This "Delicious" Soil Will Revive The Desert
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 เม.ย. 2024
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We prepare for the planting season and this is exciting!
Across 3.6 acres, I try use different methods are employed to retain water, from terraces to dams. One specific terrace becomes the focal point, offering optimal conditions for growth with its gentle morning sun and natural shade.
In this video, you'll witness the "meticulous" application of biochar, a miraculous substance that enhances soil quality and promotes water retention. Meanwhile, unconventional waste management methods turn human-produced organic material into valuable fertilizer, further nourishing the land.
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I want to say that working with biochar without respiratory protection is very dangerous. Just letting everyone know
Keep up the amazing work and I wish you all amazing success
i volunteer as your devils advocate - for god knows you have an ice creams chance in hell of growing a forest on 320 acres using your current methods - pity you didnt start with a mentor who has actually achieved what you think you can - without cash burn on "nothings"
1t of carbon = 2.7t of CO2. @ 44$ (Don't know your exact rate) you should be able to claim 118$ /t there abouts for sequestration.
@@canavar1435 claim from who ???
If you do this biochar mixing again, it might be a good idea to invest in a hand cement mixer.
A cement mixer hooked up to a briggs & straton 5 hp motor would work nicely.
I used to mix biochar for a soil research lab at an agricultural university. This is the answer. We made much more of a slurry than he is making but we would add the max amount of liquid then use a hand cement mixer to mix in small portions of biochar until it got to the concentration we wanted. This reduces dust and prevents pockets of air when mixing water into biochar, sort of like mixing cocoa into brownie batter. We never reached a consistency that was too thick to mix with the mixer but if you did, simply using a garden fork and some muscle could get it the rest of the way, at least better than a shovel.
Having it as a concentrate is weird when it tends to cement together. Perhaps adding sand or gravel would made it better to handle. Yes, it would increase the volume by a factor of 2-3, but it's going to get mixed in anyway.
I want to say use a cement Mixer as well, another question is why aren't you adding the solid waste to this mixture as well.
u r spreading your mix over one acre x 320 acres = potential $1 million wasted = WHY NOT FENCE your 320 acres and let things grow = so much cheaper and you will start to see results verses wasting your children's inheritance on a doomed limited benefit patch of at best heath like vegetation
Shaun, I highly recommend Mulberry Trees, they grow extremely fast, are very hardy, and provide tons of shade and wind protection. They also produce tons of calories through edible fruits and leaves. The leaves they drop in winter are highly nutritious for the soil. They are disease free and have several varieties. I can send you scion wood if you would like, I'm also in TX.
Mulberry is in the seed mix for this year!
Shaun, if my spouse did not have dementia, we would both go out and help you for a week. We are from Hondo, Texas and believe in your dream! Thanks for having the courage to have the vision proving that the "desert can be turned green"!
God bless you both❤
one day... yes one day we are gonna see trees in there and lord... your hundres of thousands of subs are gonna cry together tears of joy watching them!!!
I hope the drug alcohol and tobacco don’t think you’re up to something
On the adjacent farm there is a stream bed equal to hundreds of thousands of "bathtubs" and there are a few trees, but of course no forest. The point of this whole thing is to make a profitable You Tube channel. It will drag on for years with dozens of volunteers spending time and money and silly ideas that always come to nothing. Catchments will not produce a forest or the enormous stream bed next door would have produced that forest centuries ago.
He could start working like they have in the Sahel. Use a half-moon structure to retain moisture for far longer.
@@sidecharacter7165 Yeah he built a bunch of those already. It does nothing. There are plenty of larger natural catchments nearby... no forest...never will be a forest.
Grow invasive shrubs and bushes. That will start the growth process
Build some pigeon/bird lofts, maybe even for bats.
Let them bring thier dung to you ;-0)
That’s really good idea. They would even bring seeds in their guano.
@@HBADGERBRAD ... And seeds in thier feathers-feet.
Set the lofts up where insects/flying criter food accumulate, such as a composting area or the molasses mixes, etc etc...and voilà... fertility delivery from the criter hotels ;-0)
It's actually a traditional practice throughout historical desert regions.
That's a great idea I've seen pigeon houses in the Middle East. Very useful for numerous reasons.
I'm guessing that any place of refuge for birds would be well used in this location.
Any bird species that maybe crossing this area on its migration route would use it as a pit stop.
As far as residential bird life is concerned, I don't think I've seen a bird in any of these videos.
@@farmerjhemp I like the idea of a dovecote but don't know if enough food to sustain the birds
If we think the dirt smells good, you KNOW the plants, microbes, and bugs will be all over it. Great to see progress and love seeing all the volunteers helping revitalize an ecosystem.
Now I'll be disappointed if your son DOESN'T make a new animation for each of your episodes (Unless he gets bored of it or finds something else he loves more, I know how I was growing up lol)
u r spreading your mix over one acre x 320 acres = potential $1 million wasted = WHY NOT FENCE your 320 acres and let things grow = so much cheaper and you will start to see results verses wasting your children's inheritance on a doomed limited benefit patch of at best heath like vegetation
You should also look at the Johnson Su bioreactor
An idea for lining the bathtubs: Old t-shirts, 100% cotton, washed with soap flakes, 2 rinses, dried in clothesdryer to reduce harmful bacteria. Sprinkle biochar on top to seed microorganisms, rocks or silt on top to hold everything down. The cotton will hold a bit of water, slow down seepage, and eventually decay. (Single layers of t-shirt cloth will probably work better than tossing in big moldy globs of old t-shirts.) Maybe a thrift store could set aside some old cotton clothing for you that is too worn out to sell.
What you need is a concrete mixer to mix your concoction and to break up the solid ingredients like that biochar.
Even if is a smaller "home" model, it will get it all mixed properly and maybe doing smaller batches will save your back quite a bit.
That’s a great idea. Just get a concrete. Make sure you do it in a quarter of the time.
you need to invest inn a fence ASAP cuz the cows will eat all your plants
1. Wild cows maybe could keep but that s down the line too much extra work for little result better start small with chickens.
2.YES more time should be spent on water retention than anything else. building up the dams is a need.
3. Electric single Wire easy short rem solution for stopping cows.
4 Delivery of bulk fence items is costly but available.
5 Not enough natural stones too much time
Cow resolution options:
1. Bluets
2. barb wire simple fence
3. Big fence
4.Catch n keep
5. Do nothing inevitable cow trample incoming Project Fail
I don't know the legal situation in Texas, but what about turning them into fertilizer? No joke.
It's only 3 cows I think, who knows, maybe they bring more good than bad.
First 3-5 years I would spend 95% of my time working on water retention features, and 5% on planting.
How would you get the wood there? Would take forever one truck load at a time
If you fence it off, use your natural and free materials....stone walls like in the northern UK
@@jaredgage5637 wire and T stakes
Sam's animation is by far the best thing I've seen all week!
Nice to see updates on the earthworks!!
With that many rocks available, you could build gabions that could be used for both landscaping and water erosion control but for structures as well. Here in Napa County, CA there is a famous winery (Dominus Winery) that has outer gabion walls but glass interior walls for an example.
Yes but that's also very labor intensive
@@dustupstexas💯💪. Have you seen Green tree organics page? I am blown away by the progress with the earthworks and wallapini gabion greenhouse.
Must admit when he said lots of rocks I thought about lines of rocks on contour. Less labour but still a lot of labour
@@dustupstexas ONE ROCK CHECK DAMS. Going to keep saying it until you actually look into it and actually build a few, like you should have at the start of all of this....
If your soil needs nitrogen might I recommend 2 things. 1: Grow Legumes or white or red clover 2: Collect chicken manure.
Beans and other members of the Legume family release nitrogen into the soil as they grow. Clover has the ability to "fix nitrogen" by forming a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their root nodules. This allows them to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used by plants, which in turn improves soil fertility. Not to mention attracting more wild pollinators when the flowers come will be a good way to help spread pollen around and in doing so may attract new creatures into your lands. And chicken manure is chock full of Nitrogen as well once its composted to remove most of the ammonia.
Plus I'm sure some chicken keeper will be happy for your service in cleaning out their coops for them. But I'm not a botanist nor a farmer though so take all I say with a grain of salt. Studying plants and animals is just a special interest of mine. :)
That animation nearly knocked me over haha. Hilarious!! :´D
So good, wasn't it!
I would recommend plants that grow in rocks.
There are plants like damas that are very very hardy, a professor in Jordan used it to green a mountain that was just too rocky to grow any fruit trees.
After the tree broke through rock layer, he later planted some fruit trees between them.
Hi Shaun a small request to add a small clip of the moringa trees which you have planted and you also show the growth of cactus.
Great work.
Fan from India
I'll check it next week. The cow attacked it pretty hard
I'm reminded of a conversation recently where I told my mum it's funny how back in South Africa as a kid I used to love the tomatoes, but here in London they're pretty boring. And she said those were my grandfather's tomatoes and people used to come from miles to get them. Apparently there was some place that would process human waste over several months (for what purpose I have no idea), and he'd buy the end product and use it as compost, which produced some excellent vegetables.
Guess it'd be a shame to waste the good stuff! lol
Yes it was historically pretty common to use “night soil” as they called it for fertilizer- you only need to be sure it’s processed before using it to grow food crops (to avoid passing on harmful stuff like diseases or parasites), then it’s just like any other manure compost apparently!
Great to see the update!
Just an FYI, "Bio Char" is when the charcoal has been inoculated with Biology, not because it's finely ground charcoal.... it's just charcoal when starting out. But you have desert sand, so most of your soil is bacteria dominant, so you can consider that your in need of more carbon material, or more "fungal" food, straw, hay, feather meal, Bran. And it's just my opinion, but making teas and spraying your property with those teas will be more beneficial than spreading compost or organic material. You'll get more coverage overall, 5 gal of tea per 1 acre is what you could start with, then take a soil sample in 2 weeks and look at your microbe count and adjust from there. Compost, ferments, and such aren't so much about creating nutrients, but farming microbiology, because those are the nutrient makers. Keep striving to improve your knowledge and skills. ✌🏾
💯
Planting cover crops with the application of compost extract is ideal. Have you seen the trial the Dr David Johnson did in LC NM with cover crops amazing.
u r spreading your mix over one acre x 320 acres = potential $1 million wasted = WHY NOT FENCE your 320 acres and let things grow = so much cheaper and you will start to see results verses wasting your children's inheritance on a doomed limited benefit patch of at best heath like vegetation
On your side. I always question me why he does not follow this approach. Too much charcoal even can work as a nutrient sponge.
Anyway.
If i was him i would have used "waterboxx" water is there just start with biomass. But well in the end hes going go be succsessful.
economic insanity = why not do something that is cost effective that is of proven benefit
Its all coming together You've put some amazing work into the ranch...some very cool updates and really pleased you have Brandon coming too.
Well done, now we get to see what happens as things progress towards soil diversity and maybe some first unplanted seedlings
Fastest method to pasteurised the ingredients is to pump air into your biomix. Reaction is heat. Further reactions gas. Make enough money and heating. The bio left is perfect fertiliser
Going forward a few things to make it easier, cement mixer considering the volume you are mixing, a trolley to move the barrels around and wind breaker for the site. As you have shown it gets quite windy up there. Also maybe ask volunteer's when they come if they can bring garden and house hold waste or other things that might be helpful. Plus a few have mention bird or loft boxes always a good way help fertilising the area on the cheap. Not sure if chicken would any good but again great for breaking up the ground and fertilizing the area. Great to see so many people wanting to help you with this project.
Others have said cement mixer which is a good idea. More portable and to continue using the barrels would be a cheap post hole digger using the auger as the mixer. Maybe even a quality drywall mud mixer might work.
Used to go to a ranch in Mexico years back. They had a head on a sled, porta potty but in a larger deck because their soil was much like yours. To dig a hole 3-5 feet deep it had to be 5-8 feet wide. Once they thought it was full enough they drug it to another location after digging a new hole and filled in the old hole. I remember bags of lye being in the head sled.
Love the microbiology collab. It is cool watching you rehab the land.
I'm hoping you have more cameras in place during the next rain. Or even a drone watching where the water goes.
Assuming a done can even fly in the rain.
The drone can't fly in rain
@@dustupstexas well crap.
You need a big hole for either a pond or a sistern before the Monson to catch rainwater. There are plenty of rocks and clay.
It's almost there.
ever thought of windshields??? little ones for the fresh plants and bigger ones to catch some "good" dust to reuse....
Somewhere in the Sahara desert they put up an ordinary netting which catches the humidity in the air and causes drops of water to fall to the ground. I think this was done AT an industrial level but surely you could do it in a small way.
@@poucine832 i saw it somewhere here on yt, thought it was in south america, but maybe i am wrong... they use a fine net and collect the water for planting, as far as i remember...
we have deserts in Canada too ;) just remember, deserts arent defined by the temperature but rather by the lack of precipitation.
the badlands in southern alberta, the sand dunes in nothern saskatchewan, the carcross desert in yukon, and I think ontario also has some badlands. We also some some arid regions such as central BC, but its not a full on desert.
regarding the wind, the badlands in drumheller alberta are notoriously windy and anyone whos been there knows very well that the dry wind pulls the moisture right out of you.
Very interesting. Wish I was 100yrs younger. I would love to help!
I like the idea of finding the best spot to plant.
She is an amazing “straight shooter” everything she recommends equates with results in reality.
COMFREY should be planted. It's very hardy and you can use it for green fertilizer or forage. Privets and jujube trees are hardy trees.
I agree that you should fence off some prime vegetation, like a fenced area around a (Texas) deer feeder in a cattle pasture; always noticed how the vegetation was better in those pens. Moved up to the Great White North 30 some years ago, there was a maple sapling the deer loved to feed on in my back woods, never got more than 2' high in 15 yrs till I put a little fence around it. After 10 yrs it was 15' high, so I removed the fencing, but the local 12 pt buck decided it would make a great antler rub killing all that growth... resprouting
I love this project, can’t wait to see the progress over the years!
one thing about using urine as fertilizer is you have to dilute it if you ever pour it directly on plants otherwise you can burn the roots and kill them. something like 8:1 which would be a huge water demand in the desert, so use your urine collection carefully and sparingly. probably not a problem when making biochar, maybe also not a problem given the desert is so lacking in nutrients, but something to bear in mind.
Urine is great in biochar, and one of the things that can be used to inoculate it. But straight urine is definitely bad for plants.
Hes using it to activate the biochar.
Correct for the fertilizer part. But at least for now, I plan to use all of the urine for charging the biochar. You don't need to delete the urine for the biochar because the biochar is a sponge. I need to fill it with nutrients so that it doesn't suck nutrients out of the soil
@@dustupstexas Watched most of the vid without sound, dunno if you know all this alrdy. you probs do, you do your homework eh.
Some "easy" and very effective ways that remove the need for mixing: spread it around the floor of a barn where theres cows and the owner usually cover the floor with hay. The mix of hay and fresh cowpoop will make rocketfuel for plants.
A chicken coop also stellar, just spread it around and let them do their thing.
Biochar also remove bad smells there, and idc what peeps say; human poop smells nice compared to indoor(intensive) chicken farming.
Last (easy way i still recall) is to mix in grassclipping and let the bacterias work for a few weeks. Just pour it out directly on the ground/lawn and leave it for 2+ weeks. Theyll yumyum the grass and poop it out again, super good for biochar. Top it off with a few servings of your morning urine. The morningstuff is the good stuff, dont ask me why. I forgot.
Very excited to see the up and coming Live. I do hope you continue sharing videos of your work and the progress along the way. Also great idea on using bio-char for the composting toilet, hadn't thought of that, but makes perfect sense now. Keep up the awesome work. See ya on the next one. ♥
Thanks Shaun for another interesting episode. Looking forward to seeing you use the barrels of biochar mixture.
Shaun, I love your vision! I was looking at your young plants that are struggling to get going in the desert heat and how you were talking about the hill providing the right kind of shade.
Have you considered putting up some 50% shade tarps on poles? They would reduce the light on the plants while they got rooting and move it to a new section once they got up and going. Would probably reduce evaporation as well. As long as the poles were high enough the wind would strip any heat off of them.
I’m sooo happy you started adding biochar!!
I recently discovered this channel and have been enjoying your journey. Your goal of completely regenerating the landscape is amazing! Do you (or other viewers) know any other similar channels on TH-cam I can watch? I keep getting recommended homesteading which isn't the same at all.
Thank you for doing soil analysis! Now one can plan accordingly. Thanks for the awesome video
Hey, you should start planting mesquite trees, they won’t need to much water. They also help bring humidity to the surface and nutrients. Plus they grow fast. Keep up with the hard work
Mezquite, pomgranate, figs, lilas
@@hispanica316 Baobabs
@@hispanica316Isn't it too cold for pomegranate?? I don't know.
@@earthkarma7420 pomegranates should do well there.
@@hispanica316 yeah I have a ranch with the same climate and all does trees grow great!
Is that woman a Soil Food Web consultant? Regardless I’m so glad you’re using microscopy to determine the conditions present.
Yes
@@dustupstexas that is so freaking awesome! I’d take that course if I could afford it.
One thing from my own experience, I know for sure one thing that can help in sandy soil is cow dung, used tea leaves from tea bags and moisture will help in creating a very good and positive microbial ecosystem. And yes adding charcoal will also help but along with all these. I think the best way to expedite the process would be having animals livestocks so that their digestive waste can be used as manure.
That’s a great idea. I’ve done the same thing myself.
One issue with biochar that it has such a high cation exchange capacity that once it "grabs" ions like calcium or magnesium, it will not "let go" unless there is enough nutrients to balance out the charges. Mixing biochar with compost is always a good idea. If you use it as a planting mix, 10 percent biochar and 90 percent compost is usually the best mix, but if you are just using it to capture water and "runoff ions", putting it in areas where water will saturate it, but not erode it away, would be best.
Also, i recommend nitrogen fixing plants native to that area if you can grow them as well as native geophyte plants that have bulbs, corms, or rhizomes. Geophytes are pretty hardy. You might be able to find native milkweeds that could grow in that area. Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridis) and Zizotes Milkweed (Asclepias oenotheroides)
Also, try following Dr. Elaine Inghams work about soil microbes and nutrient cycling. If you get those organisms in the ground in areas with water, plants will thank you for it!
I'll be adding organic material next month
@@dustupstexas Cool. I'm glad you are doing this. There is something uniquely cool about slowing water and storing it so the landscape greens up a bit. Good luck!
Have you heard of Elaine Ingham? Lots of material on TH-cam about the soil feed web and she recommends to not use molasses. she does some great lectures. Well worth the time. For a really interesting project/experiment perhaps a pit dug to accommodate terra preta. It would possibly be far less labor. Just add in your layers. char, manure, plant matter, pot shards. Since this is known to be a method done in the Amazon rain forest, if it worked in your extreme conditions, then it could be a bit of a game changer. Might need to be topped with mulch to prevent evaporation after rains, but would be so cool to see how it progressed.
When i stayed in the dessert we just built out houses, like 4 of them. Then once a yr we'd move them to another area then plant a tree or some vegetation there after we covered the hole. We also composted all our scraps then after we filled the hole and mixed the compost with sand we would plant some stuff in it. Granted your way you get to plant things where you want them
Wow and wow. I love your videos and everything you do. Can't wait for the live stream!
been following this for so long. stoked for some growth!
Fantastic you are doing all the right things to give your hard work the best chance!
You are one determined guy !!
I wish you success in this very challenging endeavor.
I hope this turns out to be a model for other people trying to transform the desert.
You should put hide thick wood planks in the water way like a dam with a hole or two higher up on it. Char it first so it doesn't decompose.
Solid waste idea I read somewhere:
1. Put solid waste in a mat black steel bucket
2. Put a lid with a few 1/16" holes on top
3. Put bucket in a sunny but wind shaded spot
4. Wait a few days/weeks
5. Your waste should be well cooked
Steel/Iron absorbs heat radiation and transfers it very well. Just touch a black car on a sunny afternoon. As long as the bucket's contents gets over 85°C for a few minutes once, it's alsmost steril. Human solid waste has some harmful bacteria that you generally don't want in your soil. Sterilizing it with heat takes care of that.
For extra cooking power you can either put the bucket in some kind of container with a glass/transparent plastic top to keep the wind away or spread some Aluminum sheets around the bucket. The Aluminum sheets don't need a mirror finish. Heat radiation also reflects well on dull surfaces. Something about wave-length, I believe. I almost burned my fingers when I left my stainless steel water bottle near a 1sqft sheet of Aluminum in
No, you shouldn't consider anything that hasn't been heated to above 121 C to be sterile. There are still possible spores in that waste that could become dangerous again.
Cooking it like you said is still much better than nothing, but he should still be careful with it.
@@samuela1918 microbes arent bad and will naturally happen once animals come in and leave their waste (or bodies), the benefits will outweigh any issues that will come from the added nutrients. Not only would it bring insects but also birds and animals, birds bringing seeds, and a lot of other animals would bring different forms of seeds and/or fungi that would build soil quicker than any other natural sources
Have you considered sand dams as part of your strategy? They capture seasonal river flows, the sand settles and becomes a natural aquifer. The banks in turn become fantastic for planting. Used with great success in Kenya.
I just started watching this channel a week ago, I'm all caught up...
This is for the many comments about digging a well. A well would be nice but it is going to cost 5-6 figures to hit water. Then you gotta ask, how long will that well be operable if it is not recharged? A hand drill would only work if the ground were not so hard. Not only is Shawn working with rocks that are hard and there is very little water seeping into the ground to recharge a well. That is why terraces and "bathtubs" are the way to go. In a semi-arid environment, you can count on at least 70% of water being lost to evaporation and evapotranspiration (water lost to the air by plants). By building structures to pond water, Shawn's intent is to slow down the flow of water and give it more time to percolate into the ground before it is lost to the atmosphere. This will allow him to increase his groundwater supply and provide a means to recharge his system so that when he can drill a well, he will (hopefully) not have to drill so deep and ensure a steady supply for years to come. His rocks are also impermeable (meaning water can't pass through it), so he's working with the issue of only retaining water in the top permeable sand and gravel of his land. I don't know the geology there (apart from what I've seen in his video) but if it were me, I would do everything Shawn is doing, but start looking for a location that could provide a viable perched aquifer (I'm thinking where there is sand on the surface that folds down and is sandwiched between two layers of clay...for the geologists out there, I'm thinking of an syncline), and focus on building water retension structures where they can get pass the impermeable surface rocks.
Yep! The limestone should be relatively shallow. If I get lucky, there may be a local depression in the limestone to give me that perched aquifer
Hey Shaun, Charlie here. I had an idea- in some places they use clear plastic to hold in the heat- that's what we do in Alaska. But it also holds in moisture... SO think about that, covering areas with a vapor barrier to trap the moisture- a mulch so to speak. Even lay down some wood chips and then cover them with sand to prevent the VBL from being punctured, then finally the vapor barrier. Place this around the plants which require the most moisture.
At night when things cool down, moisture will condense and then wick down to the plant roots. Daytime it will vaporize and the plastic will prevent it from escaping. Over time, the amount of moisture in the soil will increase.
My problem is the sand. The water won't stay near the surface long enough, at least in the parts where the soil hasn't been amended
@@dustupstexas Completely understand. We drove through lots of rocky, sandy places between Oklahoma and California. You hit the nail on the head- amended.. Without organics to trap the moisture, things die. Then without trees, the wind blows all the fines away and you are left with rocky desert. Your endeavor is very admirable and I wish you the best of luck. Amend that soil, trap the moisture, prevent the wind from blowing it all away.
I am in for this ride. This is my dream.
right now at my place the cactus are in full bloom was pretty cool to see all of them blooming.
Cool. Excited for your land. Thank you for sharing the progress
Hey Shaun i mentioned it before, but look into compost tea! You could have a dozen of those blue barrels fermenting away to create free fertilizer and microbiologically charge your soils
Compost is something I'd like to do.
@@dustupstexas making and using compost tea is different from making and using compost.
Teas are great for spiking microbial populations, but if there's no organic matter for the microbes to feed on, the population will quickly revert back to previous levels. His idea of spreading the char when he adds a layer of woodchips is the way to go. The weebeasties will live in the char and feed on the wood.
Wood ashes were the original odor control back in the day. I think you should have built a dedicate outhouse with a hole in the ground. Be sure to add both inlet and outlet vents. As you're in the desert, you'll want your inlet vent in the shade(cooler moist/less dry air) to be drawn in by the outlet vent. If you want to get real high tech, add a vent control system that will open and close the vent based on the dew point inside your collect bucket,
I like charcoal because it acidifies the soil. Wood ash raises pH, which is the last thing I need
loving your determination. Been watching from the start.
flip the lids cutoffs up side down! you can use small lag screws to secure the lids Listen to the wind wonder what he sayin' see that willow bend everything is swayin, thought I heard you wisper in the sighing of the wind "SONS OF THE PIONEERS!"
Very nice job. Gretings from Brazil.
A Line of mesquite Trees in the right places would shield the rest of the plants from the wind. Mesquite grows fast and if you guide its growth and prune it as it grows they can become quit large proper trees. My father inlaw had some between 30 and 40 ft tall on the property in Az he sold
After your livestream, it would be nice if you could edit the VOD into a video.
Great job Sean!
Every time I watch you working this hard, I keep asking myself if I could sacrifice my lazy body and come over there for 3weeks and volunteer my energy to this very worthy cause ... my only excuse is distance, otherwise I wish you the best
Another amazing video! Hopefully the biochar mix can trigger some amazing plant growth. Wishing you well in your adventures.
I love ALL Shaun Overton | DUSTUPS videos!
Good stuff Sean! Starting to get exciting…
Excellent stuff bro
My father had used barrels bought from a company which manufactured flavoring, for fermenting. The stuff he produced, even after years, still had a smell of vanilla, or raspberry, depending on the barrel.
If you're not planning on eating out of that garden, you can dig a hole and poop directly into it. Our native Americans and everyone around the world have been doin it for 6k years.
The animation!!!! (From your son?) amazing! 😂
Yep!
I keep thinking your life would be WAY easier with an excavator... steel tracks, larger size. You could use it as a crane to lift and move stuff, and of course would have been WAY easier to dig your cooling trenches too. Sometimes a large excavator comes up cheap on one of those auction websites.
Biochar is very cool. My understanding is that it's the basis of terra preta of the Amazon. Under a microscope you can see how the biochar has grooves all throughout which is why it's able to store so much water and nutrients. I use it for my veggies
funfact: 1 gram(or is it 1cm2?) of biochar have a total surface area the size of a footballfield
@@martinwinther6013 awesome. I ordered a couple of cubic yards this year soooo I got alot of football fields!
amazing lovely life in the wild thank you from the u.k.
Very cool you found enough bio char 👏👏👏👏👏👍🤞✌️
really excited for the project "picking up pace" go for it man! :D
Really enjoying your channel always wanting to see the next episode
In high alkaline soils like yours I’ve found the best inoculate for biochar is an aerobic compost tea of chicken or duck poop mixed with green grass kelp extract and molasses bubbled together for at least 24 hours.
High alkaline soils need a ton of nitrogen which is why so many nitrogen fixing legumes like mesquite and cats claw are native to chihuahuan deserts.
Have any of the regenerative experts you spoke to commented on how many years of water capturing to expect before the water table recharges to a healthy level?
that's actually a great question, considering the arid area. I am curious what can be the level in such areas at their maximum.
i wonder if having that river so close would stop the water table from rising to any significant level
@@valentynzadoiannyi5652all about the geology.
If unlucky the water could percolate down hundreds of feet. If luck stop a few feet down.
Any expert with an opinion would demonstrate they don't know very much. The effectiveness depends on the depth of the overburden, the bedrock, the type of bedrock and its topology. There is no way to make an intelligent prediction without help from a geophysicist.
@@dustupstexas Thanks for the reply, love the channel. Keep doing you!
You could have a large fish tank that helps produce ammonia-rich water. It may be necessary to cover a little or even keep part underground. One problem may be how you can keep feeding them when you are not there.
He could set it up as IAVs sandponics! He has plenty of good mountain/river sand. I also live in the high desert it's a pain in the butt to wash the sand but plants grow amazing in the sand.
You are doing amazing job man 👍🏽👍🏽
Hey shaun you should check out Paul Gautschi Back to Eden gardening method , his method requires very little labor and water , one thing he did was add 6- 8 inchs to 12 inchs of mulching material like he used dead wood chips , they biodegrade into the soil and retain alot of water in the soil so doesnt evaporate , maybe can make mulch with cacti .Wood chips probably best though . He'd plant larger trees that provide shaded areas as that will help retain soil moisture too, then smaller dwarf trees under those large trees , under the dwarf trees shrubs and finally smaller plants that provide large ground coverage as that helps retain moisture too . Also he burnt wood ash , ash in general is good for the soil .
Thought of an idea , maybe digging 6x6 or 8 x8 foot areas , dig like 3- 5 ft deep , and layer the bottom with stones so its like how ponds are built , then re add the top dirt , then add the top layer mulch 6 inch to a 12 inchs thick and plant there . Drip irrigation to water everything . Maybe shade cloth too over areas where you plant
The best thing about biochar is that it acidifies the soil instead of raising the pH like wood ash
this is really cool to see.
Bio char surface area is also crazy!
biochar is amazing stuff
This is your most productive video yet. All of everything you post is gr8 education. But this biochar and how you are charging it for 30 days is awesome. You will be jump starting your properties growth potential.
17:45 We had this kind of toilet at our summer house when I was a kid.
Btw there are (semi-arid) deserts in Canada.
Thanks 😊 love all your videos!! Plus animations are great too 👍
Thank you!
Interesting project, I'd love to have the ability to do some myself but doesn't look like that's in the cards. I do think we need to get many projects going on the large scale to deal with climate changes. Work in fire prone areas would help a lot to protect from fire spreading so fast. Have you looked at projected weather models for your area regarding El Nino , La Niña patterns. That could give extra insight into were to invest more into as well.
The southern areas of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan are all very dry desert 🌵 country those are the three western provinces. I did yell at the screen when you opened the barrel inside the hut and then used that charcoal without filter masks and safety goggles. 😂 you’re so far from medical aid! LOL 😝 but I do admire how you’re risking health and injury to create a desert Forrest. It’s awesome 🎉 world 🌍 needs more people like you.
Some other great fertilzers---rabbit and chicken feces!
What a fantasticly informative, fun, civilized, rewarding channel!!! 🌱🌵🌾🐝🦋🐛🐂❤🎉🎉🎉
I love the animations!
Wow you’re making tera preta 🎉 love it good job
If it were me doing the project it would be done with picking up rocks and pick and hoe. Mad respect to him for taking on Dozer. And all the other challenges he has taken on.
besides looking at satelite, have tou looked at any lidar acans of your property, DEM or hillshade. might be beneficial
Positive ID on the banana shaped object. Definitely a toenail clipping. I’ve seen thousands of times. They pop up in the craziest places or your bed. No in between.