Portland Couple Seeks Landmate to Fill Immediate Opening in Gorgeous Tiny Home on an Urban, Forested Farm in Portland, Oregon
Greetings! We are Matt and Kelly, caretakers of Jean’s Farm, an urban, educational homestead along a creek and in a forested canyon in the city limits of Portland Oregon (yes! This exists!) The farm is on 4 acres of land, is directly served by public transportation, and is surrounded by forest bordering Johnson Creek. It’s hard to fathom how such a wild place could exist within a city, and that’s truly part of the magic of this place.
We are looking for a landmate to move into our custom- built 16-ft. tiny house in time to support us with all that happens on a farm throughout the year! The farm has offered a CSA in the past, and may again in the future, and for the last several years, the emphasis has been on education, trade, mutual aid and food preservation.
We are both educators and host various programs on site throughout the year. Also, Matt travels internationally to teach for about a month each spring and fall, and Kelly appreciates having site support especially during these times. We have a beautiful tiny home that we built to rent to a landmate who can help us care for this magical place, share the benefits and responsibilities, and contribute in meaningful ways. Our ideal landmate is passionate about a land-based lifestyle and adds resiliency to our farm’s social ecology.
The living space is a newly built, self-contained (except for laundry, which is shared on-site) tiny home on a 16-ft. trailer that opens up to a meadow and a pond. The structure is situated between our own residence and the farm side of the land. It is really only designed for one person, and there are additional land structures such as our yurt classroom and outdoor kitchen that are open for the resident to use.
We are asking for a financial exchange of $750/month, which includes internet, water, trash and electric. The tiny home’s stove, oven and hot water are propane-powered. The person living in the tiny house would be responsible for filling their own propane and processing their own firewood. The wood stove is very compact, and we have enough wood onsite to last for at least one year.
The person we are looking for is enthusiastic about all of the following, and excited to actively contribute to several of the following things:
Land stewardship
Food production and preservation
Animal tending (we have a dog, cats, goats, chickens and fiber rabbits)
Farm-based education
Herbalism
Hosting volunteers
There are opportunities to farm and to run programming here as a source of income. The ideal fit is someone who has some experience with permaculture and some background working curatively with youth and/or hosting volunteers. We want to share the land with a person who is willing to make an initial one-year commitment (which can be extended if all parties agree) and who is excited to spend some of their free time each week tending to land and animals.
Kelly works onsite full time and Matt works off site most days, so we can accommodate different types of off-site work schedules. We also work together to support each other taking time away from the farm each season. We request that a landmate “share” the fall/winter holidays with us so that we each get time to visit family that isn’t local.
We also ask for presence for at least one meal/check-in per week for project planning and personal connection. We would love to share more meals together when it works with everyone’s schedule. We are very busy, flexible and reasonable and need someone who self-initiates and who is accountable to completing projects that they agree to do without needing to be reminded. While we are not offering employment, rent is inexpensive because along with the benefits of this lifestyle, there are also many obligations. There are ample opportunities for self-employment and mutual benefit here.
Our goal is that every week we all commit to completing a project on the land. Sometimes we are collaborating and other times we are working independently. The length of time it will take varies by project and by season but will average around 5 hours/week.
We also ask that our landmate takes some regular animal chores each week. We have a dairy goat and a sweetheart buck, a flock of chickens and fiber rabbits that are all tended twice a day.
If you are interested in joining us here at Jean’s Farm, please send us some information about you using the form below. We also request 2 references, which you can either include or provide by request as we review the pool of interested folks.
At present, we are not seeking a landmate with pets. We have plenty of animals and TONS of unique site considerations. If you feel you are a good match but have a pet, please reach out anyway and we can discuss.
A little more about the site:
There are cultivated gardens, herbs galore, orchards and spring-fed streams. The pond is home to/visited by water fowl, frogs, newts, crawdads, nutria, beavers, herons and even an occasional river otter. Our forest is home to songbirds, corvids, owls, eagles, hawks, deer, coyotes, raccoon, possum, rodents, bats, and so many bumblebees! In our gardens and greenhouse we grow greens, tomatoes, corn, squash, beans, cucumbers, brassicas, alliums, peas, rhubarb, berries and flowers (and so much more). And we have beehives! Our education program includes workshops, summer camps and a year-round grade school program. Most days the farm is filled with the sound of delighted children.
A little more about us:
We have both lived in community for over a decade, so we are good communicators.
We like to say that we ”slow jam” the farm - we are pretty much always doing something meaningful, but we don’t stress about any of it.
We value eating healthy.
We are night owls. When the days are long you may find us singing songs while we garden and then having a dance party in the moonlight.
We are friendly and social, and also love spending time alone.
Although we enjoy a good conversation about politics now and again, we consider ourselves politically independent and don’t bring a polarized political lens into our daily lives. Our own revolution is to love our working lifestyle and provide opportunities for learning that are more embedded in soil than in politics, as part of the effort of re-skilling and restoring relations.
We acknowledge we are on stolen and unceded land.
We support diversity, social justice and medical freedom.
We are both head over heels in love with outdoor/environmental education and actively work to integrate our passion with our commitment to social justice.
And we are both relatively handy and crafty.
If you are interested after reading this description, please reply below introducing yourself and telling us why you feel this could be a good fit for you. Please also let us know when, ideally, you would be available to move in, as this is a significant consideration for us.
Thank you! -Matt & Kelly