CAMAS COMMONS - A Regenerative Farming Land Trust

This 120-acre farm has seen a lot — an historic dairy, an eccentric follower of the spiritual leader Ramtha, a golf course, and an organic farm. For the past 20 years, this farm has been known as Talking Horse Ranch, after the famed “talking horse” purchased by previous owner Ernie Kanzler Jr. from the channeler of his spiritual guru, Ramtha.

In the last decade, the farm has been under-managed and kept running at a low-idle. Most of the infrastructure is in disrepair, but not beyond the point-of-no-return.

Despite all this, the land is a wonderfully magical place — with excellent topography, landscape, a seasonal creek, 6 ponds, enchanting forests, and incredibly cool & quirky buildings & landscaping. Most of the developed land is south facing slope with excellent sun. A large barn offers 13,000 square feet of usable indoor space. These are just a few of the significant attributes.

40 of the 120 acres will be purchased for Camas Commons, with the other 80 acres entering into perpetual conservation through the San Juan Conservation Land Bank. Together, public access will be included in this plan with a walking trail that connects the Beaverton Marsh Preserve to the top of Beaver Hill, through Camas Commons.

Raised on San Juan Island, Guisepi Spadafora has long dreamed of returning home to help steward a place that could nourish both the land and the community. After years of service-based travel—including his work with the Free Tea Bus (freeteaparty.org)—he returned to the islands with his now wife, Ally Rugge, to find a place where they could put down roots and dedicate themselves to a larger public vision.

For Ally, that place has long been Talking Horse Ranch. Over the past 15 years, she has lived and worked on the farm three different times, growing food, restoring soil, and raising chickens and dairy goats through the Women Who Stare at Goats Collective. (women-who-stare-at-goats-collective)

Stewardship is something that comes naturally for Ally & Guisepi, and being in service to the community they surround themselves with has been at the core of their relationship. Together, they bring 40 years of combined experience in nonprofit and service-based endeavors. Guisepi has also been a volunteer for the Land Bank. He also has a love of building, salvaging, repairing, and finding creative solutions.

Ally is a Sociologist and works as a counselor & initiation mentor for young women. She developed two curriculums that offer guidance for significant life changes & chapters within the experience of womanhood in order to support the natural maturation that each stage entails. Although her work with animals is more recent, she has found her skills as a counselor seems to extend effortlessly to animals. This has informed her work in developing what she calls, Animal Midwifery, as a method of raising animals that she says is ‘farming with a feminine touch.’

For almost 4 years, they have been care-taking Talking Horse Ranch, where they got married in 2023. Today, they are working to help preserve the land and carry its legacy forward—as a working farm, a community resource, and a place rooted in stewardship, connection, and possibility.

Camas (KAM-uhs) is a wildflower of great importance to Indigenous people across the San Juan Islands and the broader northwest. The bulb of camas is roasted in underground pits and eaten as a sweet carb- and nutrient-packed staple food.

And this land is covered with them.

As an ode to this wildflower, and as a reminder to us about the connection between the land's well being and our own well-being, we honor this plant by elevating it into our name.

What is a Commons? Prior to the privatization of land, most land was held in common, and was community managed by those who actually lived on and worked it. Putting this land into a land trust helps bring back the spirit of this arrangement.

As Woody Guthrie said: This land is your land, this land is my land.

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Camas Commons will provide affordable residential & agricultural leases to people who want access to land for productive purposes. Members of Camas Commons will be producing agricultural products, like fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, and more, as well as useful and traditional crafts and land-connection events, and will continue on the path of the current land stewards with educational workshops, seasonal gatherings, petting zoos, live music, a farm store and more.

We will also be working with the Land Bank to extend the trail network from Beaverton Marsh Preserve, across Camas Commons, to the top of Beaver Hill -- a beautiful lookout across the islands to Mt. Baker.

Residential Members will have the option to own their own home and sign a 99-year lease, or lease a home from the nonprofit. Non-Residential Members will have the opportunity to lease land, infrastructure, or buildings with short-term leases. All leases emphasize agricultural, traditional craft, forestry, or other sustainability-related endeavors that are rooted in regenerative practices.

Applications for residential leases will open within a year of the purchase of the land. Agricultural leases may open sooner than that. If you want to be on a list, please contact us at [email protected]

Based on the allowed density, four houses plus the existing mother-in-law unit are permissible. Averaging 2-4 people per house, we see 10-20 full time residents (including children). At least one member from each house must be involved substantially in agriculture, sustainability-adjacent activities, an administrative role, or maintenance.

The Land Bank's mandate is "To preserve in perpetuity areas in the county that have environmental, agricultural, aesthetic, cultural, scientific, historic, scenic or low-intensity recreational value and to protect existing and future sources of potable water."

Camas Commons aligns with the Land Bank's mandate in many ways:
1) An agricultural land trust preserves this land in perpetuity.
2) We believe that farmland isn't farmland unless it is being farmed, so this project makes sure that conserved land is actually farmed in a way that works for farmers -- by living on-site.
3) This land is beautiful, and deserves to be shared. Working with the Land Bank to make a trail across Camas Commons, and onwards to the top of Beaver Hill fulfills the low-intensity recreation and protection of aesthetic and scenic areas elements of the mandate.
4) Because of the rich history of Talking Horse Ranch, current land steward and farm historian, Guisepi, will maintain and log the stories of the land.
5) Water here is plentiful. We plan to diligently work towards water conservation and aquifer recharge through mulching, increasing organic matter, earthworks that stop, slow, and spread water, and no-till farming methods, while also using that water to grow things to share with our community.
6) Ally offers recreational opportunities with her goat herd, like private goat hikes. This is a unique experience that isn't offered anywhere else on the island and is specific to this land's features that makes it memorable for those who partake. People have traveled to the island just for this opportunity.

This collaboration with the Land Bank finds a balance between conservation and sustainable development. For the 80 acres the Land Bank will own, there will be no housing, and the land will be preserved for farming, recreation, and more. The 40 acres that Camas Commons will own will have the ability to have up to 4 houses and one ADU, clustered along the northern half of the property, preserving most of the existing pasture and farmland. We pledge to build housing that is low-impact, both visually and environmentally, using natural, reclaimed, and non-toxic materials.

Please consider pledging or donating money to our cause. All pledges will only be collected if our proposal is chosen and we make our fundraising goals.

All DONATIONS & PLEDGES are tax-deductible through our collaborating nonprofit, On Sacred Ground Land Trust.

The Farmers Land Trust is a national nonprofit organization working to support farmland protection, transition, and secure access for farmers through the innovative Farmland Commons model, which decommodifies land by placing it in the ownership of local communities. The Farmers Land Trust has provided valuable guidance and support throughout the development of this proposal and is already actively working in the San Juan Islands. If this proposal is accepted, The Farmers Land Trust looks forward to taking an active role in protecting this farm for regenerative agriculture, preserving its legacy, and ensuring its continued stewardship for generations to come.

See thefarmerslandtrust.org for more information.

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