Galangal – the Ginger of Thailand
Galangal is a rhizome of plants in the ginger family its roots stemming originally from Indonesia. Similar to it’s brother ginger, though lighter in colour and stronger in taste it is high in fiber, sodium, vitamin A and C. They are available as a whole rhizome, cut or powdered. The whole fresh rhizome is very […]
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 […]
Yellow Heirloom Eggplants
These beautiful eggplants are an heirloom species from seeds bought in the U.S. and are about the size of a baseball. They grew easily in bags and have been moved into well-composted soil in full sun during the hot dry season, and are producing well.
Favorite Things
These are some of our favorite sites around Costa Rica and beyond. Costa Rica Gardening / Plants Ark Herb Farm – Located on the slopes of the Poas volcano, roughly north of San Jose in the mountains, the Ark Herb Farm is an “Ethno Botanical Garden” and has a huge variety (more than 300 types) […]
