gofundme - 2026 Update - Homestead Cabin Fund

At Lemonade Living, we are very excited to edit, update and reactivate our gofundme page, as we move into the next phase of our Homestead Project.

We are grateful to all who donated toward the purchase of the Lujan Homestead Cabin back in 2021. There were some very generous and crucial offline donations, not listed here, that arrived in time to ensure the purchase of the Lujan Cabin. We have enjoyed many fantastic programming activities at the cabin and look forward to moving into the next phase of the project.

Thank you, gofundme and offline donors!

Most of the basic fundraising information remains the same, with additional recognition options and lots of updates to come! We are still reaching for the original goal, to meet urgent needs of the next phase. Please consider donating.

• $25 And Up Donors - Name in Project Donor Registry

• $180 Donors - Name Engraved on Pathway Brick, Stone or Fence Panel

• $1,800 Donors - Name Engraved on Educational Area Flagstone

• $18,000 Angel Donor - Recognition Plaque and Video Interview of Your Donation Story

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR STORY:

Greetings from Lemonade Living!

We do our best at making life sweet!, for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in Los Alamos and Northern New Mexico.

Lemonade Living's first official social event was the "Our Night to Remember" Dinner and Dance, developed and directed by Christina Stafford in 2017.

Thank you, Christina, Derril and Hannah Stafford!

Additional thanks to Crossroads Bible Church, Dance Arts Los Alamos, Tony and Tiffany Hinojosa and Los Alamos Family YMCA for helping to make this event special for so many people, including clients of Lemonade Living, All Individuals First and Las Cumbres Adult Services!

Los Alamos County Recreation Department now fully sponsors and hosts this event, now called "A Night to Remember" Dance, at Fuller Lodge each spring.

Thank you, Vera Jaramillo and Los Alamos Recreation Department!

The Pilot Program for our Farm School was held in 2018. We processed spent grain at the PEEC Nature Center for our horse, Nymeria. The grain was donated by Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op.

Thank you, Jim Dyson and Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op for supplementing feed for our herd over so many years!

And thank you, Los Alamos Nature Center, operated by PEEC, for allowing use of your outdoor space to host our first spent grain activity!

We won a blue ribbon at the Los Alamos County Fair for our Candied Meyer Lemons. United Church donated the use of their kitchen for the candying of the lemons.

Thank you, Lisa Reader, Becca Jones, United Church and the Los Alamos County Cooperative Extension Service!

We walked Dianne Wilburn's goats in the Los Alamos County Rodeo Parade. And, we hosted at the North Mesa Stroll the Stables and the Luminaria Walk. It was a great start to our Farm program!

Thank you, Dianne Wilburn!

In 2019, we acquired use of the historic Grant Homestead Cabin. We participated in our second Rodeo Parade and Stables Stroll. We installed a goat enclosure, thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and a generous donation from 100 Women Who Care. We hosted a guest goat herd, while getting our start at learning goat care. We received our first donation of sheep fleece and our first spinning wheel.

Thank you, goat fence volunteers from the stables community and LANL! And thank you, 100 Women Who Care for the goat fence funding!

And, incredibly exciting, Marguerite and Andy McClay generously donated the Rose Chocolatier chocolate shop, to be operated as our kitchen!

Thank you, to Marguerite and Andy McClay!

We accomplished many things in 2020. We made it through our first year with Rose Chocolatier. It took determination, wonderful donors, loyal employees, job coaches, great trainees and super LAHS students.

Thank you, Robyn Collom, April Gonzales, Jessica Roberts and Los Alamos Public Schools!

We started our own goat herd in May of 2020! The first baby goats were born in July and August. And campers from The Gifted Horse and volunteers from All Individuals First were our first cooperative partners to visit the new herd and babies.

Thank you, Wyatt Arias, The Gifted Horse and All Individuals First!

Then in 2021, we were so excited and thankful to be given the opportunity to purchase the historic Lujan Cabin for our programs. Through this gofundme fundraiser, we were able to purchase the cabin.

Thank you, Shelly Cross and generous donors of the Los Alamos County Community and surrounding areas!

Immediately after the purchase was complete, we began offering homestead activities with our first summer Ranch Camp, in partnership with The Gifted Horse. At the end of that season, The Gifted Horse became part of Lemonade Living.

Thank you, Kristin Elizabeth Foree and The Gifted Horse Board of Directors for donating The Gifted Horse and entrusting Lemonade Living with the responsibility of continuing and growing the program!

We held our first Homestead Day later that same year. Homestead Day was co-hosted by Lemonade Living, Los Alamos History Museum and Los Alamos Community Foundation.

https://losalamosreporter.com/2021/10/23/historic-lujan-cabin-open-for-homestead-day-saturday/

Thank you, Los Alamos History Museum and Los Alamos Community Foundation!

Thanks to the helping hands of Huntington Ingalls Industries and N3B with their Global Day of Caring, the cabin was cleaned up and ready for the Homestead Day event.

https://n3b-la.com/what-we-do/page/23/

Thank you, Kristen Hendersen, Huntington Ingalls Industries and enthusiastic volunteers from N3B!

In 2023, Lemonade Living received crucial funding from United Way of Northern New Mexico to sustain general operations and maintain the ability to serve our communities and provide meaningful, recreational and educational programs for people of all ages and abilities, to the best of our abilities.

Thank you, Cindy Padilla and United Way of Northern New Mexico!

More updates coming soon!

In 2026, we continue to offer recreational and educational programs with nonprofit partners such as the Los Alamos Sheriff's Posse, Los Alamos Family YMCA's YESCorp and Los Alamos High School's NJROTC.

Thanks to all of these organizations and wonderful community members of Los Alamos and Northern New Mexico!

Programs include lessons about horses, horsemanship, horseback riding, homesteading, cabin construction, milking, fiber arts, natural resources, water, soil, air, crops and the relationship to homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau, both historically and today.

The farm program has grown to become Homestead Ranch School and The Gifted Horse.

With the help and inspiration of members from the Los Alamos Historical Society and History Museum, and a partnership with the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, our homestead program now includes docent training for individuals with developmental disabilities. Each component of this homestead history program offers livestock interaction, and educational opportunities.

Thank you, Los Alamos Historical Society and New Mexico Commission for the Blind!

After a three year application process, started in 2023, Lemonade Living's Summer Camps and Horseback Riding Lessons at North Mesa Stables are now operated under a Concessionaire Agreement with Los Alamos County, the US Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.

Thank you, Los Alamos County, US Department of the Interior and US National Park Service!

In 2026, we still operate our Farm to Kitchen Job Training and Workplace Experience Program. Our kitchen space is still the “shop”, Rose Chocolatier, where Living Skills students from Los Alamos High School, the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and other adults with developmental disabilities have been able to learn meaningful job and life skills, and now participate in field trips around Northern New Mexico. The program is now called Homestead Kitchen Camp - Lifestyle Enrichment Group.

We always need help with all of our programming. Sustaining and recurring donations are greatly appreciated. Program revenue and current grant awards do not fully cover the budget, as our programs seem to grow faster than our budget. Any amounts raised in excess of the urgent cabin fund will work to grow the entire Lemonade Living project, including Rose Chocolatier upgrades and our residential campus, Homestead Ranch House.

The reactivation of the homestead cabin fund is meant to cover urgent and exciting next steps at the Lujan Cabin. We have immediate need and upgrade expenses, crucial to moving forward with opening the cabin to more events! We are very excited!

Please consider donating!

Thank you!

Lemonade Living