What is Homestead Summerisle?

​

“Homestead Summerisle” is the passion, purpose, and, with any luck, eventual livelihood of Greg and Jill Heckroth Baisch, a married couple trying to responsibly make ends meet in the foothills of the central Sierras. We’ve chosen this name to encompass the totality of the farm and subsistence projects in which we engage, from soapmaking with natural and wild-harvested ingredients to growing produce to hunting to creating art! We try to live our lives in an intimate and fully-realized relationship with our natural surroundings, and we apply the "Homestead Summerisle" label to any product of that relationship. Ultimately our goal is not to create products to satisfy a market, but rather to produce what we need to live the way we want to live and then to share that bounty with any who might enjoy it as we do. We strongly favor a utility-based approach to life, unapologetically taking what we need while (often painstakingly) keeping our needs measured and sustainable.

The name “Summerisle” is a reference to Robin Hardy’s 1973 film The Wicker Man, which has a special place in our hearts. We strongly resonate with its central theme of resistance to modern colonial power via a resurgence of folk traditions. We hear the call of our pagan ancestors and aspire to honor them by integrating old modes of living, thinking, and seeing into our lives. We burn in effigy the modern gods of finance and servitude, and scatter their ashes across our verdant fields. Sumer is icumen in.

​