CHLOE, W.Va. - In casual conversation, Justin Wizard spouts affirmations and positive thinking phrases almost continuously. Every day is precious, he says. Life is short. Go play. Radiate love.
Wizard and his girlfriend, Tina Rappaport, live on a small farm in Calhoun County devoted to conscientious living. They use rain barrels to get most of the water he uses for gardening, drinking and bathing. They use composting, chemical toilets. The waste is converted to fertilizer used in their garden.
"People don't know how good this stuff is," he said.
Wizard says he lives well, but uses little energy. It’s not entirely a life of privation. He bought a Lamborghini with profits from his Internet business.
The 58-year-old boasts they each use only about 5 gallons of water a day. Most households he says use closer to 200 through showers, toilets and casual use. All of this goes down the drain. None of it goes down the drain here.
"We're trying to live in a better way," Wizard said. "We want to take the world where we ought to be."
They get at least some of their power from solar panels that charge batteries. They use small, wall-mounted electric tankless water heaters for hot water to take showers and to wash dishes. They're careful about what they use. Nothing runs or is turned on unless it's supposed to be.
The small farm is a collection of small buildings. There's building for a kitchen, a pantry, an office and a greenhouse. They sleep in a 24-foot recreational vehicle, which they take when they travel, but that's only for a few more weeks. They're building a 46-foot yurt, a kind of tent/cabin popular with Mongolian nomads for centuries.
Wizard agrees it's a little odd, but better than a tar-paper shack and very comfortable.
"It makes perfect sense," he said. "You can either spend $25,000 on a quality yurt or you can get a $100,000 mortgage or be like my sister. She has a $600,000 mortgage on her house." He frowned. "No thanks."
Wizard's biggest worry is a proposed PATH power line is going to go right over his head. He said it would ruin everything he's tried to create here. He's written letters to the governor about it and tried to rally his neighbors. He hasn't given up hope someone will intervene.
Wizard has lived in Walker Creek for about nine years. He said he came east and eventually to West Virginia from California after he lost his printing business in Fresno. He ran into tax problems and the IRS seized his holdings. He lost his home, his savings. He and his wife divorced.
"I guess I was too comfortable."
The stress, he said, made him sick. In 1992, he said he was diagnosed with colon cancer and fibromyalgia. Doctors said the cancer was too far along. He was finished. A friend told him about a device called a "Rife Machine" that used electromagnetic frequencies to destroy disease. After some reluctance, she persuaded him to use it.
The Rife Machine is very controversial. It's not approved by the FDA as a machine used for treating disease. It has been banned in some countries and is blamed for the deaths of patients with curable cancers who declined conventional treatment.
Wizard swears by it. He said it cured him.
"I went from almost dead to running marathons," he said.
He also now sells the machines through his Web site, www.aceguru.com.
His brush with cancer changed everything. He started over, became an international courier and flew around the world. He got into self-publishing books about nutrition, saving money and travel. He runs a Web site where he sells products, including water purifiers and water ionizers, which they also use on his farm.
CHLOE, W.Va. - In casual conversation, Justin Wizard spouts affirmations and positive thinking phrases almost continuously. Every day is precious, he says. Life is short. Go play. Radiate love.
Wizard and his girlfriend, Tina Rappaport, live on a small farm in Calhoun County devoted to conscientious living. They use rain barrels to get most of the water he uses for gardening, drinking and bathing. They use composting, chemical toilets. The waste is converted to fertilizer used in their garden.
"People don't know how good this stuff is," he said.
The 58-year-old boasts they each use only about 5 gallons of water a day. Most households he says use closer to 200 through showers, toilets and casual use. All of this goes down the drain. None of it goes down the drain here.
"We're trying to live in a better way," Wizard said. "We want to take the world where we ought to be."
They get at least some of their power from solar panels that charge batteries. They use small, wall-mounted electric tankless water heaters for hot water to take showers and to wash dishes. They're careful about what they use. Nothing runs or is turned on unless it's supposed to be.
The small farm is a collection of small buildings. There's building for a kitchen, a pantry, an office and a greenhouse. They sleep in a 24-foot recreational vehicle, which they take when they travel, but that's only for a few more weeks. They're building a 46-foot yurt, a kind of tent/cabin popular with Mongolian nomads for centuries.
Wizard agrees it's a little odd, but better than a tar-paper shack and very comfortable.
"It makes perfect sense," he said. "You can either spend $25,000 on a quality yurt or you can get a $100,000 mortgage or be like my sister. She has a $600,000 mortgage on her house." He frowned. "No thanks."
Wizard's biggest worry is a proposed PATH power line is going to go right over his head. He said it would ruin everything he's tried to create here. He's written letters to the governor about it and tried to rally his neighbors. He hasn't given up hope someone will intervene.
Wizard has lived in Walker Creek for about nine years. He said he came east and eventually to West Virginia from California after he lost his printing business in Fresno. He ran into tax problems and the IRS seized his holdings. He lost his home, his savings. He and his wife divorced.
"I guess I was too comfortable."
The stress, he said, made him sick. In 1992, he said he was diagnosed with colon cancer and fibromyalgia. Doctors said the cancer was too far along. He was finished. A friend told him about a device called a "Rife Machine" that used electromagnetic frequencies to destroy disease. After some reluctance, she persuaded him to use it.
The Rife Machine is very controversial. It's not approved by the FDA as a machine used for treating disease. It has been banned in some countries and is blamed for the deaths of patients with curable cancers who declined conventional treatment.
Wizard swears by it. He said it cured him.
"I went from almost dead to running marathons," he said.
He also now sells the machines through his Web site, www.aceguru.com.
His brush with cancer changed everything. He started over, became an international courier and flew around the world. He got into self-publishing books about nutrition, saving money and travel. He runs a Web site where he sells products, including water purifiers and water ionizers, which they also use on his farm.
"Most regular tap water is just plain bad for you," he said.
Wizard is also a traveling motivational speaker. He gives talks on topics ranging from discount travel to prosperity and to finding your soul mate.
He settled in West Virginia because of the natural beauty.
"I just fell in love with the place," Wizard said.
He chose an out-of-the-way farm in the hills because it was a place where he could create and sprawl unimpeded. Home should actually be a place you want to be, he believes.
"A lot of the time you go visit someone," he said, "and as soon as you settle in, you have to go out and do something. I wanted a place that was so much fun you didn't have to go running off."
There is plenty to see and do. Wizard has radio-controlled airplanes, kites and a pool. He grows strawberries in upended PVC pipe filled with soil and compost. Stems, leaves and ripe strawberries dangle from half-dollar-size holes riddling the pipe. He calls these his "totem poles."
"I stop by here in the morning and have breakfast," he said. "Every day there are new berries ripe. You can't beat it."
In the greenhouse, he experiments with rare flowers and is trying to grow goji berries, which are often used in traditional Chinese medicine. A 6-foot black snake sometimes hides in there, but no one seems to worry about it.
Wizard's office is packed with self-help, New Age and popular business books. In a tank in the center of the room, 16 piranhas swim together in a corner and watch everyone who passes by. Minnows huddle together on the other end of the tank.
"We've actually got too many piranhas," he said. "I wouldn't object to selling a couple of them."
There is never an overabundance of minnows.
On the walls, he keeps a collection of celebrity autographs. He has a couple of computers, turned completely off when not in use. There's a television and a collection of movies on DVD. Wizard and Rappaport go into town. They go to the movies and eat at restaurants, though they usually bring their own water. Sometimes they take the Lamborghini covered up under the carport.
"That's really only when I feel the need for speed," he laughed.
He says he's trying to find a way to convert the car's gas engine into one that uses water. This is a project in development. Others have supposedly done it. He's still doing research.
Wizard says the way he and his girlfriend live isn't the way everyone should live, but he thinks they're healthy and happier than most. He hopes the way he lives and where he lives will spark the imagination and show what is possible now.
"We love having guests," he said. "People come planning to stay for 20 minutes and don't leave for six hours."
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