Help rebuild Joshua and Rondi’s Homestead

Rondi Robison is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

On September 13th it was confirmed by Joshua that everything we had built, planted, and cared for with our own hands on our Last Chance homestead was destroyed in the CZU lightening fire on Tuesday, evening, August 18th, 2020. On that Tuesday afternoon, while in town Joshua had a gut feeling to go check on things, water, and collect a few valuables. He left at 4:30, no evacuation order came and the fire ripped through only hours after he left.

We had been holding out hope these last weeks since the immediate fire that all the defensible space he’d created at our dream home location would prevail. We now know the fire burned too hot in the area and moved so rapidly that the area is completely devastated...so changed and almost all structures in the community were destroyed, all but one in the community we have heard of. It is a heartbreaking loss.

Joshua has been care taking his family land here for the last five years and we’ve dreamed of building our home here. We have worked along side one another to build, plant and create our dream homestead. We are at our best here together. We started with the bath house, designing and constructing it ourselves including the stone steps up the steep bank that Banyan too helped to create. We are grateful to have had friends and family build along with us too. This place holds our hearts and a promise for a home together. We love working with the Earth and here dreamed of sharing and creating a sanctuary for folks to come to reconnect and heal as this place has done for us.

We are heartbroken by the loss of our tiny home trailer that he gutted and restored, the beautiful redwood bathhouse, the zen garden with maple trees of several varieties, our citrus orchard and Birch sapling forest, our ponds, and our beloved terraced garden and hand crafted ladders and cypress picnic table. We have done our best to tread lightly on the space by using reclaimed and recycled wood and materials and enviro friendly building practices.

We don’t have insurance for this property, it isn’t something that most can get here anymore and we are challenged financially to meet the new permitting requirements it may take to rebuild. We are overwhelmed with the kindness and offerings to help while Banyan and I have been evacuated this last month, and while Joshua stayed in the neighboring Bonny Doon community to fight the fires in that area along side our neighbors and friends. Many have asked how they can help. We are grateful to any assistance at this time.