Sean Eriksen

In 2020, I built my minivan into a mobile home and went on an adventure around the United States work-trading through a program called WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). I wanted to learn how to grow food, build shelter, and live with the land.

My first host in California introduced me to a book called Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, which changed my life. I became obsessed with food forests, permaculture, ecological design, natural building, and water harvesting systems. It showed a way of working with land that felt aligned, practical, and innate.

I spent two years work-trading with homesteaders, farmers, foragers, herbalists, natural builders, and watercycle restoration practitioners. I read, observed, foraged, and sought out opportunities to learn new skills.

Before starting Shelter and Seeds, I spent a few years working in various stewardship roles —managing the landscape for the Wenatchee River Institute, designing and caring for the food forest at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort, performing permaculture design and installation in Austin, TX, interning in watercycle earthworks in northern California, natural building, market gardening, and volunteering at community food forests in Texas and California.

In 2023, I bought 2.5 acres in the Wenatchee Valley with the dream of having a place to experiment with the techniques I had learned. The goal was to grow lots of food while benefitting the land and creating a beautiful place to live. I’ve built terraces and hugelkultures, spread many truckloads of mulch, planted fruit and nut trees, shrubs, medicinal herbs, cover crops, and vines. There’s lots of “weeds” and a handful of mature trees already providing food for people and critters. I’ve planted over 300 plants and sown thousands of seeds.

Shelter & Seeds is an extension of my desire to heal the planet while helping people work with the land in a natural way. I try to bring creativity, thoughtfulness, and ecological understanding to people’s land. I want to empower folks with confidence and connection to the land they live on, and show how they can have a mutually beneficial relationship with it.