Help Claire Purchase Property for Wonderland Ranch
My name is Claire Sarf-Foden.
In October of 2020, I met a man named Malcolm off of Craigslist to buy a collection of psychology books by Carl Jung for the person with whom I’ve been cultivating a loving relationship with for almost a year. We became friends and learned that he was dying of cancer and that his siblings were unable to be with him due to COVID. We provided support for him for two months by getting groceries, signing him up for health insurance, cleaning his home and giving rides to the hospital. He chose us for the sacred task of facilitating his transition and giving him the chance to spend his final days and eventual passing in a beautiful hospice home in Bellingham, WA, eating dairy free ice cream and snuggling under heated blankets.
This creative soul left behind a wonderful cat name Midnight (who now lives with us), a book that he wrote about self-harm and eating disorders, and a magical property full of treasures and incomplete creations.
We are again blessed, by Malcolm’s loving family, to have the opportunity to buy his land for half of what it is worth and cultivate it’s potential for his intended purpose: a non-profit for supporting our community with mental health resources, a recovery space and respite services for families and youth.
Wonderland Ranch will be a space for healing, growth, education and the exploration of freedom within the human experience. We will prioritize our relationship with the land, as the two grape vines, cherry, apple, peach and pear trees continue to inspire us. Communing over meals together that were sewn, grown, harvested and prepared on our land and by the people we serve (including ourselves) will be our ceremony. Classes in communication, emotion regulation and expression, trauma-informed care, conscious parenting, consent and boundaries, sexual health and many more areas of whole-person health will be provided. As will education in gardening, carpentry, bee-keeping, cooking, and any other skills our incredible community brings to the space already and that we learn along the way.
This property has become wild and uninhabitable over the past three years as our dear friend became increasingly physically ill. This has prevented us from being able to acquire a mortgage or any other standard property loan. We buy this as land and will move from there. What this means is that the rates are high and a large down payment is required. Through very generous and passionate connections, we have half of our down payment already, and maybe more as other connections are considering this opportunity.
Every dollar counts and every loving connection of ours is welcome on this property when we sign.
There are 4.63 acres of wooded wonderland ready for camping and contribution to a community of unique folk seeking freedom and communion with whatever skills y’all bring or are willing to learn.
Fantasy originates from the Greek word “to make visible” which then became the concept of imagination. Malcolm was imaginative. His property is fantastic. Receiving the support of our community so that we can give that right back is... well it’s more than priceless (though there is a price). It’s wonderful.
---