The Big Bend Community Land Trust is located in the heart of the Madesi Territory, which was horrifically and brutally stolen from the first nations natives who once thrived here. The BBCLT stands firmly against colonization and genocide, and this organization and its participants condemn the racism, bigotry, greed, and violence that led to the European invasion and massacres. Our sadness and anger about this disgusting part of local history help guide us towards a desired reconciliation and peaceful unity with all tribes.
BBCLT Historic Reports:
Activities, Progress, Blogs, Updates & Events
(From Social Media & Amaze-n-Gardens Web Site)
From the “About” page of https://amaze-n-gardens.org/ :
Amaze’n Gardens is a nonprofit organization in Big Bend, CA that is a family and volunteer run farm which works to provide a sustainable food source in a shared learning space. We are focused on organic permaculture methods, low-impact livestock raising, nutrition, food preservation, alternative forms of building, and promoting natural arts and crafts. We hope to empower the community, especially the youth, to grow food and eat locally. Come join us at one of our many events and explore our Amaze’n Gardens.
To contact us: 24973 Big Bend Road, Montgomery Creek, CA 96065 530-337-6617 amazengardensbbclt@gmail.com
Also on site: Amanze’n gardends belives livestock is an important aspect of farming. On the farm there are pigs, goats, sheep, yaks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, cats and dogs.
4 August 2016 ~ Join us for a community meeting and non-profit workshop 6pm, August 13th at The Big Bend Community Center. On the agenda is a discussion of our goals and purposes, including a public reading of our articles of incorporation, an overview of our current financial standing, and information on how to volunteer with the BBCLT and be part of the future of the organization. We will be answering questions throughout the meeting and we would love to hear YOUR visions and dreams about what we can offer the community, both local and global, with our work.
1 August 2016 ~ Our mission:
A) To promote and provide education of the public regarding permaculture, sustainable agricultural practices, nutrition, culinary arts and alternative forms of building and social organization.
B) To acquire and steward property in the Madesi Valley for the demonstration of permacultural principles and for the educational purposes of the corporation.
C) To relieve conditions of poverty, dependence, chronic unemployment and underemployment, and the reduction of community tensions in economically depressed communities in Madesi Valley.
D) To acquire and steward property in the Madesi Valley to permanently preserve land for public uses, for outdoor recreation, as open space for the enjoyment of the public, or for protection of natural ecosystems.
24 July 2016 ~ We are in the process of reconceptualizing the purpose and structure of our organization. We hope to restructure our non-profit board in a more coherent and beneficial way and to revisit our mission statement and set some realistic goals, grounded in the reality of the project’s status, that we can strive for in the near future. If you are interested in being on the board or just involved in the process please feel free to contact us.
8 June 2016 ~ Today on the farm, we started over 200 Blue Oyster mushroom plugs.
3 June 2016 ~ 80 new birds on the farm. 75 Cornish meat birds and 30 layers.
31 May 2016 ~ Last week we had a wonderful workshop on making goat cheese. Participants learned how to make mozzarella and ricotta cheese and how to milk a goat. A huge thanks to everyone who made it out to join us and a special thanks to those who filled out our questionnaires. We enjoyed getting some feedback and, due to your suggestions, are planning a hide tanning workshop for this coming fall. We hope to see you all at our next workshop!
26 May 2016 ~ We have been pickling radishes lately. The hugels have been producing them en masse and we need to find a way to enjoy them other than putting them in salad or coleslaw. Pickling the radishes has been a huge success.
23 May 2016 ~ Although we have been going dairy crazy (we’ve made ice cream, butter, chevre, mozzarella, ricotta, farm cheese, heavy cream, and paneer) we also took a little time to pickle some of the radishes in our garden. They came out so good they were all eaten before I could snap a picture.
5 May 2016 ~ Since our goats have been getting milked regularly, we have a lot of goat milk. To use that goat milk we have been making cheese! We plan to host a workshop on cheese-making around the end of the month. We will be posting the event on here and at other locations, such as The Pit Stop Store, soon.
28 April 2016 ~ Spring here, at the BBCLT, has been filled with flowers. Our orchard exploded with blooms filled with bees which has made us hopeful for plenty of fruit this coming year. We have been clearing the orchard of blackberries to make it easier to access.
25 April 2016 ~ A major undertaking for us here at the BBCLT has been to clean up the front of the property.
Over the years brush has grown up as well as many many blackberry vines. This has made the land look messy from the road and also allowed for these weeds to take over parts of our orchard and our grape vines. The arbor for the grape vines were pulled down by other vines and had to be remade.
19 April 2016 ~ With all of our new kids, our herd has been growing and in need of a new grazing area. The animals have been picking the corner field clean and it was time to open up another one of our fields to them. Therefore, we have been busy, at the BBCLT, to fix some of our old fences and put in some new ones.
Now, each morning, the goats, kids, and sheep are herded across a small bridge to a field full of grass. At first it was hard to convince them to cross the bridge, but now that they know a feast awaits them they are eager to go. The kids are now integrated with the herd and are enjoying the fresh green grass.
In moving the goats and sheep over we will be able to cut down on feed costs. For now we are keeping the pigs on the corner field as that field is protected by electric fence which makes it easier to keep the pigs from wandering. We are also keeping the yaks there for now until we have a bit more fencing up.
For more information on the paddock system, see this post on our website: https://amaze-n-gardens.org/…/working-on-the-paddock-system/
Above the wooden fence, barbed wire has been added to secure the field better. A bunch of new fencing has been added. We are keeping the pigs on the corner field for now as it has an electric fence which keeps the pigs from wandering. At first the goats and sheep thought that the hugels looked delicious. The animals were wary of the bridge at first, but now they are pros. They are all so happy for fresh, young grass.
16 April 2016 ~ One of the many projects we have been working on are creating new garden beds. In the back yard of the Volunteer’s house there was plenty of space so we added two new gardens. The ground was tilled and beds were dug. Then we went and gathered stones for pathways. Now we are adding wooden fences using some of the cut wood we have from cleaning up the front lawn. Some of our starts have been transplanted into them and a bunch of seeds have been directly seeded.
10 April 2016 ~ One of the ways we kept busy during the Winter months is by doing some improvements to the volunteer house. The flooring in the back entry way and laundry room was replaced and a wall was built in the back room. The wall in the back room separates the space creating an office and another bed room.
3 April 2016 ~ The poultry, goats, pigs and yaks enjoy grain as a part of their diets. Most of the grain we use is red wheat as it has a lot of protein but also add barley and corn. This grain mixture is bought in bulk and then transferred into barrels which are then kept in the barn to keep the it dry. Each barrel lasts roughly a week and contains around 300 pounds of grain.
27 March 2016 ~ Our Chickens and Ducks have producing a lot of eggs lately. The eggs come in all shapes and sizes…
24 March 2016 ~ Have I mentioned that we now have peacocks?
20 March 2016 ~ This year the hugels produced a huge abundance of pumpkins. In order to use as many pumpkins as possible we have made pies, breads, jams, dog food, fruit leather, and cookies. In addition we have given many to community. To keep the ones we still had from rotting we pureed them and froze the puree. To do this we half the pumpkins and remove the seeds to be saved for planting or roasting. Then we bake the pumpkins, remove the skin, blend them, vacuum seal them and freeze them.
17 March 2016 ~ While we are all slightly obsessed with the Kids, there is more than goats happening right now at the BBCLT. The other day a friend of the farm wandered through the hugels and came back with four Morel mushrooms. Intrigued we ventured out to look for ourselves. It is definitely the right time for them to be popping up and it had just stopped raining after a good four to five days of drenching the soil. The hugels are flooded which creates a great moist environment and the decomposing wood, which the hugels are formed with, is perfect for Morels.
We wandered out and found over two hundred Morels! We have found another one hundred mushrooms since the first day and are going to keep looking as Spring progresses. We feel extremely lucky by this find and want to do everything we can to keep the mushrooms growing. After some research we learned a few methods of encouraging Morels. We sprayed the hugels with a mixture the dirt and spores we collected after cleaning the mushrooms, ash and water. We plan on using a more sophisticated mixture in the future which will include dried Morels and molasses. To preserve the mushrooms we are both freezing them and dehydrating them. Of course we are also eating them fresh and they are delicious!
LEATHER WORKSHOP On 3/16/2016 Amaze-n Gardens will host a leather work shop where people are invited to participate in making leather crafts like a vest, bra, skirt and pants. Richard will demonstrate different ways of crafting leather and proper used of the tools. The workshop will have leather available for punchers to make the crafts along with an outline to follow. It will be held from 12pm to 5pm with a potluck after the workshop. Please bring any leather, tools, furs and feather to spice up the project. Hope to see!
17 February 2016 ~ We have some exciting news! Yesterday we had three kids (baby goats) born on the farm! The first birth happened at night when Rosemary had twin boys. In the afternoon Scapegoat had an assisted birth of another boy. The kids are strong an healthy and already playing. Goats take less than an hour to start standing and walking. We still have four more goats due in the next few weeks.
9 February 2016 ~ Remember to keep an eye on our website! We are posting blogs about the farm such as this one which talks about the soap making workshop we held this past Friday:
http://amaze-n-gardens.org/2016/02/06/soap-movie/
This mourning, on the farm, we butchered two birds, a guinea and a drake (male duck). These two birds will be smoked with apple chips tomorrow, for the seed exchanged. AMAZE-N-GARDENS.ORG
24 January 2016 ~ Hello! Sorry for such a prolonged absence. We are busy on the land trust working on many projects. One project is our new website. We still have a while to go before it complete, but check it out all the same: http://amaze-n-gardens.org/. Be sure to check out the ‘Projects’ link to see community events and what we are working on.
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23 March 2015 ~ the bbclt is rockin it! the mighty hugels are sprouting and we’re really excited to watch these little ones grow. we have a beautiful house full of magnificent volunteers creating so sow much! here are a few recent photos from the land…we so appreciate the community and the land we have here. so nourishing!!! yumm
27 February 2015 ~ BBCLT is doing a fried chicken dinner fundraiser tonight! $7 a plate, including side dishes, starts at 6 pm. Hope to see you here!
25 February 2015 ~ We’re doing a MASSIVE strawberry planting today on the hugels! It’ll be a dance party! We’ll be sharing a big lunch and you can take home a couple strawberry plants yourself! Come and play!
21 February 2015 ~ Here’s our calendar for February….better late than never! We’re hosting a Homesteading Workshop tomorrow afternoon where we’ll be demonstrating how to weave rugs/bags/canopies from strips of clothing. We’ll provide all the materials! And we’re happy to learn of other uses for old clothing as well!
22 December 2014 ~ Winter, here we come! The BBCLT is having fun indoors with projects like building bunk beds to accommodate more volunteers, painting murals, reaching out to our greater community for donations, and researching and applying for grant funding opportunities. We also are significantly reducing our trash by taking cleaned and dried non-biodegradable plastic and packing it into jugs, making eco-bricks to later build with— Check out the “Bottle Schools” that have been built through MyShelter Foundation and Hug It Forward!
10 December 2014 ~ Hey there! The BBCLT is such a hive of activity. There’s kale (and lots of mud) in the hugels, and for the most part we are finished working in the field for the season. There’ll be no sitting on our hands for the winter, though. You or someone you know can help keep us busy with the stuff from your garage that you’re not using 🙂 http://redding.craigslist.org/wan/4798633997.html
Lumber & Hardware for Bunk Beds & More: Here at the Big Bend Community Land Trust we are getting ready to spend the winter decking this place out with bunk beds in the large rooms so we have more spaces available to stack next year’s…
22 November 2014 ~ In between things breaking and being fixed, we’re making some good progress continuing to build our Wilderness Garden Maze.
23 October 2014 ~ We’re staying busy here, building new beds and seeding the existing ones with the help of some great volunteers. Thanks all! Hope to see you all at the potlucks, and please come eat more kale! 🙂
30 September 2014 ~ Come one, come all, to the new WEEKLY COMMUNITY POTLUCKS. Friday evenings, starting around 6pm @ the BBCLT house (yellow house, 24973 Big Bend Rd.). Bring a dish, and your smiles to share, instruments if you like. Please help make it a family friendly environment, keep drinking in moderation. See you there! 🙂