Each year we host students and visitors for hands-on sustainability learning and your financial support makes our work possible!
For example:
- We inspire children to learn about the connections between food, farms and natural systems.
- We test and experiment with innovative ways to build fertile soil through rotations, composting, diversity, and integrated crop and animal production.
- We teach young farmers and ranchers to use organic and Biodynamic methods that are vital to building healthy soil and securing our local food supply.
Your donation will help us continue to provide our high-caliber experiential education and demonstrate our working model of a more secure local foodshed. Please read the following selected list of accomplishments that donations helped support. We hope you will be as heartened as we are by our progress.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration. Sustainable Settings is a 501c3, all contributions are tax deductible. Donate Now
Sustainable Settings ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Hands-on Learning – Real life skills
- Square Rule Timber Framing Workshop: Participants learned how carve mortise and tenon joinery and raised the timbers for our Bathhouse and Public Restroom facility. Adding necessary facilities to accommodate all our guests, students & visitors with green design and build.
- Butchering 101: In collaboration with The Local Pig Charcuterie & Adam Northcraft from Kansas City. Happy healthy animals raised in a compassionate way make the best meat.
- Biodynamic Synergistic Herbal Salves with Dynamic Roots: Students of all ages learned how to create their own herbal salves, lip balms and skin creams with locally grown herbs. We call our products ‘skin food’ for a reason.
- Researched, planned, and implemented Biodynamics on the broad-scale as part of our 80-acre pasture renovation: drilled in our custom non-GMO alfalfa-free seed mix to our upper 45 acres and inoculated the fields with Biodynamic preparations.
- Bee Guardianship: We annually host organic beekeeping for new and returning students with honey bee hives led by Corwin Bell. Bees! Our mentors – teaching us how to develop in accordance with nature.
- Sustainable Settings’ Internship projects included: identifying on-ranch wild, edible and medicinal native plants; initial research into the preservation and restoration of the historic settler’s cabins; and further research and implementation of Biodynamic practices throughout the ranch. Powerful and life-changing learning.
- Field days sharing with ranchers, farmers and growers of all ages our successful collaborations with all the microbes, fungi and earthworms in our healthy pastures. Demonstrating the optimum conditions for the organisms in the soil to do their best work. They’re the real farmers!
- Bus Loads of local and Regional School Children – from 5-day intensive overnights on sustainable agriculture, green building and renewable energy to two-hour Pre-school and Kindergarten hands-on ranching. We’re always available to host daily family tours and smaller educational gatherings on food production and preservation and animal husbandry. Reskilling for the long haul.
Our thriving on-ranch economic engines continue to demonstrate sustainable agriculture
- Planned, planted, nurtured, harvested, and marketed more safe local organic vegetables, herbs and flowers for our CSA members and local markets. Our regenerative nutrient cycle builds healthy topsoil as we harvest nutrient dense and delicious milk, meat, eggs, grain, and veggies.
- The cow share raw dairy operation grew from milking 8 cows to 12, serving over 100 families with beyond organic raw milk.
- Provided Biodynamic, no-soy eggs, beyond organic beef, pork, lamb & heritage turkey for sale. You can taste the Love!
- Continued to work with the NRCS (National Resources Conservation Service) to improve our comprehensive ranch management plan.
Innovative community collaboration w/ other groups
- Co-founded the Central Colorado Biodynamic Group following the National Biodynamic Conference in Louisville, KY. Farming for Health.
- Established the new Super Organism circular garden. A one and a third acre garden to be planted Spring 2015 in collaboration with different community groups demonstrating our continually evolving search for the most advanced and holistic form of organic gardening. Honoring nature’s alchemy and sacred geometry.
- Continued our research into Biodynamic agriculture and underlying geometries in the designs of our buildings and land forms. Heal the land – Harvesting Nature’s Intelligence.
Capital campaign progress and Building out aspects of Phase III of the Master Plan
- Received the first $1M of our $7M capital campaign!!!
- Began work with Pitkin Country to navigate their regulatory requirements to build the dairy barn!
- Built new well house to shelter our commercial well
- Collaborated with local architects, engineers, solar experts & builders on green building plans for the whole ranch plan.
- Held timber frame workshop to build our run-on-the-sun public restroom.
- Doubled our solar electric generating capacity with another solar panel array with a grant from C.O.R.E.!
- Built a run-on-the-sun well house to shelter our new well
Your annual gift this year will help us to continue to provide our high-caliber programs and working model of a more secure local food and energy shed.
