Belonging

As 2025 comes to a close, we are taking a look back through a lens of gratitude and taking stock on how far we have come, with the community we have built along the way. We started with a gift of six sheep in 2022, and this led us down a path of becoming a 501(c)3 nonprofit farm with a current flock of 25 sheep. Through our farm, we are contributing to local fiber systems, combatting climate change through our regenerative practices, and building a thriving neurodiverse community. We could not have done this alone, and doing it together as a community makes it all the more meaningful.

“Community is much more than belonging to something.

It’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter.”

- Brian Solis

Healthy Soils Program

The Healthy Soils Program (HSP) block grant, which was awarded to Mustang Acres by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) earlier this year, was implemented this past month through a collaboration with Fibershed and Point Blue’s Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed (STRAW) program. STRAW is generously covering costs that the HSP grant does not, through their Roots Program. The ripple effects of the HSP grant has led to this beautiful partnership between Mustang Acres, Fibershed, and STRAW, which multiplies the impact of our collective environmental conservation actions.

Building Community

A Year in Review

Homies

With much anticipation, the first two residents moved into the Mustang Court Commons’ house in the spring. They enjoy being housemates and have become homies. Both are unreliable speakers and use text based communication methods.

Flock

Our community of sheep has also grown: 13 legacy sheep from Tawanda Farms in Siskiyou county joined our flock, increasing our flock size to 25. The sheep all get along brilliantly and are living their best lives.

Partnerships

In the spirit of community, we formed new partnerships and strengthened our collaboration with existing partners to combat climate change. We continued to focus on the shared goals of carbon farming, water and resource conservation, and ecosystem and community resilience building.

Fieldwork

We hosted fieldwork days for neurodiverse transition-aged students and elementary school students from the East Bay and North Bay. The students helped with planting hedgerows, installing raised bed netting, weeding, and sheet mulching. Students learned about regenerative farm practices through hands-on experience.

Water

In response to climate change, Mustang Acres has implemented water conservation practices, including increasing rainwater capture and surface water storage. We expanded our groundwater recharge pond to hold a higher capacity of rainwater that will seep into the ground and replenish the aquifer instead of running off into city drains. Slowing runoff also reduces soil erosion, enabling the soil to hold onto nutrients.

Fiber

With the addition of our new sheep, we are continuing to harvest wool fiber and contribute to local fiber systems. Our fiber is processed and milled into yarn in Yolo County, reducing transport-related carbon emissions. We are committed to producing Climate Beneficial™ wool fiber that regenerates the soil and builds healthy ecosystems. The lifecycle of our wool fiber from sheep to skein is traceable, to ensure accountability and transparency.

Farm Yarn

Support Mustang Acres by purchasing our own brand of farm yarn! The yarn is 100% wool from our sheep, which means the fibers are all natural, compostable, and biodegradable and do not contribute to microplastic pollution or add to the post-consumer waste problem. We follow Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial™ Verified guidelines, where we use regenerative practices and our wool fiber origin is traceable.

We have partnered with Avenue Yarns in Albany and our yarn is available in store or online. Avenue Yarns is an incredible partner that has supported us by hosting pop-up events, spotlighting our farm yarn at the store, and educating the community about our work. The next Mustang Acres pop-up event will be in the spring on March 17.

Sweater knitted by Erika Carter with Mustang Acres’ Finn sheep yarn

Barn Raising

Photo credit: Paige Green Photography

We have a vision to build a community center barn to host social, recreation, and education programs.

Help us achieve our dream of building this community center!

Every donation helps.

Make your tax deductible donation today!