Our Story/Photos

At first, it was just Jaydee, Robert (apprentice), and Bella the horse living here. Bill was also a major support, and it was his vision and support that started it all.

Jaydee brought the first pigs to the farm.

The old house was valued at zero and full of mold. It had to go.

Down it went, in one mad flurry of backhoeing!

It was messy and muddy.

In place of the old house, we planted grass.

Robert with the old swingset and locust wood – those trees are so thorny!

Bill with a truckload of bamboo for our roadside buffer hedge.

Planting basketry willow.

Spring 2011 – our first volunteer work party! We moved a lot of wood that day.

After a month of solid rain, a glimmer of sun!

One of our very first batches of piglets!

Not long after that, we traded for Petunia and her babies. She was the best pig ever!

We’ve always loved having kids visit us!

An early raised bed experiment using the cotton filling from a moldy futon.

We hired the neighbor to plow and disc the fields, then we spread lime on them.

Discing. Jaydee and Tracy

Planting and raking in cover crops.

Building the greenhouse. It took 2 years to collect the recycled materials and about 3 days to build.

The finished greenhouse in summer.

The start of an outdoor kitchen.

Colin scraping a hide.

Jaydee sewing buckskin in winter.

With Bill’s encouragement, we worked on writing The Bridge book. (www.thebridgers.org)

Cover crops growing in early summer.

Jaydee and WWOOF volunteers shoveling aged horse manure onto a field cover-cropped with sudangrass.

The veggie garden in early summer.

Ariel helping us pressure can shad.

Jess gutting a fish.

Our first bean harvest! Robert and Jaydee.

Our first squash harvest!

Jess and Stella shelling fava beans.

Petunia and Romeo’s children, our own home-bred “guinea tamworth” cross.

Jaydee met Sheefra at a gathering in Nevada. They hit it off!

Friday night chabat dinner hosted by Sheefra.

Our first onion harvest! (year 3)

Shefra, Tracy, and King George the cat, with the onion harvest.

In summer 2012, Jaydee and Robert met Mike while they were out singing karaoke.

Mike and Tracy hit it off!

When Mike moved in, we pressed a lot of apples!

Mike converted a couple of old horse stalls into a home gym.

Garden work party, spring 2013.

Sheefra planted lots of medicinal herbs.

Beeting heart

A day to remember: walking 2 fjord ponies here from 10 miles away!

Rabbitstick Gathering 2013 (www.backtracks.net).

Butchering one of our “guinea tamworth” pigs.

Vicki and Jaydee butchering.

Bringing home an old chicken coop to remodel into a cabin.

Winter 2013-2014. Pete (left, Mustang) and Willa (right, Fjord).

Willow harvest party 2014. Sorting sticks to be bundled and cured.

Ian weaving a basket after the willow harvest.

Vicki stayed with us for an entire winter and worked with Trigva. Love ya Vicki!

Mike, Jaydee, and Tracy butchering ducks.

3-legged race at the October 2015 Harvest Party.

Our circle of sleeper cabins has grown to 6!

2015 summer interns. Nick (top), Emily (right), and Brandelle (bottom) with Jaydee and Tracy.

Blue weaving his first basket!

A surprise egg from our pet emu, Charlie, despite her old age.

Spring gardening 2016. Sarah (right), Tracy, and Blue.

Planting potatoes 2016.

The most beautiful salad ever. Early summer 2016, with WWOOF intern Nicki.

 

 

Nagdeo Farm has always been a collaboration.
It began with just a couple people and a downtrodden horse stable and has grown into a vibrant community, a beautiful homestead, and the launchpad for The Bridgers cultural movement and philosophy (see www.thebridgers.org). There are 4 of us living here as full-time community members now, and our home is more and more beautiful by the day. We have offered many classes in homestead and ancestral skills over the past 5 years and have enjoyed hosting dozens of guests, students, and interns. We continue to work diligently to improve the grounds and to build relationships with each other and the broader community.  Click here to find out more about what we do, or take a look at the guiding principles we’ve developed. Check back regularly to see our changing process unfold as we learn through this experiment!