We are so excited to have a new opportunity to use our skills to help with Work Trade Eco Communities! You all know that we moved to the 14 acre place in New Mexico and have been developing this raw land into a homestead. It has been three years and we have since built our pallet house, a wood working shop built of pallets, a chicken coop that houses 25 chickens, a garden and will be working the land for more gardens. We hope to develop a bee keeping area within the next year. Our vision is to create our homestead and a place for people to come learn Eco systems while spending time in beautiful New Mexico. Our Eco Village will have naturally built structures, composting toilets, solar power and an aquaponics systems. Our hope is to create a self sustaining environment to nourish this land and create a living environment based in harmony! Our bees and chickens will have a symbiotic relationship and the aquaponics will nourish our gardens as well as the land around us...plus we will have fish!!! What we lack in finance we create with ingenuity and creative resourcing! However ... We both feel that we are in a place where we need to grow and to learn more so that we can further develop our place for ourselves and for our eventual guests. What you also know about us is that we desire to help others as well. At this point, we are really excited to be back on the Work Trade Train!!! We have been researching Eco Communities around the world so that we can volunteer our time to help build but also to learn! We have discovered three Eco Communities in Belize that we want to spend time volunteering and learning. These Eco Communities use natural resources to create amazing natural environments from the land. The foot prints are created to enhance and work with nature. We are all about that!! The first place we researched is called Harmonyville. This place is amazing. The owners are developing a plant nursery for sustainable food plants for themselves and their surrounding community. They need help with building water systems, housing and with planting. Allie and Ray are awesome folks and are doing wonderful things for their community. We want to spend 4 weeks with them in November helping to build lodging and the new gardens. They will offer us a place to stay and three meals a day in exchange for 6 hours of work each day 7 days a week. What we will learn will be invaluable and will brought back home. The second place we researched is Chila's place in Caye Caulker. Chila is a beautiful single mom that has raised two beautiful daughters. She has opened a small hostile and wants to build her place and create gardens that will be self sustaining. At Chila's we will learn the culture of the people of Belize and work directly with the locals while building. We will be using materials from the land. Chila's place is near the sea so we will be in the heart of aquaponics and can study what we will need to build and sustain our aquaponic system! Chila offers us a place to stay and one meal a day in exchange for 5 hours a day 6 days a week. We want to stay and help Chila for 4 weeks. Every ounce of what we learn will be brought back home to bring our vision to life! The third place we research is Mr. Rods Diversity Farm. At this Eco Community will be not only building structures and gardens we will be learning medicinal plants and how to make medicine. We will learn more energy healing practices and a few Mayan rituals! We will also be helping the local community and will be teaching children!!! We want to also spend 4 weeks with Rod. We are so excited. Why Belize? To tell you honestly we researched places all over the globe and have found Belize to be the place where we can best serve the people as well as learn from their Native culture and practices. We will be in raw environments like we are now (just tropical) and can bring back the practices. We will also immerse ourselves in an environment where ingenuity is key. We will be using different building materials and learning skills to create natural structures. This will be attending life school at its best. All of our accomodations will be simple, communal and we will be surrounded in raw nature. We will have time to learn the land, the people and a new culture. We will be able to explore the Mayan ruins and visit schools to help teach and bring supplies. We will be able to build relationships with people that are off the grid and learn from each other. This experience will enrich our lives and we will in turn enrich the lives of those around us through new experience, new methods, a new global view. What a perfect way to sustain our homestead and further the process of our vision. Gaining necessary skills through actual experience will be ground breaking and mind expanding so that we can help others learn new ways to farm and preserve the land in New Mexico. We will be able to open up the homestead to our own volunteers and create a beautiful working sanctuary for those willing to enjoy!