Ecological Design
Rancho Margot
An off-grid eco-lodge where I served as a volunteer tending to the gardens, cleaning the cattle corrals, making compost, and creating an excel-based farm management system.
I learned about Rancho Margot on the backend of the inaugural trip ofย Under30Experiencesย to Costa Rica. I traveled around Costa Rica for a month after the trip ended and learned about eco-tourism. I was in Lake Arenal at the Volcano Brewing Company on December 21, 2012 and in a wild bout of inspiration, I wrote down an idea:
Sustainable Tourism Ecosystem:
Grow our own organic food
Build with natural and recycled materials
Provide tours/experiences that connect with real people
The day after I wrote this down, I stumbled across Rancho Margot and was elated to see someone else had already built this idea and so much more. They had a volunteer program and so I thought the best way I’m going to learn how to build something like this is to learn from someone whose already on the path.
A few months later, I came back as a volunteerย and dove head first into eco tourism, permaculture, and sustainable living. Most days I would: practice yoga, work on the farm, eat food I helped grow, drink locally sourced coffee, go for a walk in the rainforest, and then go swimming naked in the river. This is where I began to rekindle an intimate relationship with nature, shifting core worldviews.
You can see a few posts about my time as a volunteer at Rancho Margot here.
