What can you build with Helical Healing Habitat?

The community farm brings together what's hard to assemble alone — living soil, water, an established customer network, and a snailery developed under active USDA APHIS compliance. Partners bring their own craft; the community makes it viable.

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Who we are

🐌 Who we are

Helical Healing Habitat is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community farm. We restore soil through regenerative practice and pilot EscarGrow — a sealed heliciculture bioreactor system and the only operation of its kind, nominated for the 2026 EarthShot Prize.

Two women sitting on a red van with an open door, parked in a grassy outdoor area under tall trees, enjoying a time together.

The three paths

For the curious. For people who want to learn farming by doing it. No experience required.

Day-based. 1 week minimum. Five hours per day. Meals at the farm.

Volunteer

Volunteer
A woman in a red and black plaid shirt is smiling and holding a piece of wood in a woodworking shop with wooden boards and a power saw around her.

For the skilled. For tradespeople and artisans whose craft can serve a working farm in exchange for rare agricultural knowledge.

Project is scoped together before you arrive. Meals at the farm.

Apprenticeship

Apprentice
A man wearing a tropical print shirt and gloves preparing oysters on a rustic wooden surface at a seafood stand. Various containers with garnishes and condiments are visible, with a background of exposed brick wall and decorative black ceiling tiles.

Program Fellow

For the entrepreneurial. Run your independent craft as a participant in the community farm program. You keep every dollar your practice earns.

Become a Partner

Program Fellows

A Program Fellow is a participant who runs an independent craft (herbs, mushrooms, honey, flowers, retreats, food, skincare, or another fit) inside the community farm program. You bring the practice. As a participant, you use shared farm resources: compost, mulch, water, electricity, and WiFi. You gain co-applicant standing for funding opportunities, placement in our online store, marketing and blog features, and access to a customer network we've already built. You keep every dollar your craft earns.

Program participation fee: $650/mo (Beekeepers $350/mo), tax-deductible.

Below are the roles we are actively recruiting. If your craft is not listed but fits the program, apply anyway.

Young woman practicing yoga outdoors, palms pressed together in prayer position, eyes closed, surrounded by green foliage.

The Yoga or Wellness Leader

What you gain: The farm as a venue for half-day, weekend, or week-long retreats, scheduled through the program. We host the land; you bring the practice and the practitioners. What you build: A retreat practice with a regenerative-farm setting most studios can't offer. Revenue is yours

A large group of fish swimming in greenish water, some with open mouths.

The Aquaculture Steward

What you gain: Access to three on-site ponds within an active regenerative system, with nutrient inputs already cycling from the snail operation. You complete a loop rather than starting from scratch. What you build: A small aquaculture practice — catfish, tilapia, duckweed, water chestnut — with direct-to-consumer and restaurant accounts. Revenue is yours.

A woman tending to flowers inside a large greenhouse with bright lighting and curved support arches.

The Cut Flower Grower

What you gain: Microbially active compost that grows specialty flowers extraordinarily well, plus a customer network of event florists and premium markets. What you build: Lisianthus, dahlia, peony, ranunculus for wedding designers, event florists, and farmers market customers. Revenue is yours.

A woman wearing a teal top and orange pants, with curly hair and earrings, is holding a jar labeled "refillables" filled with dried herbs or flowers in a store with shelves of labeled jars of various herbs and spices.

The Medicinal Herbalist

What you gain: Compost that builds the beds and a wellness-conscious customer base across DFW already in our network. What you build: An apothecary (calendula, echinacea, tulsi, chamomile, lemon balm, motherwort) as tinctures, salves, dried herbs, and blended teas. Revenue is yours.

Display of various amber glass bottles and small vials on a table, with handwritten tags, set against a rustic stone wall with modern gold wall sconces holding candles.

The Mucin Skincare Formulator

What you gain: A domestic snail mucin supply that does not exist anywhere else in the United States. You cannot source this input without a partner like us. What you build: K-beauty-grade serums, creams, and eye gels — American-made, with a provenance story no competitor can tell. Revenue is yours.

People gather at a food stall selling roasted chestnuts; one person is handing money to the seller while the seller receives it.

The Chef or Specialty Food Producer

What you gain: Premium positioning, direct relationships with DFW restaurants and markets, and a product line no one else in North Texas can offer. What you build: A farm-to-table practice or specialty food line rooted in the farm's harvest. Revenue is yours.

A woman holding a black woven basket filled with large green collard leaves in a garden.

The Microgreens & Specialty Vegetable Grower

What you gain: Compost-amended beds, fast cycles, and chef-direct accounts already in our network. What you build: A microgreens and specialty vegetable practice. You bring the technique, the seeds, and the work. Revenue is yours.

Close-up of pink and beige mushroom gills with detailed texture and pattern.

The Mushroom Cultivator

What you gain: Spent farm substrates (straw, coffee grounds, sawdust) as your growing medium, plus restaurant accounts already in our network. What you build: High-margin, fast-cycle shiitake, lion's mane, oyster, and chestnut mushrooms. Revenue is yours.

A jar of honey with a cloth cover tied with string, surrounded by cherry blossoms on a yellow tablecloth.

The Beekeeper

What you gain: A regenerative, chemical-free farm and medicinal herb landscape where bees thrive. What you build:Honey, beeswax, and propolis for direct sale — while your bees pollinate the working farm. Revenue is yours.

Program Fellow Application

What is required before you arrive

  • A brief portfolio or documentation of your trade before the vetting process begins.

  • Completion of an online Nonviolent Communication (NVC) prerequisite course.

  • Clearance of an extensive background check administered by HHH

  • The vetting process is thorough and unhurried. It is not the right process for someone in a hurry.

What the program is not:

  • Employment. No wages are paid and no employment relationship is created.

  • A rental or tenancy. No property rights of any kind.

  • A campground.

  • The right fit for everyone (and we mean that generously, not harshly). The vetting process exists to protect the land, the work, and the people.

Community programming is operated by Helical Healing Habitat (HHH), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit nominated for the 2026 EarthShot Prize.

Donations are tax-deductible and directly fund Helical Healing Habitat and the people who learn alongside us.

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