February 5th – 20th

Wind Song Farm

Douglas, AZ

When we pulled into Wind Song Farm we weren’t sure what to expect, which is pretty typical for our arrival at WWOOF farms.

10 miles North of the Mexican border. Windsong Farm sits on over 100 acres of land in Douglas, Arizona.

We saw hand-painted signs about a ceremony and parking area while the majority of the farm seemed to be held behind a five-foot-tall cement block wall. Laura and I looked at each other and made a joke about joining a cult. Then David came over to greet us and let us through the gate and we knew we were in a safe place. He showed us the many available sleeping arrangements and overall grounds. After unpacking our gear into our new home we wandered around to check the place out further since most of the other farm workers were spending their Sunday afternoon in Mexico. The farm is only 10 miles from the border so hopping over the border for some lunch is relatively easy.

Windsong Farm

David and Stacia own a large farm in Douglas, Arizona (a little over 2 hours Southeast of Tucson) but they haven’t had it very long, just over a year, and that’s where the help of Wwoofers come in.

Here is a view of the farm from their lookout tower! The property came with many concrete outbuildings. The hoop houses were built by David and Stacia.

Over the course of our stay, we got a lot of work done. The farm is a busy place and with as many people as we had (12 people in all on our first day) a lot of hard work can be completed quickly. We started off cleaning the duck doo out of the emptied duck pond. It had built up quite a bit and makes great compost for the gardens. With all of the buckets and shovels going we were able to complete it in two half-days of work. We also painted one of the many buildings on the property and prepared the other buildings for paint by scraping any loose paint from the outside. This property was built by a mineralogist/prepper and his wife over many years before David and Stacia purchased the property so there are lots of buildings to paint.

Digging out the duck pond: Camrin looks on from a safe distance while fellow volunteer Amy swings her pickaxe

Laura finds a pogo stick and shows everyone how it’s done.

A statue of the Hindu God Ganesh looks over the newly cleaned duck pond.

Coyote and Dasha check out the refilled pond.

Laura helps David, Jordan, and Jack put the finishing touches on the deep firepit which allows the farm to take care of all of the brush and tumbleweeds around without worrying about the desert wind and frequent dust devils carrying the embers away. We christened it with a big fire and roasted marshmallows.

Laura and I were able to put our previous experience at the eco-ranch to good use working on the composting toilet and showers structure. We did a lot of stonework on the top section and the other farm workers explained the concrete/mud mixture that covered the hay bales on the lower part so we could help them finish it off. Just add curtains!

Camrin and Cha work on adding mud to some of the hay bales that make up the base of the structure.

Laura using her master masonry skills.

Once this is finished a composting toilet will be located in here.

Making progress.

There is also a pit toilet on the back of the property which is nice and peaceful if the flush toilet is full or someone is showering. The only problem is that it was lacking doors so we got together and added some swinging doors to it while strengthening the sunshade which was twisted by the strong desert winds.

Camrin shows off her plan for the doors.

Camrin and Cha correct the lean and line up the doors.

Homemade pallet wood pit toilet, complete with doors and sweeping desert views!

Another project that we were able to do once the rains came through and we needed some indoor work was to make a central tool room. With so many projects and a dozen different people using the tools, they were ending up in various corners of the farm. Trying to find something you needed took a lot of searching and walking. With everything in one room, you just had to look around the room and you could usually find what you were looking for and nothing got left out in the rain.

Next, we did some canning. When there are more fresh veggies than everyone can eat at once, it’s good to know how to preserve them properly so they can be eaten throughout the year.

We found and washed every jar on the property!

Stacia’s special recipe for fermented peppers.

All ready to go!

There was a problem with rabbits and chickens going missing or getting severely injured on the farm before we got there so a leghold trap was set to catch the culprit when it tried to jump over the fence. This is the bobcat that they caught.

Determined not to let anything go to waste on the farm we get it ready for skinning with some tips from a neighbor.

It’s just restin’.

Camrin and Cha converse while Stacia carefully starts to skin the bobcat. The hide is then tanned to be used later.

Mushroom Time!

As much as the rain put many farm projects on hold it opened up time for us to work with mushrooms! Stacia is the mushroom queen so she showed us how it’s done. The first thing is you need mushrooms to get a tissue sample from. We practiced on some that were growing in the greenhouse to help refresh their mycelium stores. Mycelium is the main part of the fungus that grows underground or through the wood on a dead or rotting tree. The mushroom is the fruit of the mycelium.

Laura carefully cuts a tissue sample from this oyster mushroom with a scalpel.

Then the tissue is transferred to a petri dish filled with agar.

That’s one angry shroom! Tissue samples are taken from the inside fluffy part of the mushroom near the gills.

These are all of the tools necessary for a fun-filled day of tissue gathering.

Here are some more photos of our clean room antics. Enjoy!

Steady… Steady… Aaron observes Laura’s surgical skills.

Stacia looks on while Camrin takes a stab at it.

Wacky clean room staff.

Camrin retrieves some mycelium from a petri dish that was left to grow and transfers it to jars of sterilized, cooked grain, or grain spawn.

All of this started from one little tissue sample. Stacia shows us how it’s done!

The scalpel must be sterilized between cuts.

If we don’t keep everything absolutely clean then bacteria can compete with the growing mycelium and turn the jars into stinky sludge.

Dressing in Tyvek and getting hosed down with bleach keeps all of us pretty clean though.

Stacia sanitizes everything brought in from outside of the clean room with rubbing alcohol.

It’s not all serious though.

This is how the grain is rinsed before getting cooked.

Camrin is filling jars with cooked grain.

All ready to be sterilized.

The jars, which have holes in the lids and filters, are then heated in a large pressure cooker to kill all of the bacteria on the grain.

Fifteen pounds of pressure for 45 minutes will kill anything living in or on the jars. This keeps competition out when we add mycelium.

This is what the jars look like after the mycelium has grown and taken over the grain. Now it’s ready to be put into its final growing medium. At Wind Song, they go into bags filled with sterilized straw.

This is where the fungus happens!!

Stacia cuts open a bag to give it some more air and see how much mycelium it contains. This one is nearly ready!

Inspecting the bodies… I mean… fungus.

The final results!

Beautiful Oyster mushrooms peeking out!

Animals of the Farm

On the farm, there’s a whole incubator of eggs to hatch to replace the lost chickens.

David holds the hatching chick.

New life on the farm!

Plenty of baby chickens to cuddle.

They grow up so fast!

The farm also has rabbits and that means babies!!

Laura found a grey one!

A kitten has come to help us with our stone masonry. There are many cats on the farm.

A little black kitten that reminds me of my cat back home.

This is Gazorp Gazorp Field. He is the most friendly cat on the farm.

He’s also a bed hog.

Here are the two kittens in the cat house.

A whole building just for cats!

Cooey is the newest addition to Dave and Stacia’s dog family. Majestic!

Time to play frisbee, like farm dogs.

Coyote has this!

…And Dasha with the assist.

Free Time on the Farm

After a long day at work, there are still so many things going on. With volunteers and permanent residents to talk to, the fun doesn’t stop when the Tyvek suits get put away. Douglas, Arizona is a border town and right on the other side of the border is a Mexican town called Agua Prieta in the state of Sonora.

We have to brush up on our Spanish before we go to Mexico for lunch on our day off.

You mean I can just walk in?

We found the central square in Agua Prieta which was surrounded by food trucks.

We opted for the one with the menu and prices listed.

Mexican coke with real sugar mmmmmm….

Ate in view of this beautiful church!

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

The archway just inside Agua Prieta.

Of course, Camrin found a bakery. We got a whole box of pastries!

Mural in Douglas, Arizona

There were plenty of books around the farm to read

Bisbee, AZ

We also went out for a night on the town in nearby Bisbee, Arizona, an old turquoise and copper mining town that has come back to life with bars, live music, and galleries.