Geoff Leads a Teaching Tour of the Greening the Desert Site
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- To learn more about permaculture watch the Permaculture Masterclass, a 4-part documentary-style film, here: www.discoverpermaculture.com/....
The Greening the Desert Project (greeningthedesertproject.org) started about 11 years ago, and it looked like the other bare blocks around the area. Geoff and Nadia purchased the land, created a society, and gave the land to the society. There was no funding, so everything advanced slowly. With each new success came a new stream of funding. Course by course, they volunteered, and the site got off the ground, so much so that funding eventually came from LUSH (www.lush.com). Ultimately, Mulsim Aid Australia (www.muslimaid.org.au) began funding the project and made it a focal point of its sustainable development program.
In this way, GTD started off in the opposite direction of most aid projects. Most start with a lot of money, look very good the day they open, and dwindle away over the next ten years. Ten years ago, GTD looked terrible and had no money. But, every year more people came. With increased results, the funding increased. After about five years, local interest grew. Last year the site finally opened, and now Jordan’s Ministry of Agriculture as well as local schools and other interests are taking the courses.
Two aspects of the living system make all the difference: nitrogen-fixing trees that can be coppiced and practical water catchment systems. The trees build the soil. Each year, they are cut for the winter, and by April, they’ve regrown to provide shade. The organic matter from the annual trim feeds the soil. As for the water, by design, everything that comes onto the site, the limited rainfall as well as what people use, is soaked into the soil. These two valuable puzzle pieces provided the pathway into diversity.
Wicking beds are throughout the site. They are the most efficient gardens in terms of water usage because they are watered from below, with no risk of evaporation. Worm beds are another means of fertility, with tens of thousands of worms being feed food scraps so that they can supply both liquid and solid fertilizer.
But, the real engine of fertility on site is the chicken tractor. It makes more fertilizer than any other element, all the while producing eggs and some chicken meat. Every week, manured mulch (1/3 cubic meter) is taken from under the roost and piled in the chicken coop with goat/sheep manure (1/3 cubic meter) and food scraps (1/3 cubic meter). During the week, the chickens scratch it all apart. Then, the cycle repeats, with the old pile moving further down the chicken coop and a new pile forming. Once in motion, this system produces a cubic meter of compost a week, on just 3000 square meters of land, only 2000 of which is growing space. That seriously changes the soil fertility in a short time.
The most important earthwork/water harvesting features on the site are the three swales. The longest reaches from the lowest point on the highest boundary and extends across the site. These don’t let any water runoff, whether it’s rain or irrigation.
Reed beds are another vital water conservation system, particularly for homes. The plants clean greywater from sinks and showers then that water can irrigate fruit trees. Sixty people on site have been using the showers for two weeks now, so that’s a lot of water going to the gardens to grow food.
Electricity begins with gallium selenium solar panels on the roof, and they feed into nickel-iron batteries that can last up to 100 years. A Dutch invertor takes the electricity and brings it up to the mains power, converting the energy into something that won’t damage appliances (for more info visit: 24hoursolarpower.com).
The building is built with standard concrete forms and pillars because that’s what people here trust. However, the walls on the west and south sides are made from straw bale while the eastern and northern walls are constructed from mudbricks. All of the internal walls are mudbrick, and all of the upstairs walls are straw bale. The mudbricks have thermal mass that, kept out the sun, remain cool, functioning like a natural air conditioner. On the other side of the house, the straw bale is a great insulator against the sun, which is particularly troublesome in the afternoon, on the western walls. The trees around the building are also cut seasonally, allowing more sun in during the winter and providing increasing shade during the summer.
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#permaculture #greeningthedesert #permaculturedesign
![Swales: Earthworks for Conservation and Storage [PDC Preview]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/W-f2genlUZI/mqdefault.jpg)
Geoff is one of the most important people on this planet. A true treasure on Earth.
Yes
Agreed
Absolutely. Without question, a treasure indeed. 💚
I am learning so much from him
❤ true.
I am full of admiration Geoff. While people bemoan the coming of the apocalypse you have set about making the turn around. You are so positive and I really love the way you get so excited about the plants and animals as though you know them all personally. Seeing your tours fills me with hope and inspiration.
Interesting that most of the touring group is women and kids. Women build nations and have the capacity to change the course of history. Great to see women taking part
I liked the speed do to having a translator. Each comment had time to soak in, like passive water in a swale. Lol.
I agree. Gave me time to process the thought.
These people show what can be done. The images are stark and just go to show, rethinking how we live and interract with nature can make our future sustainable.
Its really hard to argue against the permaculture way of gardening when you see the landscape in the beginning. Like an island of green in a sea of light brown.
Geoff, lots of people have you, yours and the farm in our prayers during this most tragic time in Australia. As time goes on many of us will be checking in to hear from you. God bless you and the people of Australia.
Thank you for writing my very thoughts. May he be blessed and treasured as he fully deserves.
I was impressed with you 10 years ago, but this blows it out of the water. Congratulations on this amazing achievement. I hope you're healthy! You have a lot of teaching years ahead of you. 😃
When I saw this was a 56 minute tour of this site I was thrilled!
I didn’t think I was gonna be able to finish the whole video, but it was so good, I couldn’t stop!
56 minute video of the Jordan project? Yes please! I laughed as soon as I recognized the flow hive. Thanks to Geoff, Nadia and the team for the updates and like everyone else here waiting with baited breath for a Zaytuna update. The suspense is agonizing.
That was absolutely amazing!!! And the camera man did a fantastic job. i could see everything so well! I inderstand the chop and drop so much better now, and also the chicken compost system. I had seen the pollards in videos before but this really made sense and i look forward to the day when swales stretch all the way to Iraq and Jordan. The solar power system really intrigues me. I grew upon a farm that had a natural way of treating black and grey water waste by flowing it through a cattail filled slough/pond so reeds make total sense to me.
what happens in the winter?
D.E 303- A new, low cost, home buildable, solar electric concentrator. It froze over in layers as the warmer grey water flooded the ice and eventally formed a cap of ice over the pond and stays thawed under the ice for the rest of the winter
@@seek2find did it defrost ok or was it a big stink? I used a simple covered small ditch. I produced the best tasting tomatoes. If you let the stuff accumulate the smelly bacteria proliferate.
D.E 303- A new, low cost, home buildable, solar electric concentrator. - It was in a large grove of trees with a small hill dividing the "lagoon" as we called it, from the house. Tree roots, cattails, frogs, leaves, and other woods and wetlands creatures were free to make their home there. It only had slight odor in the hottest part of the summer, for a few days, not during the rest of the year.
THANKYOU! The world needs more inspirational films like this.
If we had a world full of people with this knowledge and drive, the world would be healed from all our damage in no time. I’m going to use this method on a small scale anyway, seems to have amazing results.
Finally I find Geoff talking about biochar! Adding this to your soil will give you absolutely amazing results.
Wow super good, a garden with many productive elements regenerating natures biological cycle 🙂
I hope Zaytuna Farm is ok! If you ever get back to Australia this year please let us know how things went.
Also try reaching out to the TH-cam channel "Self Sufficient Me" for a collab. He has a good community of gardeners and it would be a great way to spread the ideas of permaculture
@VICtorian071 We can learn from both. My objective is Aquaponics, but learning all I can is beneficial.
good grief the australian wildfires. There are commercials still playing today about environments that don't exist anymore.
That would be such an amazing collaboration! Wow!
Until then, have you seen The Weedy Garden? It's a relatively new channel, but it's incredibly well done, and he recently discovered that he lives very near Zaytuna Farm. He walked on in one day and asked Geoff if he would help him design his garden, and of course Geoff said yes. Taught him how and where to plant a mango tree so far, and there's going to be much more to come with him and Geoff working together. I'm really looking forward to it!
@@lisakukla459 I've been keeping an eye on the channel. :)
@@PaleGhost69 Isn't it just beautiful to watch!? Omg I love it so much.
This is something so good for people and the earth, where it is needed the most.
what I love about Geoff is he doesn't come in and say hey let me give you charity he says let me give you my knowledge and skills so you can pass this on got generations to come. I love it
Inspirational Geoff, thanks so much. Great to see so many young people there hanging on your every word - albeit translated. Hope they got the translations correct ;)
This still is one of the most heartwarming groundbreaking staggering phenomenal things i've ever seen online. If these practices are integrated into far more systems around the globe, the kind of future it points to is really something to imagine. Far superior to what junky system is mostly around.
Mr. Geoff the world is proud to have someone like you spreading the word. Really useful information. On a side note, that translator was way off the charts half the time >.< I would gladly volunteer to be a translator if needed on your next adventure. Peace
Maa-shaa Allah....
🙏🙏🙏
Geoff, I have been watching your inspiring videos on both the Jordan project and Zaytuna Farm in Australia. Like so many commenting here, I am hoping that the farm makes it through these terrible fires in Australia. I believe that Zaytuna will show everyone that permaculture agriculture is the way to move forward in combating climate change because of its investment in water retention infrastructure that hydrates the landscape and provides extra water during droughts. I am anxiously waiting to hear how Zaytuna survived this latest drought. All my best to you, your family, and to the people of Australia.
Glad you said it because I've been dying to get a Zaytuna update.
Emily, check out the the channel suspicious 0bservers.
Northern NSW. Subtropical. Incoming rain.
@@emilybh6255 Don't buy it.
I think any man-made measure to effect climate change is at this point in mankind's technological development a waste of time and money.
@@saucywench9122 I have many times. Suspicious Observers are great. However Zaytuna is close by live two hours north.
You are far better off learning the Koppen climate zone classification, Valentina Zharkova's sun based climate predictions et al.
We in PAKISTAN learning ... thanks for sharing
#Gratitude
What a great in depth tour Geoff. There is no wonder people are flocking to the institute. You have done a splendid job on the cafe' it looks very smart. I hope all is well back home and the system is holding up well. All the best
He is amazing.
After a very stressful 2020, it was lovely to spend an hour’s time in a place with people who are restoring the world.
Fascinating, such beautiful design! Thanks for sharing with the world.
Geoff, could you recommend a good source of information (or be one!) for the use of earthen, heat retaining walls in slopes? It seems proper aspect and material could create not only a barrier to slow down water (problem if too much during peak events and saturation) but also could create a thermal sink and dam to block the fast drop of cold air in the evening where appropriate. The earth walls could be built to fail with a low material cost to build from locally sourced materials if available and if something like adobe or daube is used (with native seed impregnated in the mix) it could form a "first response seed bank" if sloughed over from high flows and saturation effectively. Strange idea but your video got me thinking that in our semiarid environments we sometimes combat a lot of wind and it is often the volatility in the fluctuations of the environment that effect its stability, diversity, and productivity.
Thank you for sharing this fantastic project and insights with us!
R.P.
Thinking adobe gabions with sapwood "rebar" that might or might not sprout and be made of useful fodder, polinator, or native habitat species in arid and semi arid rangeland.
I have watched since you started this project, well done Geoff and crew.
Incredible work!!!
God Bless you and your team Geoff!
Thank you Geoff for that great presentation, it was amazing day
Thank you for sharing. God bless your success
Geof, you are a great man adding great value to society.
Esse cara é realmente fantástico!
what an amazing work, I got a lot to learn here this is pretty next level
Geoff is so culturally sensitive looking at the floor since there are Muslim women sitting across! Great man to spread the message far and wide! Thanks Geoff!
Wish NATO was an alliance to spread permaculture instead of war and weapons!
We could I live prosperously in peace! ☮️ ❤
Thank you for teaching us all how to 'fish'!! youre a much needed commodity on earth right now!
That's true kindness ❤ we need more of that
A wonderful trip took us inside a jungle that you made from nothing
A journey full of how to recycle a lot of kitchen wastes, bath and showers water , water collection (Swale), and the exploitation of animal waste, leaves, twigs, etc.
All thanks and gratitude to your noble person and to each hand contributed to the achievement of this wonderful painting of the beauty of greenery and self-production of food through the art of exploiting what others consider a burden on the environment (wastewater and waste) ......
Thanks (it is an oasis in the desert)
big fan!
So much great information. Thanks!!
Really amazing!!!
I love it, next year I'm planning to go there. Please wait for me ✌️
If the people of the world all had a green thumb like this man, oh what a world it would be.
Really the people of the world needs to see it
legendary...
Nobel peace prize for Geoff! ❤
Good job, Lush!
I love the Apiary. I would love to get one of that type when I have a garden.
God bless you Geoff
I wish I were 10 years younger. I’ll be in my 80s by the time my property is self sustainable. Better late than never. My sons will carry on. 😄 Children are a gift. Arizona is dry but there is so much potential here.
The hardest thing I teach people who stay with me is using the soaps and hair products very conservatively. You do not need handfuls to accomplish the goal. I dilute everything by 3/4ths water. That’s all you need and it won’t overload the natural breakdown of these things in the soil. Fat based soaps seem to be best.
Thank you.
Bless you!
I love you, you give me hope!
🤗💖🙏
love Geoff Lawton!
Not only building a sustainable permiculture farm but a community too :-)
lv your work Big green hug
The translation is not conveying the full picture unfortunately, a lot of details are being left out and for the non-English speakers it's just bits and pieces of non-contexual translation
Very good Beehive it is very good innovative design
Congratulations
Wow that site looks amazing now! Wish my site had access to loads of compostable waste.
left a couple links on your channel
Are you saying that this place imports organic material?
@@justgivemethetruth Visitors make "a deposit" if nature calls during the stay. :-)
Also the "bedding", if you will, from the rabbits and under the chickens' roost @20:00 , plus the sheep and goat manure, that all in all add up to one cubic meter of new soil improvements _per week,_ for which the production wouldn't all fit on the tiny project site _but_ could be produced anywhere there's room for animal husbandry (like just across the street) or where grass or cereal crops are cultivated. No idea where that is sourced but if others treat it as a waste it gets put to good use here instead of burning as seems to be the custom in the area.
I sure in one video they were trucking in waste from the local community.
@@TinyGiantLifeStyle Yes, I remember seeing a pile of spoiled hay that they pointed out on one tour (in a video where there were kittens hiding under it). Somebody's got to close the loop.
Would it be worth it to run a class or make a video in the process of making bio char, listening to the translator speak I know there is a lack of even language to explain what bio char is. Love your work
Hello Mr Geoff.
It might be long term better to explain that the mud bricks are a heat sink rather than that they 'store cold.' Heat always moves from hottest to coldest, so the bricks aren't 'storing cold' so much as 'removing heat.' Cold is the absence of heat just like black is the absence of color.
Geoff is a great,Descple, for the greater good ! I believe this would have a greater effect if a local female gave the education, as opposed to a foreign male. Not a criticism but possibly an opportunity to get the message across to more people quicker. Every little helps and I hope this helps.
This is ostensibly super cool. Even though it sounds like a giant advertisement.
Been hearing about the "Flow Hive" curious how that worked. Now I know..
This + the other climate zone projects have been incredible learning resources for applying sustainable, regenerative living methods to feeding our earth & ourselves. Wish governments could be more responsible oops, nm...
Thanks So Much, Best Wishes for 2020
I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO DO THIS!!!
job well done. It is somewhat bizarre that the local government/state government gave them no help here whatsoever. Yes, money is never given away freely by authorities, but help could have been given in kind. Bureaucrats are the same all over the world - no imagination, and no books on their shelves worth reading.
Blueberries are a similar indicator to citrus if you live in a high desert where it is too cool for citrus. Honey Locust is good in this environment but also consider Freemont Poplar. Such an amazing soil builder and it reaches down deeper to water tables that other trees simply can't access.(over 2 meters from a seed in the first season!)
Unfortunately people who don't fully understand the hydrologic cycle, drillers, have treated magnificent species like this as a pest. It is bringing up water that would otherwise be lost to us as it builds soil. That water eventually falls as rain to help someone else.
I dunno, if you want the locals to adopt a similar way of farming I think you need to simplify it a lot. Telling people "you have to have a third of a cubic metre of this, a third of a cubic metre of that" or "you must have oxygen going through it or it won't work".... Frankly those are the sort of details that will put off a lot of people. I would put together pamphlets saying "if you're not able to do x, y and z at this time, these are the 5 most important things you can do for your farm right now" eg, not burning, catching existing rainwater with groundworks, using greywater, building soil with trees, compost, mulch etc and resting or fencing off from grazing. Telling them they won't be successful unless they do everything you do will just drive them away, surely? I don't know how Geoff goes about it.... But it's a difficult balance between inspiring people and making what you suggest to them achievable.
I love these videos. Is there any way that I can contribute to a translation in my language? It seems that google disabled community contributions.
Geoff, SEQLD.
What is your take on Lantana management in the subtropics?
Are goats useful?
currently 2000e .you could green the desert directly from the garden center if you charge that. very exclusive money tree.
Hello! Wonderful project, amazing. Does somebody know the name of the tree shown at 7:50 ? The one they keep cutting every year to build the soil?
💚 this!!! Do the chickens get any additional feed?
Good question.
Live translation is so tricky because the speaker tends towards shorter and shorter context-free fragments while not being able to confirm whether the important parts survived the translation. Both happened here, sadly.
Provide the full explanation with context, then after the translation remind them of the most important feature, which can now be added easily.
Kudos to the lady and the gentleman translator. The lady is so sweet everytime she nicely ask u to repeat urself 😀 greetings from the philippines.
Great! How much land was involved in new proects and how many people signed up and ended with success?
What kind of products do you use to wash yourselves, the dishes, the laundry in order to not pollute the water?
💦🙏🤗💖🌞
HI Geoff, I am a little worried about that flow bee keeping system. How do you keep an eye on any mites, mould or other critters that should not be in the hive? and dont you need to leave a bit of honey for the bees for winter? the screw system will still require them to fix? would be pleased to know your thoughts? thanks
He showed the mite catching tray
There was a tray at the bottom, the white one he pulled out, where you will put olive oil to catch those insects.
Tangen-tangen where I come from in western Pacific
Dear Mr Geoff.
Thank you very much for your care & expert to the future of our desert generation.
I am (Arab-Afro-Englo) & I couldn't understand what are you talking about from 25:58 to 27:20 of this video. Would you kindly explain to the level of my little understand..thanks again 🤤☺
Yes that was a confusing bit. He talks about water catching elements in the ground called Swales. Water flows over the soils and gets caught by these swales: long level ditches that snake around the site, perfectly level. The water stops flowing and soaks into the ground. 'These are the most important Features (not creatures) on this site'. 'These should be made everywhere with big heavy machinery or even by hand, all the way up to Amman and Syria.'
Geoff has lots of videos about swales and other water catching systems.
The translator should translate exactly what Geoff is saying. Like that the people will learn better…what Geoff is saying is much more explanatory and insightful they will understand better. Overall translation not bad. Thank you for your time much appreciated Permaculture is the way forward if The One God wills
Is the bio char in the socks?
Learning Arabic from this clip
sun shutters on the windows boy!
Did they close the valve?
33:05 - 33:38 wow
شكرا لهدا الرجل يقوم بعمل راءع من اجل الاكتفاء الداتي للبشرية والعيش الكريم بخيرات الارض، يجب اتباع هدا النضام الخارج عن النضام العالمي و هو الاستهلاك فقط
Are those thornless honey locust?
The way the salt is dealt with seems inefficient _(the water flushing to force the salt to go far down)._ The salts (even just the sodium chloride) react with cellulose (calcium carbonate) and gypsum (an industrial waste product). Burying rotten wood and adding gypsum would cause the salt to react with it _(like a water softner installed in a home faucet/tap has reagents)._ Also it improves the soil. Pushing salt down (without wood/gypsum reagent) does not "solve" the problem (equation), it just moves it aside. Regarding 50:00 a skolelinux server as just some miniITX motherboard dualcore or quadcore at 20Watts to 40Watts could run via that electricity, or a raspberrypi3b (not a pi4), and then a PinePhone would be a better device to create functionality for it all.
What type of trees are you cutting down to cover the dirt?
Leguminous trees. The particular tree that Geoff was cutting is called Leucaena.
And Persopis/Prosopis before that.
Only thing that would grow at first.
Pioneer plant that starts building up soil carbon and lowering pH, in this instance of alkaline soil.
It looks like Mexican Huaje tree.
Hi Geoff , i’m wondering why your chook pen/ composting “ Engine” is shaded . I would have thought the more heat from the sun on the composting piles would speed up the process . Or is it for relief from the heat for the chooks ? Or for the compost turning workers ? Regards from the Pilbara .
Sorry for the late answer but compost builds heat- you can get piles that can heat water in Siberia. In areas where it gets hot, overheating the pile is a big issue. Also there’s chickens to consider and if they get too hot they get stressed, sick and egg production goes down. So hotter isn’t always better- in my climate (Wisconsin) it’s better to have huge piles to keep the middles the right temperature through the winter, when I lived in Texas I needed smaller piles to keep the compost from cooking itself. So it’s a function of exterior temperature as well as climate. Hope that helps!
@@LotusDreaming No worries .
I live in the Pilbara and our summers are hot .
We had 50.5 C last summer and I’d like to know can that be bad to have the full sunlight on my compost pile ?
Should I compost in the shade in summer ?
I thought the hotter the better and so , quicker ?
@@malcolmscrivener8750 nah, hotter isn’t better- it’s living organisms in there so you need to water your piles to cool then if they’re too big and getting too hot. Think of it like cooking- you don’t get a cake faster by increasing the temperature, you just get a burned mess! It’s a biological process that takes some time and if the bacteria get too hot they stop working as well, just like us.
@@LotusDreaming Fair enough .
I’ll try them in the shade and water more often .
It’s all an experiment with me !
Where is this?
👍
He it is Who sends down water from the sky; from it you drink and from it the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture. With it He causes to grow for you the crops, the olives, the date palms, the grapes, and every kind of fruit. Verily, in this is indeed an evident proof and a manifest sign for a people who give thought. (Al-Quran, Surah An-Nahl: 10-11)
Allah bless you
Is that a Huaje tree?
Jeoff, are eucalyptus ok to use as mulch? is their oil poisons?
I'm my experience living in a eucalyptus forest, it merely sometimes takes slightly longer to break down than some other woods, if it even takes longer, but it helps build soil all the same.
@@k0mm4nd3r_k3n Hi , thanks! So you do use it as mulch? I heard not to use the leaves because they have oils that prevent and kill plant growth is that BS? is there any tree that should not be used as mulch?
are you from Australia? I hope you get lost of fire extinguishing rain
@@hamlulitI live in QLD, I get 10m3 of forest mulch wood chips dropped at my place every couple of years. I use it to mulch my whole growing area. The mulch sometimes consists of eucalyptus and other native trees.I have had no issues with stunted plant growth. I have also used palm, pine & all sorts of random free mulch I can get. In my opinion, Mulch can only help. It holds in all the water and fertility as well as stopping weed growth and erosion. Regulates the ground temps and provides habitat for microorganisms, insects and fungi. Any poison that naturally occur in the plants get broken down in the process.
Mulch I don't recommend is plastic sheet mulch, artificially coloured mulch or anything made from treated timber.
@@jeremychan94 Thanks!
Ernst Götsch uses eucalyptus trees as a main component of Syntropic farming / agroforestry, seems to work fine for him as mulch and living component of his system.