Fourteen and three-quarter acres outside Huntsville, Arkansas, with a hybrid cypress log house, a cave spring, established gardens, a metal building, and 40 more acres for sale next door.
Living here, I’ve often wondered who might make a home on this land next. I keep picturing different people: a family, a group of friends, people caring for rescued animals, people healing. Here are six of them, and a little about what each might find here.
For the same six with vegan ideas for each, read Six Ways to Belong, the Vegan Way.
A Farm Animal Sanctuary
Much of the land was cleared years ago and has grown up over the past nine years. It could be cleared and made into pasture again. The cave spring has kept our two cisterns full enough for our use since 2017 (except when I forgot to turn off the hose, or when technical difficulties arose), so water is already here. The metal building can hold feed, tools, and supplies and give volunteers a warm place to gather. The animals themselves would be happiest in a barn of their own out where the pasture would be, ideally near the pond site, though the new owners will decide where it goes.
Read more: A Farm Animal Sanctuary Already Written Into the Property, From Dream to Sanctuary, From Cedar Thicket to Sanctuary Pasture, and Water and Shelter for a Sanctuary Pasture
A Self-Sufficient Homestead
The cave spring supplies the house’s water without depending on a municipal system. The gardens have been tended for nine years, so whoever comes next won’t be starting from bare dirt.
Read more: Homesteading in the Ozarks, Living Off the Grid, Gently, An Off-Grid Living Checklist for the Arkansas Ozarks, and The Garden That Grew From a Trench
A Multigenerational Family
The log house can be home to one household, and its walk-out basement suite has its own separate entrance. There’s also room on the land for a second home nearby, close enough for daily life together and separate enough for privacy.
Read more: Why the Living Springs Log House Is Ideal for Multigenerational Living, Room for Both Closeness and Privacy, and A Guide for Families Dreaming of a Multigenerational Homestead
An Intentional Community
A small circle of people could share this land, the water, and the buildings without having to build every system from the ground up. The garden and the metal building are good places for shared work.
Read more: The Ozarks Vegan Think Tank and The Vegan Village
A Co-Living House
A smaller group might simply share the house, the land, and the costs, without forming a formal community. Fewer people, same bones.
Read more: Vegan Co-Living at Living Springs Log House and the Vegan Co-Living Handbook
A Place for Recovery
Quiet, distance from the pace and triggers of a city, and the steady rhythm of caring for animals, gardens, and land. The same things that make this place restful for animals can make it grounding for people in recovery.
Read more: A Place to Stand Firm: Imagining Vegan Sober Living at the Living Springs Log House and Why I Think the Living Springs Log House Is Made to Become a Healing Center
Whichever of these you picture first, there’s room to grow into it. Nobody has to arrive with the whole vision finished.
How We Wrote This Together
This piece was written collaboratively by Patricia, a resident of the Living Springs Log House and a friend of its owner, Barbara, and Claude.ai, an AI assistant made by Anthropic. Patricia brought her knowledge of the land and the many people she has imagined living here; Claude.ai helped shape them into one clear piece.
A Few Insights
- All six ways of living lean on the same few things: the spring, the gardens, the metal building, and room on the land. One description of the place fits them all.
- Imagining who might live here next is a way of caring for the land, not just a way of letting it go.
- The people who would love this place most may be the ones who see more than one of these at once.
See more of the spring, the gardens, the metal building, and the swallows at www.livingspringsloghouse.com
With gratitude to Claude.ai, Anthropic’s AI assistant, for its help in writing this article.
[…] We’ve spent a lot of time wondering who might make a home here next, and the list keeps growing. Below are six kinds of people and groups we can picture living well on this land, with a few ideas for each. Our hope is that whoever comes next will carry the place forward in a vegan way, caring for the land and every creature on it. So for each one, we’ve also imagined how it could take shape as a vegan home. This is a companion to One Property, Six Ways to Belong. […]
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[…] A homestead, a multigenerational family home, a farm animal sanctuary, a healing or retreat center, a sober living home, or a vegan co-living community. Read One Property, Six Ways to Belong. […]
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