About | The Mojave Center

Our story

The Mojave Center began with a mission rooted in the Mojave Desert, where we empowered individuals to build their own sustainable, affordable homes.

As our vision evolved, so did our name—now embodying the transformative spirit of the Mojave snake, a symbol of resilience, renewal, and growth.

While our origins lie in the Mojave, our mission has expanded to other desert zones and regions across the country, fostering transformation in communities far and wide.

At the Mojave Center, we inspire transformation not only in how we live but in how we connect with our environment, creating thriving communities through natural building, water management, and regenerative design. Join us as we pave the way for a future shaped by creativity, sustainability, and profound change.

We are a demonstration site

showcasing a

balance

of Sustainable

desert living

systems

Affordable Earthen Building

Earthbag Domes

Strawbale

Cob

Rammed Earth

Natural Plasters & Finishwork

Off Grid Desert Living

Water Catchment

Grey water Basins

Composting Toilet Systems

Solar power

Appropriate Native Planting

Who

The

The Mojave Center is in all of us.

Without you, there is no us.

We are a collective of individuals from different cultures, perspectives and representations of life. Together we share the natural world as our common denominator. Together we manifest a unique representation of life on planet earth.

Ian

Zatarain

Nicolette

Zatarain

Founder

Executive Director, Firefighter, Permaculture Designer, Watershed Management Design Graduate, Wilderness First Responder, BS Tourism + Outdoor Leadership, AA Cultural Anthropology/Archaeology & Lead Building Instructor.

Founder

Program + Marketing Director,

Creative Designer, BS in Drafting & Design, Staff Photographer, Event Coordinator & Lead Building Instructor

Jared

Posey

Lead Instructor

Mojave Center Apprentice 2021

Permaculture Designer

Lead Off Site Building Instructor

THE

WHY

Our ultimate goal behind the Mojave Center is to inspire a meaningful and lasting bond to our natural world. Through tactful skills, natural materials and creation from our own hands, we hope reconnect individuals to the beauty and importance of open and wild spaces.

TangIble skills for a better future

How can we build more appropriately for our given environment while lowering our carbon footprint and using the local materials around us? This is one of the questions we are answering at the Mojave Center. We demonstrate various ways to build with natural materials for different environments. Additionally, we saw a need to teach practical building skills. Simple and intuitive building techniques mastered only by the touch of your own hand, this is the connection we are striving to bridge.

connection to natural & wild Spaces

There is a profound beauty in finding abundance in a place often thought of as barren and vast. Our desert landscape offers more than meets the eye when you understand how to look and build with its resources. Hidden oases, vibrant clays, unique wildlife, and flora native to our corner of the Chihuahuan Desert provide the foundation for our work and vision. The Mojave Center’s location to this remote desert near the border with Mexico was guided by a desire to deepen our relationship with the land and reconnection to open and wild desert spaces.

Form a collective

We are not in this alone. In order to make substantial change among the common norm, we know we must work in numbers. Every year we gather more students who are interested in this intuitive knowledge. Over 1000 like minded students have passed through the Mojave Center. We hope their gained knowledge has made an impact in their own personal lives to then expand further into their own communities. You are not in this alone!

The

Where

Near Sierra Vista, AZ

The Mojave Center is located in a quiet area 10 miles from the Mexico Border in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert. As descendants of Yaqui and native Mexican lineage we occupy ancestral lands of Pascua Yaqui, Chiricahua Apache and neighboring Tohono O'odham lands.