Lifewater Ranch

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Governor Kristy Noem explains her decisions concerning COVID

At Lifewater Ranch we don’t tell our guests to do or not do anything related to their own bodies and health. The COVID crisis has damaged us all so much but not only from the virus itself but from the disasterous and draconian actions taken by governments all over the world.

Air BnB and VRBO have both asked us to implement COVID procedures for our guests and have threatened to unlist us if we don’t comply. It is our policy not to dictate to our customers decisions that only they are qualified to make.

When you visit Lifewater Ranch you are welcome to wear a mask, wash your hands all you want and stay 6′ (or is that 3′?) apart but you will NEVER be required to do so.

This is supposed to be a FREE country and our ranch gives you fresh air, open space and brings nature close to you along with amenities beyond those available to most US households.

Enjoy your stay and know that we respect your decisions and will not dictate to you how to take care of yourself.

Sanford Staab – the owner

It’s been a pretty rough winter this year with almost 2 feet of snow and some power losses but all of a sudden, Spring has sprung and the sun is now raining its warmth onto us each day.

I just bought a new bird feeder to replace an older worn out one. These Yellow Finches just love it! I think they will be going through a feeder full of food about every week.

Here’s a shot of our soon-to-be new pet, Murphy who is my soon-to-be wife’s dog. Things will have to change somewhat as we join our lives together but we both hold to the idea of sharing this beautiful place with others.

Murphy says “Hi” and proudly welcomes all comers to Lifewater Ranch.

It has always been a goal of the owners of Lifewater Ranch to share a place where families can make memories that will last a lifetime.

I feel this goal was achieved during the summer of 2020 when we had a couple of Orthodox Jewish families stay for the entire months of June, July and August.

This was the first time we did a long rental like this and it worked out well. Our families recently sent me a list of things they did while here, both on and off of the ranch. Just FYI – here is the list:

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The family sent me this link to their flicker account album of some fantastic photos they took while visiting Lifewater Ranch.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmP8osSP

I couldn’t do a better ad campaign if I tried than what these images convey.

Enjoy Lifewater Ranch while your family is young and the time to make memories is at hand. Time goes too fast to waste it on the busyness of normal life.

This year has been a bumper year for most all kinds of fruit in the Northwest. Unfortunately, because of the evil Covid-19, many you-pic orchards are closed.

In light of this situation, I thought it would be cool to have a one-day-only harvest time for families or individuals.

We have our own small manual apple press and a few apple trees that I estimate could yield no less than 10 gallons of cider. My son came by and harvested about 6 gallons today and it was a blast.

So, in trying to come up with something fair and simple I am offering, a one-time-only event on October 24th (Next Saturday) all day, people can come by and enjoy our orchard, press, tools, water hose and kitchen to pick and process all the apples you want.

The price is $25/adult (kids are free) and you can pick all the apples you can find on our property and you can bring in your own from other places as well. We would charge an additional $15/gallon of cider processed or only $5/gallon if you bring your own apples.

Naturally we would expect guests to clean up after they are done and I will be there to assist and direct.

Apple harvesting can be a blast for the whole family and don’t forget, when you’re all done you can enjoy some time in our hot-tub to relax after a great fun day.

Reserve early as there is limited availability for this event.

Lifewater Ranch is making itself available for long-term rents in the off-season for 1/3rd the cost in-season on a monthly basis.

Are you looking for a way out of the left coast cities like Portland, LA, Seattle and the Bay area? Are you wondering what land prices and availability are in the central Idaho area? Are you just curious what you can do here or just need a break from the rabid pace of the city?

Enjoy QUALITY time at Lifewater Ranch without breaking the bank. Internet is available for remote work as well. We have geo-thermal heating so you won’t have to feed a fireplace to keep warm and a nice hot tub to take the chill off or enjoy the outside without the discomfort of cold or rain.

These rates are available from October-April this winter only with multi-month (minimum 3 months) leases! A security deposit of $3000 will be required.

Note that our regular rates are also available for shorter stays. See our rate calculator for the many flexible options we offer.

Check out the rest of this website for lots of information on what you can do at Lifewater Ranch!

Register Now before its taken!

Even if you do nothing specifically for your health, Lifewater Ranch is good for you.

I chose this place to reduce my own stress. Work outside, get away from the TV and internet and phone calls. Live simply and eat food I grew for myself. I wanted to live in a slower paced area with neighbors I can trust.

I recently read this article which advises people to use their vacations to truly relax for their health’s sake.

One reason we give a weekly friday-friday discount rate is to give visitors, who may have come from a long distance, a chance to slow down and relax a bit.

I recently lost a prospective customer because we don’t have internet sufficient to allow 4 people to use zoom interactively at the same time. (This can be done, I looked into it but was too late to save the reservation.) But…

Don’t come to Lifewater Ranch trying to continue your high paced lifestyle – it won’t work and it won’t help you!

I believe there is a real good reason God created the sabbath. We need breaks and significant ones at that.

To maximally enjoy Lifewater Ranch, bring all the food you need, cook big batches of soups and casseroles so mom get’s a break, and come expecting to do nothing for awhile.

For a little extra money, we can have our local chefs prepare meals for you that can be easily warmed up and served to make your stay that much easier.

Take a walk, fish our ponds or creek, sit and enjoy the sunsets at lookout point and just sit on the deck and feel the breeze kissing your face. Watch the water flow, the grass grow, the sun flow and enjoy the fresh air and extreme quiet. Soak in our hot tub and watch the stars at night or the clouds move throughout the day over you.

At first it will be difficult. Maybe even boring. But give it some time and you will feel your heart rate drop, your mind relax and your energy return.

For not much money, you and your family can renew your strength, enhance your relationships and truly relax for awhile the way you were made to live.

In the spring and fall we sometimes lose some of our cows or bulls due to it being the time of year for mating.

About a week ago our two adult bulls, Dunnis and Ernie got off of the property somehow. I found them a few days later wandering in the street near a neighbors house and tried to lead them home but was all alone. My renter/caretaker was out of town and so I had no way to force my bulls into my property and had to give up for the time. Since then I have heard of some sightings but have been unable to find them.

So here is an official post I plan to use to post from various places in the hopes of finding them.

Dunnis looks like he does in this picture. Ernie is his son who looks a lot like Dunnis but is more golden in color. (Ernie’s face is just to the right of Dunnis in the photo when he was little) I don’t have a good shot of Ernie since he grew up.

If you have any info on these two, please call me at 208-301-8615 or email lifewaterranch@gmail.com

Thank you!

Due to the Corona Virus, a family out of Las Vegas with in-laws from LA, (16 people!) decided to check out Lifewater Ranch for two whole months in the summer of 2020.

I stayed at a friends home nearby (Thanks Aaron!) and came by once or twice a week to check on the pool and grounds to make sure everything stayed working and perfect for my guests.

The above photo was taken on one such occasion. The family has been building trails, hiking our 160 acres, cooking fun foods, mountain biking the area, river rafting, enjoying the pool and hot-tub and learning about farming from our renter/caretaker Mickey.

Note that Mickey’s farm sells top quality organic eggs, chicken, pork and beef in season and due to the CV is likely a very good buy this year because Mickey does his own butchering. So while meat is astronomical at your grocery, and on-the-hoof cattle prices are way down (due to large meat processing plants not being allowed to work), Mickey is bypassing the whole issue using DIY techniques. If you trust Mickey more than the USDA (and I do!) then load up on some great food this year from his farm!

I also got to teach our guests some chess as shown below:

As of this writing, the family has extended through August and is considering staying till October!

Consider locking in some time at Lifewater Ranch for next year before another family takes all the fun!

Mine!

I used to bike a particularly up-scale neighborhood in the Woodinville (WA) area and would note the many beautiful homes and cars with almost no one home.  Each was working 6 or more days a week to make the payments on these extravagant homes with little time left to enjoy them.

My idealistic self would think “why can’t people just share?”

Could we reduce traffic if we just shared?

As I would drive a 45 minute commute to work each day  (which used to be a nice bike ride till the traffic became so bad it wasn’t safe to bike anymore) I would just suffer in traffic.  We were all going to close to the same places but carpooling was just too inconvenient – but if everyone did it, the drive would have been only 10 minutes.

So, since I have been blessed with one of the coolest estates I could imagine, I have decided to share it.  This is a big risk really.  Any jerk could destroy my place in a matter of hours and leave me with tears and pain.  But I take great joy in watching a family enjoying my estate.  Kids on the swing or dad fishing with his daughter on the pond or a family walking along my valley with my cattle grazing in the background and the creek gently flowing by.

These are memories I have had with my kids and they are precious to me.

So I take the risk and pray God protects my place as I rent it out to families small and large.  It not only supplies me with a retirement income but gives me many productive hours of labor given in love for others.  This gives me purpose and a goal each day.

In giving I receive abundantly.

Lifewater ranch has a ton of games we have gathered over the years of our family life which we of course share with our guests!

Here’s a photo of our game closet and a list of the game we have at the time of this post:

The List

• • 13 Jigsaw puzzles
  • Acquire
  • Apples to Apples
  • Axis and Allies
  • Backgammon
  • Bible Trivia
  • Boggle
  • Bonkers
  • British Rails
  • Carcassone Big Box
  • Checkers
  • Chess
  • Chinese Checkers
  • Clue
  • Cranium
  • Cribbage
  • Dice
  • Eurorails
  • Facts in 5
  • Fisher Price barn with various toys
  • Go
  • Hand and Foot
  • Jenga
  • Last word
  • Life
  • Mad Gab
  • Magnetic Dolls Dressup
  • Majong
  • Many decks of cards
  • Othello
  • Pass the Pigs
  • Pegs and Jokers
  • Pente
  • Peonuckle
  • Pirateer
  • Poker chips
  • Power Grid
  • Risk
  • Rummikub
  • Scattergories
  • Scotland Yard
  • Settlers card game
  • Sorry
  • Stratego
  • Thurn and Taxis
  • Tripoley
  • Twister
  • Ungame
  • UpWards
  • Various game rules
  • Waterful Tic-tac-toe
  • X-Machina
  • Yatzee