systems are respected and welcomed. No politics here please. For more about us, please see heartsinhandshorsemanshipllc.com, and/or visit Jules Horsewalker on Facebook. Our youtube channel is Hearts in Hand Horsemanship, LLC. Our Hipcamp site is Cherry Plain Sanctuary Farm. Thank you. Jules, Reesa, River, Jerome and Jenny