The Tierra Soul Community

How it all Began: The Arias Clan

Though Tierra Soul has grown to be quite a community endeavor and we have lot’s of people to thank, we are the founding famliy: Mama, Papa and two little ones tending goats, ducks (including the famous Hettie Quackers), topbar hives of honey bees and an expanding fruit, flower, herb and vegetable garden based on permaculture principles. Tierra Soul was born at the convergence of four deep influences:

• Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions ~ a bible of nutrient dense traditional food
• Permaculture Design methods and principles
• Our longing to recover ancestral knowing
• The Anthroposophist’s reverence for the inherent rhythms of living.

We were looking for land. For years…. and then the bottom fell out of the economy and we found ourselves stuck on a regular city lot. We watched an amazing film called The Power of Community, and a couple facts turned everything around for us. In Havana, a city of 2.2 million people, 50-80% of the food consumed in the city is grown and produced in the city! On top of that they found that the smaller the farm the more productive it was per acre. These two facts got us all fired up and excited to see what we could do with our super-small urban farmette right in the heart of the city.

We went right out and got goats and ducks and eventually bees. After some amount of moving around we settled in our current spot in April 2010. We moved our goats, ducks and bees, raised 20 meat birds and a heritage turkey. We had 6 kids and 7 ducks conceived and born on the farm. We were initiated into the respect and intensity of slaughter and the reverence it evokes. We tore out our 70 ft. driveway to make way for garden beds, built more garden beds in the parking strip, mulched and planted perennials and herbs. We made goatmilk soap and cheese and yogurt. We made 20 gallons of delicious plum wine, 30 gallons of sauerkraut, and 5 gallons of Fig chutney from our trees, local farms, and a lone tree in an abandoned lot. We dug in trenches for water catchment systems and started an urban Farm-Stay program. By Spring 2011 our infrastructure was well underway and continues to develop. We look forward to digging the spiral trenches, launching the Farm-Stand, and building a bike parking structure this summer! We still dream of a sauna and outdoor shower, a grey water system, a solar fridge, and a small greenhouse. Read more in our What We’re Up To page. You can also sign-up for our Newsletter to hear about work parties!

Meet the Crew

Caitlin – Portland Farm-Stay

While the Arias Clan takes a breather from all the work of dreaming, initiating and building a small experimental urban farm based on permaculture principles, Caitlin Murray has stepped in first as an apprentice, and then, as your host and Farm caretaker for 2012. Yes, the Arias Clan is stepping out for a stint, but we will still be offering classes and workshops and if you come our Portland location, we know you’ll just love Caitlin! We know cuz we do. Caitin came to us with a dream, energy and a keen eye for detail. She has spent months learning the ins and outs of running our guesthouse and the basics of permaculture design. As of January 2012 she will be stepping into her full-time role here at The Tierra Soul Urban Farm!

Music and dancing have kept Caitlin moving through life. Her passion for art and photography has led to exciting adventures both nationally and internationally. After her latest stint living in South America she returned home with a vision of owning her own ecolodge. As serendipitous powers brought Caitlin to the Arias clan she has learned much from them and is looking forward to the future of Tierra Soul. Through her passion of the natural world, travel, and community she hopes to inspire people to respect the earth and live more simply. She loves Portland, hiking, and random spontaneity. Senor Chuchi Valdes (feline friend) will be joining her at the guesthouse.

The Arias Clan – Lazy Lady Living and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico Farm-Stay

Krista is a philosopher-poet minister-midwife with a penchant for all things beautiful. She is a Myth Mender, a Threshold Activist, and a Butter Alchemist. She has two masters degrees and a certification in Nutritional Therapy. She is currently training to be a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and uses it in her Village building endeavors. She is an ongoing student of ceremony and ritual, an advocate for natural burial and home-funerals as well as undisturbed birth. You can see her work with mothers on the MamaMuse site. Krista earned her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2010.

David comes from a long line of inventors and is always up to makin’ something! A chicken plucker out of a plastic pvc pipe and a household drill, a cheese press from a tin can, a circuit connector from a bobby pin or a chicken coop from a bathtub box and a couple palettes. He is a goat whisperer and a bee charmer. He has an amazing way of listening to a conversation until the end and then pitching out the clincher concept. David is also training to be a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. He builds bicycle frames and is building a forge for making ceremonial bells and bowls. He also earned his Permaculture Design Certificate in 2010.

Fia is five. She can be found mixing potions in her red kitchen or installing one of her Faerie scenes into a forgotten corner (or all over the dining room table) or performing puppet shows for her friends. She loves quesadillas and raw liver (go figure) and plans to marry her brother Xoco (he’s two) and live at the farm forever. She rolls a mean rr and is a master hostess to Farm-Stayers. She also has her ears pierced!

Xoco is two and is obsessed with thumping beats, his incredible cart of thunder (beware Farm-Stayers), and producing sound effects to every conceivable action. He loves to help in the kitchen and would rather operate the Cuisenart than just about anything else life offers. He is also keen to dress himself up in whacky ways.