Dear Community,
We have a vision we’d like to share with you — a vision for the land we steward as a hub for healing, community and new beginnings. We are deeply committed to this vision, and calling in your help at a pivotal moment. Below you’ll find our story, the specifics of our current situation, ways you can help, and the ways we plan to pay it forward. Thank you for reading, sharing, donating, and keeping our vision alive in your hearts.
TLDR; In order to keep living here on our own homestead we need your help. If cannot raise these funds resolve the county's issues in a very short timeline, we will be forced to leave our home.
With love and gratitude,
Sasha, Moritz and Amanita (our 6 year old).
OUR STORY (from the beginning):
Sasha and Moritz met in San Francisco, while Mortiz was traveling from Germany. Our love was instant. We committed to each other with both feet in, finding powerful alignment in our values: living a life of generosity, devotion to truth, listening to the earth, and trusting the ebb and flow of community living. We see community relationship as a crucible to feel seen, known, and connected; to heal the wounds we all cary.
We embody this deeply in our work, personal lives, parenting, and the connection we have to our land and home.
In 2018, Moritz was detained at the US border, and we shifted the course of our lives,spending three years in Germany working on a spousal visa before we were allowed to return. This was devastating, but ultimately we made the best of a SLOW bureaucratic process — during this time Moritz worked to restore and repair with his parents and family of origin, and in August of 2019, Ama was born abroad as a dual citizen.
We paid immigration lawyers out of pocket, we paid taxes in two countries, upholding all requirements to be together in one place while Sasha maintained a US residence so that she could bring her husband home to the US.
We share this because we live a life where we are devoted to holding what is true within us and our community, and we have strived to follow the requirements, laws and other necessary financial and paperwork steps and the hardship that comes with that. In that process we have grown deeply and been challenged, moving forward with our life together without feeling welcome in either country.
After Moritz was finally granted his visa, he made a journey of ten days on a mountainside where seeds were planted about how he might continue to share his own journey of meditation and deep self reflection with the world.
Back in the USA, we dreamed of stewarding land that was ours, having more time, more freedom and more ease with life. That dream eventually brought us to Nevada County.
The “American Dream” required massive debt, and we felt a desire for something different.
We knew it would not be easy. We wanted to have land, to create a home from natural materials, a home for us and to welcome community! We envisioned community dinners, sharing our experience, and serving others during the process.
In the spring of 2024 we found our land and closed on Sasha’s 40th birthday! We had something to call our own and took out a loan, but we felt proud and poured our savings into the 25% down required with a land loan. We bought and remodeled a little trailer, and moved in.
It was a humble beginning. We learned to be grateful when the bucket of water was still full and we did not yet have to run to a spring to wash a dish. Slowly we created a home, and last summer we built an underground space for dark retreats. Every step has been informed by a vision that slowly unfolds and tells its story to us.
It has always been Moritz’s dream to offer space that is free so someone in need can come and find a new beginning without the pressure of bills and rent.
Last year that dream came true and we were able to offer this transformation and the return of this investment was pure love and a flourishing human being.
We desire for this land to continue growing, to be a gathering place for friends and our community where friendships and powerful, life sustaining connections are forged.
Now that vision is being challenged!
OUR CURRENT SITUATION:
On January 26, 2026, we came home to a yellow letter stuck to our trailer’s door.
Someone anonymous handed the county a list of every project we ever did on our land.
With this complaint came an officer who created strict conditions for us to fulfill in order to be able to continue to live here. The first requirement gives us 30 days to correct the wrongs that are here.
We had the intention and desire to permit and build a home here, in due time. We needed time to gather the resources, both physical, practical (labor help) and financial. So now we are looking at needing to pay for our permit to build ASAP.
We want to meet these legal requirements and become compliant to the code so we can open our doors to the public and allow community on our land!
We see a future where we can continue to create and build the dream, in an environmentally conscious way with care and attention.
This issue is not just about us, it is much bigger and we desire to face the tight grip of county’s rules and regulations and embody what we know is right for humans to build healthy creative and alternative homes and homesteads. We know that when we meet the county in their demands, they will forge us but we will also forge them!
And for this, we need your support!
We need to raise funds so we can become compliant and carry this vision out!
Below, we have created a list of things they ask so we can create this vision.
We ask that you don’t give what you don’t have. We encourage you to only give what you can comfortably offer to this cause. We also desire supporters and collaborators so please reach out if you feel called!
OUR NEEDS DUE TO THE COMPLAINT AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY PER THE COUNTY REQUEST:
Building Permit- $16,400
Drill a Well- $19,300
Septic System- $20,000
Engineering- $5,500
Underground house permit- $2,250
Business Permit- $400
Solar Upgrade and Permit- $13,300
Misc $2850
TOTAL Estimated Cost: $80000
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Ultimately, we know that we cannot do this alone. We are asking you to share whatever you are able to support us to come to compliance.
The heart, blood, sweat, and tears we and our close community have already poured into this land is profound and unique. Moritz is a Facebook Marketplace wizard, sourcing everything from stained glass and door knobs to drain pipe and terracotta tile. They know him by first name at the Habitat for Humanity Store, he has apprenticed with Master builders renowned for their expertise and taken to new past-times like stone cutting and Architecture software. Resourceful isn’t even a strong enough word. Those who come here are shocked and amazed with what we are creating. It took me (Sasha) a while to really understand the gravity and the devotion that this beautiful Man, my husband, pours from his mind and heart into what he is providing. So if you are new here, stay tuned and be prepared to be amazed.
Coming to compliance will get us on a timeline that is more sustainable to our lifestyle; we will have 2 years to build under the first permit. This mutual aid request will not include the home itself or the labor going into it. We are simply trying to get to compliance with our county based on the complaint that was filed against us.
WHAT IS IN IT FOR YOU, OUR DEAR ONES:
(Aka PERKS)
1. If you are able to donate, you will be connected with us to learn about the process going forward, sharing our successes as we handle the items we have shared above.
2. We aim to pay forward, the knowledge and experience we gain in the process to neighbors and others (builders eligible for title 25) eg. Cob building, permitting, code related tips and tricks to help others build affordable housing based on a vision, supporting others who may in the future encounter a similar dilemma.
3. Once our home is finished, We aim to provide a subsidised space for one person in need per year, to support someone we know who needs extra help to get on their feet.
4. FREE Regular potluck community events where people grow and find community, and healthy connection with themselves, others and the Earth.
