AREA ‘A’. MAIN ENTRANCE Parking lot, workshops, garage, black smith shop, fuel storage. water purification, laundry, generator, brewery, community garden #1, chicken coops,
 small yellow circle - Inspiration Point. Inspiring and dangerous location. You have to see it...
 Community Centre - Longhouse, Cookhouse, Theatre, Baths, Library, General Store, Cafe/Pub, Stage, Playground, First Aid Station, Teaching Centre,
 Beach and Play Area - Cabana, Sweat Lodge, Sauna, Water Slide, Beach, Canoes, Fishing tackle, Fire Pit,
 Recording Studio - High End Subterranean recording studio,
Water and Sewage
Water will be drawn from the river, filtered, treated, rendered potable and made available to be picked up.
Closed loop water filtration will be used for baths, laundry and other washing uses.
Decomposition toilets along with outhouses will be used for human waste.
Composting will be used for the gardens.
Power and Communications
25 Kw generator onsite
Access to flowing water for electricity generation
WiFi coverage
Solar powered path lighting
Solar & wood heated showers
Lighting
Solar recharged LED lighting in the cabins
Emergency Services
Fire Suppression using ATV and water trailer
Fire Extinguishers of the pump type
Smoke detectors in all cabins
Camping
Tent sites available for rental during the summer
Offered Experiences
The goal is to create a magical place, where people have their own cottages/cabins that are fairly secluded, yet they will be close to a central common area. In that area is a longhouse, theatre, baths, fire pit, out door stage, learning centre, cookhouse, first aid station, general store.
Incorporating high efficiency LED lighting, solar cells, and generators, we expect to be able to operate off grid, with sufficient power available to operate all needed equipment.
Each cottage/cabin will be crafted of local materials, made with logs, straw bales, stones and earth. We will also be willing to accept dome homes, hobbit houses, and other alternative building technologies. The goal is to create an awesome cottage which can be rented out when you the builder are not using it. Accompanying each cottage/cabin will be either tent pads, or smaller cabins suitable for short term rentals.
The community will seek to attract teachers, healers, musicians, artists, artisans, craftsman and builders. Offering a plethora of courses and activities such as blacksmithing, glass blowing, pottery, organic gardening, log cabin building, archery and bow building, Tae Kwon Do, healing arts and other topics we hope to offer a unique and inspiring camping and retreat experience. We are looking for freedom loving, peaceful gentle souls who can see the importance of working interdependently for the abundance of all. By incorporating efficient high technology, with a rustic and low impact building technologies, we can have the best of the easy rustic life without sacrificing too much in the way of convenience and free time.
We are also looking at using alternative and renewable energy sources, such as wood pile decomposition, water turbines, wind power, solar cells, and even geo thermal. We are seeking pioneer spirits who want to help build this camp ground and retreat centre.
Once the cottages are built, the builders have the choice of living in them, and being part of the community full time, or using them as a vacation spot, with them being rented out when not in use. The builders get 50% of the rental fees generated, with the rest going to the house keeping, advertising and promotions, upkeep and infrastructure. Builders are encouraged to be inspired in the construction of their cottages and structures and outside areas, as this will make them easier to rent. A website will be created with pictures of the available rentals, and booking will be accepted online.
One of the big items we seek to build is a music recording studio, buried into the hillside, and made using straw bale construction, we would like to offer a secluded and soul inspiring recording experience. We hope to be able to attract musicians who will appreciate the natural beauty and surroundings. We will also have a video editing suite, along with high end camera gear for budding cinematographers.
We also foresee a large conference and festival area, and hope to offer unique facilities for meetings, lectures, retreats, family reunions, and team building exercises.
Key Players
The land is owned by Ray House, a Metis Canadian with extensive construction skills. He is a Sensei of Tae Kwon Do, and is world renown in certain circles for his skills and abilities in a dojo. Part of the offered experience is a chance to train with Ray on a daily basis. Lessons will also be offered to campers and guests.
Joining him is Ole’ Timer Al, a hardy 75 year old with a vast knowledge on topics such as building log cabins and just about anything else, preparing hides, hunting, blacksmithing, outdoor survival, self sufficiency, and enjoys telling stories. He can likely out work and run you, is strong like an ox, and knows how to build cabins. He will also offer lessons to guests on a wide variety of topics.
Dave Astrop will be construction foreman, and has decades of experience in construction, understands the vision and purpose, and is close friends and a student of both Ray and Al.
Robert Menard is a competent stone mason and builder and is head bottle washer.
Workshop Area
We have an area we will dedicate to work shops and garages. This will include a blacksmith shop, glass blower and ceramics shop, work shop with mill and lathe, garage for auto repair, emergency generator, and a water filtration and treatment plant, along with our emergency fire fighting ATV and trailer.
Community Area
The large central community area will be the heart of the site. There is a large 2000sf long house already built, along with a cooking and eating area, and an existing cabin, along with a bath shack, and we will build around those a Cookhouse, Theatre, Library, General Store, Cafe/Pub, Stage, Playground, First Aid Station, Teaching Centre. It will be a cool little gathering and socializing spot.
Your Cottage/Cabin
We provide most of the materials in the form of poplar trees, tools, land, and expertise in building these cabins. We have a collection of wood stoves, windows, rocks, and other building materials. Many hands make light work, and by working as a coordinated crew, we can build many cabins before the snow falls and prepare areas for the spring. You do have to be willing to work hard for a dozen or more weeks, and since you will have to eat, and we have to build the infrastructure and common areas, we are asking for $100 per adult.
This money will be spent to feed you, and creation of the music studio and common area along with the infrastructure. You will have to provide some of your own materials depending on what you wish to build. We are not going for tar paper shacks, but log cabins, straw bale construction or a mixture of the two, domes, earth-ships, adobe walls, hobbit house, all of these are acceptable and what we are seeking. We wish to have minimal impact on the land, and incorporate conservationist ideals, and environmentally conscious building methods.
Once built we will be looking to rent the cabins at $20 a night, or $100 a week. That is of course, provided the builders are not staying there. Ideally we are looking for musicians, craftsmen, artisans who will want to live there and be part of the draw. We are specifically looking for a blacksmith, glass blower, baker, healers and teachers of just about any topic. In this way we can offer an experience which is far more fulfilling and enjoyable.
If you cannot afford the $100 a week, yet you wish to be a part, we will accept sweat equity and help you find employment locally so you can feed yourself. However, in order to work, we all have to eat, and by pooling our resources, and consolidating the cooking chores, we get a lot more done and spend less time preparing individual meals.
Activities and Recreation
In the summer, we will offer canoeing, fishing, camping, entertainment, sports and games,and just about all standard camping activities. However we will include the opportunity to learn old things, such as blacksmithing, or glass blowing, or cabin building, or offer sit down courses studying all manner of topics and subjects, from law, organic farming, martial arts, and just about anything else.
In the winter we can offer snowmobile trails, hunting cabins, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, winter survival courses, ice fishing, and seminars. Or just winter cabining. A cosy cabin, with a hot wood stove, watching the snow pile up, as you cuddle with your sweetie, is not a bad way to spend time.
There is also an abundance of wildlife. Deer, elk, moose, and of course those that prey on them abound. For those interested in spotting wildlife, or hunting, this area is abundant. There is also fish in the river, and the water is clean and potable after simple filtration and treatment.
Infrastructure Development
-There is developed system of paths and roads in place, along with a few cleared spots where there had been cabins, and there are three or four large garden plots.
- A shared infrastructure and developed common areas will be required. Much of the lighting will be by high efficiency LEDs powered by a 24V system.
- Community garden plots will allow use of tractors for the heavy work, while making it easier to keep out deer and other pests.
- A water filtration and treatment system will be established for potable water.
- Fire suppression and warning system will be a key to a safe community. We will have an ATV with a tank of water and a pump on a trailer. All cabins will have smoke detectors.
- We wish to have full WiFi coverage to all cabins. There are lines very nearby that would allow our LAN to access the intrerwebtubes.
A community laundry will be established, as will workshops for various functions.
- We have bobcats, backhoes, tractors, and earth moving equipment for the heavy work, along with all the hand and power tools needed.
Share Plans
Plan A:
Partnership- $100 a week per adult for 13 weeks while we build. You can live in the cabin year round if you wish. When not there we take care of it for you and rent it out. It is there when you want it, as a vacation cabin. We use that money to feed you while we build and to fund the shared infrastructure and the common areas. Ideally you will be an artisan, or artist couple, or do something that we can advertise and will cause people to want to visit, and learn from you, and will add to the uniqueness of the guests experience. We want people who want to be part of this community, and help to develop and grow it.
Plan B:
Sweat Equity - You help us build our common areas, and you pay for your food, and you can stay there all year, for free in one of the cabins when they are vacant. We can also help you find work up here in the construction field, and you can use this as a base of operations, so you can earn enough to build your own cabin during phase two during which you will have first dibs on cabin sites.
Plan C:
Fun Working Holiday Camp - You come build with us, pay nothing, share our meals, bring your own food for extras, and camp out, and you can visit and stay freely anytime. You get to train with Ray House and learn from Ole Timer Al. If there are cabins available we set you up in one of those, if not, we will have tenting areas available. During Phase two and our expansion, you will have second dibs in new cabin building opportunities as they arise.