Life cannot exist in the desert without water. Sixty years after digging a well in the far reaches of northern Arizona, the Milazzo family is in danger of losing The Land where nine children were raised in a hand-built stone and earthen home off the grid. That well, first powered by a windmill and later by the sun, has collapsed. Without a well, The Land, as the family has called it for more than five decades, is in danger of dying. Please consider donating to raise money needed to make sure this rugged homestead carved out of the Arizona desert—a homestead that has served as an educative model for sustainable living for all those who have lived and visited there for more than 50 years—does not fall into ruin.

While most of us in the US live in populated areas where utilities like electricity and water come to our door via a massive public system, there are still in 2021 pockets of rural communities around the country where water, the basic ingredient for life, is not readily accessible. It might be hard for many people to believe, but it is an unfortunate fact: While it would seem that clean water is a basic human right, many families and communities in this country are not provided public water, and without personal wealth they cannot dig a well at their own expense.
Without the life-giving well, the three adults and one child currently living full-time at The Land must pump and haul emergency water from a distant source to the cost of $250 a week. With each week that passes, the flora of the ranch, painstakingly cultivated by hand and shielded from the elements over three generations—including a mulberry tree where the ashes of family patriarch Ed are spread; groves of Russian olives that serve as windbreak from vicious winds that erode the soil; bamboo; elm trees that provide critical shade on the otherwise exposed 80-acre property; a vegetable garden and greenhouse; currant berries; decades-old pear trees; and more—is quickly frying and dying out in the scorching Arizona summer heat.

What's needed is $20,000 to dig a new well and build a new set of tanks, pipes and infrastructure. Time is of the essence for the trees and garden that make The Land home to the family, both those who live there still, and those who have left but whose hearts remain and whose lives have been deeply influenced by the experiences they had there. Even as the family has struggled to build and maintain an oasis in often harsh conditions, The Land has carved a deep and lasting impact in the lives of hundreds of people over the past 5 decades, from the first settlers who came from Haight Ashbury in San Francisco to help Ed, family, and friends build something from nothing in a nearly unyielding desert, to the environmental-minded artists and innovators who have worked at and shaped the homestead in the years since, to students who have journeyed to the property to study sustainable methods, to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren whose values and perspectives have been shaped by this unique legacy. When it comes to the well-manicured golf courses and hydrated mansions of Scottsdale and Mesa, water appears as if by magic in taps, swimming pools, and sprinklers. Life is harder, but equally as important far off the grid, away from the gated country clubs.

With a new well, Kathy and family can continue to manifest their vision to evolve The Land into an educational center that teaches and nurtures many more generations with sustainable methods and mindsets. Without water, this special desert place will soon cease to exist.