THE PLAN
ARRAIGO
RETO
vínculo
deep roots
open doors
a village in the making
A Regenerative Eco-Village Taking Root on Mexico's Pacific Coast
Xochiraíz is a regenerative land project in Arroyo Seco, Jalisco, where permaculture, natural building and community come together along the Costalegre coast. We're growing an intentional community from the soil up, and we're inviting you to help build it.
who we are + where we're headed at Xochiraíz
WHERE WE ARE NOW
Xochiraíz is young, and we'd rather tell you that than pretend otherwise. There's no finished village here... yet. What there is: 22 acres of land about a kilometer from the Pacific and a growing circle of neighbors, teachers and builders who want to see this stretch of coast thrive. And plans for much, much more.
While we prepare for our first structures, our programs are hosted at our partner site, the Capacha Coastal Conservation Center, an established habitat-recovery project just up the road. Course participants stay at a series of Capacha accommodations with meals included, and learn alongside multidisciplinary instructors.
That makes this a rare moment to arrive. Guests who join us now aren't touring a finished eco-village. They're helping design one, and their hands are in the first food forests, earthen walls and water systems that everyone after them will use.
early days, on purpose
FEBRUARY 2026
A walk through Arroyo Seco led us to our first plot of land, 22 acres of tropical dry forest a short walk from the Pacific. That same season, we met the team at the Capacha Coastal Conservation Center and realized we shared the same hope for this coast.
Xochiraíz and Capacha co-host a 120-hour PDC course, taught alongside Arborescencia RedGenerativa. It's the first time we pool our land, teachers and networks, bringing more help, more resources and more minds to this part of Jalisco.
NOVEMBER 2026
More programs join the mission. Meanwhile, design work begins at Xochiraíz by observing before we build. Through a full cycle of dry and rainy seasons, we read the land for water: where rain lands, where it runs and where it wants to soak in. We map the slopes, soils, shade and wind to understand how the land moves, so every structure, pathway and garden bed goes where the land itself says it belongs.
JANUARY 2027
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WHERE WE'RE HEADED
FEBRUARY 2026
NOVEMBER 2026
JANUARY 2027
Culinary, Artist + Visionary Residencies
We're planning residencies for artists and culinary creatives and longer stays for people who want to help establish the culture at Xochiraíz. Some guests will stay two weeks. Some will come back every year. Some will stay to put down roots.
Dry forest + Food sovereignty Restoration
Reimagining the land into a multi-layer food forest comes first, anchored by a native plant nursery. Native tree plantings guide our work, restoring habitat for the coast's endemic species, especially its endangered parrots. And the food we grow here stays here, feeding this community rather than export markets.
PDC Scholarships for Jalisco Locals
Beginning in 2027, our scholarship program will offer Arroyo Seco residents and neighboring communities the chance to apply for fully funded seats in our Permaculture Design Certificate courses. Live nearby and want to participate before the program launches? Reach out to us. There's a place for you here.
Tierralegre's Military Macaw + Sea Turtle Recovery Programs
We're proud to support Tierralegre A.C. Tierralegre is working to bring the military macaw back to the region's forests and protect the beaches where Olive Ridley sea turtles come ashore to nest. In the coming year, Xochiraíz will build Tierralegre a new website and launch a giving program that sends support straight to its conservation and education work.
Food Forest Field Days and Open Calls for Fieldwork
We plan to open the land as a classroom for learners of all ages. Through regular field days, students from Arroyo Seco will come to learn hands-on and take home fresh produce. At the university level, students and researchers whose work in restoration, agroforestry and water monitoring turns the land into a living experiment in how ecosystems regenerate.
Get in touch, get involved, or just connect at:
community@xochiraiz.com
Meet the Founder
Before Xochiraíz had a name, Ozzy Lusth had already spent two decades proving what the human body can learn from wild places.
Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, Ozzy is best known as one of the most recognizable players in Survivor history. He competed across five seasons, from Cook Islands in 2006 to Survivor 50 in 2026. He took with him the things that happened off the scoreboard: spearfishing dinner off a reef, freediving without hesitation and a quiet confidence in the jungle that looked less like strategy and more like belonging.
Those seasons taught him something television rarely shows. The skills that matter most outdoors, like reading water, making fire, finding food and trusting the people beside you, are the same skills a community needs to thrive. Most people have simply never had a place to practice them.
Xochiraíz is that place. Ozzy's vision is a village on the coast of his home country where people come to learn how to live with the land, not just visit it. It's a place where a permaculture student, a natural builder, an artist and a Survivor fan can end up at the same fire, sharing the same meal they helped grow.
Join the Community
Follow along as we build. Receive site updates, program launches and opportunities to help shape Xochiraíz as it takes form.
We respect your privacy. Your email stays with us, and we’ll only reach out when there’s something meaningful to share.
a gathering place shaped by land, carried by community, forged in challenge.
Our name joins two words. Xochitl is Nahuatl for flower. Raíz is Spanish for root. One can't exist without the other, and that's the whole philosophy: invest below the surface first, in soil, water, skills and relationships, and let what blooms above ground follow.
In practice, that means designing with permaculture principles from day one. We regenerate tropical dry forest instead of clearing it. We build with bamboo, cob and earth instead of shipping in concrete. We teach through hands-on permaculture courses and natural building workshops, so every guest leaves with skills and contribution to place, not just photos.
We're also clear about whose knowledge this is. Long before anyone called it permaculture, Nahua peoples farmed, fished and traded along this coast. Local tradition holds that Nahuatl-speaking families settled the Tomatlán valley around 1324. Today the Nahua community of Ayotitlán, in the nearby Sierra de Manantlán, still stewards one of the best-conserved forests in Jalisco. The milpa, the saved seed and the reading of rain and season that campesino families here still practice are the original regenerative design.
