The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Those of us who struggle
in our own ways, small
or great, trickles or rivers,
to create, are constantly having to unlearn what
the world would teach us;
it is not easy to keep a child’s high creativity in these late years of the twentieth century.
— Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water, 1998

See more Quotations

The Ranch will embody an ethos of living closer to nature and to our families. Among our facilities will be a year-round greenhouse, an organic chicken range, several types of green energy production plants, a common house, and several cabins. Organic farming and living will fuel the restorative engine that characterizes this community.

We will cultivate food and create cottage industries to sustain us, while providing a spiritual retreat and environment for various education and service organizations. The Ranch would serve diverse groups, from artists and writers as a creative colony, to Scouts who camp and contribute and maintain the Ranch, to service-oriented groups, to leaders who want to recharge and refocus themselves or their teams in our distinctive setting.

There will be a number of different members of the community. A core group will call the Ranch home, having chosen a life here, and developed ways to contribute to its continued operation. Our lifestyle would never be imposed, but rather chosen by those who wish to join the core community. Beyond this core community will be artists, craftspeople, inventors, engineers, writers, and others in residence, who seek a retreat space within which to restore, refresh, and recharge their creative batteries. Service teams would cycle into the Ranch at certain times of the year to work seasonal projects, each performing a project of service to the core community.

Construction & Development

Quonset huts are lightweight, prefab structures incorporating corrugated steel. It's inexpensive, strong, and versatile.

Geodesic domes American Ingenuity or Timberline may play a part in our community house and/or cabin construction.

Greenhouse Plans

Planning and Building a Greenhouse by West Virginia University takes into account the purposes, site selection, construction options, and operations of a greenhouse project.

The Greenhouse Mega Store purports to have everything you need to design and build a greenhouse, from structural and coverings to automated irrigation, ventilation, and heat control systems.

Agriculture as a Lifestyle

This article on raising chickens tells how a poultry flock can contribute to a sustainable garden and healthy diet.

This article on raising and culturing earthworms describes how one farmer benefits from fostering an earthworm colony in his commercial orchards.

Keeping honeybees yields more than just honey for those who pursue this timeless art.

How crowd farming could offer alternative energy source

Vertical farming is just that: farming inside specially designed multistory buildings. We were amazed to learn how much water, fuel, and soil it conserves—not to mention the chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and other artificial additives it eliminates.

UNCO Industries provides the tools, techniques, and business plans for cultivating, harvesting, and marketing earthworms and their castings.

Various vermiculture systems are available to grow earthworms, which consume food scraps and produce nutrient-rich organic castings.

Waste Management

Composting systems such as NatureMill's will help us recycle organic waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and return nutrients to the environment, all while diverting waste from landfills.

Fuel and Power Plans

Wind turbines are at the center of a movement in the U.S. toward environmentally friendly electricity production. Commercial wind generators even enjoy an income tax credit, while smaller generators operated by homeowners have yet to receive one. U.S.wind power capacity increased by 27% in 2006 and is expected to repeat that growth rate in 2007.

Corn-powered furnaces burn corn pellets, a renewable resource, to generate heat—cleaner, safer, and more efficient than burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, or gas.

Biodiesel is an excellent alternative to petroleum-based fuels, and is produced by homeowners on a small scale, but also increasingly by institutions that create the supply as well as the demand. U.S. production reached 30 million gallons in 2004, and appears to be doubling each year.

Geothermal Heat Pumps use the earth, groundwater, or even surface water to heat homes in winter and cool them in the summer, saving homeowners on heating and cooling bills, depending on what areas they live in.

Nanotechnology may help homeowners harvest energy from the sun and make it economically feasible to do so on a wider scale.

Radiant solar energy has emerged as a way to meet homeowners energy needs.

Water Reclamation and Conservation Plans

Grey water systems reuse and recycle homeowner wastewater (except from toilets), including dish, shower, sink, and laundry water for other purposes, especially landscape irrigation.

Biodiversity Plans

Prairie ecosystems have been decimated in North America and would be promoted and preserved on our ranch.

One University of Minnesota researcher suggests that natural prairies hold the key to sustainable biofuels of the future.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Landscaping with Native Plants is an excellent resource for sustainable landscaping that fosters biodiversity.