Introduction
The Backyard has reached its goal of a large scale “healing environment” and we are poised to have a much larger impact on the community of individuals seeking ways to educate themselves on safe and effective means of enabling their own good physical and mental health. The Backyard also has been serving the community for the past 4 years by creating and distributing user-friendly educational literature on many different methods of health care through a statewide group of alternative health clinics, and a more recent creation of an information rich website; combining this approach with professional education on plants, gardening and medicine and you have a unique approach to health and well-being.
The Backyard team is actively investigating the connection between our health and our environment: the food that we eat, the way that we live, and the creation of sustainable living spaces. We are exploring the dynamic between health and renewable energy and look forward to increasing our abilities to live sustainably and to educating individuals and organizations on how they can as well.
The property has an established central community center; including staff living quarters, small herbal and vegetable gardens, an active compost, an olive and nut orchard, an acre of trees inoculated with truffle rhizomes, a mushroom grotto (including oyster and shitake mushrooms) and a fish and wildlife sanctuary. We rely on solar power for our lighting, a grey water system, wood stoves for our heat, and all of our water needs are met through a network of clean springs. Our next steps include drastically expanding our garden and agricultural capacity to feed The Backyard community, continuing our energy independence as we expand, and building infrastructure to house guests, classrooms, greenhouse and health service providers. As we grow we are actively seeking resources to move in to the next stage of reaching a broader community.