Greening the Desert
Food Forests, Fungi, Land, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Swales, Trees — by Craig Mackintosh
This is just one example of how permaculture can transform the environment, and, in so doing, dramatically change lives. By evidencing the dramatic transformation possible in the world’s worst agricultural scenarios, we hope to make people stand up and listen.
Big Agribusiness would convince us that continuing with fossil fuel dependent monocrop systems and genetically modified crops is the way of the future, but with fuel, transport and fertiliser costs skyrocketing, and growing evidence that genetic tinkering is causing far more harm than good, we, instead, advocate tried and tested methods of working with nature for the benefit of man.
Below is a behind the scenes look at Greening the Desert.
Comments (14)
I have been posting extensively on the manufacture of soils by applying biochar culture on my Blog:
http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com
Been able to move abruptly to deep rooted trees and palms is an unexpected development. I had anticipated that a long restoration program would be necessary and saw the use of biochar as a nutrient management system that also possibly controlled the salinity.
Is it possible that salinity is grossly overestimated because of wicking effects? We have perfectly usable nutrient rich soils that merely need a competent water system.
regards
arclein
Comment by arclein — August 13, 2008 @ 5:56 am
Inspirational to say the least.
In the US the government declared, in 1877, that certain states with desert lands must distribute up to 640 acres per person or group for the purpose of reclaiming the desert. Several states were enlisted into this program and must distribute 1 million acres per state. Most of the people simply made watering holes and kept livestock or farmed it for a short period of time until they could prove they properly irrigated it then sold the land. It’s disgusting but so many entrepreneurs have cheated the system so far. Corporations had to be excluded because of it.
At any rate if it can work in Jordan it could Work in Arizona or Nevada and the land, if you prove you can irrigate it and reclaim at least 1/8th of it in 4 years time, can be purchased for $1.25 per acre up to 320 acres. The downfall is you have to jump through some hoops to find the right piece of land. With permaculture I think that this could be very beneficial for the land and very profitable for the farmer.
Co-op’s, especially, can benefit from this and in Nevada you don’t have to be a resident to claim land via the Desert Land Act.
Comment by Robert — August 26, 2008 @ 9:02 am
Brother Robert
Would Love To Get More Education About Your Epic Share About The Desert Land Act. Is there any way way in which my co-op and i can contact you directely for more guidance.
Comment by zoe — October 9, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Seems to me that the results were mainly due to the mountain of organic materials that were free on-site. Dump that much organic stuff on a concrete parking lot and you could grow about anything on it. Swales were necessary for water though, so good job there.
Comment by Dan — October 15, 2008 @ 10:13 am
More power to you!!! I believe I have heard about your project previously as I am keenly interested in permaculture. It was great watching the clip on youtube.
We can totally do this! Thank you so much!
Comment by kyrie — October 22, 2008 @ 8:51 am
Thanks for the Inspiration, Permaculture is full force, This is more proof that we have all the tools to repaire our earth.
Combined with people who care enough to act means my new born son has hope for his future, for this i thank you all for eternity.
May permaculture be illuminated for all to see!
I’m off to do a design course so my little one will grow up as part of the sollution
THE EARTH SHALL BE A GARDEN FOR THE GOLDEN CHILDREN
Comment by William Bell — November 14, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
why can’t i see pictures of it working. All i hear is how good it is but no pictures or film. Anyone can tell a story, where is the proof?
Comment by mark exelby — November 18, 2008 @ 3:35 am
also why do you need to rely on students for the farm to pay, surely if the farm was truly self sufficient then income from students would not be needed. You do not seem to be promoting food production but a college.
Comment by mark exelby — November 18, 2008 @ 3:37 am
In a world where so many things are done with money – it is understandable for him to need it to achieve goals beyond self-reliant living (shelter, water, food) – like flying around the world, running websites and different methods of passing the knowledge and experience around. Even some extra money for costly infrastructure that may be needed at first, and then works by itself pretty well. Permaculture is not about detaching yourself from the world – it is about advancing the current state of the world.
Comment by Assaf Koss — November 22, 2008 @ 12:12 am
Thats great, well done.
Comment by Mohammad — November 22, 2008 @ 10:00 am
Hello, this project sounds great. I am interested in finding out about any long term, independent studies that have been done of this project. Does anyone know of any? Are there other projects like this with associated studies. We would like to pursue funding for a similar project in some areas of Southeast Asia (Islands), but the bar is pretty high regarding data. Any help on this would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Brad
Comment by Brad Abbott — January 5, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
What is the name us the name if the fungus which make the salt in the soil inert?
Comment by Taylor — January 24, 2009 @ 7:34 am
Good Week! I wish to contact the researchers who did the work on litter spreading. please contact me through this mail. Do you have a article on this topic?
Best Regards!
Amir.
Comment by Amir Mor-Mussery — March 15, 2009 @ 9:53 pm
I wonder if anyone could pinpoint the exact location in “GPS” coordinates so we could trace this project from Google Earth?
Thanks very much to everyone
Comment by Jorge Crespo — May 26, 2009 @ 2:45 am
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