After years of crafting relationships with neighbors and county staff, a capital campaign that raised nearly $7M for purchasing their property and constructing the barn, and 2 anxious years of planning department review, we are pleased to announce Vida Verde Outdoor Education has received Planning Department approval from San Mateo County!! The planning commission voted in favor of adopting the mitigated negative declaration and approved a coastal development permit, a planned agricultural district permit, and a farm labor housing permit.

We recently had the pleasure of raising some organic straw bales at Blue Dot Farm using our Bales On End Between Studs (BOEBS) construction system. This system uses conventional stud framing with plywood sheathing to allow for flexibility in the choice of exterior finishes that can greatly reduce the cost of a straw bale building. The bales went in quickly in this system, pushed between the studs as carbon sequestering thermal insulation.