I have been living off the grid in Taos County, New Mexico (USA!) since June 2022, about a 35 minute drive from Taos on on the high desert West Mesa building various sustainable structures using thermal mass, passive solar, rainwater collection, upcycled materials and eco-friendly, carbon neutral construction practices.
Wanna help?
I’ve surrounded myself with cool people who are super fun with hearts full of joy and zero hate. Is that you? You’re welcome here. Come on by. Glad to have you. Give me a yell using the contact form, hit me up on WorkAway.info, or send donations in via Venmo to @ChadRiden.
CHADEROSSA CURRENTLY HAS:
– two schoolies, large bus has wood burning stove, propane stove & oven; small bus has a bed
– two 11′ vintage campers
– composting toilet & out house
– solar power
– camping shower
– room for car / RV / drop campers
– couple sheds
– root cellar
– pit garden
– herb garden
– dog park
– rainwater collection
– drinking water hauled in from West Rim community well
Currently building a passive solar Zelda “breath of the wild” Temple-inspired hyper adobe structure, also inspired by Taos Pueblo, Earthship Biotecture, and Dustin’s build in Carson, New Mexico (USA!).
We are using hyper adobe, styrocrete, locally harvested timber, and upcycled glass to build sustainable projects including: solar carport, shower house, wallapini (underground garden), solar water heater powered hot tub, workshop, and TaosComedy kiva.. while permaculture work, water planting earthworks, and DIY dirt road management projects are ongoing.
In the future we will add livestock including chickens and goats, ramp up gardening and farming efforts, build additional living quarters, set up crafting stations (blacksmithing, jewelry making, etc), and improve everything.
The main rule is we don’t want any “trash”. Everything needs to be responsibly composted or integrated into the build in a sustainable way. if you chose that product in that packaging, you need to have a plan for what happens to it.
This is the high desert – about 7,200 feet in elevation. Please plan accordingly and dress for rapidly changing weather. If you’re not used to the altitude, it can take a couple weeks to fully adjust.
Feel free to join us anytime. It’s a dry heat. May-October has generally pleasant temperatures. Monsoon season is July-August-September if it happens at all. Sometimes it rains five minutes, sometimes for several days. Ski season is Thanksgiving through April-ish. Car camping is still comfortable in October. Snow happens occasionally Nov – April. The hot springs are poppin’ year round.
You need:
– you MUST carry water bottles / jugs with you. No single use containers, please.
– blissware (bowl / container with lid, utensils, cup)
– a sun hat
– bandannas to cover nose / mouth during dust storms
– 4×4 or AWD vehicle or a ride in
The property is VERY off the grid. They are dirt/mud roads and they are BAD. You will prefer to have a vehicle with high clearance but a Prius can get in and out if you drive slowly and creatively.
Airports:
Santa Fe Airport (SAF) 1.5 hr drive
Albuquerque Intl (ABQ) 2.5 hrs
Taos Regional (very limited flights)
Train & Bus:
– New Mexico Rail Runner from ABQ to Santa Fe (very inexpensive)
– Ride the Blue Bus from Santa Fe to & around Taos (FREE)
People are coming and going, so lemme know what dates you’re looking at so we can make sure we have a spot for you. If you wanna video chat sometime that’d be cool.
Please RSVP if you’re interested in learning, helping, or getting involved. You can also contact/venmo @ChadRiden all over the rest of the internet.