How Did I Get Here? My parents had sexual intercourse on March 17th 1966, exactly nine years before this farm was begun. My parents were in Southern California, and the farm is in the foothills, yet began as an offshoot of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker House of Hospitality in San Francisco. My family drove to San Francisco for a vacation during the year the farm began. (Chuck, Beth, Joan and Chris were four of the first residents here during the first year. The EarthAbides CW Farm website has more history.) Basic modern info on this farm is available elsewhere and directions to hoof it to the farm are here. Remember to request a visit at least 50 hours in advance so we can get the solar power and water up to par for visitors/volunteer laborers.

In 1990 I read about great experiments with the Gospel via the New York Catholic Worker (CW) newspaper.
In 1988 I had already volunteered at Loaves & Fishes in Sacramento (an offshoot of the CW).
In 1992 I conscientiously volunteered at the Tucson CW, knowing it was a CW. That's where Brian Flagg told me about the LACW and it's newspaper, the Catholic Agitator.
In 1993 I went to a few Roundtable discussions at the NY CW House.
In 1994 I worked in Fresno helping Aged, Blind and Disabled folks get their MediCal benefits.
In 1995 I volunteered at the Oakland CW and started shooting interviews for a CW documentary, including some interviews during the West Coast CW gathering at Sheep Ranch. I also solicited footage from other CWs for this low-budget collage-u-mentary, and was a volunteer extra on the $5mil. movie "Entertaining Angels".
In 1996 I went to Cleveland for the annual Pax Christi assembly. I met Emily there and saw the debut screening of Entertaining Angels.
In 1997 I started hanging out each year in Nevada as part of NDE activities. NDE is the main faith-based nuclear abolition group conducting peace walks and prayer-actions against nuclearism. Later that year I presented the CW documentary at two CW gatherings for the 100th anniversary of Dorothy Day's birth.
Participating in roundtable discussions in Las Vegas and Milwaukee that year to celebrate Dorothy Day, i came to three conclusions:
1) We need a new documentary on Ammon Hennacy.
2) We need more CW urban Houses of Hospitality around the USA.
3) We need more CW farming communes in the USA.
In 1998 I lived at Gandhi Farm in Nova Scotia. On the way back to California, I drove through New Mexico and realized Albuquerque could use a CW House, and visited MJ Gosiak in Socorro, who had lived at the CW Farm in Tivoli in the 1970s, and who appeared in the CW collage-u-mentary because I had interviewed her while @ Sheep Ranch in 1995.
In 1999 I walked from Den Hague in the Netherlands to NATO Headquarters in Belgium and was arrested twice in Belgium for "political crimes" (civil disobedience regarding nuclear weapons). On the way back to California, i stayed at the Agape Community in Massachusetts where Emily phoned and cancelled her trip there. While cancelling, I said, "Hey, I know you!" and she said i should come visit when i'm in New Mexico.
In 1999 or 2000 I talked with Chris Montesano (on NDE's Board/Council and part of California's ONLY CW farm) about whether or not he could give me advice on CW farming. He said, "yes," very generously. He always was willing to assist folks interested in the CW life.
In 2000 I thought i might have that conversation with Chris when my friend Anja flew into Sacramento. Instead we went to Nevada City, CA. I had already moved to Las Vegas, NV by that time, and the date of this trip for the two of us to California was our fertilization anniversary date (March 17th for both of us--9 years apart). Twenty five years earlier, (1976) my friend Anja's parents celebrated Anja's first fertilization anniversary at the time that the Sheep Ranch CW farm began. Anja and I never did have that conversation with Chris. We dropped the ball when that friendship fizzled into oblivion.
In 2001 I moved to New Mexico, hoping to help with resistance to nuclearism at Los Alamos. I got stuck in Gallup, NM instead for the next 4 years.
In 2002 my friends and I walked from Los Alamos to the Nevada National Security Site (800 miles).
In 2003 we started Pax Christi New Mexico.
In 2004 I finished the documentary on Ammon Hennacy. It played in four micro-festivals.
In 2005 we opened Trinity House CW in Albuquerque on July 16th (my nephew's birth anniversary). Some friends and I also rode bikes from Gallup to Los Alamos for New Mexico Nuclear Disasters Day. In August, Pax Christi USA and NDE held a 60th anniversary commemoration of the nuclear era. Chelsea & Lisa were there, so i met them.
In 2006 Chelsea came to visit Trinity House, the Los Alamos Study Group, Los Alamos Laboratory and the Tewa Pueblo of San Ildefonso. Our cloche garden box produced nice salads for us @ Trinity House.
In 2007 Chelsea moved to Trinity House to do two years as a CW. I'm grateful for the work she did in 'Burque.
In 2008 Chispas Farm had its Garlic Festival in Albuquerque, one mile away from Trinity House. I missed the festival. Meanwhile, our gardening efforts plummeted at Trinity House.
In 2009 my friends and I walked from Los Alamos to the Trinity Site on the "Trinity To Trident Walk". They then drove to California and walked around Livermore Labs, and drove to Washington and walked around the Trident Nuclear Submarine Base.
In 2010 Think Outside the Bomb held a 65th anniversary of the nuclear age protest at Los Alamos, after a week of Summer Camp in Chimayo. Lisa stayed in New Mexico after the Think Outside the Bomb campaign ended. She continues to live in the Espanola/Chimayo area.
In 2011 Chelsea and I made plans for my sabbatical, the seventh year of Trinity House coming in 2012. The farming idea was re-birthed.
In 2012 Chelsea arrived at Sheep Ranch CW Farm and started to set down some roots there. Soon I followed, splitting my time with Trinity House when my sabbatical was cut short.
In 2012 we spent September in Southern New Mexico, just in case we need to start a CW farm there in addition to helping with the California CW farm.
... in 2013, after 5 months of deliberations regarding the fate of Trinity House, we intend to move thoroughly and finally to the Sheep Ranch CW farm.

Farm?! WHERE Is The Chearcus?


What Happened in the Los Alamos Jail?