Soulstice Gardens

Soulstice Gardens is a vision of what a homestead can be. We are dedicated to an integrated life, a sustainable footprint, and animal ethics. A homestead isn't just a place to sleep and eat; a homestead should provide food, medicine, housing, and community. We need to withdraw from the exploitive industrial system and instead fulfill our needs like food, health care, and economy through a relationship with the land that has provided for time eternal. Replace those unsustainable systems with integrated bioregional systems that provide accessibility to healthy food, medicine, knowledge, and resources.

 

Producing our food can be a regenerative process. Healthy food is living food and growing healthy food is as simple as shepherding life. We are a vegan homestead. We choose veganism because of our dedication to the principle Ahimsa, that is compassion for all beings. Meat and dairy consumption create an endless cycle of suffering for no other purpose than taste and tradition. The animals we have on the farm live happy, uninterrupted lives, and we strive to spread the vegan message as far and as wide as possible. 

We also seek to educate vegans and bring them closer to farm animals. The worlds of Permaculture and Veganism have some dancing to do, and we are dancing along with them. As the vegan movement expands and more people rescue animals, there is a growing need for sanctuaries where they can live. However, sanctuaries need not be powerhouses of inputs and outputs. We do not practice what traditionally would be known as Veganic Permaculture, which eliminates animal products from the farm altogether. That is an important system and the farming of the future. For now, these animals need a caring home and we're happy to provide one. Having animals on the farm is a joy for us, and they help keep the land fertile. We feel that compassionate relationships can be formed with animals that need a home in a working system, and that is not exploitation. We work to balance the inputs and outputs of the homestead without creating a demand for animals or animal products.

On our homestead, the animals do some work even if they don't know they're working. Sticking with the principles of Permaculture, we like to integrate the systems as much as possible and stack functions. So, we compost their manure for the gardens, the sheep are sheared once a year as they need to be for their health. We use the wool for spinning, felting, and other homestead projects. Our ducks and chickens each lay an unfertilized egg a day. We feed many of the eggs back to them, and we always leave some in the nest to reduce stress on the birds. The remaining eggs are fed to our dogs, and available for interns and guests. If you'd like to learn more about how we balance homesteading with veganism check out our blog! 

Schedule a farm tour, or sign up for one of our workshops by contacting us!

 

The earth is a garden...humanity is here to tend it with gentle hands and open hearts. Let us seek to fulfill that purpose, and perhaps we will find wholeness and contentment. As Phillip Woolen likes to say, "all the darkness of the world cannot put out the light of a single candle."

Any questions? Contact us or leave a comment below and we'll get back to you! Thanks.