About the Land
The lots at Riverbed Ranch homesteading community range from 2.0 to 2.4 acres; lot 93 is 2.2 acres. Each lot comes with at least 2.5 acre-feet of water rights; most residents are getting 4 or more. Typically, a lot this size runs $35,000, but the previous owners have to move to Texas! Their loss is your gain!
Riverbed Ranch is nestled between the Keg Mountain and Simpson Mountain ranges, is about a mile wide and 3 miles long. Over half of the 250 lots are spoken for. The land has been successfully farmed since at least the 1950s, and likely earlier than that. The land happily grows garden veggies, and is well-known for the high-quality alfalfa it can produce.
About the Project
Riverbed Ranch is a creation of the Utah OSR Land Cooperative, a non-profit land developer created for the benefit of those who join the co-op. This is not a political or religious project, it is an agricultural cooperative organized by a leading co-op attorney according to Utah law. Unlike traditional land developers, the co-op's focus is on saving shareholders money, not on maximizing profits.
Requirements
There are no CC&Rs and no plans for an HOA (Almost all of us would resist one ever being formed).
Each shareholder, however, agrees to build the following within 3 years:
1. A passive solar home, of at least 600 square feet, that requires little or no energy to heat or cool. We recommend at least 800 square feet of living space.
2. Shop or Barn for animals and/or storage (no minimum size)
3. Greenhouse, minimum 600 square feet, 1,200 recommended.
4. Garden/orchard
5. 6" well with a 2 horse power pump with 400' of lift.
6. A county-approved sanitation system.
Motivation
Our current shareholders value this agricultural cooperative as an ideal opportunity to enjoy:
Self-Sufficiency - Providing for their family's essential needs without having to rely on markets or the government for food, water, power or sanitation.
Family - Providing their children a more carefree rural lifestyle, where they can learn to work.
Safety - A place of safety for their families, from things either now or in the future, and
Heath - The health benefits of growing your own more-nutritious, non-GMO food untainted by pesticides and herbicides.
Benefits
A share in the Utah OSR Land Cooperative gives you these benefits:
1. A cooperative's equivalent of a title to 2 acres at the Riverbed Ranch farm-steading community
(it's called a proprietary occupancy agreement).
2. At least 2.5 acre-feet of water rights (more if you really need them),
3. A vote in the cooperative to elect board members,
4. Opportunity for group purchases of products and services needed to build your homestead.
5. Opportunity to sell your products and services through the co-op,
6. First stab at job openings within the cooperative, and
7. The opportunity to spearhead the creation of sub-cooperatives to provide jobs and goods and services to the co-op members and/or outside customers.
Features
The Utah OSR Land Cooperative's Riverbed Ranch farm-steading community does or will feature:
- High-speed satellite Internet through Skylink or Hughesnet,
- A K-12 school, and other community services (listed below).
- A future BMX bicycle course for kids to enjoy,
- A greenbelt area running up the middle of the community, including a hiking trail, honeybee-friendly trees and bushes, a road, and maybe someday, a creek.
- An RV and camping park. This way, shareholders who so choose can live in the RV park while building out their homestead. And later, guests can stay and enjoy the community.
- Co-op store for importing and exporting goods and produce.
Additional Planned Community Services
Similar to an industrial park, the Utah OSR Land Cooperative has set aside 45 acres for the following privately owned and operated services (which will likely all be staffed by local residents):
1. Academy of Self-Reliance higher-learning campus, including a ropes course.
2. The OSR K-12 campus,
3. Assisted Living / Retirement Home
4. Whole Health / Life Coach clinic
5. Child Rescue Home (Fresh Start program)
6. Young Mothers Home
7. Equine / Canine Therapy Barn