Tribute To An Amazon: Intentional Community Founder Jae Haggard

Tribute:

Community Founder 

Jae Haggard

(Please excuse the odd formatting that blogspot seems to now sometimes cause when several photos are included.)

As a wimmin-centric intentional community, Jae Haggard's dyke-focused Outland in New Mexico holds much in common with the communal years here at Kulana Artist/Goddess Sanctuary in Hawaii. 

Now that Jae took her cronehood across the rainbow bridge in April of this year, 2025, we wanted to finish out the year by celebrating her life & accomplishments in her own words, and in the words of her sisterhood.

We'll start with words she chose to share about living in new ways on wimmin's land in a lovingly handprinted, handbound book The Wimmin of Our Dreams, which she freely gave other lesbians permission to share in support of her heartfelt mission ... and we'll conclude with the Passings Notice published about her in the Sept/Oct 2025 issue of Lesbian Connection along with a description of Outland, the intentional lesbian land she created.

From Jae Haggard's book (excerpted)...

It begins:

WE ARE THE WIMMIN OF OUR DREAMS

We promise ourselves a future. 

It is our way, creating, enriching life, dreaming of what is to come. 

The future is born of the female: we carry the future within us, the promise of life, new beginnings, when all things seem possible. 

We promise these things to one another. 

We bring the dream to life....

I write sunrise hours before going off to build, garden, task or be with the other wimmin on this land....Writing is part of my search for ways that I can better live a land-based communitarian life, rooted in lesbian values and spirit.

The future is now or a moment from now, is part of us even as the past — all things or the potential for all, within us. 

We are the wimmin of our dreams.

Our lands are everywhere. Many of us don’t see each other often. Many of us have never even met. Yet, we are connected. We nourish our connections when we share our stories, ponderings, experiences and observations. 

We know much about each other and this is a good thing. 

For we have much healing to do, much to learn and unlearn as we strive to build nourishing lives and relationships rooted in mutuality, caring and respect.

I think it is incredibly important for all of us to share our stories — both real and figurative. Our stories, our understandings, and our values are our lives and are the base for our dreams. The stories of what we do and believe on any one land creates both physical and psychic possibilities for all.

This ‘little book’ (as in homemade) is made entirely here at Outland....Most of us can put together a simple tape or book — gather our material, make copies, and send them off to other Lesbian lands. We can have our own book exchange. 

Can you just see a whole shelf in each of our libraries packed with each other's stories — our how-to's, our wellness, our new ways of living together, our discoveries, and on and on?

I sure can. I grin at the thought.
The books I want to read aren't written yet. They're the stories of every Dykeland and every Landyke...I believe every single one of us has important things to say. 

Our everyday lives are important. 

We are important. 

No one else is going to record us or our lives. We must do it ourselves, for ourselves.

Both the writings and the book are my gift to you. I believe we need to find and practice our Lesbian ways and discard patriarchal ways. Buying/selling/bartering are all parts of a male system. I hope you will receive this book in the spirit in which it is freely given. 

Ideas don't come out of a vacuum and are never the product of one womon's mind. I am greatly moved in my thinking, images, and my glimpses of what is possible by the Lesbians who live at and visit Outland. I especially thank Lee Lanning. So many of her ideas and values come out in my writings and conversations. Thanks to Puck and Suewillow for the ways we learned to live the dream....Thanks to Margriet and Kenna who gifted Gimbutas’ The Civilization of the Goddess to ‘strangers’ in the Landyke web. 

Mostly, I thank you Landykes for the lives you lead and the dreams you follow, for your part in our incredible Landyke web. I glimpse the difference you make in all of our Lesbian lives, because I sure know how much you mean in mine!

....One trait I love about many Landykes is our real conscious search for ways to live in balance with the Earth and other wimmin. One way I search is asking myself what a life among Lesbians, in a Lesbian context and sprouting from Lesbian Spirit, might be like. 

I picture an ordinary this-world/time dyke unintentionally visiting Wimmins World. Her ourworld her name is Patty. In the world of the Wimmin, she becomes Chrysalis. 

What does she observe, learn, and ask as she lives and creates a life with the Wimmin? Although they do not know the word, compassion fills the lives of the Wimmin — for the joys and agonies of one are felt by all.
....Can we for a moment imagine a world, a life, a society without fear? 

On the surface no, and no again. 

Yet look a little deeper — feel that sigh, feel the heart expand, feel the start-of-a-smile, feel the tears just behind the eyes.

The knowing of this life is in us.

We can touch it, remember it.

And we can help to create it, live it again.

JAE HAGGARD

Oct 21, 1947 - April 9, 2025

Jae Haggard of Serafina, New Mexico, left us on April 9 due to complications of diabetes. She was 77 and had lived most of the last 35 years at Outland, a women’s land in New Mexico.

Born Judy Nelson on October 21, 1947, in Bismarck, North Dakota, Jae started her career as a high school English teacher. But in the ’70s she left that job to begin her Landyke life. 

Thanks to a loan from a friend, she and her then-partner, Lynn, obtained 80 acres of undeveloped land in Vergas, Minnesota. They built their house, kept a garden, and raised farm animals. They didn’t have water or electricity, so they had to haul in water for the animals and themselves. For work, they drove gravel trucks and operated heavy machinery at a local beet plant.

After ten years, the isolation caught up with Jae, and she moved to Minneapolis seeking community. There she was introduced to Lesbian culture, music and periodicals. For four years, she was part of the collective that created the Lesbian Inciter newspaper. She and Sidney Spinster co-founded Radical Rose Recordings in order to record our living Lesbian voices. Their cassette tapes included music, interviews and the audio magazine The Lesbian Frequency. They were ahead of their time – now everything is on audio!

In the late ’80s, Jae moved to the Southwest, first to Adobeland in Arizona, then to New Mexico, where she and I founded Outland, a 1000-acre women’s land and wildlife refuge near Santa Fe. This land, thankfully, already had water and electricity – but we still needed to build the buildings. A lot of women participated in Jae’s many construction projects – all of us learning as we went. Jae wrote that she had been building structures on womyn’s land since 1974, including frame, cordwood, post and beam, and adobe. Recently, Jae had been running Outland as a women’s healing center with guesthouses (NMWomensRetreat.org), and over the years, numerous guests have enjoyed the casitas and cabins, which include ten beds and ten woodstoves.

In 2004, Jae suffered a stroke and cardiac arrest. Thankfully, a year later, she was recovering well. She wrote to LC that, “As long as I rest every day, I can even do a range of non-strenuous tasks, and I’m delighted.” When she wasn’t busy building, she was also the publisher and editor of Maize, A Lesbian Country Magazine, and in the ’90s, she self-published a book for her friends, The Wimmin of Our Dreams. She also wrote songs for her CD, Country Dyke Songs. When LC printed the topic Our Lesbian Sheroes (Jan/Feb 2014), a reader wrote in about Jae, calling her one of our foremothers “who should be acknowledged and celebrated.”

Jae was multi-talented! But her greatest gifts were her welcoming attitude toward every woman, and her wise, spirit-full philosophy. Many women were blessed by her Light. And we’ll all miss her! Donations in Jae’s memory can be made to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Woman, Earth & Spirit, which sponsors Outland and Maize. Send a check to them at PO Box 130, Serafina, NM 87569, or donate via PayPal (paypal.me/womanearthandspirit).

–Lee Lanning, Santa Fe, NM

Sept/Oct 2025 Lesbian Connection

Outland (& future incarnations)

Since the 1970s, Lesbians have been starting women’s land communities all over the country, a form of “living feminism” in its various manifestations. In their gatherings and publications, many of them identify as “Landykes.” 

https://wemoonland.org/what-is-womyns-land/

Outland, a women’s land in New Mexico, United States, was founded over 30 years ago by Jae Haggard, editor of Maize, the lesbian country magazine and communication hub for women living or interested in living on Land, and her partner at the time, Lee. “There have been about two permanent residents and a very large rotating cast of women who come and go,” Claire explains, “there is a community surrounding this land, too, many women come back over and over again, but not many live here for years.” While only lesbians can become permanent residents, the land is open for all women to visit. 

https://afterellen.com/living-on-womens-land/

A Life Well Lived.

See Also:

https://kpfa.org/episode/womens-magazine-august-9-2021/

https://slfaherstoryproject.org/shewolf-dedicated-to-lesbian-lands/

https://d3uvtyeskjuxka.cloudfront.net/resources/Sinister%20Wisdom%2072.pdf

NMWomensRetreat.org

Global Group Meditation -- FREE!

Project Park Bench

Free Worldwide Co-Creative Meditation

every 2nd & 4th Sunday

11 AM PDT/2 PM EDT U.S.A. Timezone

beginning Sunday, July 14th

Update:

Here's where you can now catch the most recent bout of free, monthly, worldwide peace meditations known as 'Project Park Bench' (until they perhaps once again resume...)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLL8aA2Rjh9SIb-EEVgzAiNWrkse9G-em

Here's how the organizer describes it:

"We've been asked by the Teachers of Light to end our pause and gather again. It's been requested that we take the next step together now and anchor the landscape, environment, and architecture of the new realm.  It's time we focus on what is possible and create a world of wellbeing and respect. Together.

WE'RE STEPPING OFF THE 3-D GAME BOARD

INTO WELLBEING

This is not a teaching of Truth (capital T). It is a focused alignment from the heart to hold an intention from a place of wellbeing, peace, and ease.

Today many are looking for a way to contribute, participate, and remember what they already know but may have forgotten.

Home.

It's time to return to the Park Bench.

(Or to the rock or log or wherever you like to quietly sit)."

Update:

Here's where you can now catch the most recent bout of free, monthly, worldwide peace meditations known as 'Project Park Bench' (until they perhaps once again resume...)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLL8aA2Rjh9SIb-EEVgzAiNWrkse9G-em

We'll be there.

Hope you will too! :)

Community Here, There, & EVERYWHERE: An Excerpt from What We've Learned

(https://www.redbubble.com/i/notebook/DREAM-A-NEW-WORLD-by-LiveVolcano/160026555.WX3NH?asc=u)

So, you know that besides exploring various in-person versions of intentional community we also co-created/compiled a book of words & images to encapsulate what we learned along the way right?

These adventures in co-creating a shared live/work/mystical environment from the early years on up through more recently were set down in the photo-illustrated "DOING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY: Expanded 2023 Update."

In this day & age when the idea of "community" has grown to encompass kindred spirits globally via a variety of technological means, there's also significant value to be found in savoring experiences IRL (In Real Life).

Here's a little paraphrased taste from our IRL "community living" project:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/doing-intentional-community-cristina-salat/1143737977

Available in color print, ebook, + b/w paperback editions

"I am so blessed to have met you and shared so many wonderful memories, ideas, and meals. The kindness you offer and your vision here have the power to change lives and the world. I go into my next life cycle with a lovely, clear, refreshed mind and joyous, nurtured heart thanks to you and this wonderful fruit of your dream time."

Christina, teacher, painter, drama coach 

Every location has its own flavor, which will impact the kinds of experiences that can be enjoyed &/or grown from there.

Here, on the Big Island of Hawaii, there is a layer of ice that never melts on top of Mauna Kea, one of our locale's five volcanoes, which may have formed, scientists theorize, back in the Pleistocene era.

On Kilauea — the most currently active volcano — startled humans often describe the appearance of Goddess Pele as either a young, mysterious woman or older, crone-like figure who materializes into view...and then disappears in the blink of an eye; sometimes with a specific message to impart; other times not.

Mystical lights and other unexplained phenomena also occur on this island regularly.

When the "Kulana" (joy-from-within) community first birthed in this magical, mystical place, the fact that vehicle electrical systems would for no apparent reason just shut down out of the blue when driving up Saddle Road was well-known. In fact, car rental companies at that time forbid their rented vehicles from traversing this road, theoretically because back then all of it was not yet paved...(though rented cars were allowed in other areas which were also not yet paved).

Additionally, there were reports of people in cars being rocked in a way that felt different from wind gusts, and folks seeing things moved from one place to another without any human hands involved.

These days you don't hear about so many mysterious happenings on Saddle Road, though reports of Night Marcher spottings around ancient heiau sites continue.

Yes, the Big Island of Hawaii, home to much magic, is quite an interesting place to live. 

Gorgeous in many places...even "paradise" in some ways, and for some people. 

But also there are underlying realities — some mystical, some more socio-political — that most people arriving to take advantage of time in paradise don't realize.

Now, each of the Hawaiian islands has its own energy...with Kauai being the oldest, most "stable," smaller-sized island in the chain...Maui being mid-size and more developed...Molokai being tiny and the most reminiscent of what old-time Hawaii used to be (only 1 traffic light, last we heard!)...Oahu, with the city of Honolulu, being more urbane...and the Big Island being the largest and most energetically volatile location in the chain, what with being home to an active volcano & all.

How we chose to cope:

Here at our little version of "community," we instituted smoke/drug/alcohol/drama-FREE guidelines right in our first year. However, no amount of good boundaries and avoidance can really dilute the intensity of the red molten energy that's here, which may be par for the course when you choose to live on an active volcano (!).

And seeing the destructive/creative force & flow of new earth/new possibilities/new realities being born is incredible...

Beautiful to behold, but also it is an energy that's not always particularly easy to live with and be immersed in or around full-time...though that's not something which necessarily affects anyone all that much if they are just here for a few weeks of vacation.

What those of us who've spent significant time in this locale noticed is: whatever qualities, quirks, flaws, emotions, or baggage someone came to this particular island with, over time (and sometimes it did not take very long!) those qualities and emotions tended to intensify.

This meant: if you came here ready to create, your creativity was likely to EXPLODE.

I watched (& personally experienced) whole soundtracks being born in a day...!

Yet as the Founder of Kulana, I & subsequent stewards-in-my-stead also saw the qualities of procrastination, disorganization, insecurity, fear, and ineptness take hold, bringing occasional misery to the reflector of those qualities...and everyone else with whom they needed to interact.

I watched people come to this location intending to bike everywhere around an island where the elevation ranges from sea level to 14,000 feet, when they hadn't even biked around the block back where they lived...and saw them receive a rude awakening around their ability to achieve this goal.

I saw people assume they would be able to quit smoking and drinking alcohol instantaneously, just because they chose to arrange time at a sacred substance-use-free space...and fail to do so.

I read with disbelief hastily scrawled notes from people in whom much time had been invested, as they darted off to what seemed to them a better or easier opportunity...without honoring their commitments...without even saying goodbye.

I watched people with no financial resources arrive in a locale where things likely cost more than where they'd come from, assuming somehow money, food, transportation & whatever else they might need would just magically appear...or that someone else out of the various nice people they'd just met would be willing to pick up their costs.

I consoled those who chose to get on a bus without bothering to look at a bus schedule...which, at that time, offered island-style service infrequently enough that this person wound up having to walk many angry miles back to the sanctuary.

I listened to people whose rich histories of relationships-gone-wrong were immediately followed by a wish to exercise their kundalini prowess and join forces with a next new beloved here in the tropics, where surely (they believed) things would work out differently. 

Then again, I also witnessed publishable novels taking shape in a year...

And the putting together of enough new paintings for a longed-for professional gallery show within a concentrated stretch of only six weeks.

And witnessed impossible-seeming problems, healed.

"Yeah!! Kulana Joy Within!! Thank you for your giving heart and your kindness. Kulana was perfect for me at just the perfect time. It's been a time of learning, great creativity, spiritual learning, and healing. I have always wanted to come here and here I am! Kulana will always be in my heart."

Michelle, playwrite, comic, teacher 

Want to hear more about our adventures firsthand?

Read: "DOING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY: Expanded 2023 Update"

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/doing-intentional-community-cristina-salat/1143737977

(Available in color print, ebook, + b/w paperback editions)

OR

— especially if you happen to be forming

some sort of community

or mini-retreat center yourself — 

reach out to connect directly

with Kulana's original Founder

via the SIDEBAR BUTTON on this site! :)

(How connecting this way works: Signing up is quick, free, & you only have to do it once. Then we can chat for as briefly or as long as you like anytime that's available. $5 credit applied to first-timers. Charges only apply once chat begins.)

 

Where Are My Peeps?!

  

Well, well...here's something NEW!

For ages, folks in various circles have been asking for an easy & quick (or expanded/expansive) way to further connect on:

* how to co-create enjoyable, win-win relationships of every kind, even when not every aspect of Life is mutually agreed upon (along with knowing when it's time to let go!) ... 

* how to manifest (or harmoniously sustain) a large or small artistic/health-&-wellness retreat center ... 

* how to apply metaphysics to human, 3-D experiences ... 

* along with how best to navigate these unusual times on Planet Earth! 

Kindred Spirits ... Interaction ... Answers!

As the Founder of Kulana's mini "intentional community" creative/spiritual retreat (which later morphed into a private women's mystery school) -- with all the relationship-building, guidance, boundary-setting, friendships, & magic that entailed -- I've intimately explored the ins & outs of human connection for many years now. 

There can be distinctly different eras, including quiet plateaus; especially these days! 

One year, we even wrote a book about it. ;)

Do you find yourself earnestly seeking your soul kin, soul mate, soul friends, or true soul tribe?

Yearning for authentic relationships where problems get solved, & relationships generally feel "win-win" good??

Let's talk.

I've lived all these realities & more ... and am delighted to have discovered a way to practically & metaphysically address whatever questions anyone near or far might have via a new streamlined way to interact, now that dialoging with interesting strangers that land in our living room isn't what we're doing!

Happy to connect whenever I'm online & available.  :) 

Or we can schedule a specific time: https://premium.chat/TropicalCreatrix/278784

Looking forward to embarking on conversational adventures, large & small, regarding this topic which is so vital to humanity especially through times of global upheaval & change.

(Here's how it works: sign-up is quick, free, & you only have to do it once ... then you're on my chat page, it's a per-minute charge once we start chatting, & we can interact for as short or as long as you like.)

https://premium.chat/TropicalCreatrix/278784

"Creativity is the language we use to communicate
the urgency of our dreams for a better future."

Audre Lorde

Guess What? Our DOING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY book is...out! :D

  

Ever wonder how artist retreats, spiritual healing centers, and intentional communities are born?

Why they fail?

How some survive & thrive?

The primary questions we always hear at Kulana Artist/Goddess Sanctuary are: HOW did you originally DO it...& what's happening at Kulana NOW?

Can you imagine how spending pivotal holidays & building something from the ground on up with strangers might wind up transforming your life?

Some eras were blissful; others...not so much!

This new 2023 Expanded Edition of our book on community is part personal stories, part how-to manual, with lots of pix from our various incarnations. Join us for the adventure! :)

In terms of what's happening at Kulana now, in brief, these days we are prioritizing holding a stable center during Earth's rockin' & rollin' times, with an expanded focus on doing our part towards co-creating World Peace. This means worldwide community interactions are taking precedence over (i.e. somewhat replacing) the facilitation of in-person visitors here at the home space.

At least for now.

Therefore, the easiest way one can learn about what we've been up to -- & what we're up to now -- is by checking out what we put lots of good mana into sharing via the recently released book:

* DOING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY: Expanded 2023 Edition

https://www.lulu.com/shop/cristina-salat/doing-intentional-community-color/paperback/product-qrjv8p.html

https://books2read.com/u/breABE

where all kinds of questions are answered in photo-illustrated depth. ;)

Part true life stories, part Operations Manual on how to create sustainable, "drama-free" community in this day & age (which, as anyone who has ever lived in intentional community for any lengthy of time can tell you, is no small feat!), the volume is available in color hardcover, paperback, & e-editions, + b/w trade paperback.

What a fun — & somewhat breathtaking! — stroll down memory lane.

It -- along with the other books that Kulana's Founder & friends have been busily seeding into the world -- are the best way to catch up on all our adventures co-creating & living "Intentional Community" throughout the years, including how we handled money, magic, love, forgiveness, being 'pono' with integrity here in Hawaii, etc.

But here's a quick disclaimer for anyone hoping that this community-related material will be a juicy tell-all that names names: it won't.

In respect for people's privacy, we delve into the overall dilemmas + lessons explored throughout Kulana's eras of "doing community," rather than churning through specific interpersonal moments.

For readers who might LIKE a more explicit look at precisely how relational conundrums can & do unfold...how they sometimes take hold...and sometimes can even explode within intentional communities of one kind or another, those sorts of stories can be found within the 'Gathering The Dreamcatchers' series of companion fiction instead. Most specifically:

* Paradise Found (https://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Found-Gathering-Dreamcatchers-Novel-ebook/dp/B07DS7FGVZ/), a novel about folks trying to create a truer sense of home & community, while endeavoring to change the world & navigate friendship, love, sexuality, personal growth, + the challenges Fate can throw everyone's way...(can you relate?!) ;)

along with the books that directly precede & succeed that novel:

* Esoterica

https://www.amazon.com/Esoterica-Gathering-Dreamcatchers-Book-3-ebook/dp/B01HUJFFL2

* Action: The Future Is Here

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/action-cristina-salat/1142656388

. 

* Living In Light

https://www.lulu.com/shop/cristina-salat/living-in-light/paperback/product-kz4y7v.html

https://books2read.com/u/3yWWYJ

(As we're sure anyone can guess, it is much kinder to examine detailed real & imagined intricacies of potential complications, choices, + human/community mistakes in the guise of carefully crafted fiction, rather than within a non-fiction volume of personal reminiscences/operational 'how to's'!)

Feel free to reach out with thoughts about what resonates with -- or is different from -- your own community experiences.

We love comparing notes!

Sample Kulana visitor comment:

"A refuge of sanity. Swedish fish & board games & extension ladders & mile markers & bananas & turtles...the American experiment continues." Bef & Jen, writers, students

Meanwhile, other books have also been whirling their way out into the world from this magical location from our mystery school co-creators that anyone particularly interested in what life, in general, is like on the active Big Island of Hawaii volcano &/or those working with our orgonites might find useful include Molten Mama's recently published:

* MESSAGES FROM THE VOLCANO

More an experience, a portal, an invitation into Sacred Space with a friend than a "book," this creation aims at energetically hitching one's stars to the divine energies currently afoot: 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/molten-mama/messages-from-the-volcano/hardcover/product-9ykyp4

https://books2read.com/u/4X0qR6

In closing this post, let's be grateful that a fact of Life here on Planet Earth at this time is: whatever people support is what continues to exist.

And what thrives!

So thanks very much for your interest over the years...for the monetary expressions of appreciation via our Paypal donations button in the sidebar...& for all sorts of other types of support from those who have spent time here at Kulana, as well as those who have not.

Your care is tremendously appreciated.

Warmest aloha blessings to all!