7.53 acres in Pound, Virginia
This land was abandoned mine land — scarred, acidic, stripped. We acquired it and began the work of reclamation. Not restoration to some imagined pristine state, but practical rehabilitation: soil rebuilding, water management, food forests, native plant corridors, and structures designed to last.
The land sits in the Powell River watershed in Wise County. The ridge runs east-west across the upper parcel. The lower parcel holds the cottage site, the food forest, and the apothecary garden. Between them: the Ridge Nexus, the first Phase II structure — a thermal mass tower that anchors the passive heating and cooling system for the whole site.
Phase II: what we're building now
Phase I was acquisition and stabilization. Phase II is infrastructure — the systems that make long-term occupancy and productivity possible without grid dependency or external subsidy.
- Ridge Nexus thermal tower — passive thermal regulation, solar carport integration
- The Cottage — primary residence and field lab, built to sovereign standards
- Food forest — 1.5 acres of perennial food systems, native medicinal plants, apothecary feedstock
- Water systems — rainwater capture, gravity-fed distribution, remediation swales
- Workshop and fabrication bay — where the geopolymer and reclaimed material work happens
The numbers
Current SROI ratio: 7.2:1. For every dollar that moves through the operation, 7.2 dollars of verified social value is created — through labor, ecological services, education, and the downstream impact on people who pass through.
Every purchase from the shop routes directly to Phase II. The Nature Heals botanical line and the Ridge Collection apparel are the funding mechanism. The land produces; the shop sells; the build continues.