Photo Gallery » Quail Springs Permaculture

Meet Jan Smith (she/her), new crone in residence h

Meet Jan Smith (she/her), new crone in residence here at Quail. Jan has been many things here over the last 14+ years and is currently on sabbatical until spring 2023. Hey Jan! What brings you joy?
“Music!” More about Jan ~
Jan is a mother, wife, mentor, cook, writer, artist, and farmer. Jan's introduction to permaculture came in 2002 with a visit to the Bullock's Permaculture Homestead on Orcas Island, and in the same year a trip to Spirit Pine Sanctuary on Figueroa Mountain in southern California during a Cob Cottage Company natural building workshop led by Ianto Evans and Betty Seaman. Pursuing a deepening interest in growing food and building sustainable shelter as a means of regenerating culture, Jan worked as the orchard manager for La Casa de Maria retreat center in Montecito, CA, a farm hand for Marshall Chrostowski at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Summerland, CA, and nursery manager for Island Seed and Feed in Goleta, CA. She also studied natural building with Alejandra Caballero in Tlaxcala, Mexico in 2006, and has volunteered, and assisted on various natural building projects in southern California. In 2005 Jan and her husband, Brenton Kelly, made their first visit to Quail Springs. Shortly thereafter they joined the Quail Springs Board of Directors, and Jan began to assist with grant writing for the organization. In 2008 Jan and Brenton joined the Quail Springs onsite crew with the commitment to help grow the farm, steward the land, teach, and develop educational programs to share permaculture with visitors and students.
Since living and working at Quail Springs Jan has been a member of two Quail Springs bands, Muddy Daughters and Cuyama Mama and the Hot Flashes. 📸 @joelwcaldwell

The Imagination Garden in New Cuyama, CA ~ one of

The Imagination Garden in New Cuyama, CA ~ one of our favorite community projects. Check out the amazing eight month transformation ~ from vacant parking lot to community garden!
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We are thrilled with the abundance this garden provides pollinators, birds, soil, lizards, and our awesome community that tends it. A big shout out to @handsomehandsigns, the amazing families in Cuyama & our partnering non-profit, the Family Resource Center, for supporting this vision.
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#community #garden #permaculture #climateresilient #desertfarming #watershed #quailspringspermaculture #quailsprings

Our online Natural Building Course began this week

Our online Natural Building Course began this week! We’ll be keeping registration open until August 15th for any of you who still want to join us. The first live session and Q&A with instructors Sasha Rabin ( @earthenshelter ) and John Orcutt ( @nomadicbuilder ) is Saturday morning. All live sessions will be recorded for students who need to watch later. Follow the link in bio to join or learn more about the course. As the Quail Springs Natural Building Director, Sasha is a strong leader in our efforts to progress building policy and codes to make fire-safe earthen building more accessible. She also serves on our Board of Directors and the Board of the @cob_research_institute . Sasha has been teaching natural building for twenty years, half of that while residing at Quail Springs. After a few years studying alternative building styles and building earthbag with a crew from @calearthinstitute , John came to Quail Springs in 2016 to learn cob, and soon moved here, joining Sasha as a Natural Building instructor and advocate. We are excited to be offering this online course with these two again this year, and hope you choose to join them. They’ll be available online for instruction and consultation with students through December 8th, and you’ll have access to all other content until February 8th. Register today through the link in our bio. #quailspringspermaculture #naturalbuildingworkshop #onlineclass #naturalbuildingtour #rocketstove #coboven #cob #earthbag #adobe #naturalbuilding #naturalplaster #clayplaster #superadobe #woodfiredoven #gardenwalls #permaculture #localmaterials #sustainablebuilding #firesafehousing #nontoxic #retainingwall #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #cobhouse #offgrid #cobworkshop #tinyhousedesign #cobovenworkshop #appropriatetechnology

A special element of the goat herd we live with is

A special element of the goat herd we live with is the matriarchal lineage that carries on, currently for four generations. This is Thistle, who was born in 2016 to Honey, the second oldest goat at Quail Springs, born May 7th, 2010. Greta is two days older than Honey, born on May 5th.
Thistle gave birth to Zinnia Zucchini in 2017, who last February quickly gave birth to Coreopsis and Currant on a sunny winter day.
Watching the goats personalities develop, bonds form and relationships shift is an incredible gift of continuity to observe and interact with for many of us here.

The Online Natural Building Course launched on Mon

The Online Natural Building Course launched on Monday! There's still time to join. We are keeping registration open through August 15th ~ REGISTER TODAY! [link in bio]
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Are you ready to begin your natural building journey? Join us this Summer and learn the basics of natural building and create 1 of 3 earthen designs on your site, at your own pace.
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Our goal with this course is to broaden access to natural building education and knowledge. Each year we are thrilled to share this body of work with a global audience. We have participants joining from Indonesia, Mexico, the US, Trinidad & Tobago, the Netherlands, Venezuela, and so many other beautiful countries.
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This course features: 6.5 hours of instructional how-to videos, 11 text lessons, 4 months of instructor support, 8 Live Sessions, 6 month access to all content, and a curated list of resources and books.
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Join the Online Natural Building Course today! 🌼
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#quailspringspermaculture #hottubs #naturalbuildingworkshop #naturalbuildingtour #rocketstove #coboven #cob #earthbag #adobe #naturalbuilding #naturalplaster #clayplaster #superadobe #woodfiredoven #gardenwalls #permaculture #localmaterials #sustainablebuilding #firesafehousing #nontoxic #pizzaoven #retainingwall #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #cobhouse #offgrid #cobworkshop #tinyhousedesign #cobovenworkshop

Back in June, we had a great visit with local fami

Back in June, we had a great visit with local families in collaboration with the Promotores Program via the Family Resource Center (CVFRC) here in Cuyama. Familiar faces returned to the land, shared their stories and recalled memories, along with neighbors visiting for the first time. Shout out to the amazing Community Health Workers known as Promotores de Salud. Highlight was definitely the group potluck! We will remember that ceviche. 🤤 About Promotores de Cuyama ~
Working in conjunction with the Santa Barbara County Promotores de Salud (which translates as “community health workers"), the CVFRC has provided specialized personal and leadership development training for members of the local Latino community. Now certified as Promotores de Cuyama, these community members are working in Cuyama to support the health, engagement and wellbeing of their peers in the local Latino Spanish-speaking and bilingual community.
Promotores de Salud are found in communities across the United States and internationally. The mission of the organization is to educate and empower community activists who can identify issues in the Latino community and work together to find and implement solutions. In their first year alone, the Promotores de Cuyama have been working diligently to serve the community in many ways. These include:
* Educating and advocating for a greater voice in the development of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
* Working in Cuyama schools to provide support for teachers, assist students’, and prevent bullying in the schools.
* Nutrition issues that impact the Latino community.
* Assisting with basic, yet essential dental care.
* Helping families that are coping with issues related to Alzheimer’s and dementia. About the Cuyama Valley Family Resource Center ~
The CVFRC serves as the primary provider of social services to all residents of the Cuyama Valley, including seniors, families, individuals, youth and children. Working across generations and cultural backgrounds, the CFVRC fosters community-led initiatives designed to address community-identified issues.
You can learn more at www.cvfrc.org

Hurry! Our Online Naural Building course starts o

Hurry! Our Online Naural Building course starts on Monday! Register now through the first link in our bio. Earthbag is one of the many natural building techniques covered in this course. An instructional video of the building of this earthbag retaining wall is included and accompanied by text instructions. You can preview all of the video lessons and learn more through the link in our bio. And of course - ask us any other questions in the comments below. #quailspringspermaculture #naturalbuildingworkshop #onlineclass #naturalbuildingtour #rocketstove #coboven #cob #earthbag #adobe #naturalbuilding #naturalplaster #clayplaster #superadobe #woodfiredoven #gardenwalls #permaculture #localmaterials #sustainablebuilding #firesafehousing #nontoxic #retainingwall #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #cobhouse #offgrid #cobworkshop #tinyhousedesign #cobovenworkshop #appropriatetechnology

Check out this rocket stove heated bathtub our nat

Check out this rocket stove heated bathtub our natural building instructors @earthenshelter and @nomadicbuilder built with students. It’s a simple upgrade from a standard wood fired hot tub that drastically improves the efficiency and burns far cleaner. What makes the rocket stove so efficient? Unlike most fireplaces/wood stoves, rocket stoves offer nearly complete combustion of the wood fuel. The smoke you see from most fires is unburned fuel (and wasted energy). Smoke and other volatile compounds are combusted inside of a rocket stove, harvesting all that heat which would otherwise escape through the chimney. Carbon dioxide is pretty much all that exits the chimney of a rocket stove. 🚀 One of the projects in our online Natural Building Course is a simple rocket stove burner. It’s a great first step students can use to learn the concepts of rocket stoves which can then be designed to heat water, food, and homes. 🔥Sign up for the course today with coupon code earthen-shelter to get 10% off tuition! You’ll find the link in our bio to learn more, preview course videos, and register. Have questions? We’ll be checking the comments - please ask! (Of course, Sasha and Johno made their tub even more efficient by preheating the water with a DIY bread box style solar hot water heater shown in the last slide, but that system deserves its own post. 😉) #quailspringspermaculture #naturalbuildingworkshop #naturalbuildingtour #rocketstove #rocketmassheater #hotub #woodfired #woodfiredhottub #coboven #cob #earthbag #naturalbuilding #naturalplaster #clayplaster #superadobe #woodfiredoven #gardenwalls #permaculture #localmaterials #sustainablebuilding #nontoxic #retainingwall #tinyhouse #cobworkshop #cobovenworkshop #fuelefficiency #cleanburning #rocketstoveworkshop #diy #outdoorbath

This is Dudley, our devoted farm feed room cat. Du

This is Dudley, our devoted farm feed room cat. Dudley protects the goat and chicken feed bags from rodents and does an incredible job, saveing the farm a great deal of money and effort. Dudley mostly stays in the shade of the feed room during the day and comes out at night to wander and do whatever Dudleys do, which now involves playing with our brother cats, Tule and Sisquoc.

Be inspired by our Online Natural Building Course

Be inspired by our Online Natural Building Course launching August 8th! 5 days to go ~ Register today! Link in bio or visit👇
www.quailsprings.org/nbc
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We’re running 10% off on all tuition options through August 4th. Use coupon code👇🏼 upon checkout!
Coupon code : earthen-shelter
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🌍 ABOUT THE COURSE
Through a combination of pre-recorded lectures that you can watch at your own pace, as well as live sessions, you will be guided through the basics of analyzing site soil, mixing and building with cob, and building a project of your own.
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🌎 WHY THIS COURSE?
Our lead instructor, Sasha Rabin, has over 20 years of experience teaching hands-on natural building courses. Although Natural Building is a very hands-on, tactile experience, we have created a curriculum that will allow you to be guided through the process of learning these techniques at your own pace, on your own site.
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🌏 WHY QUAIL SPRINGS?
Quail Springs has been teaching in-person Natural Building Courses for over a decade, and has been on the leading edge of testing and research for cob building practices. We have the unique experience of learning from both living in the structures we have built, as well as working with engineers and researchers to further the legality and accessibility of these methods and materials. Our teaching staff are farmers, activists, builders, and thinkers who not only teach, but also advocate at a regional level for policy change from agriculture and sustainable groundwater use, to building codes. #earthenbuilding #earthenbuildingsontherise #earthenbuildings #cobbuilding #cobhouse #legalizeearthenbuilding #housingisahumanright #naturalbuilding #naturalbuildings #quailspringspermaculture #firesafehousing #earthdoesntburn #nontoxic #beyondcarbonneutral #sustainablebuilding #cobbuilding #housingcrisis #climatecrisis #firesafety #buildingscience #greenbuilding #sustainablearchitecture #greenarchitecture #quailspringspermaculture #SustainableLiving #climateresilience #offgrid #permaculture #QuailSprings #permaculturedesign #optoutside #ecoliving

We’re offering 10% off our our online Natural Bu

We’re offering 10% off our our online Natural Building course and a free webinar about the course. Through a combination of live sessions, pre-recorded lectures and how-to videos, our instructors @earthenshelter and @nomadicbuilder will guide you through the basics of analyzing site soil, mixing and building with cob, and completing a small project. The course begins August 8th, and you’ll have instructor support for the first four months, and six month access to all content including start to finish how-to videos on rocket stoves, cob ovens, earthbag, cob, and adobe. Our lead instructor, Sasha Rabin, is hosting a free 1 hour webinar Monday, August 1st (6-7 pm PDT) offering an overview of the course while weaving in the larger picture of natural building, natural building advocacy & policy, course projects options, 2021 course alumni project showcase, and Live Q & A. Follow the links in our bio to register with the coupon code earthen-shelter and sign up for the free webinar with Sasha. 10% off tuition will be available until August 4th. #quailspringspermaculture #naturalbuildingworkshop #naturalbuildingtour #rocketstove #coboven #cob #earthbag #adobe #naturalbuilding #naturalplaster #clayplaster #superadobe #woodfiredoven #gardenwalls #permaculture #localmaterials #sustainablebuilding #firesafehousing #nontoxic #pizzaoven #retainingwall #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #cobhouse #offgrid #cobworkshop #tinyhousedesign #cobovenworkshop

First video: A ‘lil snippet of the Cuyama Valley

First video: A ‘lil snippet of the Cuyama Valley, headed north toward Quail Springs on Highway 33.
Second video: a time lapse of the central section of Quail Springs, with poplars swaying in the wind.

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