Welcome to Windward

Windward is a cooperative community of over thirty years in the making, dedicated to preserving and developing village scale technologies needed to support a thriving sustainable community on marginal land.

We provide opportunities for deep learning through hands on, practical experience with the tools needed to build a life in balance with the natural world.

We come together with the belief that now is the time for radical change, and that nothing is more convincing than a working model of a better way.

With nature as our guide, we use our love, sweat and blood to build a life worth inheriting. Join us, for a weekend, for a season, or for a lifetime. Get Involved.

What We Do

Animals Everywhere
Letting the animals mingle.

Growing more food
Rhubarb, Raspberries, Blackberries, and Apples.

Spring 2024 Update
Here’s what we’ve been up to lately.

Casting Call for Season 5 of Alone Together
Windward prepares to embark on its next voyage of discovery.

Come Meet the Kids
Kiri talks about the joy of having babies around.

Answering a Call Back to the Land
Alicia’s first impressions and reflections.

Squirrel Perloo
Lauren tries her hand at a traditional dish.

Coping with Fire Season
Walt talks about how we cope with the stress of fire season.

Building a Bookcase
Opalyn revisits one of her projects as part of her permaculture work.

It Gets Better!
Kiri describes her journey to Windward

Keeping Faith with Lilly
The passing of a herd queen

Soot and the Hen
Here Lies a “Good First Impression”

Anchor Watch
Preparing for the next leg of our journey

Homestead Butchering Workshop
Getting ready for winter

Chocolate’s Surprise
A bitter-sweet July birth

Making Mouse Bait Stations
Creating a pet safe option

Welcoming Fergie Two
Salvaging equipment

Burials in the Snow
Coping with an unusual amount of snow

Life Renews
Opalyn greets the new lambs and kids

Accepting Applications For 2019
With a description of some of the projects in the works and on tap

Renovating the Garden
Hannah and crew put the garden to bed

Does TL:dr equal consent?
How does informed consent work in the age of handheld devices?

Pondering Pareto
Organizational dynamics by the numbers

An Ethics Audit
Answering questions from Opalyn’s Ethics course

Welcoming the Class of 2020
Walt looks forward to the arrival of this year’s interns and apprentices

Glassing the Pearl
The glass panels arrive

Settling into Community
Chuck discusses their previous experience in community and settling into Windward

Isolation v. Intimacy?
Emily expounds on experiences and perceptions of community life here.

Transforming Trash
Willow brings beauty to a bathroom trash can.

Ship’s Dinner 2017
Check out photos from our annual celebration of Windward’s Founders coming to this land.

Staying Sane in an Insane World
Lindsay reflects on how Nature helps to ground our efforts during unsettling times.

Mid-Year Reflections
Emily reflects on insights and shifts after her second Surrender at Windward.

A Recap of the Village Helix
Photos from the Windward Open House on Memorial Day Weekend, May 26-29, 2017

AgroEcology Update, Spring 2017
Fuels reduction, hedgerows, tree tubes, birdhouses, and more.

A Program of Mulch Independence
Qays of meeting a core need within our growing systems

Hello from Katie!
A Spring Apprentice Introduces Herself

Re-Membering the Web of Life
The Biological Imperative for Sovereignty, Interdependence and a Consent Economy

Life Begets Life
Jarvis discusses building soil life

Co-creating a Consent Culture
Economics, Governence & Sexuality

We Still Believe
A Politics of Love, Earth & Community

I’m Still Here!
Opalyn returns to the Notes

A Fall Back to Fundamentals
Jarvis Introduces himself

Introducing the Digital Studio
& Learning to Work with Blued Pine

Taking Death by the Hand
Lindsay shares her reflections on Death & Natural Burial

Ravens Stealing Eggs
And our attempts to stop them

Some of the Benefits of Membership at Windward
Things to look forward to after an Apprenticeship or Fellowship

Continuing the Journey Towards the Examined Life
An article Yosef wrote for his college’s student newspaper

Troubleshooting the First Stator
Yosef tries to discover what went wrong

A Letter From My Future
Emily shares what she wants to remembers from her Fellowship at Windward

Live your passion and relieve your student loans!
How living and working at Windward can provide for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Felling a Big Pine Tree
Taking down a big tree before it takes down the greenhouse

Calculating Lard Yield from American Guinea Hogs
Continuing the conversation about the “Million Calorie Diet”

The Rabbit Colony Experiment – a Detailed Report
Yosef shares highlights from this year’s rabbit colony experiment

Arriving at Now
Apprentice Emily introduces herself.

Building an Earth Sheltered Greenhouse
Andrew shares about a big-picture project that is stepping up our year round food production

A Summary of Rabbit Colony Experiment
Yosef shares a summary of findings from this year

Building an RPM Sensor
Yosef shares about a nifty instrument crafted for the axial flux alternator project

Continuing the Axial-Flux Alternator Project
Yosef shares about casting the alternator’s stator, and more!

A Working Definition of “Capital”
…and why it to matters to creating a post-consumer village

Developing Windward’s Large Scale Irrigation Infrastructure
Apprentice Andrew Bishop shares about one of his big picture apprentice projects

The Splendor and Beauty of Klickitat County
Lindsay shares images from a Summer Adventure

Breeding & Hatching Heritage Chickens
Apprentice Andrew Bishop shares the secrets of his successful run of incubating chickens

Learning to Recognize Sustainable Systems
A Whole Systems Fellow, Yosef, shares about the not-so-obvious realities of sustainability

Building a Bee Sanctuary
Andrew shares about our new Bee Hut and Pollinator Garden

Live Stake Propagation
Pioneering Windward’s broad-acre silvo-pasture systems

Winterizing Your Leather Boots
Dry feet all winter long!

Tanning Bunny Hides
Kari writes about her success with salt and alum.

Bunny Gratitudes
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Felted Projects
A look various practical and artistic felt projects.

Felting Windward Wool
Claire gives a detailed description of the felting process she uses.

Harvesting Feathers
Claire writes about harvesting Windward bird feathers.

Technology in Service of Community
Lindsay and Walt share their perspective.

Main silvopasture swale gets it’s first big test.

Coppice Agroforesty at Windward
An overview of our evolving practices

Announcing: Windward Whole System Fellowship
Learn about a new opportunity to immerse yourself in sustainable community!

Rabbits – Livestock Update
Opalyn shares about our current rabbits.

Water Harvesting Road Hardware
Checking erosion and putting water to work in the landscape.

Baby Bunnies – Growing (up)
Opalyn shares about the growth and shearing of the German Angora Rabbits.

Roof-Water-Fed Retaining Wall Hugelkultur Beds for the Dining Hall Patio
Andrew describes more developments in Windward’;s zone 1

Spindling Wool
Opalyn shares about spindling blended wools.

Wall-E needs a few more repairs.
Keeping Wall-E on track. 🙂

The Village Helix
Lindsay shares pictures from Windward’;s recent Open House

Partnering with Our Plant Allies
Andrew describes species selection for remeditation and agroforestry.

Finding Long-Term Climate Data in the US Using NOAA
Article Andrew recently wrote for PermacultureNews.org

As events unfold my attention turns to seating.
Opalyn shares her experience building a paracord-laced oak chair.

“Pan”ache
Pat shares the new additions to the chicken flock.

Rocks In the Garden!
Pat introduces our new plant labelling system.

Developing Windward’s SilvoPasture
Andrew describes this spring’s progress on this long-term project


Our German Angora baby bunnies are one month old.

Opalyn shares photos of our growing babies.

Life and Death With the Chickens
New member Pat shares about her work with Windward’s chicken flock

May Garden Update
Lindsay shares some updates from the garden

Rabbit Colony Experiment
Claire introduces and updates on The Rabbit Colony Experiment

Spring Zone-1 Garden Update

Andrew describes the further development of Windward’s zone-1

Our baby bunnies are growing
Opalyn shares photos of our growing babies.

I’m here to once again fall in love with learning
Evergeen intern Chelsea gives an introduction

Wall-E’s Transmission Rebuild is Complete!
Opalyn and Pat wrap up the repairs.

Our Rabbits!
Opalyn introduces our adult rabbits.

Creating Productive Food Forest Ecosystems
Lindsay shares images from the recent permaculture weekend intensive

Our Numbers are Growing – Again
Opalyn introduces baby bunnies.

Building A Hugel Bed in the Courtyard

Why Trees?
This video Lays it out

Weaving on a Peg Loom
Opalyn shares her experience of weaving on a peg loom.

‘Tis the Season to Dig and Plant
Lindsay talks about starting a new hugel bed for apple trees.

UPCOMING EVENT: Creating Productive Food Forest Ecosystems
Andrew shares more permaculture materials in advance of the event.

Seeding into Frost Heaves
Andrew shares his use of this cold-climate no-till technique.

Starting Seeds
Lindsay shares about the start of the spring garden.

Wall-E Needs a Transmission Overhaul!

Opalyn shares progress on Wall-E’s transmission rebuild.

  • Part One Deciphering the The Problem And Taking Things Apart.
  • Part Two Starting To Put Things Back Together.

Making Sense of it All
Lindsay reflects on the passing of a loved one

Fiber Conversion
Opalyn talks about a fiber display at the local library.

Windward Winter 2014
Claire’s photo essay.

Our Numbers are Growing
Opalyn introduces two little lambs.

Making “Bone Sauce”
A traditional technique for keeping deer off of fruit trees.

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An inter-organizational project to convert local “waste” biomass into transportation fuels.

AnimalsAnimals
Art and CraftArt & Craft
CommunityCommunity
ConstructionConstruction
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FoodFood
ForestryForestry
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