Sustainable Settings: 244-Acre Biodynamic Ranch in Colorado
Latitude Regenerative Real Estate works to connect legacy properties with a new generation of capable stewards. Mark Voss is writing a series to spotlight exemplar land stewardship mentors. Brook and Rose LeVan are such leaders in the regenerative movement. They are the co-founders of Sustainable Settings, a 244-acre biodynamic ranch - “a living laboratory, an ongoing experiment, an inquiry through the lens of art, science, and consciousness, into the nature of place.”
I first met Brook LeVan at the Biodynamic Farming Conference in Colorado in November last year.
If Biodynamics is a new term for you, I really like the definition of Biodynamics put forward by the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance:
Biodynamics is a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, gardening, food, and nutrition. Biodynamics is rooted in the work of philosopher and scientist Dr. Rudolf Steiner, whose 1924 lectures to farmers opened a new way to integrate scientific understanding with a recognition of spirit in nature.
I attended two workshops that Brook presented and learned about a heightened level of inquiry and trust of our capacity to sense and deliver what the land needs. In collaboration with the unseen world, human beings can be effective co-creators of elevated thriving.
In the workshops, we harmonized trees, experimented with dowsing, and worked with biodynamic preparations - homeopathic medicines for earth healing. This was, as the workshop advertised, an expansion of my agrarian toolbox, and a deepening of my personal biodynamic agriculture practices.
Two months later, I found myself on US 70 crossing the continental divide headed to visit Brook and his partner, Rose, at Sustainable Settings - their Biodynamically managed ranch on the beautiful Crystal River.
I was traveling there for a few reasons: I wanted to get to know Brook better and meet Rose; I wanted to see and sense into the land he had spoken about in his workshops; and I wanted to learn about his aspirations for future work since he was selling the ranch - their life’s work for the last 27 years.
When I arrived, the homestead was warm, colorful, and inviting. French fries were being sliced and Peruvian sauces were on the stove. We visited at their dining room table on a sunny unseasonably warm afternoon before Brook took me on a few hours-long walkabout to tour the significant infrastructure that supports the whole farm organism.
The “Victorian” homestead.
Brook and Rose are spirit-led artists. They are makers of and co-creators with.
This was readily apparent as we toured the property. Some of the buildings we visited were ones you might see on any sustainably-oriented farm: greenhouse, seasonal kitchens, bath houses, farm office, barn and milk house - but each of these structures demonstrated an attention to detail, archetype, ritual and a deliberate therapeutic orientation for their inhabitants.
No stanchions in the A-2/A-2 raw milk dairy barn for milking the cows born on the ranch, just a large, open, well ventilated area where the cows and milk-maid (Rose’s name for herself) can be together. Cosmic detailing and sacred geometry had their place in the construction and renovation of each space on the farm.
Then there were the numerous structures that are unique to Sustainable Settings.
We visited the south-facing crystal laboratory, where Brook stores and potentizes a vast array of siliceous crystals including 24K Silica Blend, Amethyst, Celestine, Citrine, Rose Quartz, Red Tourmaline and others for use in making the signature Biodynamic Source Horn Silica 501 preparation, an atmospheric field spray that “aids in photosynthesis, reduces susceptibility to diseases, enhances … flavor, fragrance, shelf life, and essential oil content.”
While many farms have root cellars to store potatoes, beets, squash and the like through the winter, the Sustainable Settings root cellar, who is called Sophia, is a cosmically imbued collector of storage and flavor forces.
Michelin star restaurants in Aspen rave about the crops that spend time in this chamber. A hand-built earthen skep with a metal cap, forged with planetary symbols, offers protection and a pathway for the cosmos to concentrate into the bounty stored within.
On an acre of land east of the homestead, we came to an assiduously planned and laid out area devoted to the making and interment of the Biodynamic preparations.
Each of the preparations has its optimized placement in a terrestrial constellation, which is fenced into a protective corral, including a Torii gate made of logs harvested from the property.
As Brook explained the architectural elements we were touring, he also spoke about the land this infrastructure was developed to support in its thriving. When he and Rose came here in 1997 to heal the land and rediscover truth and beauty, they employed a number of approaches to integrate spirit and material elements of the farm. Working with forces greater than themselves and guiding them through their will and intentions have mattered in measurable ways. They have improved the fertility and soil life to among the top 1% of farms as measured by a far reaching NRCS study of 140,000 farms.
As Brook likes to say, “It’s not woo- woo; it’s Who? Who?”
In other words, who is here to be co-created with?
From the ancestors who dwell here, to the Ute people who call this place home, to the microbes in the soil, to the elk and the pines and the cattle and the sown crops, to the elemental beings, the spirits of the mountains, to the cosmic forces streaming in - Brook and Rose are acknowledging their community of co-creators at a deeply comprehensive level. The super-sensible is palpable at Sustainable Settings. Brook and Rose acknowledge and draw attention to the powers and forces of Life. One can truly feel the source of aliveness animating all as one walks the land here.
Additionally, community engagement and education is a significant aspect of the stewardship mission of Brook and Rose at Sustainable Settings Ranch.
Their influence reaches far and wide. Brook is a sought after speaker and the flavor and nutrition of the food raised here is celebrated throughout the region. Sustainable Settings has offered a rich program of educational opportunities on farming, ranching, philosophy, art, and natural building to workshop participants and residential apprentices over its long history.
Community events, festivals, and farm tours bring farmers, chefs, artists, neighbors, and seekers together often to learn, celebrate, and cultivate reciprocity with the land.
I ended my short but impactful time with Brook and Rose back at the dinner table where we ate steak with those French fries and Peruvian sauces - all made with farm-raised ingredients - and debriefed about the day.
Brook and Rose have stewarded this 244 acre ranch for almost three decades and have produced measurable and immeasurable results.
They have achieved a level of success worth celebrating - and replicating. They shared with me their hope of finding a new steward for Sustainable Settings to carry on their work here, while they begin a new project elsewhere. In this way, they can bring their practice to a new region and continue their meaningful work.
In order to fund the next chapter of their experiment, they are offering this Crystal River Gem for sale. Visit their website for a more comprehensive and inspiring picture of the interwoven elements of the whole farm organism and its far reaching impact through words, photos, and videos.
It’s an honor to spotlight these stewards as they transition to their next endeavor. To learn more about the sale of the ranch, reach out to me for an introduction to Brook and Rose.
