I.

You have a thought, image, or vision

It inspires you

You are filled with a desire to experience it or to express it

You brainstorm ways to manifest it

Persistently inspired, you take action, and invite it to come into your life

The creative journey begins to unfold

You learn the dance of knowing when to patiently allow the concept to grow, or when it is appropriate to sharpen your will and drill down to a set outcome

You are guided by the spirit of your original thought, image, or vision, but you do not restrict it; it takes on a life of its own; no best practices to guarantee its success

You wake up one day and realize it is here

And you are satisfied, grateful, fulfilled, content, happy

And then it changes again

You are off on another journey . . . all in the same lifetime . . . how powerful you are!

II.

Walk every square foot of your land

Listen to it

Build a road

Meet your neighbors

Establish a water source

Create an energy system

Cultivate a garden

Get chickens

Build a greenhouse

Walk your property every day in gratitude

“What if we start a Plantdemic of our own, one household at a time becoming self-reliant, self- governing, reconnecting to the land, growing our neighborhoods and the values that grow with community?

“I think back fondly on that moment when the morning sun showcased every beautiful wrinkle and crevasse of that cauliflower. I’m ever so grateful that I stopped long enough to hear nature ask questions of me and inspire my head and heart.”

- Barbara Hockabout

The cauliflower that changed my life

One morning eight years ago, I was standing in our garden harvesting for our Saturday Farmer’s Market 20 miles down the road in our nearest large town. The early August sunlight was starting to spread over the sea green garden beds as I bent down and opened the leaves in order to check the size of a cauliflower. Was it ready to harvest, to be pulled from the soil that had been its birthplace since March of that year? At the moment I pulled back the leaves, the sun found the white, rippled, mature flesh of this Snowball Cauliflower. It was like a flower bouquet, and then it seem to take on the character of an alien brain, alive and fascinating. Yes, it was ready for harvest.

I pulled out my garden knife and found the proper place on the stem to sever it, but I just couldn’t get myself to cut it from the huge skirt of leaves that had protected it all summer long. I just couldn’t hand this beautiful flower that had managed to collect the nutrients from soil we had worked so hard to develop over the past ten years, to collect the right amount of moisture during drought days, to collect enough strength in its stem to stand tall against buffeting spring winds, to collect enough life force to become food for us. That was what stopped my knife from severing the stem. How much could I possibly charge for it? This cauliflower grew for us . . . yes, us . . . not for a summer tourist who probably had many Farmers Markets at home to shop from.

A life-giving, community-building decision

I put my knife back in my pocket and made a decision right then and there that we would only share food with members of our own family and village. Clark agreed enthusiastically. We would do our best from now on to support other growers—classes, workshops, tours, presentations, consultations, articles, and most importantly, inspire collaborations with residents and our many homesteading newcomers. If we were going to mine and replenish our soil every year, plant starts, nurture seedlings until we transplanted them into the roulette wheel of summer weather conditions, we will transfer their life into us, our family, friends and village.

We have been selling to our neighbors in Apache County ever since. We organized a grassroots food co-op with five other neighbors and have been growing year round since 2012. Co-op members grow with us while they learn high desert gardening at their own homesteads, and leave when they feel confident to start their own co-ops with other family members, neighbors, church groups, etc. Now we have four mini co-ops in our immediate area growing food for themselves. This little postage stamp area of Arizona has the potential to become a food hub.

Selfishness, or self-reliance?

Our next step will be for co-op members, past and present, to coordinate our growing plans in order to create greater variety and abundance. With more food we can sell our surplus to others at a vegetable stand and grow a portion for our local food bank. This isn’t a new concept, but truly it is time to resurrect the idea of empowerment.

Is this a selfish attitude and practice? What if this idea serves as a template for other growers? What if we start a Plantdemic of our own, one household at a time becoming self-reliant, self- governing, reconnecting to the land, growing our neighborhoods and the values that grow with community? I think back fondly on that moment when the morning sun showcased every beautiful wrinkle and crevasse of that cauliflower. I’m ever so grateful that I stopped long enough to hear nature ask questions of me and inspire my head and heart.

Lodestar Gardens Learning Center is a 40-acre biodynamic demonstration site in the Mount Baldy foothills of Arizona, offering retreats and world-class field education in biodynamic farming, permaculture principles, & sustainable living.

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The Lodestar Gardens Learning Center is comprised of aspiring and practicing artists and farmers who seek a balanced, fulfilled life through (1) art and creative self-expression and (2) by cultivating a responsible relationship with nature and Her capacity to feed us. We believe:

• In the creative power of community, collective wisdom, and collaboration

• That the arts are an essential component in order to experience a full, meaningful life

• Nature is one of our greatest teachers if we are afforded the time necessary to establish a relationship

• In student-centered, project-based learning

Our experience networking and building community for the past twenty years has taught us three things about groups:

1. A community evolves, each community is and should be unique, no best practices apply to all groups.

2. Members of a community will learn, change, influence each other, and stay connected for different lengths of time. Healthy groups are dynamic.

3. Ownership, independence, and privacy are essential components which drive commitment and creativity.

Regarding group structure, we have also learned:

• An intention is a concept; an intentional community is an ongoing collective experiment in manifesting that concept.

• Agreements are stronger than contracts and should be revisited regularly.

• Trust honesty over regulation.

• Life is simple.

• Self is limitless.

We agree that our individual contributions to society are enhanced through the experience of collaboration in hands-on, student-centered, project-based learning. Together we explore high-desert agricultural practices, application of permaculture principles, alternative energy production, and the inspirational power of this place in the White Mountains region of the Southwest. Individually, we regularly practice our arts in time devoted to reflection, studio work, and research in our project area.

We invite you to join us in this world-shaping endeavor.

Apply to Study With Us

While we talk about growing food a lot, there are the other essential components in creating a self-reliant and regenerative lifestyle. So what is homesteading? Our operating barebones definition includes the practice of the following eight components:

1. food production

2. energy production

3. conserving water

4. efficient shelter construction

5. diligent animal husbandry

6. a commitment to recycling waste

7. a philosophy of respectful land stewardship

8. community networking

Now the first six topics are the chop-wood-carry-water parts of the homesteading lifestyle—essential skills. The last two are the soul to it. To have the first six skills without developing the last two aspects results in an imbalance in one’s energy and will. We have seen the exhaustion, frustration, and disillusionment grow in folks who failed to ask some very important questions before they rushed out of the city to seek a brand new life. Here is a question we ask of people who come to our farm and express a desire to build their own homestead. Once a person has a grasp of what homesteading entails, this is the most important question to ask before looking for land:

“In your mind, what is the difference between farming, homesteading and country living?”

The response to this question usually inspires the person to do more research, re-assess their resources, energy, and motivation. In other words, how many of the above homesteading components are you capable or willing to do by yourself? How primitively can you live and still be healthy, and most importantly, happy? How much buy-in do other members of your household have? Are you more inclined to work with the help of other households? To what extent do you want to collaborate with others? Do you want to focus on food production for yourself? As a means of livelihood? Farming? Do you simply want the peace, privacy and beauty of living in the country, but do not have the desire to build, develop and maintain an energy system, or grow your own food. Country living without the maintenance.

We are committed to providing you the information and experience you need to answer these essential questions. Want to know firsthand what it feels like to live off grid, what it takes to grow your own food, and what skills, budget, and connections you need to get started? Join us at the White Mountains for the Earth Tribes Homesteading Retreat May 21-25, 2026.

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“Creating a balance between necessary chop-wood-carry-water mule energy and the long-view dream-fulfilling process is essential. Creating an integration of our physical and spiritual selves is essential.”

Future Homesteaders, you probably want to know more about the farm and the owners of the farm who claim they can assist you in becoming more independent.

First, let us say that we are not “preppers” in the common understanding of the word. We chose this lifestyle and developed it over decades. We meandered, experimented, learned by trial and error over many growing seasons, years of changing technologies, and most impressively, radical social/economic change. Unfortunately, You, who are on the road, just starting on your path, don’t have the luxury of such organically-driven evolution. Clark’s and Barbara’s greatest credential is experience. At this point in our homesteading maturity, we are able to catapult your capacity to create your own unique homestead by sharing our experience—the truth and realities of this lifestyle. Over the years we have trained many volunteers, offered workshops, classes, tours, markets, and daily we network with other homesteaders in own grassroots food co-operative. Fear-based circumstances do not motivate us; this is our chosen lifestyle.

Yes, over the years Clark and Barbara accrued academic degrees and credentials. You can see a list of them on our website. Yes, we managed to pay our taxes and fees to the conventional system. Relatively unscathed, we were able to surf the system and walk in two worlds. Today, however, we observe all of us are presented with the most important choices of our lives and there is no deferring the responsibility. Can we help you by offering up our ongoing homesteading experiment? You decide.

The curriculum is every day, immediate, hands-on skills and decisions that serve as a foundation for growth and wisdom, confidence and courage to apply to your own unique setting. Creating a balance between necessary chop wood-carry water, Mule energy and the long view, dream-fulfilling process is essential. Creating an integration of our physical and spiritual selves is essential. We are not experts in every single aspect of the homesteading process, but we have learned a lot and mastered some. We are experts in how to make homesteading work as a sustained, wholistic experience. While skills are essential, certainly, the most important component to homesteading is to learn who you are and what is truth for you. You offer yourself that knowledge. We provide the inspiration. For that reason, and because it is just part of being human, we include the arts in our curriculum. We have a ceramic studio and a photographer’s playground. We are poets and writers who use both pen and plow to find balance in this amazing transition in which we find ourselves.

The Location: Lodestar Gardens--The incubator

Lodestar Gardens, LLC is a demonstration site for small farm, high desert homesteading located on 40 acres, 16 miles east of Show Low in Apache County--a poor, rural, sparsely populated county with only a few farms and ranches, poor soil, and a seasonally dependent recreational economy. That said, in the last few years, this county has experienced unprecedented attention for its inexpensive land prices, low taxes, pristine water and air, beautiful wilderness diversity, and a growing community of like-minded, self-reliantly-inclined, resident-homesteaders—people with imagination and grit who value independence and authenticity over conveniences and adulterated environments. More young families are starting to homestead. We operate an Airbnb and talk to folks from all around the country who are looking for a more liberating place to live—some choose to relocate here. People are being drawn to the Southwest for many reasons.

Since 2000, Barbara & Clark Hockabout (along with dozens of farm volunteers and interns) have been experimenting with growing practices that will produce greater yield, perfecting more efficient energy production, implementing permaculture and biodynamic strategies, creating collaborations with other homesteaders, and offering educational opportunities to future homesteaders. Out of this experience the Lodestar Food Co-Op, established in 2011, serving 5 households year round, continues to thrive. We are marketing produce to our local communities, offering tours and free consultations.

Most of all, we are proud to launch the Homesteading Apprenticeship Program (HAP), a student-to-steward program of three tiers. HAP provides a pathway for willing, capable individuals to gain certification and eventually live and grow on their own plot of land.

Learn more about HAP and connect with cultured and hardy high-desert homesteaders of all backgrounds and experience levels at the Earth Tribes Homesteading Retreat, May 21-25, 2026.

Register for Earth Tribes Today

“You, who are on the road, must have a code, that you can live by” (CSN&Y 1976).

While you may not literally be on the road, in your vehicle, trying to find that place and community you can resonate with, you ARE looking for a new life. You have either jumped out of the corporate urban box, or you know you must in order to save your Soul—which is calling to you louder and louder of late. We heard this call 30 years ago. We know how you feel.

We know you are out there. We (unintentionally, and then purposefully) anticipated your needs years ago and have been preparing for your visit, preparing to finally meet you, preparing to work with you. We are Clark and Barbara Hockabout. As homesteaders, we built Lodestar Gardens from raw land 25 years ago. Over the years we evolved into the Lodestar Gardens Learning Center. We now offer an opportunity for you who “are on the road” (literally and metaphorically) to grab a handle of confidence and direction to begin manifesting the new life you seek.

Is your skin tingling? Join us and others who want to create a more authentic life at the Earth Tribes High-Desert Homesteading Retreat May 21-25, a 4-day introduction to our Homesteading Apprenticeship Program (HAP) in Apache County, part of the White Mountains of Arizona. Housing and camping available. Meals provided.

This event and HAP are entirely autonomous—NO affiliation OR obligation to any other organization. This is about established homesteaders coaching aspiring homesteaders—clean, simple, and real! We have a quarter of a century of homesteading experience to share with you. Stay tuned for further information and visit our website for more details on this groundbreaking project.

Register for Earth Tribes Today

Clark’s Story

Clark grew up in Alameda, California, a bedroom community to San Francisco across the Bay. He was born to older parents and had much older siblings. Clark was left to his devices to explore his quiet neighborhood, and then later, a good portion of the Bay Area on his bicycle. Fast forward…in high school Clark read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond. He made a decision then to live an independent life. While his family encouraged college and degrees, Clark’s life choices led him to travel, become a student of science fiction, work a variety of jobs, party, be in nature, study philosophy and Eastern Religion, search for a place and people to build community. The decades of the 1970’s and 80’s were the age of experimentation, Viet Nam protest, and communal living arrangements. After a serious car accident, he ducked under the social and political radar spending a lot of time in nature. Still looking for that place to be himself, and perhaps find others to grow with. He landed in Orcas Island, Washington, to work with a Medicine Man who ran a Lakota Native American Lodge. The group was looking to relocate to land in Arizona.

Barbara’s Story

Barbara, the oldest of three girls, the daughter of a preacher and a teacher, was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, a bedroom community to Boston. Her family moved every three or four years progressively from the east coast to the west coast. She loved the changes and living in different parts of the county. She was outside as much as possible. Her father was a social activist during the Civil Rights Movement. Fast forward…Barbara and her husband, her high school sweetheart and a returning Vietnam Vet, became antiwar activists while attending University of California Berkeley. She graduated with a teaching degree and moved back to the land operating a farm in Washington state. The marriage and farming experiment lasted seven years, but ended in disillusionment. She found a new life in Spokane, Washington, met her second husband and taught high school for 13 years. A yuppy life in the suburbs didn’t work either. New Age and spiritual studies consumed her. Divorce. Reinvent herself again. She opened up her home to offer retreat space for groups and individuals. The Universe rewarded her proactive measures to welcome and support others, like herself, on a journey to discover their truth and empower their choices. It was a time when people found answers in books, workshops, groups, and meditation. People were waking up and changing their lives. It was coined the New Age or Metaphysical Era. It was a mini resurgence of the freedom-seeking 60’s decade which had informed her. It was the precursor to the digital world and artificial intelligence.

Barbara’s and Clark’s Story

In 1994, Clark was one of a dozen people who walked into the Hanna Sol Retreat retreat in Spokane, Washington. Clark Hockabout was a member of a Lakota Lodge who had booked her retreat for a workshop during the Mind-Spirit-Body-Expo. In her spiritual quest she had experienced Native American ceremonies and was happy to host this group. They met and recognized the essence in each other. Thus, the relationship was born. The next year, she joined Clark to live a year on Lodge land outside of Payson, AZ. Another year later, the Lodge disbanded. Clark and Barbara then traveled back to the NW and purchased land in Sandpoint with the intent to finally start their homestead in the blue-green forest beauty of Idaho. Little did Clark know he would experience light deprivation in northern Idaho’s short summer season and shorter northern winter days. One year later they were on the road again looking for that piece of land. Long-time friends, Len and Lori Toye, pointed us to a little known part of Arizona called the White Mountains. They rented a place sight unseen and looked for property in the land of the sun. After Clark received his realtor license, he became familiar with the forest lands that surrounded the town of Show Low. Ten years in real estate, he found a 40-acre piece of raw land they loved. He was very ready to quit real estate and finally practice the homesteader life he always wanted. Clark’s parent’s inheritance helped them to purchase the property while Barbara worked as full time faculty at the local college for the next decade which helped to finance infrastructure for the homestead. In 2010, Barbara retired after 33 years of teaching and went back to the University to obtain a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Communities from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.

The intent of that degree was to assist them in creating a stronger community of growers in their area, to network the northern rural counties. Barbara organized the Small Direct Farmers group which met for three years at the college. Finally in 2012, Barbara joined Clark in full time homesteading, together building their homestead one project at a time. They began offering homesteading classes, workshops, and tours to inquisitive newcomers. They established the Lodestar Grassroots Food Co-Op, a food for labor, self-governing community designed to help feed five households year round. They continued to sell produce to retailers in town and at the Show Low Farmers Market as a venue to meet and network other homesteaders they met during the summer months. Over the years, they trained dozens of farm volunteers, WWOOFers, and farm managers, gave presentations to local garden clubs, and continued to develop their homestead with experimental projects. Making the decision to sell their produce to Apache County residents, they established a new Farmers Market just a few miles from their farm. Lodestar Gardens grew from a small farm to a demonstration site. However, it became clear to them after 20 years of sharing their homesteading knowledge and training full time farm managers, the best way to educate people is to offer them a sustained residential experience immersed in the daily learnings and relationships. The concept of a Homesteading Apprenticeship Program was born. We designed a dormitory which could comfortably house 5-7 students and began building it with the help of local craftsmen who resonated with the project and its purpose.

Who are Barbara and Clark? Two people with very different backgrounds, styles and personalities who met later in life, after each had pursued the same goal for an independent life and a healthy thriving community to share it with. Combining their different life experiences and the skills that they learned during their early journeys, was key to make their homesteading work as a whole. Barbara is the networker and community builder; Clark the researcher and engineer. Both love the land, each other, and themselves. Theirs is a very dynamic household. They share a deep mutual respect that attracts others to study with them.

Learn with us at Lodestar Gardens