Can I Install and Service it Myself?
Does it Conserve Resources? • Will it Last Generations?
Will it Me Save Money? • Will it Increase My Leisure Time?
Can I Reduce and Eliminate my Debt?
Will it Increase My Self-Sufficiency?
Will it Increase My Self-Reliance? • Is it Easy on the Earth?
Will it Simply my Life?
Cielito Lindo Ranch is a New Mexico based 501(c)(3) educational non-profit dedicated to researching, developing and testing affordable sustainable technologies. We share them our website, our newspaper “The Catron Courier”, and on-site workshops. We believe that a simple, active, sustainable lifestyle is healthier, happier, less stressful, and is good for the Earth.
We have to learn to live simply
to allow others to simply live.”
– Anonymous
GOALS
CLR is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to:
- Researching, developing, and testing sustainable technologies that are practical, affordable, and suitable for any person or budget.
- Helping people through on-site workshops to adopt a simple, active, sustainable lifestyle, which provides leisure time to pursue creative endeavors.
- Sharing sustainable living information by providing assistance created sustainably to low-income or needy people.
- Provide sustainable systems to assist orphaned, endangered, rescued animals and their ecosystems and share that information with the public.
- Encouraging people to create and play – to pursue their passions and live a balanced, happy, and productive life.
- Strengthening and creating sustainable Local Economies.
Cielito Lindo is Spanish for ‘beautiful sky’ or ‘heaven’ — but the ranch is about more than the wide open skies of New Mexico. It’s about having blue sky dreams and taking the steps to achieve them. With workshops and retreats the ranch, we hope to encourage others to move off-the-grid and into realizing their creative dreams with practical steps for practical, green, healthy living. This includes:
– Sustainable Housing Tours & Workshops
– Solar and Wind Energy Workshops
– Weekend and Week-long Getaways
– Writing Workshops
– Dark Sky Astronomy
– Creative & Artistic Seminars
– Relationship Retreats
– Horseback riding and hiking
HISTORY
After years of study and searching for information on how to live better lives with less stress and a low environmental impact, CLR was founded to provide others with such information. The center is being developed in New Mexico—chosen for its clear skies, healthy environment, solar and wind capacity, open spaces, and flexible building codes that allow for alternate construction, such as straw bale, adobe, and other earth buildings.
While there are many individual resources that focus on specifics of the various aspects associated with “green” living—such as solar power, or wind power, or low impact building, or eco gardening, or positive career choices—there are few organizations where a holistic view is taken to look at an overall “sustainable life.” CLR is being created to provide just such a holistic view on all green living aspects mentioned, so that others can more easily find information on topics that might interest them or affect their lives. This includes looking at the value of using and developing local community/businesses, and how can one develop a balanced life that includes creative expression through writing, music, and art.
After attending a variety of workshops, reading extensively, and working on individual careers, this led the founders of CLR to start educating friends and family as to what they’d learned. Gradually, the idea formed to expand the casual conversations into share information with a non-profit center that could better exchange knowledge with a wider range of interested people.
Due to this expanded, holistic view, CLR strives to be an off-the-grid environmental learning center where participants can dive into a variety of sustainable subjects. CLR has been working for over six years experimenting with its own alternate power creation, waste management, and low impact building. A wide-ranging focus makes CLR into a clearing center for new ideas, innovative approaches, and practical research. It’s also a place to acquire hands-on skills with workshops from a variety of instructors who can share their experience and expertise.
Planned activities will include workshops at CLR as well as online classes, with the CLR website serving as an extension of the facilities and providing publications that help others navigate through the expanding information that is available about sustainable living topics, including:
- Low Impact Building
- Creative Expression
- Alternate Energy
- Healthier Living
- Sustainable Gardening
In addition, CLR will develop facilities so that individuals can stay on creative retreats, and use the facilities to expand their own research into sustainable living.
Because CLR does not have one specific approach to “a better way to live,” this allows the facility to explore a range of topics that can help individuals shape their plans as to what will improve and sustain their lives within the precious resources we share.
Once you visit our ranch you’ll understand why that’s our name. Our unspoiled ranch is a quiescent natural paradise, the perfect place to create, to learn, to restore the natural balance to your life with our experienced instructors as your guides. Learn to live a sustainable, stress-free and happy life.
Our one-hundred and forty acre ranch is located in a remote part of the southwest corner of New Mexico — a one-hour and twenty minute drive to the nearest stop light, and even farther to the nearest fast food restaurant. Most people will never visit a place so free of noise, pollution, traffic or hassle.
We’re all about learning and sharing. We have a Learning Lab building, complete with all the tools and materials you’ll need to try out making your own bio-diesel, adobe bricks, and many other exciting and educational hands-on workshops.
We’re almost finished with our Lodge, which is a public building perfect for meetings, classes, or just enjoying a meal or coffee with class-mates or staff. It’s an experimental zero-energy adobe/straw bale hybrid and it’s meant to show-off — at least how it was made. Inside you can see exposed recycled steel trusses, adobe, and even straw bales.
Soon we’ll start on cabins based on our zero-energy “anyone can do it themselves” low-cost design. You, you and your partner, or small groups will be able to stay in these cabins for short or long-term stays.
It’s a remarkable place, filled with amazing technology and enthusiastic and friendly people. Won’t you visit soon?
