Mission:

To empower people of all ages and backgrounds with knowledge, skills and inspiration essential to cultivating ecological and social health.

Vision:

We envision an equitable global community that shares the bounty of this living planet and the responsibility to tend to its health. We believe the most effective way to foster positive change is through our relationships, both with one another and our ecologies.

Solidarity:

In order to fulfill our mission, we must continue to actively work in dismantling the social and ecological imbalances forced upon communities of color in our immediate and greater communities.

Founded in 2004, Quail Springs is a leading educational non-profit that sits on a 450-acre permaculture demonstration site on the traditional homelands of the Chumash people in Cuyama Valley, California. Our mission is to empower students of all ages and backgrounds with knowledge, skills, and inspiration essential to cultivating ecological and social health. In order to fulfill our mission, we understand that as an organization that was built and is guided by people from various backgrounds, we must continue to actively work in dismantling the social and ecological imbalances forced upon communities of color in our immediate and greater communities.

As a permaculture site, we aspire to be guided by the three core permaculture ethics – People Care, Earth Care, and Fair Share (redistribution of surplus). We envision an equitable global community that shares the bounty of this living planet and the responsibility to tend to its health. We believe the most effective way to foster positive change is through our relationships, both with one another and our ecologies. 

As a land-based educational non-profit, we understand the many ways in which the permaculture and homesteading movements contribute to the continued erasure and displacement of Indigenous and communities of color. We are part of an ongoing journey of cultivating greater awareness of the devastating impacts of deep rooted systemic racism and inequities across our society. The food system, agriculture, and land access are inextricably impacted by these injustices. 

This Solidarity Statement is to share who we are, where we stand, and to be transparent about the ways we plan to grow as individuals and as an organization. We intend for this statement to double as a map for our longer term commitments.

We are committed to:

  • Building strong collaborative partnerships with non-profits that serve our immediate BIPOC communities
  • Making Quail Springs’ 450 acre land site accessible to BIPOC individuals and groups for personal and community renewal
  • Prioritizing BIPOC and historically underrepresented students for full and partial scholarships
  • Offering Chumash students our courses at no cost
  • Continued Anti-Racist training
  • Amplifying BIPOC-led organizations through our platform and networks
  • Diversifying programming instructors
  • Offering bilingual programming [English & Spanish]

We believe that permaculture and land-based teachings, in collaboration with other movements for social and ecological change, can contribute to addressing, healing, and creating health and wholeness in the land, our food, and our communities. In order to change we must be willing to see our role in the systems of oppression we aim to dismantle and be willing to apply conscientious and diligent effort to repair wrongs. We welcome ongoing dialogue with our immediate and greater communities around this work. We do not expect to get it all right, but we hope to grow and make strides in an equitable and fair direction. We trust that together we can become stronger allies in rebuilding the wholeness of our communities and the vitality of the earth.