la ancla: the high fashion world of glamour mulching...

La Ancla ••• Ventura, California

Sunday, May 16, 2010

the high fashion world of glamour mulching...

with the dry climate and incessant NW winds here on the coast in alta california, it's a battle keeping the plants moist. following the lead of our lovely neighborhood Ventura Urban Homestead, we're 1/3 of the way through installing a greywater assisted drip irrigation system under a dense lasagna sheet mulch of compost, broccoli/cauliflower leaves, newspaper, cardboard and straw from the friendly folks at the ventura hay company. after hunching over for five hours, i didn't notice this glamour shot until it was too late... high fashion by the brussels sprouts...

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WWOOFing at La Ancla

La Ancla has a post up on the Wwoof USA website, but given the limitations of that website's space, we thought we'd make this blog to help keep y'all informed of what's going on so you can decide if it is worth your time to come be here on your holiday...

First of all, we are not a farm in the traditional sense of the livestock and big acreage word. Instead, we are located on a tiny multi-family residence with three structures on it. We are right in the middle of La Avenida, a working class urban neighborhood in Ventura, CA. (25 miles South of Santa Barbara, 45 miles North of Los Angeles).

Please note: This is in the city. As in, you can walk a block to the liquor store and taco shop or score heroin down the street or skateboard to where you need to go kinda city.

Although Ventura is small (like 100,000 people), cute and extremely walkable, it's still a city. You won't see deer or elk, but you will see plenty of cholillos and Hell's Angels. You won't see stands of ancient trees, but you will see a strong, friendly community that is lodged right between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. And more importantly, you will see a crew of extremely friendly, extremely positive people trying to create something new from the ashes we inherited.

But what we lack in size, we make up for in spunk. We are in the process of planting food in almost all of our available space and are slowly integrating the means to have our small crew of residents (six at this point) and visitors live as much off the place's bounty as possible.

We have mature loquat and avocado trees and a recent series of tangerine, lemon, fig, mandarine, banana, guava and pomegranate trees and beans/greens and garlic comin' out of our ears.

Your WWOOF experience here will be very different than on many of the farms you've probably visited. Because we are so small, we have only so much work going on during the week when the residents all have to work. You will likely be left (alone or with the 1-2 other WWOOFers we can host at a time) with a few small tasks of 3-5 hours a day to perform. On weekends and project days, it will be more. Some days it will be less. You will always be expected to help keep the house and gardens clean.

We will provide basic grains and legumes, eggs, garden veggies and an occasional bottle of bottom shelf bourbon to our wwoof friends. If you want fancy shit, this ain't your place.

We've all traveled quite extensively and love having guests, particularly guests who like to put a bit of elbow grease in. Pending availability, we can host 1-4 of you from a night to a couple weeks and can often provide ride to and from LAX or BUR or other airports. La Ancla is 1/3 mile from the Ventura Amtrak station where trains and buses stop and Hwy 101. DUE TO SPACE CONSIDERATIONS YOUR STAY WILL BE LIMITED TO 2 WEEKS.

We don't expect slave labor out of our WWOOFers and would be more than happy to dig around in the gardens and talk story with you than have you weed our entire compound. But please do not expect full scale training or a hyperactive work environment or a lot of oversight. If you are looking for a more intensive WWOOF scene, you may want to stop by for a weekend or find a different farm altogether.

If, after reading this, you're interested in stopping by, feel free to drop us a line at laancla@gmail.com.

We also have an immigration attorney on site who can help with your visa problems at a far lower cost than anywhere else in the US.

Be well and travel safe!