At a time when many developers are, to coin Joni Mitchell, “paving paradise” to put up parking lots and zero-lot-line housing developments, Tony and Ximena Cho are taking a decidedly different approach. The couple are co-founders of the 40-acre ChoZen Eco-Retreat & Sanctuary, a tranquil oasis alongside the St. Sebastian River.
“I’m a passionate environmental activist, and I’m an urban developer at the same time, which some people think would be an oxymoron. But I think they’re actually quite balanced because we try to keep development in urban nodes, and we try to keep human development out of wild places,” Cho explains.
“Really, it’s about protecting this precious wild Florida from development, and providing people access to a Florida safari where they can interact with 26 endangered species along the St. Sebastian River, and experience food forests and nature trails.”
Cho was born and raised on the property, where his grandmother, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, founded the interfaith Kashi Ashram in 1976. She passed away 12 years ago.
After Kashi experienced difficulties, Cho began purchasing the land, including the property that houses By the River, a low-income senior center initially run by Kashi, and other pieces. Cho had also been supportive of Sustainable Kashi, a permaculture project on the property that other relatives and friends ran for more than a decade.
“We had been early ambassadors and donors to that project, and we were inspired by the permaculture, agricultural and sustainability aspects of the new programming that they were doing,” says Cho.
That philosophy of working with rather than against nature has been integrated into the retreat’s nature-based wellness concept.
Their ChoZen Farm initiative operates as a permaculture example, the Gratitude Garden, Love Garden and Wisdom Garden have been re-imagined, and a Food Forest boasts more than 350 fruit trees along three miles of lush ChoZen paths, some of which include immersive art.
“We want people to not be so disconnected from the importance of coexistence with species other than humans,” says Cho.
He would like to connect with other environmental and conservational organizations, and wants to see Indian River County start promoting ecotourism and the beauty surrounding us.
“Because that’s why people love it here. Conservative or liberal, it doesn’t matter. That’s the sacred cow,” says Cho, commenting that neither side of the aisle supported the harmful proposal to develop hotels and golf courses in state parks.
“We have a seaplane that’s doing eco tours with a Nat Geo photographer to Blue Cypress and showing people what the Wildlife Corridor is all about,” he says, referencing the statewide conservation network of 18 million acres of wilderness and working lands to protect Florida’s vanishing wildlife.
ChoZen Air partners with Carlton Ward, wildlife photographer and Wildpath founder; their seven passenger seaplane flies from the Sebastian Airport and other locations.
“I want to start promoting those tours because a percentage of that goes back into the Wildlife Corridor and Wildpath,” says Cho.
The public is invited to enter the tranquil world of ChoZen with the launch of the ChoZen Artisan Market, which opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13. An overnight Saturday/Sunday package includes farm-to-table meals.
The market features local vendors, sustainable products, artisan goods, fresh locally sourced foods, and wellness practitioners, and will continue every second Sunday of the month until May.
“The Artisan Market is so exciting because it’s actually a statewide artisan market and farmers market,” says Cho, explaining that about a third of the vendors will be local, and the rest from around the state.
“It’s really to help invest in small businesses as the backbones of our communities and to give them more of a statewide platform.”
ChoZen offers permaculture eco-tours, ChoZen Flow wellness classes, farm volunteer days and assorted retreats. Accommodations include lodges and villas, climatized geodesic domes, a fully outfitted Airstream, safari camps and even just camping platforms.
Cho refers to it as a “camp for the humanity of the future.”
“We really want people to feel like they’re having an impact on themselves, but also a positive impact on nature and the environment. It’s a more conscious level of hospitality,” he explains.
“But we also understand some people like their creature comforts and their air conditioning. So we can cater to any demographic, from the very discerning, luxury client who wants a private villa room with en-suite bathrooms, to a camper who’s willing to set up and pitch their own tent,” Cho says, noting that something magical occurs when a diversity of people come together in nature.
They plan to launch a nonprofit next year that will focus on wildlife and land conservation, earth stewardship, regenerative agriculture, education and rewilding efforts.
“That is what we’re doing. We’re rewilding places and saving them from horrible human development. It’s really to inspire people.”
Cho describes ChoZen as a labor of love, despite the blood, sweat, tears and investment.
“It is quite an endeavor. We put a lot of love into it and it’s really just the beginning.”
For more information, visit ChoZenRetreat.com.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
