Quail Springs Permaculture

Quail Springs Permaculture We are a leading educational nonprofit in Southern California focused on social and environmental justice through education and advocacy.

www.quailsprings.org/donate

We’re so excited to share news of the evolution of our team!River, our previous Director of Operations, stepped into the...
03/26/2026

We’re so excited to share news of the evolution of our team!

River, our previous Director of Operations, stepped into the role of Executive Director of People and Systems last fall, supporting our staff to continue thriving in our unique ecosystem. They are the earth and mountain grounding us as we grow amidst the changing landscape.

Jess transitioned into the role of Director of Food Systems, feeding her true passion: finding alternatives to the dominant food paradigm through systems change. With sharp focus and attention to detail, Jess is slowly and consistently spinning the webs and networks fortify a sustainable future.

You can read more about the on our website team page.

P.S. Swipe right for photos of Jess and River with their hardworking assistants

2026 has not had an easy start, with continued heartbreaks both close at home and across oceans.The land, however, remin...
01/18/2026

2026 has not had an easy start, with continued heartbreaks both close at home and across oceans.

The land, however, reminds us that just as they, our bodies and spirits move in cycles and winter is time for us to slow down and reflect.

At Quail Springs, we have a yearly tradition of Nurturing Week, a time of connection, care, and reciprocity. Nurturing Week looks a little bit different from year to year, but the goal is always the same: to feed our spirits, minds, and bodies in a world that moves in rapidly unsustainable paces.

During this past Nurturing Week in early January, we took time away from organizational work, to tend the land collectively, to foster a deeper sense of connection to place, with each other, with ourselves.

Some of us harvested bounty from land and sea to create decadent meals for the community, others ran with goats as if part of the herd. Game nights and long rests ensued. One of our traditions (an official Quail Springs holiday) of a Secret Special Friend gift exchange cradled the week, a labor of love where many spent hours creating crafts by hand with the receiver in mind.

For the week, we can just be, and remember a quintessential aspect of being human in the world. We hold this week of nurturance sacred so that we can recharge to continue the work of building the world that we wish to see.

One of our greatest blessings this year has been working with Vanessa, our Community Outreach Coordinator! Vanessa has b...
12/12/2025

One of our greatest blessings this year has been working with Vanessa, our Community Outreach Coordinator! Vanessa has been living in New Cuyama for a little over a year now and has fully dug her hands into the clay-filled soil of this valley and its community; she is the treasurer of the Cuyama Emergency Response Team (CERT), is mentoring with the Groundwater Sustainability Advisory Council, works with the Cuyama Valley Community Library, is an active member of the Jardines Victorias program, and on top of all of that, is a gardener, parent to a goat, plus many ducks, chickens, cats, and dogs.

Vanessa’s dedication to community, sustainability, and all forms of life has allowed her to flourish in Cuyama and is a natural at connecting with everyone she meets. At 24 years old, she teaches us so much about what it means to be rooted in community. Her role has allowed Quail Springs to deepen our connections with our neighbors in New Cuyama, and we couldn’t be more grateful! We love you Vanessa!

Words from our former worktraders….if you’re curious to join, don’t sleep on this opportunity! Application open thru the...
07/07/2025

Words from our former worktraders….if you’re curious to join, don’t sleep on this opportunity! Application open thru the 19th of July! Link in bio!! ✨🤲

🍃Fall worktrade is now welcoming applications! 🍂The worktrade program at Quail Springs invites folks to step into a stor...
07/01/2025

🍃Fall worktrade is now welcoming applications! 🍂The worktrade program at Quail Springs invites folks to step into a story nested in the practice of attunement, collective stewardship, and systems of mutual care, guided by the rhythms of the land.
✨
We seek to offer an opportunity for folks to deepen their connection to their own heart’s callings through tending relation to the land and waterways, food webs, and intimate off-grid community, while collaborating with us in caring for our plant, animal, facilities/infrastructure, and social systems.
🤲
This invitation is a 4 month commitment (September 6 through Winter Solstice (december 21)) with space available for 3-4 worktraders. Worktraders devote 20-25 hours/week to the farm and commons.

Application closes JULY 19! Details on our website, link in bio!🏹🌀💧

We are thrilled to welcome Vanessa to our team! Learn more about her below: 🌞 🐥🦆🐣🐈🐕🐟🪡🌿My name is Vanessa and I live in t...
04/09/2025

We are thrilled to welcome Vanessa to our team! Learn more about her below: 🌞

🐥🦆🐣🐈🐕🐟🪡🌿

My name is Vanessa and I live in the Cuyama Valley, in New Cuyama. I am the new community liaison for Quail Springs. I was born and raised in San Diego, so you can imagine what a big change this must've been, from living in a big city to now living in a small town surrounded by mountains.

I moved into Cuyama out of pure coincidence. I am a true believer that you will be guided to where you are meant to be. And this completely seems like one of those cases, my passion is being able to work with people of all ages and spending as much of my time outdoors. I really enjoy talking and getting to know people of all backgrounds. I like being able to help others in any way possible whether that is with my knowledge or helping guide them to someone that can help them. I love spending time outdoors and I absolutely love animals. I currently own chickens, ducks, cats, dogs and koi fish. My love for animals and the outdoors have guided me towards starting my own garden, learning about medicinal plants and composting.

Prior to moving into the valley I was working as a nurse assistant with people from 18-94 yrs old. It was always interesting to make connections and hearing people's stories and seeing how similar we can all be.

I began to develop a passion for advocating and talking to people when I was in high school, I took a job on a youth advisory board group. We created and implemented surveys throughout our community in order to see how we could help our youth in whatever they needed more resources to. We planned events and hosted them, went out speaking to the public giving out surveys, it was truly a significant turning point in my career. I don't have much professional ecological experience, but I am always willing to learn more. I am a friendly person and I really enjoy talking to others and getting to know them.

My hobbies include gardening, taking care of my animals and cuddling them, painting, sewing, making jewelry, making herbal medicine, crocheting and dragging my husband with me to everything.

A lot of energy continues in the realm of earthen building in the Los Angeles area, and we are feeling hopeful some long...
04/09/2025

A lot of energy continues in the realm of earthen building in the Los Angeles area, and we are feeling hopeful some longer term benefits will come from this attention it is getting.

Thanks to everyone who came to our webinar, what an amazing turn out! Over 175 people joined us. If you want to watch it you can find it on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmTU-voEr2Q

Our Natural Building team has also been working on supporting a Natural Building database, so people can find professionals in this field. If you are a Natural Builder, please sign up at www.earth.dev !

We have had a surge of people reaching out and and asking for support in building a cob sheds, so we are creating a design that can be shared by anyone who wants to build a fire-resistant, seismically stable 120 sq foot cob shed. While this is not the end goal of housing, building beautiful, safe, legal buildings are a great place to start. The design will be incorporating in the latest engineering data and using that to create a stock plan that anyone can follow. More on that project will be forthcoming!

POSTPONED: Just as we thought spring was here to stay, the skies surprised us with snow, hail, and rain! We feel so bles...
03/14/2025

POSTPONED: Just as we thought spring was here to stay, the skies surprised us with snow, hail, and rain! We feel so blessed to receive what moisture the season gives us as this has been a fairly dry year.

The unfortunate timing of this means we are postponing the natural building and farm tour to a later date this spring, when skies are blue and sunny, and roads dry and safe. Part of being in the high desert means being able to pivot and be able to let go of plans - we are at the mercy of the weather.

Thank you to these waters for replenishing our aquifers 💦

If you've signed up for the tour, you should've received an email follow up. Keep an eye out for the next tour date, most likely in May.

Thursday, February 20th6:30-8pm Pacific Standard TimeIn response to the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles, Quail ...
02/09/2025

Thursday, February 20th
6:30-8pm Pacific Standard Time

In response to the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles, Quail Springs will be hosting a conversation between Sasha Rabin (Natural Building and Advocacy Director at Quail Springs/ ), and Ben Loescher (Loescher Meachem Architects, ) on the practical applications and options of natural building in an urban context with current building codes.

Learn about feasible options for rebuilding homes with natural, non-toxic, and fire resistant options appropriate for the LA area.

Join us in our conversation about what ways Natural Building may be able to support the rebuilding effort in LA.

Register in our 🔗 link in bio.

Q&A will follow after the presentation.

In response to the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles, there has been a flood of interest and excitement around Na...
02/04/2025

In response to the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles, there has been a flood of interest and excitement around Natural Building and how these more fire resistant and non-toxic materials can be used in the rebuilding efforts. Our hearts go out to everyone effected by the fires, and we are so sorry it took such a tragedy to bring attention to these topics.

As an org in the southern CA region who has been trying to make these methods more well knows and accessible for the past couple decades, its encouraging to see the engagement with these potential solutions. We are committed to supporting the natural building movement, and using our experience to help these efforts. Our natural building director (Earthen Shelter) has jumped right in to responding to this surge of interest. With a flooded inbox of questions, Earthen Shelter created a series of blog posts trying to answer some of the questions coming in. (find the blog posts at: https://www.earthenshelter.com/naturalbuildingblog).

There has also been great publicity, with a great article in Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/los-angeles-wildfires-spark-interest-adobe-natural-building-materials-2025-01-22/) and one in the NYT to come.

We are helped spread the word about 2 different petitions, Please sign, share and spread the word about them both!

In response to all of this we are going to be hosting a webinar in the next few weeks (more info to come). For more frequent updates and links, follow along at .

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Arroyo Grande, CA

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