News from The Land: Fall 2026

It has been a big season on The Land. Here’s what’s been happening, the good work so many of you have been part of, and how you can help with what comes next.

The big tree

Earlier this year, a huge tree came down right across the roof of the community house. It was far too big to move by hand, and for months it just sat there.

Over Labor Day weekend, our Elk Ridge neighbor Brian of Erickson Excavation brought his excavator up the hill. With another neighbor up in the bucket with a chainsaw and Brian at the controls, they took the tree down piece by piece. While he was here, Brian did some great work on our road too. He’s skilled, careful and a pleasure to work with, and if you need excavation work done, we highly recommend him. Thank you, Brian!

Thank you too to everyone who came up that weekend, many of you for the first time and some from just down the road. You cut and stacked branches, cleared brush from around the house, and ate a great deal of chili.

The tree comes off the roof (72 seconds). Music: “Wholesome” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0.

Now, the roof

The tree is off, but it left the community house roof crumpled, and it needs to be repaired before the winter rains, which are forecast to be heavy this year.

The community house's corrugated metal roof, crumpled and bent where the tree landed.

A home for a caretaker

Jessie Wood, a longtime member of the Land Group, has generously opened her house on The Land to a live-in caretaker. In October we asked you to help spread the word, and you did: more than 20 people got in touch within a week. The search committee is talking with candidates now, and we hope to have a person or family living there within the next month or so.

To get the house ready, we’re replacing its leaking propane stove with a new one from a local supplier in Garberville, and there’s more to fix up so the house can serve the caretaker and the group for years to come.

Jessie's house: a two-level wood house with a screened porch, among tall trees.

Why this matters now

For more than fifty years, Gail and Bill Eastwood have cared for these 300 acres of meadow, oak woodland and forest. They have done more than 40 acres of fuel reduction, pioneered prescribed fire here, and freed old oaks from crowding fir. But keeping the road open and the buildings sound through a hard winter is more than two people should have to do, and much of that 40 acres now needs upkeep.

Having someone living on The Land means real help with the work now. It also means a chance for a new generation to learn directly from Gail and Bill: fire, oaks and native grasses, water systems, off-grid living, and goats.

Voices from The Land

This fall we filmed Gail on the ridge above the fog, talking about fifty years of caring for this place. The first short video, “Good fire,” is about what she and Bill have learned about fire. More are on the way, on native grasses, the goats, off-grid living, and who comes next.

“Good fire” (78 seconds): Gail Eastwood on fifty years of learning about fire.

Oak woodland restoration

Gail and Bill are planning another small oak woodland restoration project this fall: clearing encroaching fir along the meadow above Che Creek so the oaks there can thrive again. Released oaks mean more acorns for wildlife, and the girdled firs become standing snags for birds.

Volunteers are welcome: sign up on our Get Involved page to hear about work days.

Oaks in autumn colour at the edge of a dry meadow, with people walking toward them.

Protecting The Land for good

We are also exploring a conservation easement, a legal way to protect The Land from development permanently. Before we decide whether it’s right for us, we need an attorney’s advice on whether and how it would work.

How you can help

There are two ways to help.

Make a contribution

Contributions of any size help care for this very special little piece of Planet Earth. Gifts from Friends of the Land go straight to the work on The Land:

Rebuilding the community house roof before the winter rains
Fixing up Jessie’s house for the caretaker and the group, starting with a new stove
Oak woodland restoration above Che Creek
Legal advice on a conservation easement

If you’d like your gift to go to one of these, add a note when you give.

Donate now!

Donations are made through PayPal and are not tax-deductible.

Lend a hand

Volunteer with the work on The Land, or come to our next gathering there: there’s always something to do, and good company to do it with. Sign up on our Get Involved page to hear about work days and gatherings.

Get involved

Thank you for caring about this place with us.