Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Welcome To Rancho Relaxo!



Come and experience the energy and excitement that comes from being immersed in Permaculture!  Our site for the 2013 Western Canada Permaculture Convergence will enable us to bring together one hundred fifty people for three days at Rancho Relaxo, a working Permaculture demonstration farm! Our five acres of paradise is just minutes outside of Rocky Mountain House, and displays some of the best mountain views and pristine vistas that Alberta has to offer.

My wife, Juli and I have been featured on 'The Verge Permaculture Grad Series' where we gave a tour of our farm, Rancho Relaxo. Check out our video HERE! 

Rancho Relaxo was formerly the home of two hundred fifty or so scrapped cars, old tires, fuel tanks, transmissions, scrap metal, concrete and garbage. Together with my wife and our four kids, we picked, piled, plumbed and painted our way to a place that we could be proud of and where our kids could safely play. But, we didn't stop there. After completing four years of research on the state of the world, we decided the best use of our land was to incorporate Permaculture Design into the property, and display a new way of living in harmony with natural systems.

It was our families contention that taking the best ideas from around the world, in order to use resources and energy more efficiently, and produce food that is healthy, organic and abundant, under whatever conditions the world economy sets, was a responsible and viable choice, that we were more than willing to work towards. Drawing from our experience as international travelers  we commenced redesigning our five acres in order to build it into a Permaculture Demonstration Farm. We are working towards the goal of producing all of our own energy, growing (most of) our own food for our family of six people, and then showing other people how to do it for themselves.  This farm encourages social interaction and discussion through integrated meeting spaces combined with events that draw a variety of groups from the local community.  We also offer regular tours to exchange ideas with school groups, youth groups, government agencies, elected officials, service clubs, and anyone else that is interested.
In terms of food production, we have installed three thousand square feet of raised garden beds for vegetable production, as well as the initial stages of two perennial food forests with fifty fruit trees, deer fence, and shelter belts. Our food forests will display the twentyfive species of fruit we can grow in this climate, as well as provide a lowmaintenance, high-output alternative to annualgarden production. We have also installed compost piles for yard waste, humanure, leaves, coffee grounds etc which recycles all of our nutrients and provides ample organic fertilizer.  We have twelve thousand liters of rainwater storage and associated collection/irrigation systems installed. 
Handinhand with food production is food preservation and storage. In order to implement these ideas, we have a root cellar under our deck, and a walkin freezer made from a shipping container. The twenty foot sea-can is buried under six hundred tons of sand, forming a hill to help moderate temperature, and has a living roof. Our walk in freezer will keep food frozen, year round, without using any outside energy inputs.

Currently, we have several types of solar energy systems installed, including: A 3kW solar electric system with batteries and the ability to sell excess to the grid, a Cansolair solar thermal (air heater) made from two hundred forty pop cans, a solar thermal system which heats five thousand litres of water for space heating, and a solar oven, powered by a forty eight inch Fresnel lens to concentrate sunlight into an insulated box. We have also retrofitted our old farmhouse to be super-efficient in terms of energy use, and improve its longterm durability, including:  four inches of Styrofoam insulation around the entire exterior of the house extending down below grade to the frost line, a high efficiency furnace and a high efficiency wood fireplace.  We have an in house worm compost system for kitchen scraps and have installed compost toilets both inside our home and outside for public use.
The other project we are working on is a prototype for an energy-efficient, off-grid log cabin package that we will offer through our family business, Taimi Soil Projects.  This is one step towards offering fully built and functional self-sufficient farms, custom made for people and available at a cost lower than the average Calgary home.
It’s not all work and no play here at Rancho Relaxo! We have tons of fun things to do for grown-ups and kids alike! Work on your inner balance with one hundred feet of catwalk through the trees and explore your imagination inside our tree house/fort! Take a ride on our giant rope swing for all ages with a lookout point, and then expel all that extra energy bouncing to your hearts delight on our all ages trampoline! You’ll need a rest after all that fun, but we've got you covered with lots of green space and hammocks for relaxing and hanging out.
We sure are looking forward to seeing everyone at Rancho Relaxo! Stay tuned for more on what we will be offering at this years convergence!
-Rancho Relaxo. Food for thought, and thought for food.



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