A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
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A-Z WEST
A-Z West is located on thirty-five acres in the California high desert next to Joshua Tree National Park. Since it's inception in fall 2000, A-Z West has been undergoing an ongoing conversion into our testing grounds for "A-Z designs for living". Current structures and projects include our two original homestead cabins that serve as Zittel's primary residence and guest house, a studio/shop facility, a shipping container compound, Regenerating Field, and the Wagon Station Encampment. This desert region originally appealed to Zittel because it seemed that one could "do anything here" - which she later learned isn't exactly true! (For more about this read about the AZ Homestead Unit and the AZ Wagon Stations).
A-Z West is also the historical site of the five-acre Homestead Act. In the 1940s and 50s legislation gave people 5 acres of land for free if they could improve it by building a minimal structure. The result is a seemingly infinite grid system of dirt roads that cuts up a very beautiful desert region. In the middle of each perfect square of land is a tiny shack - most of them long since abandoned. The area and its history represent a very poignant clash of human idealism, the harshness of the desert climate and the vast distances that it places in between people.
A-Z West is also the historical site of the five-acre Homestead Act. In the 1940s and 50s legislation gave people 5 acres of land for free if they could improve it by building a minimal structure. The result is a seemingly infinite grid system of dirt roads that cuts up a very beautiful desert region. In the middle of each perfect square of land is a tiny shack - most of them long since abandoned. The area and its history represent a very poignant clash of human idealism, the harshness of the desert climate and the vast distances that it places in between people.
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