On-site Tour of the 250-family Riverbed Ranch off-grid farming community

Tour the 250-family homestead community being built on the Utah OSR Land Co-op's 1,245 acre Riverbed Ranch in Juab County, Utah -- home of a former alfalfa operation.

About this event

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE DESCRIPTION (twice we've had people drive around for 5 hours before finding us, because, they didn't follow the directions. Don't be that guy).

Riverbed Ranch founder, Philip Gleason, will be giving a tour of the Utah OSR Land Co-op's 1,245-acre Riverbed Ranch property, where we are building a 250-family self-reliance community and where our 130+ shareholders are already constructing wells, homes, greenhouses and barns! Over 140 people live there full-time at this point, with room for about 800 more.

• Guided tour starts at about 11am.
• Bring a water bottle & sack lunch (and snacks, if you're bringing children).
• Drinking water, restroom and limited cell service (VOIP) available.
• Plan for 2 hours each way if coming from Utah County*.
• Unless you have all-terrain or off-road tires, we'd recommend you only drive 30 or 35mph on the gravel roads. Probably be wise to make sure your spare tire is good, and you have a jack and lug wrench (and I'd pick up a $9 tire repair kit) -- just in case!

IMPORTANT: RSVP by registering for a free "ticket" so we know with whom to coordinate a caravan and/or carpool. First-timers would be wise to do so -- you CAN get lost.

• PLEASE text Jesse at 3857221791167 (without the 7s) so we can inform you if we have to cancel the tour.
• If you live in Lehi or further North, you may want to use Google or Apple Maps and go thru Dugway (it's a better road than the default way).
• If you want to follow someone out, meet at 8:45am at the Southwest corner of the parking lot of the Santaquin Maceys grocery store near the intersection of Main street and I-15. Jesse will be there in his red crossover (if anyone has texted him), possibly pulling a trailer. After registering, please text Jesse so he knows to expect you. He's at 385722179116 (remove the 7s).
• If you're relying on Google maps on your phone (and not GPS in your car), be sure not to browse away from the Google maps app, you may not be able to get back to the directions as cell reception out that way is spotty at best.
• Please register. If you don't, the tour coordinator (Jesse) will be tempted to stay home and clean out his garage. ;)

* SUPER IMPORTANT:

If you're driving out by yourself, follow these directions (or, you may get lost):

If coming from Northern Utah County or points north of that:

Use Google Maps and search for “Utah OSR”. if you don't have extra-strength tires, you might consider going to Dugway first, it's paved all the way there. Takes a little longer, but it's a much better road. Then turn directly South just past the LDS Church. That gravel road will take you to the Pony Express Trail road where you turn right/West. 17.3 miles later, you'll turn left/South as you approach the hill in this picture.

After turning, go 7 miles to our 12' tall green gate on the left. The gate will look locked (to keep cows out), but move the chain and push the gate open to go through to the green Welcome Center. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for wild horses!

If coming via Southern Utah County:

Before leaving home, use Google or Apple Maps to search for “Utah OSR” and follow the directions. WARNING! If you navigate away from Google Maps, you may not be able to recover the directions (there are very few spots where your cell phone will connect to the network). Unless you're an Adrenalin junky, best to slow down on the curves. Oh, and watch out for sheep, cattle, and antelope.

As you approach Keg Mountain (on "Weiss highway") you will eventually turn North (about 29 miles past Little Sahara's turn-off as seen in this picture) and, in about 10 or 11 miles, arrive at the Riverbed Ranch. If you follow Google Maps, it will have you turn North sooner and shave off 5 or `10 minutes, but the road is rougher, so you may want to keep going and let Google direct you to the next turn.

Seriously, watch out for sheep, cattle, and antelope. Also, keep your eyes peeled for eagles and hawks - it's fun to watch them.

Preparation for the Tour

If you haven't already, please watch at least the 1st intro video about "Operation Self-Reliance" so what we're doing at the Riverbed Ranch will make more sense.

^^^ This is what Riverbed Ranch looked like the (wet) Spring of 2019 when the Utah OSR Land Co-op found the abandoned alfalfa farm.

^^^ Actually, the sign may have blown away.

^^^ A 2019 view of one of 5 large wells at Riverbed Ranch from atop the rim of a large irrigation pond we'll eventually turn into a park. Today, in 2022, this view has a good number of homes under construction, planted orchards, productive greenhouses, and even our 1st tame horse (occasionally, wild horses jump our fence and we have to invite them out).

^^^ Here a machine built by the Utah OSR Land Co-op was used to plant our test crop of industrial hemp back in 2019 (and, no, you can't get high by smoking it). Before the co-op purchased Riverbed Ranch, we wanted to see how well things grew there. Although we planted the crop too late and the plants were all spindly when planted, they grew really well on land that had been an alfalfa farm for years.

^^^ One of our semi-regular Saturday tours.

^^^ Riverbed Ranch is snuggled between two mountains. Those are the Simpson mountains in this picture. Southwest of the Ranch is Keg Mountain. Beautiful views of both from every lot.

^^^ Remodeling an existing structure on the property to become our "Welcome Center". It looks very nice now and includes a large meeting area, a full-blown kitchen, offices, and two bathrooms.

^^^ A past Meteor Shower event brought out 87 people (half were kids)!

The Vezzani couple are already producing and selling surplus vegetables, even though their straw bale home is not finished. They produced all sorts of veggies all Summer.

This is a home at Riverbed Ranch being built using ICF (insulated concrete forms). The big windows on the left allow lots of sunshine in the Winter to heat up that thick cement wall, which then radiates heat into the home throughout the night. During the Summer, those windows are shaded by an overhang.

A barn raising! (It was actually a shop). Residents at Riverbed Ranch are quick to help each other with such projects.

This is the first home finished at Riverbed Ranch. It's ICF (insulated concrete forms) construction. Behind that scaffolding is their "solar chimney" that pulls 55 degree air into the house year round through a 100' underground pipe. Much easier to heat outside air up to comfortable range when it comes in at that temperature during the Winter.

The solar array powering the Welcome Center.

An innovative, highly-insulated construction method using 9" of EPS (encapsulated polystyrene) styrofoam in the walls and 18" in the ceiling. In November, the finished shell of this home, without any other form of heating (yet) other than sunshine, got up to 60 degrees inside when it was in the 30s outside.

Philip Gleason's first garden at Riverbed Ranch (2021). He only added some compost to the soil that once grew alfalfa and look how green it all is!

Most of the current adult residents of Riverbed Ranch got together for a 2022 Thanksgiving party!