Dude found his funny farm

Last weekend marked a milestone at Wild Woods Retreat our very first guests stayed in Orion, the dome, and another group tucked into the Otter Beach Treehouse.

Which means, technically… we were booked out.

Orion was about 95% done, so there were a few things that needed some grace, like the kind of grace that only comes from guests who can see the magic even when the drywall mud is still drying. They got to watch the moon and stars through the stargazer panels, listen to coyotes singing down in the holler, and basically have the whole place to themselves.

We’ve already got a few more stays on the calendar for October and plan to hold off on Airbnb until our photographer comes out later this month to capture it all. In the meantime, if you’d like to book a stay directly with us, just hit reply and share your dates, we’ll chat and see if we can make it happen.

Speaking of people finding their rhythm between worlds… our guest feature this week does that beautifully.

Deece Casillas is an internationally touring comedian who’s traded part of the spotlight for sunlight. Between writing, touring, and raising chickens on his little half-acre homestead, he’s built a life that’s creative, grounded, and genuinely funny.

It started with chickens.

Silkies, to be exact. The kind that look like they’re wearing fuzzy slippers and blow-dried Afros.

Most people wouldn’t peg an internationally touring comedian as the type to spend his mornings collecting eggs or making yogurt from raw milk. But then, most people haven’t met Deece Casillas, the writer, comic, podcaster, and now, accidental homesteader on a mission to opt out of what he calls “the poison system.”

He’s built his life on contradiction. A man who can fill a theater with laughter on Saturday night, then turn compost on Sunday morning. The stage and the soil. The punchline and the planting.

The Anti-Hustle Comic

Comedy, for Deece, isn’t just about getting laughs. It’s about getting real. He tours the country performing stand-up, hosts The Social Hour podcast, and writes everything from thrillers to comic books. But underneath all that output is one quiet conviction: he’s not grinding himself into dust for likes and follows.

“The grind,” he says, “is what keeps people from actually living.”

That’s why he’s deliberately built a life that includes long stretches away from screens and tending fruit trees, raising chickens, and buying his meat from local farmers. He’s not chasing fame. He’s cultivating freedom.

And yes, it’s working.

Half an Acre, Whole New Life

His homestead in San Antonio isn’t some sprawling ranch. It’s a half-acre corner lot that most people would treat like an afterthought. Deece and his partner turned it into an urban Eden. There’s an orchard, a massive garden, and a flock of roughly fourteen silky-feathered comedians disguised as hens.

“We basically grow most of our own food,” he says. “And we’re working toward not needing the grocery store at all.”

That means composting, raw milk, and home-fermented everything. It also means learning the rhythm of real work. The kind that’s manual, repetitive, grounding. The kind that makes creative work better.

“I write some of my best stuff doing landscaping,” he laughs. “Shoveling rocks eight hours a day gives your brain time to wander. That’s when ideas sneak up on you.”

The Long Road from South Central

This whole self-sufficient, purpose-driven existence didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Deece grew up in South Central Los Angeles during the crack epidemic. Back then, survival itself was an art form.

He left home at fifteen, dropped out of school, and learned early how to create opportunity instead of waiting for it. The same self-reliance that got him out of danger eventually got him on stage, writing, performing, and making people laugh about the very things that once terrified him.

“That’s what comedy does,” he says. “It turns darkness into something we can live with.”

It also built his creative empire: two comedy albums, a filmed special (Not Your Cup of Tea), multiple novels, and his own comic book series, Kill Stan, which tackles trauma and loss under the guise of vigilante noir.

Why He’d Rather Shovel Dirt Than Scroll

Deece is as Gen X as they come. You know… skeptical of easy answers, allergic to buzzwords, and unimpressed by dopamine economics. He sees what’s happening to people glued to their phones and calls it like it is: “We’re missing real life.”

When he’s not on tour, you’ll find him outside. No earbuds. No background noise. Just letting his thoughts untangle while he works.

“It’s like free therapy,” he jokes. “Except the therapist is a chicken.”

He believes every creative should spend more time in silence. “People say they want inspiration,” he says, “but they never stop talking long enough to hear it.”

From the Stage to the Soil (and Back Again)

What makes Deece compelling isn’t that he walked away from the entertainment grind. It’s that he learned how to stand in both worlds without losing his sanity.

He’s proof that you can create art, run a business, and still live simply. That you can write jokes about the absurdity of modern life while collecting eggs from a hen named Beyoncé.

He’s not trying to sell you a hustle course. He’s showing what happens when you choose meaning over momentum.

“Everything looks impossible when you look at it big,” he says. “But give it a couple of years, a little effort, and a lot of patience, and you can build a life that actually feels like yours.”

See Deece in Action

Whether he’s headlining a club, recording his podcast, or posting pictures of his ridiculous silkies, Deece Casillas is proving that comedy and creativity don’t have to come from chaos.

They can grow out of peace. Out of purpose. Out of dirt.

Catch his stand-up special Not Your Cup of Tea or grab a copy of Kill Stan at Inferno.Earth, and follow his tour dates, podcast, and writing updates at DeeceComedy.com.

I bet you’ll enjoy this interview!

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