Ashes and Fleeky start a Farm and Art Sanctuary
Donation protected
Obviously, 2020 has been hard for everyone. We've been struggling for years as full-time artists in the bay area and beyond, we decided to take the opportunity of an apocalyptic shift to try and make a real change that we hope everyone can get excited about. Before we lost our home we tried to organize the purchase of an abandoned prison in 2018. We called it PRSM ("prism"), because of all of the perspectives, crafts and artists that we wanted to bring together. It represented the community that we wanted to see in the world. When we lost our long-time home and refuge in SF we tried our best to make it work in various ways but with the compounding factors of the pandemic, and the lack of work for artists, ultimately it didn't last. We've owned the challenge again but this time there's nowhere to go back to, so we're going to make this happen either way. We hope to build a place for everyone to retreat to, enjoy nature WITH nature, escape the everyday grind and visit with your friends (us ; ) because of course, you'll also be investing in us finally having a place to call home, and that IS HUGE.
If you know us, you know that our work is our life. Our vision here is to have a home, but also much more than that. We aspire to remain mostly off-grid, working with and for the land to create a sustainable homestead. We've been researching every element so that they can fit together to both keep us and our guests comfortable (and inspired!) while keeping the land as rich and beautiful as possible. We plan to create smaller structures tailored to a purpose to give the property more of a whimsical elvish feel than to create one monolithic structure. So far the plan is to have a small home where we mostly sleep and make food. A space for Ashes' mushroom farm and lab including a vertical garden, we plan to shop out fresh edible mushrooms to locals as well as sell dehydrated and powdered varieties (shiitake, cordyceps, lions mane etc) to our friends around the country. A circus training space where Fleeky can continue to work on his act and shows. A woodshop and maker space so that we can bring our projects to life. A guest house, which will most likely be nicer than ours ; ) All of the labor will be provided by yours truly, don't worry we've both been practicing so we know that we can do it!
The dollar amount that we're fundraising here obviously isn't everything that we'll need to build our vision, but we wanted it to be clear that we're not looking for a free ride. We also want to be honest with you and ask for help....because we definitely need it. Our plan is to find and purchase the land in time to get started on the building by April 2021. This year has been HARD, but we're not giving up.
For a breakdown of how this money will be used:
1. We're looking at a fairly large plot of land in Northern Vermont which is about 15 min from the Canadian border and a little over an hour to Montreal. This is strategic for climate and cultural reasons. (This will cost around 100k)
2. We need to build on the land, we're going to try and do this as sustainably-minded as possible, using earth-ship concepts and at times using green lumber but we'll still need to buy necessities like tools, gravel, concrete, lumber, nails, etc. (We're budgeting ourselves at 60k for the first two years unless we get a windfall)
3. We need to invest in the tools of our trade(s) (Ashes is well-versed in growing mushrooms on a small scale but we'll need to refine the process so that it can scale) (We'll spend small amounts at a time and reinvest in the business as it grows)
We still plan on touring and visiting other places with our art once the world calms down a little. So this isn't a plan to say goodbye. Merely a way for us to truly get started.
Please help us so that you can finally visit!
-Ashes and Fleeky
P.S. - There's obviously a TON more to say about what we're planning to do and how we've already started, if you'd like to be put on the mailing list for our cool progress videos and updates please sign up here and we'd love to share with you.
PRSM mailing list
Also our work! If you haven't seen it or just want to wander through our galleries:
Ashes Monroe Art
Fleeky Flanco Circus Performer
Circus Automatic
WitchTech Performance Art
If you know us, you know that our work is our life. Our vision here is to have a home, but also much more than that. We aspire to remain mostly off-grid, working with and for the land to create a sustainable homestead. We've been researching every element so that they can fit together to both keep us and our guests comfortable (and inspired!) while keeping the land as rich and beautiful as possible. We plan to create smaller structures tailored to a purpose to give the property more of a whimsical elvish feel than to create one monolithic structure. So far the plan is to have a small home where we mostly sleep and make food. A space for Ashes' mushroom farm and lab including a vertical garden, we plan to shop out fresh edible mushrooms to locals as well as sell dehydrated and powdered varieties (shiitake, cordyceps, lions mane etc) to our friends around the country. A circus training space where Fleeky can continue to work on his act and shows. A woodshop and maker space so that we can bring our projects to life. A guest house, which will most likely be nicer than ours ; ) All of the labor will be provided by yours truly, don't worry we've both been practicing so we know that we can do it!
The dollar amount that we're fundraising here obviously isn't everything that we'll need to build our vision, but we wanted it to be clear that we're not looking for a free ride. We also want to be honest with you and ask for help....because we definitely need it. Our plan is to find and purchase the land in time to get started on the building by April 2021. This year has been HARD, but we're not giving up.
For a breakdown of how this money will be used:
1. We're looking at a fairly large plot of land in Northern Vermont which is about 15 min from the Canadian border and a little over an hour to Montreal. This is strategic for climate and cultural reasons. (This will cost around 100k)
2. We need to build on the land, we're going to try and do this as sustainably-minded as possible, using earth-ship concepts and at times using green lumber but we'll still need to buy necessities like tools, gravel, concrete, lumber, nails, etc. (We're budgeting ourselves at 60k for the first two years unless we get a windfall)
3. We need to invest in the tools of our trade(s) (Ashes is well-versed in growing mushrooms on a small scale but we'll need to refine the process so that it can scale) (We'll spend small amounts at a time and reinvest in the business as it grows)
We still plan on touring and visiting other places with our art once the world calms down a little. So this isn't a plan to say goodbye. Merely a way for us to truly get started.
Please help us so that you can finally visit!
-Ashes and Fleeky
P.S. - There's obviously a TON more to say about what we're planning to do and how we've already started, if you'd like to be put on the mailing list for our cool progress videos and updates please sign up here and we'd love to share with you.
PRSM mailing list
Also our work! If you haven't seen it or just want to wander through our galleries:
Ashes Monroe Art
Fleeky Flanco Circus Performer
Circus Automatic
WitchTech Performance Art
Fundraising team: Ashes and Fleeky (2)
Alexis Vabre
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
Fleeky Flanco
Team member