Crooked Forest Institute

My name is Jade. I have been suffering from environmental illness since I was a child. About 8 years ago, I realized that my illnesses and disability were caused by environmental factors and I came to the high desert to heal.

While the larger environment in New Mexico works better for me than Michigan, I still get sick every time I move to a new location. Every location gives me a different set of symptoms. It's miserable. Everything hurts, my organs hurt, I'm sensitive to almost all food, I have brain fog, my whole body gets inflamed and sometimes I even pass out.

Luckily, I landed in a town where there are other survivors of environmental illness, like me. There's a non-profit started by one of these survivors. Crooked Forest Institute is a 501c3 that is focused on creating tiny adobe houses for people like me. It was started by Holly Noonan, a social worker who survived mold illness herself, and Joseph Kennedy, an earthen building architect.

Together they have designed a special house for me that will be custom built. It's called the "Thrival Cabin." They are going to build the prototype so I can live in it and finally heal!!

Holly understands that the environment that is required for us to heal needs to be pristine and without the OSB, drywall, caulking and paint that are found in conventional buildings. That's why the building will have adobe walls and earthen plasters and flooring.

It will be far away from town, in the pristine mountains, near the Gila Wilderness. It will be off grid, with water catchment and solar electricity. Indoor will have a loft for sleeping and 12 foot ceilings. Outdoors, there will be a covered area with an outdoor kitchen and shower.

I can't wait to finally be grounded in a place where I can heal. This will allow me to finally stabilize healthwise and allow me to spend my time giving my gifts to the world instead of constantly being in survival mode. I will be volunteering for Crooked Forest Institute as I heal so we can pay forward the kindness of everyone who has supported me on this epic healing journey.

Thank you for donating! We will keep you posted on all the details of this build as we go. Jai Ma!

PS- here's a recording of a recent radio show where Holly and I were interviewed about Environmental Illness, Gender and Housing.

https://crookedforestinstitute.podbean.com/e/environmental-illness-women-and-housing/https://crookedforestinstitute.podbean.com/e/environmental-illness-women-and-housing/