Page 14 “The place has some sort of spiritual or healing component to it,” Farrell said. “Who knows what happened on the land or maybe it’s just the beauty of the area but people borrow the keys after a major problem or hiccup in their lives and they come back thinking that maybe those problems weren’t so bad.” There’s no 24-hour news cycle, no phone calls (Farrell has a “Doctor or Dying Rule”), no green lights, no highways and no people. He says that you can stay on the property for days and never see another car. When pressed to describe the spiritual component in more detail, Farrell is nearly lost for words. He attributes the therapeutic powers to the way the property was designed, with most of the quality time taking place in the grand kitchen, on one of the decks or in the hot tub. And when you don’t have anywhere to be, and your face isn’t buried in a phone or a computer, opportunity for deep conversation and self-reflection is abound. “I created a place where people can get off the train. Get off the ride. Let whatever happens down there really soak in,” Farrell said. “Something about sitting on a patio staring out into the world and maybe feeling how small we are in it keeps you in perspective.” Farrell designed the home to be turnkey and he considers it a community property that should be maximized. “Any weekend it’s not in use is a sin,” Farrell said. “The place has some sort of spiritual or healing component...” T he über-Green features that have become one of the hallmarks of Rancho del Cielo weren’t necessarily intended. The rough terrain and virtually unbuildable lot dictated many of the design decisions made by Farrell. Fortunately, there was power running to the mines located on the other side of the mountain but because the rock-hard land wouldn’t “perc” (a test that determines the absorption rate of soil) septic was out of the question. A water well was also a no-go. That’s when Farrell got Green “before going Green was cool.” Handling waste was the first challenge. If a lot can’t perc you can’t build a house. Those are the rules. So rather than grade out the 13 acres with leach fields, Farrell began researching composting toilets. Abby Rockefeller developed the modern composting toilet, which achieves enclosed, odor-free and low-maintenance long-term composting by employing bacteria. Composting toilets are often used at rest stops and in national parks where there’s no access to sewer. Farrell placed his six-foot composting toilet bin below a high-efficiency porcelain Japanese toilet that uses disinfecting soap and just a pint of water. Waste from the Japanese toilet drops into the composting bin, which is filled with wood shavings and aggressive bacteria that eat everything. Over 12 years, with twice-yearly maintenance, the composting toilet has been flawless. “I called up the company and said, ‘I’ve had this thing for years but how do I know it’s working?’ and the guy said, ‘Do you smell anything? If you don’t, it’s working.’” The next challenge for Farrell was water. He equipped the home’s 1,400 square feet of metal roof with gutters that collect and store rainwater in two 3,150-gallon cistern tanks. Patagonia gets 14 inches of rain a year and just two monsoon storms will fill both cistern tanks. Additionally, all the non-toilet water used by the home passes through a greywater tank, where it is filtered before being used to irrigate the property. Continued from page 13 ‘GREEN BEFORE GREEN WAS COOL’ By RJ Price

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