Lunes 07:00 - 14:00 Martes 07:00 - 14:00 Miércoles 07:00 - 14:00 Jueves 07:00 - 14:00 Viernes 07:00 - 14:00 Sábado 07:00 - 14:00

Rancho Mastatal Sustainability Education Center

Casa
Costa Rica
Puriscal
Rancho Mastatal Sustainability Education Center

Based in Costa Rica, we are one of the premier sites in the tropics to learn about permaculture and natural building.

Rancho Mastatal is an environmental learning and sustainable living center located in and on the edge of the last remaining virgin rainforest of Costa Rica’s beautiful Puriscal County. We practice, promote and teach about living responsibly in the tropics while educating our visitors about the significance of the world’s disappearing tropical forests. We work tirelessly to help lead local efforts in conservation, food security and production, education, natural medicine, and community growth.

06/06/2026

The Ranch is brimming with native Spanish speakers participating in our annual Spanish permaculture design course.

We offer a series of classes in Spanish each year taught by Costa Ricans at far-reduced prices as a way to assure that our coursework is accessible to the people of our region.

The “latino vibe” that these classes bring to the space is generally energetic, engaging, and lively.

We hope to increase the number of Spanish language classes that we offer in the coming years. If anyone has any ideas on what pertinent topics might be of interest to Spanish speakers in the region, please let us know in the comments.

There’s salsa dancing tonight as we reach the halfway point of the course and head into a “Sunday, funday” rest day tomorrow.

We hope that you’re all kicking off your weekend right.

02/06/2026

Sample once, twice, sometimes three times or more!

If you're going to go through the effort to build it, make sure it's going to work! 🙌

Trust us, we've learned the hard way that with one variable change, it can screw up the whole thing.

Join us in January for our Natural Building and Plasters Class where we will tell you all the things we've tried and learned over the years! ✨

Comment *EARTH* to get a message with more info 🌞

30/05/2026

There seems to be an explosion of new wellness centers popping up across Costa Rica.

Although we don’t consider our work to be in this category of offerings, we do engage in a lifestyle that we believe can bring about about an improvement in ones emotional, physical and psychological well-being.

Physical labor, critical thinking and problem-solving, walks in the woods, cardiovascular recreation, communal meals, nutritious food, and purposeful work are all factors that contribute to higher wellness outcomes.

Movement, local food and social interaction are built into our daily routine.

Work and play blends together quite seamlessly here most weeks, and even though we don’t market our project as “wellness”, we do believe that the way that we live is a strong antidote to many modern health issues.

We hope that you can come and join us in 2027. We’re got a great lineup of courses for you to consider. Or just come as a guest to get a glimpse into what’s going on here.

26/05/2026

Mix recipe below 👇

We have walls up on the compost toilets!

This year's apprentices have the unique opportunity to build this adobe brick project out from start to finish.

Our adobe brick mix is:

- 3 parts sand
- 1 part clay rich soil
- a sprinkling of long straw

Our 2027 Natural Building Class is already filling up!

** Comment "earth" to get a direct link to this class with more info 🙌 **

23/05/2026

We’ve got a little break in the action.

After an action-paced April and May, we’re taking some time to recharge the batteries.

Our core team and apprentices are leaning into some rest and beach time this week so that we’re ready for our final push come June.

Taking time away from the Ranch allows us the opportunity to let our hair down, heal our bruises and bumps, and mentally and physically prepare for the remainder of the busy season.

These forays feed the soul, allow us some time to do a bit of high-speed research, and reconnect with loved ones in far away places.

After the departure of our most recent college group, we took some time to eat homemade pizza baked in our wood-fired cob oven, make chocolate and cheesecake, and enjoy each others company with early morning Ultimate and afternoon cards.

We’ll soon be ready to return to hosting guests, making furniture for the new dorm house, level coat plastering the Pilón, and harvesting the abundance of fruit all around the Ranch this time of the year.

We hope to see you in Mastatal soon.

16/05/2026

We just said goodbye to a wonderful high school group from the Watershed school outside of Boulder, CO and are currently hosting a college-aged group from Rockford University near Chicago, IL.

Middle school, high school, college and university visits make up an important part of our calendar each year.

These groups most commonly participate in a custom-designed, hands-on curriculum that includes educational experiences in areas such as natural building, fermentation, soils and compost, soap making, permaculture and agroforestry.

The itineraries are enhanced with hikes to local rivers and waterfalls, visits to La Iguana Chocolate and KIS Botanicals, and birdwatching and night hikes with Finca Siempre Verde.

Invariably many of the students have heartfelt experiences that result in them looking at the world in a different light and propelling them towards future work in sectors related to the environmental, social justice, regenerative agriculture and activism.

These visits are opportunities for everyone involved to increase the numbers of people working towards a more just future for everyone on this planet.

Touch base with us if you’re interested in learning more about our group visits.

14/05/2026

recipe and more info below👇
We are making more of these for the Pilon corridor. we will create a better tutorial so stay tuned if you want to make your own Terrazzo.

recipe (scale up as neccessary)

2.5kg portland cement
4 kg sand
1 liter water
55ml plasticizer
75ml set accelerant
20g polyfibers

12/05/2026

Learn more about natural building 👇.
Comment “EARTH” and we’ll send you more info about joining a future course.

From raw earth to a sculpted seat 🌎

This earthen bench started with simple adobe bricks and slowly evolved into a smooth, organic form designed for both beauty and comfort. Along the way we explored shaping curves, working with clay plasters, layering natural materials, and polishing the surface into something that almost feels like pottery.

Projects like this are one of the best ways to start learning natural building because they teach you how earth behaves with your own hands.

If you’ve ever wanted to reconnect with building in a more natural and creative way, this is exactly the kind of hands-on experience we explore during our courses at Rancho Mastatal.

09/05/2026

We’re on the final day of our 8-day Wilderness First Responder class.

It’s been an intense, educational and packed week. The full class of dedicated students has been a true pleasure to learn with.

For anyone living in rural or remote places, or if you’re simply the type of person that’s interested in being able to assist with your community’s health and safety needs, this training is empowering, important and transformational.

The course teaches students an algorithm that starts with the ABCs.

A, check for an open and patent Airway.

B, check for uncompromised Breathing and expose the thorax to assure proper and adequate respirations.

C, check for any blood and a take a radial pulse to assure that the Circulatory system is functioning property.

D, check for any neurological Deficits and a good level of patient responsiveness.

E, make sure that your patient is protected from any Environmental dangers.

From there we go on to learn about a wide variety of practices to help those sick and injured in our communities.

We offer at least 2 classes each year to train medical responders and professionals.

If you or your organization need medical training, contact us about our Wilderness First Aid (WFA), Wilderness First Responder (WFA) and Wilderness EMT classes. We also offer CPR certifications.

All training is done by the competent medical staff at Aerie Backcountry Medicine

Our next WFR will take place in 2027. Dates will be posted to our calendar in a few weeks. We’re also offering a Wilderness EMT course starting in February, 2027.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Dirección

Puriscal

Horario de Apertura

Lunes	07:00 - 14:00
Martes	07:00 - 14:00
Miércoles	07:00 - 14:00
Jueves	07:00 - 14:00
Viernes	07:00 - 14:00
Sábado	07:00 - 14:00

Página web

http://www.ranchomastatal.com/

Notificaciones

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