Homestead Stewards Collective

Happy Dancing Turtle and the Savanna Institute are excited to announce the Homestead Stewards Collective. Are you new to homesteading, or do you want to better provide for your family, friends and community? Do you want to leave your land and community better than you found it? Is generating an income from your land a goal for you and your family? If you can answer yes to these questions, consider joining the Homestead Stewards Collective.
The Homestead Stewards Collective seeks to bring together landowners who share the goal of building their land's health and resilience while fostering community and the bioregional economy.

Guide landowners to develop realistic plans for self-sustenance production systems, identify profit centers, and determine how these systems can support each other.

Provide a regional network of farms and farmers that can collectively work to expand the adoption of agroforestry/ agroecology by serving as working demonstrations to other landowners.

The Collective will meet three times throughout the year for Homesteader Days. During these in-person workshops we will share planning resources and techniques, assist with goal setting, and help you develop an overall farm plan and an agroforestry business plan. Opportunities for networking with other collective members will also be provided.

All Homesteader Days will be held at the Happy Dancing Turtle office, Old Main, on the Hunt Utilities Group Campus, 2331 Dancing Wind Rd SW, Pine River, MN. These are the tentative dates and agendas for Homesteader Days:


Friday April 17th (April 24th backup)

Introductions – share background, assets, goals, strengths

Share planning resources and models, what a project plan should include

Survey the Collective to determine interests, resources, skills, abilities, and knowledge.

Identify common interests among Collective members to focus training and field day topics.

Friday August 7th (August 14th backup)

Review landowner goals and objectives. Status of current planning process.

Share topic specific technical standards/ techniques

Small group breakouts to review farm plans and get feedback


Business planning 101

Friday Sept 25th (Oct 2nd backup)

Share progress update

Small group breakouts to refine farm/ business plans

Bioregional economies, capitalization


Next steps / evaluation

Technical Assistance Support

In early summer Collective members will receive technical assistance including on farm visits with resource professionals from the Savanna Institute and Happy Dancing Turtle. This will give you the opportunity to share goals, ask questions, and receive feedback. It will give the trainers a greater understanding of your operation to better guide you through the planning process.

Farmer to Farmer Networking

Farm field days will be held throughout the growing season with topics based on the mutual interests of the Collective members. These field days will show real life examples of working farms and provide an opportunity to ask questions. Field days will be open to the public to allow for greater networking and outreach opportunities.

Cost: $250 per farm (Includes all materials, lunch for three days, free admittance to farm field days, and on-site consultation). Payment plan options and scholarships are available to those in need. Space is limited.

For more information or to apply, go to: https://forms.gle/gGtE2V7K5UzEiwFq7

Or contact Jim Chamberlin at jchamberlin@happydancingturtle.org with questions.