<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;">Through a certain lens, our world today can look and feel complex and overwhelming. As   empowered observers, we instead choose to practice observing the beauty that abounds, guided by the bright light of another truth. We see ourselves as part of an   inspired and action-taking contingent working to restore, rebuild, and   re-imagine our collective future.
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<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;"> Willow Springs is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, at the   seismic intersection of the environmental movement and the Gold Rush.  Our work playfully harmonizes our ecological values and entrepreneurial spirit.  Through an alchemy of our passion for innovation and the earth we experiment with positive catalytic change.</span>

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;">In this old mining town of North San Juan, the Wild West character of that bygone era still lingers. While gold may have attracted people to this place long ago, it has been replaced by a Mother Lode of cultural richness. Although there is an noticeable lack of racial diversity, there is a colorful breadth of style and opinion. With this world, bio-region, and town as a context, we have embarked on an  unpredictable social experiment designed to nourish the seed within each of us  to unlock our innate potential.
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<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;"><a href="http://willowspringsnsj.org/wp/place/"><strong>The Place</strong></a>
On an old 3-1/2 acre homestead at the entrance to the town, we have found a   modest place to test our audacious vision. Fronting State Highway 49 (linking together the gold strike towns of 1849), the land follows what is thought to be an old   filled in creek bed that now saturates the gently sloping meadows during the   winter rainy season. Scattered throughout the grassland are houses, barns,   garages, and various outbuildings.
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<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;">With this fabric of old buildings and fertile land as a starting point, we   have methodically and intuitively begun to weave in our vision. At the moment,   we are sustaining affordable co-housing, a half-acre organic farm, community garden, woodwork   and machine shops, artist, music, and yoga studios, office space for   sustainable invention, architecture, and digital media arts, and community dining and event space.</span>

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;">As we restore and regenerate this place, we strive as much as possible to use   locally sourced and reused building materials, renewable energy, water pumped   and cycled on site, and permaculture gardening practices. We see our desire   to heal and strengthen the mind, body, and spirit as necessarily intertwined   with these practices and a consciousness of place.
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<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;"><a href="http://willowspringsnsj.org/wp/people/"><strong>The People</strong></a>
There is a saying that the essence of farming is first and foremost to grow   the soil.  At Willow Springs, we aspire to cultivate a place where people are   nourished and inspired to unlock the potential energy of their dreams.  We   believe that within every person lies a unique combination of passion and   innate ability capable of sustaining his or her life energy.  In providing an   environment full of love and evolving natural beauty, we seek to be catalysts   in each other's growth.</span>

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;">We are collectively pursuing many passions from design to farming to artisanal crafts.  We are an evolving group   consciously creating a place that diverges from the norm, yet stays connected.   We believe in salvaging and tinkering; gardening and sharing meals; seeking inspiration for innovation from nature while cherishing its perfection; quietly meditating   and raucously jamming.</span>

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: optima;">We are interested in practicing our principles and learning by doing. We   embrace the adventure as we experiment with sustainable living. Along the way,   we hope to share some of what we learn.</span>