Who We Are
A dynamic duo driven by love of the land, each other, and self
Clark Hockabout
Engineer, mechanic, researcher, lead animal caretaker, cheesemaker, medicinal native plant enthusiast
Clark Hockabout is a practitioner of ceramic arts and the researcher, engineer, and mechanic of the team who makes the Lodestar clockworks move forward through projects–wind generation, alternative building design, irrigation/fertigation, aquaculture, rain water catchment, small-scale ethanol production, experiments in soil building, developing feed crops, ancient grains, and sprouting operations. He is also lead small animal caretaker for the Lodestar family of goats, chickens, and ducks. Clark’s lifetime interest in alternative medicine also motivates his interest in medicinal native plants.
Barbara Hockabout
Permaculture designer, professor emeritus, Master Gardener of Coconino County, community builder
Barbara Hockabout holds a BA from University of California, Berkeley, as well as a California Secondary Teacher Credential from that same institution. She holds an MA from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. In May 2010, Barbara retired from 33-year public teaching career during which she worked with junior high to college students teaching literature, history and humanities. Barbara obtained her Masters Degree in Sustainable Communities from Northern Arizona University in May 2012. She is a permaculture designer, Master Gardener of Coconino County, one of the first recipients of the Arizona Association of Environmental Education (AAEE) certificate, and holds current Arizona and Washington State secondary education and community college teaching certificates. Barbara comes from a family of teachers and intends to practice the art of teaching and writing for the rest of her life as they feed her soul most.
How We Came Together
Combining two diverse backgrounds in mutual pursuit of the good life
Clark’s Story
Clark grew up in Alameda, California, a bedroom community to San Francisco across the Bay. He was born to older parents and had much older siblings. Clark was left to his devices to explore his quiet neighborhood, and then later, a good portion of the Bay Area on his bicycle. Fast forward…in high school Clark read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond. He made a decision then to live an independent life.
While his family encouraged college and degrees, Clark’s life choices led him to travel, become a student of science fiction, work a variety of jobs, party, be in nature, study philosophy and Eastern Religion, search for a place and people to build community. The decades of the 1970’s and 80’s were the age of experimentation, Viet Nam protest, and communal living arrangements.
After a serious car accident, he ducked under the social and political radar spending a lot of time in nature, still looking for that place to be himself, and perhaps find others to grow with.
He landed in Orcas Island, Washington, to work with a Medicine Man who ran a Lakota Native American Lodge. The group was looking to relocate to land in Arizona.
Barbara’s Story
Barbara, the oldest of three girls, the daughter of a preacher and a teacher, was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, a bedroom community to Boston. Her family moved every three or four years progressively from the east coast to the west coast. She loved the changes and living in different parts of the county. She was outside as much as possible. Her father was a social activist during the Civil Rights Movement.
Fast forward… Barbara and her husband, her high school sweetheart and a returning Vietnam Vet, became antiwar activists while attending University of California Berkeley. She graduated with a teaching degree and moved back to the land operating a farm in Washington state. The marriage and farming experiment lasted seven years, but ended in disillusionment.
She found a new life in Spokane, Washington, met her second husband and taught high school for 13 years. A yuppy life in the suburbs didn’t work either. New Age and spiritual studies consumed her. Divorce. Reinvent herself again.
She opened up her home to offer retreat space for groups and individuals. The Universe rewarded her proactive measures to welcome and support others, like herself, on a journey to discover their truth and empower their choices. It was a time when people found answers in books, workshops, groups, and meditation. People were waking up and changing their lives. It was coined the New Age or Metaphysical Era. It was a mini resurgence of the freedom-seeking 60’s decade which had informed her. It was the precursor to the digital world and artificial intelligence.
Barbara & Clark Together
A Meeting of Mind-Spirit-Body
In 1994, Clark was one of a dozen people who walked into the Hanna Sol Retreat retreat in Spokane, Washington. Clark Hockabout was a member of a Lakota Lodge who had booked her retreat for a workshop during the Mind-Spirit-Body-Expo. In her spiritual quest she had experienced Native American ceremonies and was happy to host this group. They met and recognized the essence in each other. Thus, the relationship was born.
The next year, she joined Clark to live a year on Lodge land outside of Payson, AZ. Another year later, the Lodge disbanded. Clark and Barbara then traveled back to the NW and purchased land in Sandpoint with the intent to finally start their homestead in the blue-green forest beauty of Idaho. Little did Clark know he would experience light deprivation in northern Idaho’s short summer season and shorter northern winter days.
One year later they were on the road again looking for that piece of land. Long-time friends, Len and Lori Toye, pointed us to a little known part of Arizona called the White Mountains. They rented a place sight unseen and looked for property in the land of the sun. After Clark received his realtor license, he became familiar with the forest lands that surrounded the town of Show Low. Ten years in real estate, he found a 40-acre piece of raw land they loved. He was very ready to quit real estate and finally practice the homesteader life he always wanted. Clark’s parent’s inheritance helped them to purchase the property while Barbara worked as full time faculty at the local college for the next decade which helped to finance infrastructure for the homestead.
In 2010, Barbara retired after 33 years of teaching and went back to the University to obtain a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Communities from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The intent of that degree was to assist them in creating a stronger community of growers in their area, to network the northern rural counties. Barbara organized the Small Direct Farmers group which met for three years at the college.
Diving into full-time homesteading, community-building, & educating
Finally in 2012, Barbara joined Clark in full time homesteading, together building their homestead one project at a time. They began offering homesteading classes, workshops, and tours to inquisitive newcomers. They established the Lodestar Grassroots Food Co-Op, a food for labor, self-governing community designed to help feed five households year round. They continued to sell produce to retailers in town and at the Show Low Farmers Market as a venue to meet and network other homesteaders they met during the summer months.
Over the years, they trained dozens of farm volunteers, WWOOFers, and farm managers, gave presentations to local garden clubs, and continued to develop their homestead with experimental projects. Making the decision to sell their produce to Apache County residents, they established a new Farmers Market just a few miles from their farm.
Lodestar Gardens grew from a small farm to a demonstration site. However, it became clear to them after decades of sharing their homesteading knowledge and training full time farm managers, the best way to educate people is to offer them a sustained residential experience immersed in the daily learnings and relationships. The concept of a Homesteading Apprenticeship Program was born. They designed a dormitory which could comfortably house 5-7 students and began building it with the help of local craftsmen who resonated with the project and its purpose.
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