Community Building at Live Power Community Farm

Help Us Complete the Community Building at

Live Power Community Farm!

It gets more beautiful by the day!

(FOR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN.)

Stephen Decater, co-founder of Live Power Community Farm passed away in November 2021. Together Stephen and his wife Gloria brought to life the visions of their mentor, Alan Chadwick, who said, “You must give to nature more than you take. Obey the earth, and it will provide for you in glorious abundance.” (Click here for more info.)Stephen’s passion and ideals of educating young and old about the gifts of Mother Nature are still the foundation of Live Power Community Farm.

Today Gloria strives to continue the work of manifesting this vision. This biodynamic farm has the potential to remain a center of education about life-giving biodynamic farming. Our community building is at the heart of this amazing farm, a space for our friends and community to share and learn and be inspired, a site for meals and stories, a place of nourishment and renewal.

This building has been a space for people to come together for meetings and workshops, dances and field trips. With your generous donation we will be able to complete the kitchen, install the pine paneling on the ceiling, the wood burning stove, sheetrock and bead board for the walls, the rustic red oak on the floor, light fixtures, and build a bathroom. There is plenty of space for sleeping bags, folding chairs, and tables. We will be set to be the new home away from home for visiting school children, workshop participants, and other members of the extended Live Power Community. This includes the local Round Valley native community who will be using the building for cultural gatherings.

But, we need your help! With the cost of supplies going up every week, we are trying to purchase the materials and complete the building as soon as possible.

If you’d like to help,

--Send a check to Live Power Community Farm at 25451 East Lane, Covelo, CA 95428.

OR

--Contribute through Venmo (@gloria-decater)

OR

--Contribute to this GoFundMe.

OR

FOR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION:

----Click on this link to the School of Adaptive Agriculture, Inc. In the box that asks if you'd like your donation to go to a specific purpose, write that the donation is for Live Power Community Farm.

Or, you can write a check to:

School of Adaptive Agriculture

Write "Live Power Community Farm" in the memo line.

Mail it to:

School of Adaptive Agriculture c/o

Michael Foley

650 Maple Lane

Willits, CA 95490

For your personal tax records the Federal Tax ID number is 87-1270842. All contributions will be gratefully acknowledged and are deductible to the extent recognized by law. The School is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501c3 charitable nonprofit, and is a registered California nonprofit corporation.

--And please share this campaign on your own social media pages!

Read on to learn about Stephen’s original vision for the farm and community building and why they are so necessary in today’s world.

Video about the Community Building

As biodynamic farmers we work with the earth to create the living being of a farm, an individuality, which can speak to and teach people about humanity's role in creating a more positive future for us all. In addition to providing healthy nourishing food this farm individuality can also bring healing and nourishment to our spirits in engaging with nature and each other. Encountering this farm being leads to a relationship of care and understanding for the soil and the compost, the plants and animals, and especially, the role of the human beings who organize that harmony into a fruition that can be shared with many others.

Completing the Community Building is part of realizing a means to bring people together in all of these different ways. Recently electrical wiring was installed, walls were prepared for insulation and sheetrock, kitchen plumbing was finished, and insulation was started and will be done soon.

What is envisioned is a wonderful open community space for classes of children who come to learn about farming, former CSA members/guests to stay in when visiting, group tours, agrarian workshops, lectures, Biodynamic farming meetings, peer-to peer learning, beginning farmer training, and the list goes on. Not to mention having a wonderful wooden dance floor for coming together, having conversations, reconnecting, social activities, and celebrating. Due to the farm property being dedicated to active organic or biodynamic farming through a special agricultural conservation easement in 1995, this community building will serve farming use and education in perpetuity.

Within the current public and private schools there is little opportunity for students and adults to spend time in a working farm environment learning about our farming culture and food systems and renewing their connection with nature. For over 40 years Live Power Community Farm has been building and operating a uniquely visible and comprehensible whole farm organism and food system, which generates its soil fertility for crop production from within the farm. Mechanical energy needs come from the sun’s energy rather than from polluting fossil energy via on-farm generated PV electricity. The 50-acre farm relies on the muscle power of people, draft animals, electric tractor, soil and microbe life force supporting biodynamic farming practices. This is food production with a very low carbon footprint and minimal outside inputs. This creates a unique farm environment, which is essentially a large outdoor workshop.

We are reaching out to you to encourage your participation so we can continue and improve on the work we have been doing for many years making the farm accessible to even more people where children and adults of all ages can learn about our agricultural heritage and reconnect with the love and gifts of creation.

This past spring, 2023, Live Power Community Farm hosted 7 school class visits. In October a class of 71 sixth graders will be getting their hands dirty, milking the cow, etc. and already 7 or 8 schools are signing up for Spring 2024.

Please consider donating directly to Live Power Community Farm, through the Go Fund Me, or for tax deductions donate through the School of Adaptive Agriculture.

Thank you for your care and consideration,

Gloria Decater