~Welcome Home~

Dear community members, collaborators, co-conspirators, changers, and folx who have Zuni Mountain Sanctuary close to your heart.

Greetings from the Board of Directors of Zuni Mountain Sanctuary (Twinkletoes, Miri Mariki, Sleigh and lil’leo). 

We hope this message finds you springing well, as the Crane’s Bill begins to show tiny pink flowers close to the ground, the Biscuit Root blooms and goes to seed, and the lilac buds out with spring winds blowing on the land. The asparagus is spearing out abundantly…Zuni Mountain Sanctuary received a lot of snow this winter, and our caretakers were able to nurture the place through another season. The snow has thawed and is bringing life to the desert. The roads have dried from winter’s mudding. Plants are awakening and birds are migrating. The Great Blue Heron and Red Wing Blackbirds have returned to a very full Upper Pond and even the Lower Pond has filled to just below the floating dock! Strong monsoons last summer helped the forests continue to recover from drought and beetle infestation; we witness how our forestry efforts in 2022 positively impacted Pinon stands and gave groves time to adapt and improve their resilience. May the rains continue this summer!!!

We want to provide an update on the status of Zuni Mountain Sanctuary, and how we as Board are looking at the Sanctuary and its needs from our particular position. This past winter especially highlighted what we have observed in past years. Our potable water system and plumbing is not in the healthiest conditions and requires immediate attention to reliably provide potable water for anyone on the land. We also witnessed how our housing and heating systems are unhealthy and inadequate. We currently only have one workable bedroom in Tea Rooms East - it also needs improvements. With Sleigh currently on sabbatical we do not have any committed Stewards living at ZMS. With these, and the other needs in mind and heart, we see that the healthiest direction for all of us as a community is to temporarily close the Sanctuary to general visitors during a period of repair, renovation and rebuilding. Renewal is the most relevant need collectively facing Zuni Mountain Sanctuary at this time, and we are coming together to focus on that. 

We would like gatherings and workshops to happen at ZMS (labor-intensive, play-intensive, ritual-intensive and more), AND we would like to have visitors, AND we would like to provide a space to host and organize events for our local community, AND we recognize that we are not able to healthily sustain these aspects of our mission at this time. This is not easy to acknowledge, and we want to speak more about it as a community so we can make this decision together with y’all. This is what we see from our position.

We recognize many concrete needs for ZMS at this time. The following overviews the direction the Sanctuary is heading from our perspective. We have INFRASTRUCTURAL needs (new building construction, heritage building repair, water infrastructure, solar upgrades and other repairs and improvements). We have LABOR needs (we need more hands to do the things that need to get done for the place to be sustained, healthy and thriving). We have SOCIAL needs (we need to take care of each other as we come together to learn to practice and develop these skills, together). We have FINANCIAL needs (we have few regular donors AND we have successful fundraising campaigns AND we need more people to help us grow - together). We have ORGANIZATIONAL needs (emails and coordination and social media and communication), etc. We have BOARD needs (from membership to participation in committees to greater connection with the immediate community)... ZMS needs you and all of us to take care of it and each other, together.  

We currently have two large ongoing construction projects started in 2020:
Live/Work Housing (lofts+studio spaces+ceramic and pottery studios) AND
the Walipini (greenhouse, garden area and farm certification).

We are preparing for work parties that will happen during the summer when weather conditions allow. We are SO close to finishing both buildings! We are actively seeking volunQueers and volunteers who share our commitment to the communal stewardship of ZMS as a healthy resource for all our community. More on these work-gatherings in the coming months!

If you’d like to join to cooperate as we come together to rebuild and renew, please join our google groups HERE to be in regular communication. We will be sending out general flyers through our general communication, and you can keep better updated with joining the google group for more focused communication. You can join a townhall or another meeting to share your intent to help and offer specialized skillsets or donation of materials for these two primary projects as well as other secondary infrastructure projects.. We will be using this group to communicate. If you’d like to contact someone specifically, please reach out to lil’leo here with your questions and offerings to share with the group.

We are preparing a series of Town Halls (see dates below - virtual and in-person) in order to communicate our needs…and most of all, listen to our community’s needs for our Sanctuary. We are working to better integrate ZMS into the networks of life, beauty and play that exist around and through us. Please be a part of the Renewal.

These Town Halls will be informative sessions where you can bring forward information relevant to the Sanctuary and the organization from your unique perspective, as well as complement specific calls for support in specific projects areas through specific working-groups we can create together. We will be sharing information and answering questions about any of your interests in cooperating with our renewal. We also seekwant to find ways to reciprocate and compensate for labor of all kinds as we balance the energy given to the Sanctuary to meet these needs. We want to figure this out together, starting by listening to your needs and wants. 

ZMS Town Hall dates: 

June 17 @5:55pm MST 

June 28 @6:30pm MST

July 15 @5:55pm MST 

July 26 @6:30 pm MST 

August 19 @5:55pm MST 

August 30@6:30pm MST 

We acknowledge it has been a difficult time for most as we adapt out of a global pandemic that still persists, face a series of global climate crises that affect all of us in similar and unique ways, and navigate the broken political and economic system that has continued to crumble around us.

We acknowledge that harm has been done on Zuni Mountain Sanctuary’s land - from before this organization was founded AND during our Radical Faerie stewardship of this land and its people. We acknowledge that harm has been done in recent times and under our collective stewardship. We acknowledge that we can do better, and we wish to support one another so that we may do better. 

We also see that over the years, Zuni Mountain Sanctuary has grown. Buildings have come up, people have stewarded, visited and relocated to the area. Relationships have been built with our neighbors and more still wait to be nurtured. The Sanctuary itself is a sacred place that has connected itself more and more to the people, plants, animals and ancestors around us. We miss having gatherings and events. We miss seeing all of you. We miss coming together on the land to play, plant, learn, cook, nurture, grow, create magic and make love.

More deeply…we witness how our community has not been healthily sustained over the past many years. We want to find ways to repair and take better care of one another on behalf of this land, and we want to do this together with you... It has been difficult stewarding too much, with too few, for too long. We are asking for your help. 

Like any land, intentional community and non-profit organization, Zuni Mountain Sanctuary requires regular maintenance and consistent care by enough healthy individuals to ensure it thrives as an ecosystem, intentional community, and a welcoming space.  

As the seasons change and allow for building projects to continue and repairs to happen, we will be asking for intentional visitors and project managers focused on general maintenance and specific repairs for our buildings, water and electrical systems, as well as completing new infrastructure. 

• Help Complete New Projects:
  • Walipini
  • New Live/Work Space
• Repair and Improve Systems
  • Solar
  • Water Works
• Help us meet forestry goals for permaculture and fire prevention
• Skills Solicited: general willingness, project management, digging, carpentry, plumbing, solar system upgrades, chainsaw operations, erosion controls & restoration, general maintenance…

Benefits of being on the land:

• Work alongside local volunQueers to ensure that our buildings are safe, comfortable, and sustainable.
• Help plan specific work gatherings for community support, including participating in: 
  • Skinning walipini
  • Live/Work Building
  • Mudding
  • Gardening
  • And more! 
• Fresh Eggs/Chickens
• Participate in community events.
• Participate in educational programs:
  • Promote sustainable living .
  • Environmental stewardship.
  • Forestry Preservation.
• Explore the breathtaking beauty of the Zuni Mountains, with opportunities for hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities.
• 
  

Please note, we see that Zuni Mountain Sanctuary needs to be temporarily closed for renovation and will not be open to general visitors seeking sanctuary this summer. IF there is community support AND once we have minimal repairs completed, WE could host a gathering, specific workshop, retreat, or other events that serve ourselves, our community, and are in alignment with expanding upon ZMS’s ethos and mission…What gathering would you like to see at Zuni Mountain Sanctuary? Is there an intentional retreat or Workshop you would like to host?

Contact us and join the townhalls if you feel called to join the Gathering Committee, propose a retreat or workshop, or help us coordinate communications. 

As a volunQueer, you will have access to herstory, training and tools. Self-starting and self-directed volunteers willing to project manage key areas of importance are needed. Camping accommodations and collectively providing for personal food needs are necessary at this time. 

NOTAFLOF (No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds) &
GAYABAGS (Give As You Are Able, But Always Give Something).
A suggested $13 - $33 daily donation would be helpful beyond the gift of your service.

To make a tax-deductible donation for general operations, to replenish funds already expended for various projects completed to date, or to fund a specific project in the future please go to:
https://zms.org/fund-raising
Your support is VERY helpful at this time.

If you're interested in joining us in 2023 and beyond, please join us for one or more of the upcoming town-halls or contact us if you are unable to do so. 

We also continue to host regular virtual HeartSpaces, where you can join us in sharing your heart, feelings, emotions and experiences, while witnessing and holding one another doing so. The next dates for these heart circles are: 

Thursday June 8 @5:30pm MST 

Sunday June 25 @5:30pm MST 

Thursday July 13@5:30pm MST 

Sunday July 23 @5:30pm MST 

Thursday August 10 @5:30pm MST 

If you’d like to join our HeartSpace, please register here in order to access the Zoom link. 

Thank you for your interest in supporting our current mission and participating in our renovations and collective reinvigoration. Thank you for being our renewal.

In Stewardship,

The Board of Directors,
Zuni Mountain Sanctuary, 501(c)3

The mission of Zuni Mountain Sanctuary is to foster stewardship of the land as a consensus-based, inclusive, sustainable & intentional Radical Faerie community. The Sanctuary offers context for exploration & practice of spirituality, permaculture, creativity & transformation. We aspire to live in peace & harmony with ourselves, those around us & the Earth which sustains us all.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Goal for 5 +  Full TIme STEWARDS

We are diligently working on making ZMS a place for skilled and devoted Stewards to call their home.

Since our founding in 1996, the Sanctuary's goal has been to house and foster at least 5 full time stewards. This is the minimum number of people we believe we need on the land to run the sanctuary sustainably.

With the loss of Juniper House in the 2017 fire, we lost essential winter housing for 5 people. We currently can only house 2 people with rooms of their own. 

There are currently 3 people living on the land.

The building of LIVE/WORK space (IN PROGRESS) will provide 2 more residential spaces, a workshop, and a pottery studio. 

That means there will be 4 individual spaces for housing available very soon!

Dreaming and Designing additional NEW HOUSING remains an essential part of our short & long term goals.

Goal for Life on the Land:  Join Our Legacy

• New Housing
• Invitation for New Stewards
• Invitation for New Board Members
• Active Committees

Goal for Long Term Commitments: 

• Once a person is granted Stewardship at ZMS, the greatest gift we can offer, permission to build on the land is also granted. 
• How can we make it possible to grow up and grow old on the land as a Steward of ZMS?

Goal for Garden and Farm: Food Sustainability & Sales.

Gardening and food harvesting has been happening at a small scale since we arrived on the land. 

The Moon Garden has been growing herbs, spices, greens, red spinach and flowers since the first year.  10 years ago Tony and Mikee created the first certified organic gardens. 

With the building of the NEW WALIPINI, a Victorian style all season greenhouse, we will be able to house and grow food all year long.

There is ponder, wonder and thought about ZMS gaining official FARM STATUS in NM.  We are looking for R&D around the Pros & Cons of declairing ZMS as a legitimate Farm.  Would doing this add to the stability of incoming funding, work for our tribe, and a delicious organic food supply?

Goal for Maintaining Heritage Buildings: Hearth House & Tea Rooms

The original founders of ZMS bought and created ZMS as we know it today. The first few years  created the Hearth House and the Tea Rooms, adobe buildings that are beautiful, made from the earth, and require a yearly labor of love to maintain.  This was thought of as a community opportunity to come together to MUD and RENEW the buildings.  As beautiful as these buildings are, they need constant attention as part of maintaining our inheritance.

Priority Heritage Buildings Goals:

These buildings are currently in a state of considerable disrepair and require significant funding, design, and labor to bring them back to a stable and withstanding condition, or we will loose them.

Infrastructure Goals:

When we first arrived on the land 24 years ago, there was nothing but an old road, and a few beautiful ponds. Wells were dug for water, and systems for waterworks, solar power, roads, heating, propane, community buildings and housing all manifested quickly, perhaps too quickly. All of these systems were small, quick, and very useful at the time.  

Now, we have out grown most of these systems, and are ready to upgrade, improve, and expand. The general maintenace and upkeep of old systems is time consuming, labourous, and spendy.  R&D for New Systems is a priority for ZMS to be able to continue to support our mission to serve.

Fundraising Goals: Running a Business

Building a financial infrastructure to support the well being and growth of ZMS has been a dominant focus for the last 5 years. Growing our organization into a financially sustainable model to support both the land and her stewards, with fund raising, cottage industry, and profits from gatherings remains a top priority.

Raising Funds for Healthy Annual Opperations Budget 

• Steward Support. 
• General Fund. 
• Road Maintenance. 
• Solar/Water Maintenance. 

Raising Funds for 2 Year Capitol Campaign 

• Completion of Current Projects
• Heritage Buildings Repair and Renovation
• Solar Upgrade
• Waterworks Upgrade
• Big Road Projects
• Land Maintenance

Visions of Our Future Together

We are inviting VISIONS and DREAMS about the magical gift that is ZMS, what she needs to thrive and grow, and the future generations of faeries that will come to dance, heal, and steward her into the future.

We inherited ZMS. We will pass her on.

In taking care of the land and the daily business of sanctuary, thoughts of current leadership being passed on to future leadership are part of our values and ethics as we plan and work on all things here at ZMS. 

Join the Conversation

Be the Example

Add to the Dream

Lets Be Proud to Pass On Something Good