MKH x HHH COMMUNITY
A work exchange and apprenticeship program on 20 acres of organic farmland in Farmersville, Texas, operated through Helical Healing Habitat (HHH), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit nominated for the 2026 EarthShot Prize.
Join us
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Work exchange
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Craft apprenticeship
Join us 🐌 Work exchange 🐌 Craft apprenticeship
We are building something like-minds have dreamed about for years! The skills that sustain a farm are the same skills that have sustained communities for centuries; and we want to share land with the people who hold them.
This program runs 2 tracks. One for people who want to learn. One for people who want to share their skills. Both share the same principle: you give something that matters, we give something rare in return.
All adult applicants pass drug testing, complete a Nonviolent Communication prerequisite course and pass an extensive background check before approval. The vetting process is thorough and unhurried.
Two tracks
Farm Exchange
For people who want to learn from the land by working it. You will work alongside a growing snailery, a flock of Heritage Cross chickens, Chinese Geese, Coturnix quail, 300 Rabbiteye blueberry bushes, and an events program that feeds real people at a real table. In exchange: shelter, meals, and skills that are hard to find anywhere else.
Who fits?
People curious about heliciculture, snail farming, and organic food production. Culinary professionals who want to understand food from the ground up. Yoga teachers and somatic practitioners. Herbalists, apothecary practitioners, and skincare formulators (proximity to an active snail mucin operation is not coincidental.) Writers, photographers, and content creators. Permaculture designers and environmental educators. Agricultural students and researchers.
Craft Apprentice-ship
For tradespeople and artisans who want to contribute something lasting in exchange for something rare. Your craft funds your stay. A project is defined together before you arrive. You leave with knowledge of a snail farming system that has been nominated for the world's most prestigious environmental prize.
Who fits?
Skilled tradespeople (artists, musicians, makers) who want meaningful, purposeful work in exchange for rare agricultural knowledge. If you build things well, there is work here for your hands.
Craft Apprentices are asked to submit a brief portfolio or documentation of their work before the vetting process begins. Projects are scoped together (nothing is assumed and nothing is wasted).
Every participant receives:
In exchange for five hours of daily work, five days per week, HHH provides:
Meals from the farm (we eat what we grow, and we grow well).
Access to HHH's on-site educational programming, including the EscarGrow heliciculture system
A real skill set. Heliciculture is a niche, high-value discipline with almost no trained practitioners in Texas. The people who learn it here leave with something real.
No leases. No property rights. No promises beyond what the program delivers.
What you will receive
The land
20 acres in Farmersville, Collin County, Texas. 3 ponds. Open cultivatable land. On-site water and electricity. Dallas is 45 miles southwest. McKinney is 25 minutes west. Full retail, medical, and transit access is within 25 minutes.
Community activities
What happens here is part program, part practice, part the natural result of putting the right people on good land together.
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Produce exchange: share surplus with neighbors
Seed and cutting swap: exchange starts, divisions, and saved seeds
Preservation days: group canning, fermenting, and drying sessions.
Farm-to-table dinners: open cooking nights
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Heliciculture and EscarGrow system maintenance
Vetiver cultivation, propagation, and harvest
Cover crop planting and rotation
Composting and vermicomposting
Seed saving and seasonal seed swaps
Animal husbandry: chickens, quail, ducks, and snails
Medicinal herb cultivation
Water harvesting and pond management
Soil health monitoring
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Skill shares: member-led sessions on anything from heliciculture to sourdough to chainsaw safety to natural dyeing to biochar production
Book and film circle: rotating selection around regenerative agriculture, community living, and ecology
Language exchange: informal conversation practice for multilingual members
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Sunrise movement: yoga and somatic practice, breathwork and meditation
Fire and drum circles seasonal gathering, storytelling, music
Art in the field: open creative sessions outdoors
Quiet hours: designated morning and evening hours
Community programming at MKH is operated by Helical Healing Habitat (HHH), a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit nominated for the 2026 EarthShot Prize. Participants formally join HHH's program.
How it works
Participants progress through tiers. Each requires completing the prior.
1st
Standard exchange. Five hours per day, five days per week. You may bring your mobile shelter. Meals provided. Minimum two weeks.
Exchange Volunteer
2nd
Skills-based exchange for tradespeople and artisans. Your expertise is your contribution. Shelter and meals provided. Minimum one month. Project scope agreed before arrival. This tier is available concurrently with Exchange Volunteer (a woodworker is still learning the farm while building for it).
Craft Apprentice
3rd
Extended exchange for participants who co-facilitate HHH's educational programming. Available after six or more months of demonstrated contribution.
HHH Fellow (6 mo. +)
What is required before you arrive
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A brief portfolio or documentation of your trade before the vetting process begins.
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Completion of an online Nonviolent Communication (NVC) prerequisite course.
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Clearance of drug testing administered by HHH
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Clearance of an extensive background check administered by HHH
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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 at MKH is operated by Helical Healing Habitat (HHH), a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit nominated for the 2026 EarthShot Prize.