Berenjena (Eggplant) Spread
Ingredients • 2 small organic eggplants, sliced and sweated • A few tbsp olive oil, for boiling • 3 garlic cloves, fine chop • 1 teaspoon ground cumin • ½ juicy lemon, juiced, plus rind • 1 tsp salt • 1/2 cayenne pepper • 1 small bunch, fresh parsley, de-stem and chop • 1/8 cup […]
Making an Herb Garden – Introduction – (Part I)
Making an Herb Garden: Introduction (Part 1) Check it out! We’re planting an herb garden. Our beautiful 8m x 15m space is a gentle slope adjacent to the volunteer house. When we lifted the black plastic protective sheet we found dried straw upon rice hulls upon a base layer of regular but hard-packed soil. Two […]
Costa Rican Plantain “Latkes”
Two days ago I arrived at Rancho Delicioso and struck eco-gold. In preparation for my third grand supper on this paradisaical rural peninsula, I created a cross between a Jewish-style potato latke and African tatale— where plantains are a food staple. It flourishes here in Costa Rica, though we don’t know exactly when the banana-like […]
Yoga Shala at Rancho Delicioso
Finally after years of talk, wishes, and planning, we have a beautiful yoga deck here at Rancho Delicioso. Click here for a Calendar of Classes and Events. It’s a bit over 8×8 meters (over 700 ft2), large enough for 24-25 people to do yoga. Construction Details The first thing you may notice is that the […]
Shade Structure for Growing Vegetables
Updated March 6, 2015 This project we consider to be a big failure!!! It works great in dry season, but the problem was that in the rainy season, the mesh lets in all the rain, but not enough light or sun. This led to extremely humid conditions that most plants could not tolerate. Fungus […]
Awaken: Surf Camp
Permaculture, Surfing, and Yoga! Rancho Delicioso is an extensive Costa Rica eco village, offering a week-long (7 days / 6 nights) retreat with three of our favorite things: Surfing, Permaculture, and Yoga! Our location, on the Southern Nicoya Peninsula between the towns of Santa Teresa and Malpais, is perfect for surfing. There are […]
Recycled Bottle Gardens
Next to Rancho Delicioso is the area’s recycling center, most of which currently comes from the town of Montezuma, but also from Santa Teresa and Malpais. We can use plastic bottles from the center to build cool and innovative gardening projects. We’re hoping to find an inspired genius to build something remarkable to show the […]
Eco-Jewelry Made From Recycled Materials
I was a jewelry maker for eleven years, and traveled the world looking for interesting beads and materials to use for my company’s designs (Seventh Sense Inc) So I have a particular interest in this project and would love for someone to take it on. Any pile of trash is a potential gold mine of […]
White paint roof cooling experiment
I’m currently living in a recycled house that we call Villa Delicioso, and it has been extremely hot inside, even with 4-inch fiberglass insulation, an overhanging roof, an attic space, and all the windows open. Years ago, an architect here told me that ONLY bright white paint will keep a metal roof cool, and our […]
Godzilla attacks the farm
This vegetarian monster, known as a green iguana tried to get into our lizard-proof garden, and found a weakness, which was that one of the posts wasn’t covered with tin. He climbed it and ate many peppers before being discovered and captured. These can grow up to 6 feet long, and is even bigger than […]
