Laughing Heart Living is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of CA, along the wild and scenic Yuba River, a 30 minute drive to Nevada City, CA. Our multi-generational community of 8 ranges in age from 67 yrs to 18 months. This is a permaculture designed, alternative living homestead. We strive to live in harmony with nature, raise our consciousness, use compassionate communication, and grow much of the food we need. We are expanding new ideas about land stewardship and healthy living. The farm includes growing vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. We live off the grid with solar power and composting toilet.
Logan was born along the Rio Grande river in Albuquerque, NM. This beautiful rural landscape is dotted by some of the oldest continually inhabited buildings in America. Native American Pueblos and all the Spanish colonial buildings are made entirely of mud and straw or adobe, some of which are 200-500 years old. This deep connection between the land and the homes we live is ingrained into my heart and soul.
He went to college at NAU, Flagstaff, where he studied forestry, indigenous agriculture, ecology, and soils. He received a certificate in permaculture design in 2001 in Pahoa, HI. In 2003 he moved to northern California for an internship building an off-grid straw clay house. This “summer job” quickly became a career as he became a father and then landowner. For nine years he has worked in fine home building with many of today’s “green” building materials.
My name is Tule. I am 5 years old. I help my dad build houses and I help Rodric with the excavator. I really care about my family. I love to play with Nelson on hot summer days and eat cold watermelon.
Simran is 1 1/2 years old. He wakes up every day shining love from his heart and capturing everyone with his smile. He loves time with his family and exploring the garden on his own.
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| Logan & family |
He went to college at NAU, Flagstaff, where he studied forestry, indigenous agriculture, ecology, and soils. He received a certificate in permaculture design in 2001 in Pahoa, HI. In 2003 he moved to northern California for an internship building an off-grid straw clay house. This “summer job” quickly became a career as he became a father and then landowner. For nine years he has worked in fine home building with many of today’s “green” building materials.
Logan, his wife Hanna, and his three children reside in cob building with a living roof in a completely off-grid neighborhood on 9 acres. Building with earth, planting fruit trees, veggie gardens, building greenhouses, installing and maintaining solar systems, swimming in the Yuba River and playing with his three bright kids are his favorite things.
My name is Hanna and I am going to be 30 this year. I am learning patience. I enjoy eating food from our garden and singing. I've always been inspired to help other people feel good and that's what I envision for Laughing Heart Farm...a place where people come to feel good.
What a time we are in! Things are speeding up to such an extent that even a State Fair ride doesn't adequately describe the intensity of motion. How I respond to each moment, how I show up to meet the challenges…that is where I want to place my efforts. May I listen well to hear what this land calls for, and to be ready to offer who I am to move with this transition into the next paradigm. May I be the elder that my children and grandchildren are proud to emulate when they step into that role someday in this global village. Staying engaged to keep things moving along, while balancing my own “over 60” energy level; that is the current lesson for me living here at Laughing Heart. What does engagement mean from the perspective of an elder? It is not so much in doing the many tasks that must be done, as it is in keeping the Divine Prayer for Compassion, Peace and Love in front of me whether I am hanging out the next load of laundry, watering in the greenhouse, rolling out my wool to felt a scarf, or singing my morning song of gratitude that Father Sun has risen again. That is the gift I aim at bringing to Laughing Heart. May it be so………
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| Hanna |
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| Judy |
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| Luna |
My name is Luna and my spiritual name is Preet Kaur. I am excited for my new house and I can't wait to see my room. I am really creative with my art. I have a lot of fun with my new rope swing. My favorite thing is to press flowers. I am 8 years old and I love Laughing Heart Farm.
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| Tule |
My name is Tule. I am 5 years old. I help my dad build houses and I help Rodric with the excavator. I really care about my family. I love to play with Nelson on hot summer days and eat cold watermelon.
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| Simran |
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| Ember |
Hello there, I'm Ember. My partner Andres & I have been living and growing at Laughing Heart since June 2012. We originally moved onto the land as WWOOFers to help the family build their earthbag home and to learn about this construction method for our own home/community building endeavors. We fell in love with the land, the family and what feels possible to create in this magical place and now we are a part of the Laughing Heart community! I feel abundant and grateful to be living in a place that keeps me so connected to nature, growing food, community, simple living practices and my spiritual path...the most important pieces of my life. My insights & inspirations: www.HeartsAglow.com
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Howdy, I'm Andres :-) Laughing Heart for me is a continuation along a path started many years ago when I began to extricate myself from a former life path. The first step was to leave my corporate job and follow my creative passions. After following my artistic pursuits for several years, developing a name for myself, I left the city of my birth, San Francisco, and began a journey of finding where my heart sang and I felt connection, allowing that to be the basis of the rest of my decisions. That path has brought me to Ember, and then to the Grass Valley area, and then to Laughing Heart. You can view my art here: www.AndresAmadorArts.com
Howdy, I'm Andres :-) Laughing Heart for me is a continuation along a path started many years ago when I began to extricate myself from a former life path. The first step was to leave my corporate job and follow my creative passions. After following my artistic pursuits for several years, developing a name for myself, I left the city of my birth, San Francisco, and began a journey of finding where my heart sang and I felt connection, allowing that to be the basis of the rest of my decisions. That path has brought me to Ember, and then to the Grass Valley area, and then to Laughing Heart. You can view my art here: www.AndresAmadorArts.com
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Laughing Heart's Name (a story told by Hanna)...
Logan and I moved onto the land in November 2004. It was spring of 2007 and for years we would find shapes of hearts inherent in the paths we walked and garden beds we made. Logan and I felt that the journey with the land was ultimately about the heart in all ways - in form/shapes and in consciousness. The Dream of this land being a place for healing and learning was alive and pulsing, and we knew is was about Heart...so the name was something- Heart or Heart-something. We also felt a very strong unseen presence with us on the land, so we honor the spirit of this place with our acknowledgement of those who have walked this earth in this place before. Because we also were very much interested in sharing ideas about sustainability and growing food, we thought maybe it would be blossoming heart or blooming heart. But one day we were in the orchard area before it was an orchard, planting wildflower seed. We were cracking up laughing, as we often do when enjoying our relationship with this place and each other, and it hit us both at the same time, the name is Laughing Heart! I also think its cool that LH could also be Logan and Hanna:-)
Logan and I moved onto the land in November 2004. It was spring of 2007 and for years we would find shapes of hearts inherent in the paths we walked and garden beds we made. Logan and I felt that the journey with the land was ultimately about the heart in all ways - in form/shapes and in consciousness. The Dream of this land being a place for healing and learning was alive and pulsing, and we knew is was about Heart...so the name was something- Heart or Heart-something. We also felt a very strong unseen presence with us on the land, so we honor the spirit of this place with our acknowledgement of those who have walked this earth in this place before. Because we also were very much interested in sharing ideas about sustainability and growing food, we thought maybe it would be blossoming heart or blooming heart. But one day we were in the orchard area before it was an orchard, planting wildflower seed. We were cracking up laughing, as we often do when enjoying our relationship with this place and each other, and it hit us both at the same time, the name is Laughing Heart! I also think its cool that LH could also be Logan and Hanna:-)
