Blue Mountains Organic Restaurant

Blue mountains organic restaurant

I welcome you to my campaign page, please spare me 5 minutes of your time to have a read. I assure you it's worth your time.

About me

Hello, my name is Randine Perry I am the creator of Blue Mountains Organic Restaurant, Organic farm and Event space. I am passionate about organic farming from vegetables, fruit trees, Beekeeping, and sustainable woodland.

Early 2015, I visited Costa Rica for a holiday in truth searching for a new beginning. I came upon a wonderful old-growth lumber farm with an old house, a do-upper house needing some TLC, from that moment, seeing the beautiful lush rainforest-covered mountains, my passion for this project was ignited and the project was a go. 5 years into this incredible journey and we need your help to complete this wonderful project.

Blue mountains organic restaurant

My mission is to open Blue mountains organic restaurant, farm kitchen to plate concept with 2 treetop canopy platforms. I will serve whole food plant-based dishes and soul food chicken and fish dishes. At Blue mountains, I will have special guests chef nights so you the customers can enjoy different cuisine from around the globe.

As the restaurant is located on my farm, many of the products will be grown in my own organic gardens, and I will work with our local farming community to source farm-fresh ingredients to bring for your delight. It's very important that the business be a sustainable source of income for many local growers in the area.

Treetop canopy platforms

The new mantra for any sustainable business is to integrate within the environment. I have some wonderful opportunities to do so with all the primary trees surrounding the restaurant. Adjacent left corner of the balcony I have 2 mature Cedars trees wrapped in flowering vines, and on the right side of the balcony directly in front, I have 3 mature Pochote trees.

The Cedar tree platform being the smaller of the 2 will seat 10 guests and use wooden stairs from the restaurant balcony to access. The Pochote tree platform being the larger of the 2 will seat 20 guests, and will use a canopy bridge to access from the restaurant balcony. The sunsets from here are simply magical.

My sustainable goals

I would like to minimize our impact on the planet, specifically by addressing issues such as sustainable farming, our carbon footprint, address food wastage, packaging, water and energy consumption, recycling and more.

My concern with climate change and damaged ecosystems filter through consumer consciousness, customers want their monies to go beyond the bill and towards sustainability.

Restaurant carbon mileage

I will work with the local community, farmers, local suppliers and seasonal produce to minimise our carbon trail. The added benefit will give better quality ingredients as they may be picked or produced the same day.

Help me make a difference

I once felt overwhelmed about how to help the planet, and am sure there are many others like myself, who would like to be on the right side of history to know and acknowledge, that doing nothing is contributing to the problem.

Creating a sustainable restaurant is an enabler for us to act together more sustainably, I am giving you our customers the power to make a difference in sustainable dining. As part of an organic farm, the restaurant is where the fruits and vegetables grown in our own permaculture gardens will be prepared to give a unique dining experience.

Aesthetics and Designs

The building structure was already in place as a residential home, so I commence with the remodelling. I had the old roof removed and start from the beginning with new stronger material, I then removed all the interior walls, bedrooms and bathrooms so that I could see the potential of the open space. I then proceeded to design the space to accommodate larger groups. I can now accommodate yoga, meditation, acoustic music nights and other events. It was important to achieve a design that is multi-purpose, accommodating for the restaurant first.

Before remodelling and renovation

The space after remodelling

The results of the remodelling were achieved using local master carpenters, stunning results for a restaurant and event space.

The Farm

The farm is nestled in Platanillo, a forested mountain town 10 minutes above the surf town Dominical. Driving along the winding roads up the mountain towards Platanillo is simply breathtaking, the roads are some of the bests in Costa Rica and the diversity of lush green covered mountains in every direction is sensational.

The topography of the farm varies with only several flat sections, the majority of the land is sloping and many parts are not accessible for use. The split between primary forested areas and usable areas for cultivation is about the same. I have lots of Cedars, Pochote, Melina, Runrun, some Teak and others. The land is fertile and bursting with flora as this is a jungle, lots of intense growth of just about everything and I also have an all year spring. Some 40 years ago the farm was cultivating the invasive species Melina, there was over 400 old growth on the farm with many that toppled over remaining on the ground. It was very challenging to remove them with permission from the forestry organisation Meni.

What's growing on the farm?

A selection of fruits and herbs am growing at the farm since 2015.

Banana, Soursops, Jackfruits, Ackee, Avocado, Mango, Custard apples, Biriba, Water apples, Bread Fruits, Plantains, Sugar Cane, Star fruits Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Abui, Zapote, Nesberry, Biriba, Mamon, Yam, Coconuts, Yucca, Mangostan, Mangosteen, herbs, spices, Caco, Jaboticaba, Pomegranate and more.

Usable area coverage’s about 2 hectares

Location location location

I have a magical location adjacent to the famous Nauyaca waterfalls. The farm borders the Nauyaca tourist’s information office along the public highway, and the main entrance leading down the mountain towards the waterfall. We have 2 entrances to Blue Mountains restaurant and farm, the first access is from the public road entrance, and the second is on the descent down the mountain towards the waterfall. This is very important strategically as all visitors to the waterfalls will pass both on entrances on entering or exiting the waterfall.

Bee Keeping

I have dreamt of having a selection of honey bees for the longest time, and one afternoon return from the beach I was surprised to see a swarm of small bees around one of the entrance posts on the gate. The swarm was very large and intimidating at first, after a little bit of research on bees of Costa Rica, I was amazed to discover that they were stingless Mariola or little miracle bees.

Mariola honey taste

They produce a very intense layered taste, deep golden colour honey containing natural anti-biotic. I discovered more of these amazing bee’s and recruit some help to create the first hive and proceeded to remove the hive from the entrance. That was 3 years ago, and now we have 11 medicinal beehives producing magical honey.

Volunteering with me!

It’s important to create a learning environment for sustainability, I will be providing sustainable permaculture courses, fruit forests, herbs and spices, vegetable gardening and beekeeping. My aspiration will be to work with the local community, farmers and other organisations to maintain our sustainable goals.

Education classes for 2022

• Vegetable gardening 101
• Permaculture fruit forest
• Vegan/Vegetarian/Raw food cooking
• Medicinal Juicing – Juicing for better health
• Beekeeping classes
• Yoga / Meditation
• Breathwork technique
• African / Latin American drum classes
• Bamboo workshops

What have I achieved?

Since purchasing the property I've been very busy remodelling, decorating, building and farming. I wanted to complete as much of the project as without asking for help, to give you some ideas of the achievements to date, here is a list ‘not in any specific order’ to show you my commitment.

• Purchase the farm
• Demolish some walls of the house
• 1x2 commercial blenders
• Re-wire the electricity
• Redo the plumbing
• Complete interior design for the restaurant
• Completion of exterior beautification
• Remove all the interior walls upstairs and start again from scratch
• Remove the old roof and replace it with a new improve stronger roof
• Create disability bathroom toilet space
• Create a new disability ramp for accessibility and legality
• GRS horizontal opening freezer for frozen fruits
• Create new professional concrete stairs for access from the public road
• Stainless kitchen sinks and work surfaces
• Custom made commercial stove,3 burners, 2 friars, 1 grill, 1 oven and extractor hood
• Propane tank installation and certification
• Ministry of health permits
• Municipal Permits
• Cleared over 300 invasive Melina trees
• Creation of Fruit forests
• Creation of corporation, bank accounts
• BCR Credit card payment system
• Hard labour farming

Why do I need your help?

I have had meniscus problems as I used to enjoy cross country running when I was younger, working on the side of the mountain doing the heavy lifting of 50kg sacks of composts, harvesting, terracing, planting and all the duties one can expect as a farmer has worsened the problem.

The pain and swelling became so severe that walking was restricted to only 4 days per week, could only visit the kitchen upstairs once per day to cook, feed the cats and water the plants outside my bedroom. For the remaining 3 days, I had to rest so the swelling would ease or I visit the hospital to have the fluid drained.

The cost of my surgery was meant to be $5800 USD, but because of the severity of the left knee, the operation hours went 2 hours extra, and they had to use more anaesthetics so the costs spiralled to $8200 USD. Having fluid extraction every 2 months for the last 3 years was very traumatic and I gave in and sold my 4x4 Mitsubishi on June 1st, not wanting to waste another week in pain I had the operation on June 4th 2021. My intention was always to sell the vehicle to complete the project, but that was not meant to be.

The Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Erick Solano at the Cattolica hospital in San Jose removed 90% of the meniscus from the left knee, and 15% from the right knee. At present I am still in recovery by applying ice every several hours, keeping the compression on both knees and only eating once per day to avoid using the stairs to the kitchen.

I need your help urgently to complete this amazing project! I need your help to finally reach the summit of this sustainable restaurant to the community here in Platanillo. This is a great enabler to create local jobs, an outlet for local farmers to sell their produce and an outlet for local artisans. The space will also be an information centre for sustainability and permaculture education, an event space for the community, but most importantly a sustainable restaurant for everyone to have an experience like no other.

How can you help?

Firstly, please share with as many friends, family, or someone you know who’s aligned as an investor or donor to my project. It's important to cast the net wide to as many groups as possible, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram or any other platform to gain as much exposure and followers to share my cause.

The second way to help me is to donate to this project, please. Take a look at the Perks and see if anything catches your attention, if not please donate to have your name on the Blue Mountains hall of fame. But please please remember to share the link to others, visit my Instagram or Facebook page to say hello, give me a thumbs up, give me some feedback and cheer me on to the finish line.

What do you get from it?

Besides getting an awesome place in the jungles of Costa Rica to enjoy amazing organic meals, raw food, smoothies, juices, fruit salads and events, you will be a part of creating the very first Black Owned organic restaurant and retreat space in the mountains 10 minutes from the beach.

An affordable magical retreat space for the community to share space and enjoy. With Platanillo being an amazing mountain location and located at the entrance of Nauyaca Waterfalls, it feels right and in alignment to share this Mountain View with everyone.

What will the monies be used for?

As I am creating a sustainable business, I will commit to full transparency of the expenditure of monies to ensure I honour your time, trust and donation. Below is a list of immediate requirements.

• 2 Dehydrators
• 2 Food processors
• 2 commercial high-speed blenders
• Commercial horizontal freezer
• Commercial vertical refrigeration
• Cake display (Urna)
• Operation costs and stock
• Security camera’s
• Electronic till system
• Lighting for both the entrances
• 2 Polly tunnels and compost for organic vegetable growing
• 1 Ramp pump to connect the spring water to the restaurant
• 21 car parking space along the public road
• Extension of the balcony to increase capacity
• 2 Treetop canopy platforms
• Completion of the 4 bedroom space for guests

I am looking to raise $120,000 USD

My customers are assured as we own half the entrance to Nauyaca Waterfall, thousands of tourists flock to visit this area for the magical wonder of Costa Rica. I am located only 10 minutes drive from the beach, and having 2 entrances to the restaurant will ensure visitors will have easy access. It will be a place where you can stop in and enjoy the amazing rainforest views from both indoor and outdoor seating areas or quick Grab and go orders.

I appreciate your help very much.