I Wasted A LOT of Effort with Planting Cactus
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
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Today, I want to share the story about how I completely messed up last year when I tried to plant the prickly pear cactus in the dirt bathtubs. I'm not proud nor ashamed, because I made a promise to be completely transparent and share both the failures and the wins.
After all, everything is part of the journey toward creating a desert forest.
This episode features insights from Thiago Barbosa of Syntropic Solutions, a key mentor in my agroforestry adventure. Thiago's expertise has been a game-changer, guiding me through the process and correcting my early mistakes.
Watch to learn, laugh at my blunders, and be inspired by the potential to transform even the harshest environments into thriving ecosystems.
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I Won a Small Battle in the War for Desert Water
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Habe you watched groasis waterboxx videos on TH-cam? Those cocoon systems are used in Arabian deserts .
The key 🔑 word is "WE" and supporting your sponsors 🫠
I'd love to have a field trip to lightning ridge!
I'd like to see the project in Australia.
And I think you could easily reduce the planting of cacti and the other spiky plant to half of what you did in this video. If only 10% of them grow, I think that would be enough since they get much bigger.
All sold out of shirts
I see a lot of people saying, “don’t waste time going to Australia.” I’m of another opinion, that taking a week to see what’s been done and successful in another place, would not be a waste of time. I believe it would also provide you with rest, inspiration, and insight. This points to another important element of the Dustups project, making sure you remain resilient. Ultimately, I think letting the comments decide whether you go or not is the wrong measure. Go if you want to. Even though we are here to participate as viewers and support your efforts, our perspective is tilted by our own self interest. We all want to see progress on Dustups, but that shouldn’t be at the expense of your wellbeing. If you need a trip to Oz, take the time to do it. It would also help your viewers visualize the potential of what Dustups can be.
He already went to a successful place in Mexico.
Not time. Time is what he has in abundance. But resources. He's already spending a lot all over the place and he's what a year into the project? It may take years and years to get the results he wants. Being a bit patient and asking himself is this an expense I need is something he should do more. I know he has a lot of money but I understood it as his resources not being infinite.
He purposely grew Cactus, what we call Prickly Pear, I told him in the comments months ago why would anyone grow a Noxious Plant, its good for nothing, we do everything we can to get rid of it, even brought a beetle to eat it, he has water from a bore, he has wasted 12 plus months doing nothing with the ground, no water retaining systems, he is ignorant and his ignorance shows in his comments, he obviously knows nothing about mining in Australia and the environmental mining laws about rehabilitation here, dont come to Australia, it would be a waste of your time, if you really want to learn, go to the Great African Green Belt Projects, where they are hands on and making a huge difference, not only to the environment but also to the living standards of the people living in those regions.
He has been doing this for ages and has 0 results. Who cares about a week lol
I think he is already getting the results he was looking for, he must be making a nice little sum on this side hustle.
You said in the beginning of your project you'll FALL FORWARD this mistakes is part of the reason why we like your show.
Just scattering the pads all over was pretty much prone to fail, and probably 90% of the viewers already knew what would happen. But yes, we do love the videos.
speak for yourself. I find the arrogance and haughty attitude off-putting. He acts like he knows better than everybody and is too proud to take advice for the mere plebs in the comment section, but then he's dumb enough to spread some prickly pear pads around on top of soil and then be shocked when they didn't grow. Just goes to show how ignorant people are when they learn from such an obvious mistake that even a 5 year old wouldn't have made.
@@FullmoonEffects89 to a degree the failure is what you want. Up to a certain point. You're effectively selecting for hardiness, vitality and luck in what grows on the property by utilizing a bit of STUN* in your planting methodology.
For what he's doing there south of 10 will almost certainly be benefited by a bit of STUN down the road.
Otherwise you're just cultivating stuff that will die if you, or shaun as it were, were to stop facilitating the site.
We don't want poor genetics or a requirement of man intervention daily/weekly for the site to flourish..
Or at any rate I don't want that for my site and I am presuming shaun doesn't either.
(STUN* -> severe total utter neglect) (not my term, stole it from permaculture/regen ag guy here on youtube.) (mark shephard is his name IIRC and he's been on justin rhodes channel as well. search youtube for stun method if you're interesting in hearing him talk about it.)
You didn’t mess up, you’ve taught us all a valuable lesson. Thank you. Thank you all.
😂
Exactly ! The learning curve is always taking place. I can share our new knowledge. We planted thousands of wildflowers here in North Texas and most did not grow. We did all the right things. However we learned that Zinnas and Morning Glories are very successful and they thrive here !!! Easy to grow. Also if you plant a garden at your home, not in the desert, the 3 easiest veggies to grow are cucumbers, squash and zucchini ! Plant them in dried cowmanure - Lowes, and give them full sun and plenty of water and they will produce tons !! Kids love to learn about gardening. Almost nothing will grow in Texas after late July so that is the cutoff date. Keep up the great work !!
Wow, so valuable. I would have never known that plants go in the soil and not on top of it were it not for this channel.... /s
@@whimsofmim lol
We'd love to have you in Australia, but frankly, zoom calls and the exchange of documentation/video could teach you almost as much as a visit could. What you need now is more manpower to get as much of these "beginning steps" done as you can, as fast as you can.
Have you thought about approaching manufacturers/processors who create masses of biodegradable waste eg fruit and vegetable juicers, canners, furniture makers etc and get them to divert it to your property? I remember reading a case study about tons and tons of orange peels being dumped in a wasteland which after a number of years created its own biodiversity forest.
As a gardener, I'd love a free place to dump my green waste, that's a great idea
It wasn’t dumped in a waste land, it was dumped in a clearing that used to be a forest….in rainy, tropical, Costa Rica. Totally different.
I believe your right anything to feed the soil will help.
Lightning Ridge sounds like a great idea. Long way to go though. A video meeting would also make for some interesting narrative.
I like the voice-over narration describing the scene so much more than your live chats with the camera when you're suffering heat stroke and can't talk straight.
In contracting, we use gravel to make french drains, because gravel doesn't hold water.
Everytime i see you plant a prickly pear in gravel, It concerns me a little =)
Have you considered using a sifter/sieve to grade the gravel into fine, medium, and large aggregate? (Just for the bathtubs)
If you dug a bathtub, and then coated it with fines, then added a small layer of mediums on top to protect the fines from the sun, and then used the large around the perimeter to help keep the inside shaded a bit, it might help with water retention, as well as give the plants some material that is easier to hold on to...
It would probably be way easier to stand the prickly pear in the soil, after grading that way too.
Just make a frame out of 2x4, and staple some fine mesh to one frame, and some chickenwire (maybe 2 layers to make it finer) to the other frame. attach a back leg to the top, so that it stands on a 45 degree angle and throw your dirt through.
Just my 2 cents.
Best of luck!
Frustrating to watch simple mistakes like that as a farmer, with a little more care when planting they’d have a much higher chance of making it
It's a very windy environment. I think he needs to work with what little soil structure he has.
What you're saying is similar to what Thiago said about keeping the water near the surface where roots can find it. You could also experiment with adding layers of cardboard box under the pads and bathtub ridge, at different depths. Deeper if you have soil/fines, maybe just a few inches below the pads if it is mostly gravel.
@@olsim1730 Possibly. I think that he’s already disturbed the soil structure by digging the bathtubs though. I believe the rims of the tubs are meant to be help with the wind, but he may need the tubs to be deeper to really keep the plants and soil out of the wind.
There's a limited amount of man hours in a day, is it better spent sifting rocks or planting biomass?
My vote is don't waste time going to Australia. Spend all your time working on your project. You now have expert help, use it and your time wisely.
Yeah there is already some great videos on lightening ridge. No need to put more resources into the same content. It would be fun though. th-cam.com/video/llazeATdn7s/w-d-xo.htmlsi=2W761aE3G60LTT9t
I had the idea that this situation is a perfect example of how learning from people that have allready done what you’re trying to do is essential.
Content for his channel is helping his project efforts.
I respectfully disagree. "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!"
If someone has to do a little bit of traveling to see firsthand and gain that knowledge, then go baby go!!
Not sure if you heard Shaun say that he will most likely not see the real fruits of his labor in his lifetime.
Those are the efforts and all the other qualities of a real good human being! Doing something for future generations benefits !!!
Agreed. The expert came himself.
It's not frog plagues in Australia. We love our frogs. It's the cane toad plagues. They are an invasive species and are terrible for our lands.
Yep frogs are a good sign of a healthy ecosystem. Cane Toads are the problem up north.
Isn't there another species you could import to solve that ( j)
@@CHMichael that's how this happened in the first place. 😆
@@CHMichael they think some predators are developing immunities to the toxins. ????? even if true its still not enough.
@@CHMichael rabbits? donkeys? camels? domestic cats?
Not sure if anyone has ever mentioned it to you, but your bathtubs remind me of the premise behind the “earth smiles” Just Dig It is using to help reverse desertification in vulnerable regions in Africa. They don’t plant anything, just create conditions that foster germination of the native seedbank within the soil, much like the volunteer shrubbery in your tub!
they do add seeds to these "smiles" or "halfmoons" usually native grasses
and a tree
"bathtubs" have been used for thousands of years in the canary islands and you're supposed to plant stuff at the BOTTOM of the bath, not around it! The idea is that moisture collects at night and seeps inwards, feeding the plants.
I think they know that, in terms of preparing pits for most types of desert plants that might root in the bottom of the bathtub. But with those prickly pears, they don't like to sit in the water, they tend to rot that way.
I think the big goal is to plant things later in the bottom but first establish biomatter and shade for a better success. 😊
I don't think you actually understand what is being done here @davidwilner4553 and why it is being done. Try watching again this time with your ears wide open.
@@survivalpodcasting what I understand is that they want to create a desert forest or what we call in the Canary Islands a thermophile forest. Check this link of Lanzarote on how we grow wine and fruit in a desert climate, we don't let it overgrow because of production reasons but plants should be planted at the centre of the bathtub, not the outside. www.google.com/maps/@28.9707468,-13.7184686,196m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
How about a youtube meetup? If you have ~100 people come to the farm camping for a weekend, you can bring in a ton of biomass, "fertilizer", supplies, and labor. 100 people each planting 5-10 bathtubs in a weekend would quickly build out the entire farm.
People will also have resources, like trailers for transporting supplies, etc, if you can bring a few trailers full of pallets, you can build decomposable wind breaks, stuffing them with grass next to bathtubs to reduce evaporation, act as sponges, and collect condensation. There are volcanic islands that get almost 100% of their irrigation water from condensation. Building enough windbreaks can change the local climate to bring the biome closer to semi arid from desert. This is where the speed of growth will really accelerate.
China has done something similar in the desert, where they build wind breaks in rows out of sticks and straw. which also stops nutrients from being blown away by the wind.
He doesn't have infrastructure for 10+ people, let alone 100+. There's no water, facilities, or emergency personnel within hours of the ranch, a TH-cam meetup would be a disaster.
@@Nighthawk20000no kidding. A few people like 3-6 could be great every few months, but a huge event sounds like a nightmare. Poor access, water, food, waste, trash, snakes. 100 people and you’re guaranteed a few doofuses.
The pallet idea is pretty cool and he could use old, broken, and rotten pallets that are no good for anyone anymore. I guess the trick is he'd have to find a warehouse nearby.
Great idea. Love the no sayer pointing out all the cants. Burning man most likely has a solution to all these issues.
@@Nighthawk20000 Plus the last time he had quite a few round. He did not enjoy it too much. Happier with just a few.
Hi Shaun , Opal mining in Australia is done underground it is a method called drive method where you drive a shaft into the earth and then split off underground into new seams. Strip method or open cut is used for Coal , Gold and other ore bodies which are easily accessible from the surface. But your facts about the trees in Australia is correct and another is allot of our species of trees are actually designed to germinate once the fires have gone through.
Not the really nasty fires though. I've driven through quite a bit of bushfire damaged victorian forest. The hot fires nuke the topsoil and kill the big trees that would be immune to small ground fires. It was eerie having lunch on a windy day surrounded by thousands of dead, young mountain ash trees bumping together like wind chimes. It's all growing back aggressively, but I'm not sure what the diversity is like. Black Saturday was in 2008.
@@whiskeyinthejar24 we had some of the bad fires near our house . It also depends on the type of trees as there are a number of trees which looked dead when the fires were finished but within weeks threw up shoots from under the ground from essentially the roots which were still alive .
Flying to Australia to gain experience is same like cutting cactuses and transporting them, instead just planting them on spot. I would take money cost of flighticket and spend for planting, or bringing some organic matter, shadecloth etc. But flying to australia may get more views.
And he can eat some kangaroo steaks
@@PedroOrtiz-b1h There are so many sites in the USA and Mexico he could visit that are employing many useful techniques that would help him. But he'd rather burn all that jet fuel to go halfway across the world to see the same shit because he thinks it will impress his viewers or something. I swear, this channel isn't about greening the desert, it's a huge vanity project to stroke some tech bros inflated sense of self worth.
At some point, there would be nothing to do at the dustups ranch, and there would be time to visit other locations.
I feel like he just wants to go on a vacation where he can also get some work done.
This labor-intensive bathtub planting looks like a task for volunteers, 1-2 bathtubs/day, using your new techniques. You can chop the cactus and ocotillo, harvest the grass clumps to divide, then let others take over on the time-intensive planting part. Bring a few batches of mulch up from the river, and have the volunteers distribute it with a wheelbarrow.
Good grief. Who would volunteer to waste their time and energy on a failing project?
@@clarkosteoI
@@clarkosteoI would too 😂 he’s barely even started don’t see how it’s a “failing project”
@@tomclarke4978 I’ve lived in the desert my whole life. In its current state, this is a failing project. You have to work with nature, not against it, and you can’t work with it unless you know it. Unless this guy ditches his comforts and pitches a tent on his own land, spending a summer or two on the property and having to learn to live with the surroundings, he’ll never know it. For example, let’s say some of that prickly pear grows. Does he not know that every living thing from 100 miles around will come and eat it? You have to steward not only the land but what’s already on it because believe me, every living thing here gets desperate come summer. If you want to plant, you first have to plant for the creatures that are already here - either that or spend lots of resources on keeping them out. These big, spendy projects and hiring “gurus” are just so wasteful when there are people all around that have lived here that would freely give advice. This guy refuses local community, refuses advice of his YT community, and just does whatever his ego tells him. That’s a recipe for failure - especially in one of the harshest climates there is. But if you want to spend your 110-degree summers shoveling dirt for some rich guy for free, power to you 😂
This doesn't look like a failing project to me-- it looks like a DIY gardening/farming approach. Seems to me that water and soil retention is the real priority in land like this ... but it wouldn't be as interesting to watch as gardening experiments.
I don't doubt that curious people will continue to show up at Dustups, out there in the middle of nowhere, interested to see things in person ... so Shaun might as well get some useful assistance from them. :)
I messed up our first time moving to our high desert land. Rabbits, squirrels, rats, chipmunks and other rodents ate all our cactus, plants, and trees to the ground. Plus, prickly pear cactus needs lots of water 💧
That's why u use local plants. If it wouldn't work there nature would not have planted them there. Thus that the cactus needs a lot of water is a non issue. If they wouldn't like it there, they wouldn't grow there. And also if you have a lot of animals that eat the vegitation untill destruction, maybe it isn't a dessert. But just a piece of land that has been abused. Because the animal population doesn't match the planting. Most native plants are toxic for native wild life.
You should have kept a few cats 😺😸😹. It's all about the balance.
@@hotbit7327 They don't come around as much because we have a few big dogs
@@hotbit7327Cats kill a lot of beneficial insects and birds. Don’t create a new problem when trying to solve an issue.
Stop asking our permission to go on vacation bro 🤣
Dustups Australia edition sounds fun!!
Wow, very generous! Thank you!
You can put some meshes between 2 poles to catch the dew, which is something I saw people doing in those ultra arid areas.
Water droplets form and you can collect water or direct it into those dirt tubs.
Yes! Mist nets! ❤
This is the most ideal conditions for mist nets. It is humid, remote, and in there is massive need of water.
I live in a fairly wet climate (New Hampshire) but many of your concepts still apply. I'm trying to control too much water, you're trying to save too little. but the earthworks are similar. The plants are totally different, but the ideas still apply. Keep trying new things!
In wetter areas like yours, building Beaver Dam Analogs can make a huge difference. Folks often talk about using berms and terraces to hold water, but if you slope them just a little bit "off contour", you can also use them to shunt water in a particular direction. Lots of fun dealing with lots of rain! 😃
@@threeriversforge1997 Even better: I have a family of beavers that moved to the back half of my land last year. They're doing all the hard work for me
If theres cows grazing, a long fence has got to be your first priority.
Had the same impression.
The biomass is too brittle to sustain roaming cows. At tis time the mammals will kill your efforts. Further deserting your land.
Cow could allow growth in ecosystem but only with the right grazing pattern. High density grazing at short time.
Agreed. 2 steps forward, 1 step back. 1 hot wire electric fence.
Cows have destroyed the desert where I live. There's no prickly pear, ocotillo left. They aren't deterred by thorns on mesquite either
@@squarecompass4582 If you're going to do livestock on a project like this I would do electric fence and then it can be easily moved around so you can let areas rest. There is plenty of sun for a solar unit and it is much cheaper.
Also, I'd like to see you visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center near Austin Texas to get their insights into best methods for establishing Trans-Pecos native grass and wildflower fields, once you have the cattle exclusion fences built.
Another great episode and appreciate, once again, the on-camera learning.
As to the question of whether to go to Lightning Ridge for an episode, if Thiago thinks you'll learn things there that you can't otherwise (or that the inspirational nature of the visit will be invaluable), then I vote yes. If, however, he thinks you've got what you need for now in terms of knowledge for taking the next steps, then I see no urgency to go. You've got your hands full and seem well-inspired as is.
Thank you, Shaun and Thiago, Brandon, and everyone else!
Coming from someone who has a background in Horticulture and years experience of growing cacti;
It could be beneficial for you to have a centralised propagation station, close to water and where you can observe all plants at one time;
In the case of these cacti, it will take longer for them to establish roots as they are still photosynthesising (i understand that you are trying to minimise the sunlight on the plant, but it can be done more efficiently).
If you could bring a trailer load of soil and disperse in those bath's, it will act as a sponge and absorb the water, allowing it to seep into the ground as well - micro-organisms will also be able to breed more effectively, which ultimately give life to plant and soil - i would recommend setting up some shade barriers partially around those baths with soil and plants, as it will cool the soil, block the plants from the sun so they can prioritise their energy towards developing roots and not growing.
Hope this helps or brings inspiration to your project!!
Sending love from AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺🦘🫡❤️
Shade barrier directly over the cacti?
@@dustupstexas i would set it up as a fence almost; if you run a google image search under 'shade cloth fence', something like that but maybe a bit shorter, just enough to prevent the sun from touching the plants; if you cover them over the top it could prevent some rain from falling onto the soil
but i think if you can set up some bath's filled with some nice soil (doesn't have to be a high quality - preferably some free soil from your other farm, and maybe mixed in with some foliage you have pruned as a form of food and shelter/surface area for microbes and insects etc), and set up a shade fence around to give some shade, and close to a water source (could even be near your main hub), you would be able to produce plants at a higher rate, and when they are somewhat established with roots, you could then transplant them into other bath's and area's as they will have the proper means to survive at a higher rate
@@williampowlett3871This is an awesome idea!
@@mathiasfriman8927 Thankyou!
I don't know the economy of a TH-cam-video with a lot of views, but to me a trip to Australia seems like a waste of money. I'm voting for you to put the money into bringing in loads of biomass instead. Partner with Del Monte or some other big fruit company and have them dump their peelings on/near your land for free. :) I bet some of them have large costs for getting rid of them some other way.
Stay focused .... copy what you see in pictures ... create water oasis
What happened to pond?
What happened to drip irrigation?
What happened to house you were building?
What about trees by pond?
I'm lost on what you are doing???????
But don't make your video just the two hours you spend on planting a bathtubs.
Or get in touch with a sawmill for wood dust and chips for cheap.
Most large scale organic waste is commercially composted these days. Our local company actually purchases biomass from particular producers so that they can maintain the correct balance of inputs.
Glad you have expert help! I think the dirt bathtubs will be a successful experiment, over time. Looking forward to learning more, and I have high hopes for future BDAs and check dams. This is a lot term project, the first 4 years will have slow progress.
I spent 20 years turning my rag weed-only former agricultural land into a wonderful lush pasture. As soon as I got a manure spreader, a scoop of seed on top of a load, with a bit of wood ashes did the trick for me. However, Kentucky gets a lot more rain than your desert. Now I mow grass, not weeds, and my animals can graze year round.
These bath tubs needs to be viewed as micro-habitats (Homes) for microbes, bugs, mice, birds, lizards, Rabbits etc.
Throw some mesquite and palo verde seeds in the bathtubs for the mulch factory, the rain will bury the seeds.
Keep up the great work, Saludos from Southern Arizona. @dustuptexas
I spent some of my youth growing up in the Ridge, going back out in a few weeks, you'll love it, travelling expands the mind
Hi there, I am in the process of doing Syntropic Agroforestry on my 20-acre farm in semi-arid North Central Victoria, Australia (about 10 miles from the Mallee), using Opuntia ficus indica, Agave americana, Aeonium arboreum and other assorted cacti and succulents. Your place makes my place look positively lush and fertile! I have a 100-foot-tall eucalyptus canopy, with 6 species of Eucalyptus, about 3 or 4 species of acacia, casuarinas and also grasses, but I am using the Opuntias and Agaves as the alleyway species to push this system into more fertility and productivity.
Rains so far this year have been very poor and the soil is still like concrete, although it's now after Midwinter. I have been cutting large branches of O. ficus indica (3 or 4 feet tall) off my existing plants, prioritising cuttings off cacti that fruit well and burying them a foot or more into the soil (hacking out the holes, one by one, with my spade). They root within a month of either a rainfall event or being watered and I sometimes pile rocks around the newly establishing cacti as well, to help stabilise them while they are establishing. Experience has taught me that planting whole branches in this way establishes a new opuntia hedge within just a year, as opposed to 3 to 4 years from planting pads.
So maybe of you plant branches as well, you'd get even more prickly pear growth, in a shorter time?
I also plant succulent or cactus understorey or companion plants such as crassula, aloe, yucca elephantipes, lampranthus (pigface or ice plant), tree aeoniums etc in the same hole, although I have learned that tree aeoniums and other "non thornies" often get chewed out by grey kangaroos and especially swamp wallabies, when planted on range. They eat the succulent stems, rather than the rosettes at the top, so perhaps they are looking for water? There is a dam nearby though, and the tree aeoniums do taste nice, I often chop the rosettes into a soup and eat them myself!
BTW, I think that Lightning Ridge is a great idea. I'm closely following the progress of that project online and if you come to Aussie, you'd be welcome to visit my place as well! I've put a few TH-cam videos of my work online, although (like I said) low rainfall this year is making it look a bit drier than it was when those films were taken! Oh well, it will rain again...
Eventually...
One Day...
God Bless Your Work.
Very cool. Thank you for sharing
@@dustupstexas BTW, this lifestyle has benefits... It's morning here and I'm enjoying my wholegrain breakfast cereal topped with fresh nopal fruit! Yum!
A few criticisms I do have is the reliance on non-natives
While not all non-natives are a bad thing, ecosystems do recieve exposure to alien species naturally, my concern is that you are using some species that have been rather conclusively proven to be very aggressive invasives (Opuntia species and ice plants are some of the most damaging plants in the outback)
Is it necessary to plant so many cactus together.
What would happen if they were planned further apart e.g. triples of plants every two steps on contour. Idea would be to spread further.
Some might die and some might live dependent on micro environment.
Maybe use a heavy digging hoe to dig a hole about 9 inches deep and plant cactus at bottom.
You can select easier digging spots and not being strict on distances.
Realise that this is another variation and maybe worth a pilot plot.
Prickly pair is devastating in the Outback.
Greetings from Czechia (Czech Republic). I love your plan and I want to support you. Take care, and I really hope that it is going to work out and together we can make a change.
Thank you so much!
I would love to see a video of you visiting Lightning Ridge and showing how Dustups may look in a few years, but it might be better to do that when you can't do much at Dustups for whatever reason.
Thanks Shaun - so glad to see you not getting discouraged and always still foraging ahead with the learning curve, etc! You're doing awesome!
My vote is stay in TX. If it’s a matter of funding, pay the guys to continue to come back to dust ups and train you / work hands on in this project. Their direction at the early stage of this seems like a big bonus. Also, if you’re speaking with Thiago, tell him to write a book! I’m trying to learn more about syntropic agroforestry and it’s proven extremely difficult to find a solid resource.
I think the project would be best served with fencing. A small acre fencing project would be well worth a test. Maybe there are nearby lots that are fenced but not grazed, a tour of those lots would give insight into what results would be gained from fencing. I own a piece of land that is not grazed and when I compare it to the piece next door that is grazed the difference is stark. The piece that is grazed has a dozen different species of plants, my piece has hundreds of species. Good luck! I enjoy watching.
5:30 I say go to Lightening Ridge in Australia and also to Geoff Lawton’s place, Zaytuna, because you can learn so much from seeing what others have done. and hearing in person their challenges and solutions.
Geoff has been a huge part of turning land from barren to lush in various parts of the world, including the Jordan place where it was basically all hard packed ground with nothing growing, and in Arabia or one of those very dry lands. Your kind mentor who came over to help you, would also be able to explain with examples the process of his regenerating life on that barren land.
You’ll never regret it snd it would be really interesting to see what your place can look like years ahead and learn about the journey they used to get there.
He seems to have turned his back on permaculture and I don't know why. He was working with Andre MIllison at the start of all of this and I"m not sure what happened, but now it's like permaculture has been striken from his mind and he only cares about what Syntropic Forestry experts tell him.
The Australian trip is a good idea because it will give you drive and belief in thier success..when you have low times on your project..
Also you will learn some new stuff and gather other ideas
Don't go. You already have the expert. Just work on your own footrest.
5:45 While I would love to see you visit, my reccomendation is that you conserve your resources. You are not that far into your project and you have no idea what expenses may show up. If nothing else while you wait you accumulate experience which then will make your later visit more productive.
Shaun,
I think you could learn much more by focusing on groups that specialize on the Chihuahuan Desert. The Chihuahuan Desert Institute & Botanical Garden up in Fort Davis comes to mind. You might also find a rare rancher that’s doing some grassland management techniques. And finally, the Nature Conservancy with Mount Livermore or Big Bend Ranch State Park might have information on new species that are rare but something missing on your ranch. From David in Houston
I would love to see you visit Australia. Especially as a source of motivation and inspiration during low points, or when you need content when things are slow. I see it as more than simply information gathering. I'm surprised so many people said no, but I think visiting a similar project that has succeeded has a lot of value.
Lighting ridge is exactly the project you would benefit from seeing when you have time maybe when you get flooding or extreme heat times might be a good time to go ✌️👏
Did you know that in Australia Prickly Pear was introduced and went crazy to the point it devastated large areas of pasture. A biological control was introduced in the form of the cactoblastus bug that ate it.
If its possible lighting ridge would be great content. I love hearing from these experts in the wild doing what they do best. Also i just cannot wait for more rain!
Yes go to Australia , it's all learning and inspiring to see the success.Fascinating.
Yes- go visit Australia and take notes. Also meet with several groups that are reclaiming desert. Stay a few weeks. Also Hawaii is exactly half way. So you can split the trip in 2 parts and have more fun. You also cut the trip in half! It is not out of the way to buy 2 tickets. travel zoo is good and vacations to go. We use both for good deals. Keep up the good work !!
I so love what you are doing! Thank you so much !! I am older generation and it is a pleasure for me to see that the next generation is doing the work to make our planet better. Thank you! Thank you!
Excited to see how tropical storm Alberto impacted your land. Rain! A lot of rain
Not a drop...
@@dustupstexas :( the good thing is that rain season just started. La Niña is coming hard this year
This is a VERY special and important episode! i hope this video (and potentially the next few videos) are categorized into a special list for years to come!
In México it is suggested to dry cactus leaf for a week , that way it roots faster once put in the ground
But won't it dry out in the dry soil?
@@gardenersgraziers7261 they don't grow in winter , only in the heat , i live in similar conditions
@@Arnthorg youre probably right not everywhere has these extreme conditions
Thanks so much Shaun. Whatever you decide, I will definitely be along for the journey. Your goal and drive is what I think most people here appreciate. So I don't think you need to "cater" to those folk since we're here to see and support this project and your journey. Godspeed, man!
😁 I say the same thing way back in the beginning when the tubs were installed, but Thiago gets the credit because he's famous. Ouch!! 😁
Mulch in the tubs will pay dividends in very short order. While I'm a huge supporter of using that grass to cover the soil, I'd like to see a second "test bed" done with a bag of wood chip mulch. I'm thinking that the wood chips will do better because they are denser and form a heavy mat that shades the soil more. If you look at the grass when it's laid down, you can see it's still very puffy and there's good air flow through the mass. While it's undoubtedly shading the soil, I think the air movement is also allowing the soil to dry out far faster than if wood chips were used.
Just an experiment, obviously. We know the wood chips work wonders because Edge of Nowhere Farms in Phoenix has already demonstrated it on a large scale. Bringing in bags of the stuff every time you visit wouldn't be cost-effective, obviously, but it would be fun to follow Peter Andrews' idea of really building up a line of the tubs at the top of the elevation so that all that biological goodness can then flow downhill from there.
I know you're partially joking about Thiago, but the hang up was on how to actually plant the cactus. I didn't get it until I watched him stick the shovel in the ground, then use it as a lever to slide the cactus into the ground. Without the shovel in the ground, the soil doesn't have enough texture to support a hole. You'd have to dig a crater to do it without the shovel supporting the pad. No TH-cam comment was going to watch me that
@@dustupstexas Nothing but love in my heart for you and Thiago! 😁
You can't ever learn enough Mr. Overton. If the opportunity presents itself I think it would make for a great episode. I really liked your episode when you went to the Maguey/Tequila farm for finding plants that may be complimentary to your needs. Keep going, you are making a difference!!
You are totally awesome. So dedicated to your task and to learning as you go. Brilliant.
Try planting sorghum sudangrass for biomass. Grows good in dry climates and grows quickly to 6 feet after being cut back to a foot.
Adding biomass and cactus to all those bathtubs will take time and effort, but if you bring some biomass such as grass clipings, char, straw, mulch, twigs , maybe even cardboard when you drive to Dustups every week from home, your bathtub project could accelerate.
What about collecting visitors cow droppings
Everyone could learn from the Australia trip and I believe it'll help the casual viewers understand your end goal.
i would very much enjoy a lightning ridge episode!
After seeing those waterlogged bathtubs, My first thought was scattering ephemeral seeds of desert plants in them. They would grow rapidly taking advantage of the short term water source and provide mulch in each 'bathtub' as the water disappears. If they make it to flowering stage, seed will also be deposited in the 'bathtub'. Many ephemeral desert plant seeds have amazing longevity. This occurs in much of the arid and desert areas in Australia.
Don't go to lightning ridge I don't know what you will learn. I've been, not that I'm a reforesting expert.
It's not strip mining. It small time mining. It's on a hill so it rains all around but not on the hill. There is plenty if farming going on relatively close. Where the black soil is you can't mine.
The restaurant where the forest is is heavily watered. If you want to learn their lessons dig a trench to keep for water months at a time and water plants.
The greenery in those videos is from I believe one of the wettest season in history. That's the year the houses got washed into Sydney's beaches and towns got wiped off the map and lightning ridge itself was an island and they had to get supplies flow in. The reforest area is really small and really dense, anything like looks like green grass is purely due to the above average rainfall of that season. No one is looking after it.
That part of Australia is on the Great Artesian Basin because of that there is fairly easy access to water. People water their lawns with it. The reforest project apparently doesn't use it (its in town so they could) but they have liquid water in the pond year round.
If you go to Australia ask yourself why? What are you going to learn? What can you show anyone that isn't already on TH-cam?
Save your money and dig a hole to collect more water.
Absolutely I’d love to see lighting ridge conditions and successful greening
Definitely come to OZ. Observing "In real life" will gather more info than virtual.
You are doing a great work there, stay there
Get Thee to Australia, Young Man! That would be fabulous content, an extraordinary learning opportunity for you and all your viewers and a shot in the arm of confidence and hope for all of us. I am team Australia visit all the way!
I think an effort to create large water reservoirs (use that dozer) with liners to retain water, combined with bringing in mulch will greatly speed up getting drought resistant trees to create shade and in turn generate organic matter faster.
If you went to Australia for a video, I'd still watch it just saying man. I can't always watch 100% of your videos because I'm usually doing household chores while I watch, but wherever I miss something I always rewind
We are all (to a wide varying degree) LD…. and it is what makes us human:
Learn by Doing - LBD
We appreciate and Love your adventures! Please keep plugging and padding away.
I'd love for you to be the person who goes to previous projects to see which methods worked over the long hall. I want you to see al baydha along with others!
Does he have the knowledge necessary to grasp why things might work in one of these sites but no on his site, and vice versa? If not, I fear going to these places are just going to fill up his head with a bunch of notions that he thinks he understands, but when it comes to executing, they will just be like the dirt bath tubs v2.0
Thanks Shaun. The learning curve is always taking place. I can share our new knowledge. We planted thousands of wildflowers here in North Texas and most did not grow. We did all the right things. However we learned that Zinnas and Morning Glories are very successful and they thrive here !!! Easy to grow. Also if you plant a garden at your home, not in the desert, the 3 easiest veggies to grow are cucumbers, squash and zucchini ! Plant them in dried cowmanure - Lowes, and give them full sun and plenty of water and they will produce tons !! Kids love to learn about gardening. Almost nothing will grow in Texas after late July so that is the cutoff date. Keep up the great work !!
You need to have fun with this project/obsession….go to Australia, take the fam…enjoy life !
It's self-indulgent vanity parade stuff if you ask me, but you all seem to love it, so I hope you enjoy him paying a ton to go see stuff he could easily see and learn about in Arizona, Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas. Just mark my words, he'll be complaining about lacking funds and expecting viewers to make up the difference in no time.
Make no sense to me to fly halfway across the world to see and learn about things that are being done in several similar spots in the USA. If Shaun doesn't know about them already, that's probably because (like everything it seems), he hasn't done enough research.
The entire time you were digging my mind was trying to come up a design for a tool to help you move the dirt. Like something that you’d attach to the shovel, pull a lever which would open a hole in the dirt to drop the cactus into, drop the lever and pull the shovel out. 🤔 just thinking that a custom tool (or preexisting better tool)would make it a lot less labor intensive.
A setback you can bounce back from, learn and move on.
I think visiting Australia would be great. People underestimate the effect of being inspired by something. Being able to go and see a place physically that has proven what your trying to achieve can work can be a powerful experience.
There aren't any similar sites that are closer than a literal full day (24 hours) of traveling?
@@b4k4survivor Similar sites perhaps, similar sites using the same methods I'm not sure
Shaun, my thought is that we need bring back the biomass that we bing in to our mega cities which drain the surroundings and flush out in the sea.
/Niklas
The problem with that is that it is heavily polluted
Yeah, that pollution shouldn't be going to the ocean, but given that there is some degree of dilution, it probably does less damage there that it would here
I would love to see tours of other similar projects that you take inspiration from, as I am here for your journey of understanding, whatever that might entail!
I hope that your journey inspires others, and you share in the journey of others!
Why not build a large greenroom on your property? It retains moisture, provides protection against elements and can be used as a nursery to start up plants.
Actors can be expensive to feed though.
@@TR1P0DL1F3 lol green room /greenhouse
@@TR1P0DL1F3😂😂
I imagine a dedicated greenhouse / nursery might not be as efficient. The goal is to improve all of the ground at the same time. A single nursery will grow your plants, but it can't be scaled. Whereas, if you work on the entirety of the land, your survival or immediate success rate with plants might be lower, but you still end up making more progress due to the much larger numbers involved. It's all about enabling the land to retain more water for longer. Land area is the #1 most important asset when it comes to water collection.
@@Yutani_Crayven I know. The purpose of the greenhouse would be to jump start plants and give them the best chance for survival until they're planted in the soil. Most moisture doesn't leave the greenhouse and would actually require less water than planting outside and hoping they survive.
Thanks!
Thank you!
@@dustupstexas Mate Australia is made to burn we've been burning for 60000 years They were 2 different fires And about 800 km apart
Looking forward to this Shaun!!
Thanks! I'm propagating prickly pear in Ohio! By far one of my favorite plants. Thanks for the inspiration!
it needs contact with soil
I'm very hopeful to see this project finished. I live in Chihuahua city, and I love seeing this desert being naturally turned into a forest.
I have been watching your videos with great interest from when I first discovered them a couple months back. But when I saw the segment on planting prickly pear cactus I cringed when all you did was just lay them flat on the surface of the ground. I live in the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area and have started quite a few cactus plants from cuttings. Whoever told you they would take root just lying flat on the surface of the dirt didn't quite know what they were talking about. Some cacti like certain varieties of cholla and prickly pear will indeed root occasionally in the wild when a segment breaks off and lands on the ground in an advantageous orientation.
When the weather is right and things aren't excessively dry and hot, cactus segments and pads that are still plump with moisture WILL send down roots growing out of even the flat surface through maybe a quarter to half an inch of open air to penetrate the soil and start taking root. BUT, that's not common enough to make it work for what you are trying to accomplish. Nature needs help by planting like you are now doing, getting the cactus in contact with the dirt, hopefully with some moisture to seal the surface of the loose soil a bit so it retains the moisture, and give the cutting some encouragement to send out roots into the moist soil.
At 14 inches of rain a year, your area gets twice as much as the Sonoran Desert around Phoenix, which in many areas is more lush naturally than your property. Maybe your soil is just too poor as it is and all that soil amendment you are doing will pay off handsomely. With that much rain here, we would have extremely lush deserts and maybe even too much for some of our cacti, including our mighty saguaros. Currently though, our extended drought and warming climate are stressing the saguaros to the point they are already dying off at a faster rate than normal.
Keep up the great work and education for yourself and all the rest of us!
It might help to get a pair of long serrated bbq tongs, a long serrated bread knife and a root slayer shovel. These are what I use to cut and transplant cactus. I’m not planting 300 acres but when I plant a few dozen pads these tools work well.
It might be interesting video, scientific, and speed up success, if you experiment with something different in each bathtub. If you can complete 1 bathtub in a day, imagine how many variations you can have in 1-3 months. As a computer guy, you could track the variations in a spreadsheet or database. If 1 fails, you already have many other variations going on looking for the best variations to continue in future iterations. If you only do 1 thing at a time and it fails, you lose months but 100 bathtubs with 100 different experiments, you will learn, fail, and succeed faster. (Easy to say from here)
The problem is those bathtubs aren't built on contour and rainfall is so sporadic that you can't sufficiently tell if differences are from the variables you are changing or differences in the amount of rainfall/wind/etc that each bath tub is getting.
@@whimsofmim True, some gardeners don't have the same water level everywhere but you try to record as much data as you can along with observations to improve knowledge & decisions. Ex: You could film the holes' drainage rates after a rain event and factor that time on a spreadsheet or have a control plant in multiple spots. Either way, you will gather more data from more bathtubs.
@@kensearle4892 Yeah he can still learn a lot from what you suggest. I shouldn't have made it seem like it wouldn't yield any valuable info because he can certainly pick bathtubs that should have, more or less, equal conditions relative to each other.
I was being too pedantic because you said "scientific"... it just put me in that mode of expecting to compare apples to apples and control variables as much as possible (and have a proper control), but you are right, even some basic tests of a few different things with different species/approaches to planting/whatever would likely yield some good insights
Very helpful episode! We let fear of failure stop us from even beginning (all too often). Shaun, you are inspiring us to try things and learn from our failures instead of fearing them!
Whaaaatttt, curious to see what happened
Have you thought about collecting heaps of the cactus mince them up in a cement mixer and use the slurry as a soil wetting agent and soil builder?
Pore the slurry to fill 1/3 of the dirt bathtub and fill it over 1/3 with dirt and plant straight into it ad that will be your sponge you need to build your organic matter
Is it possible to find successful example nearer at hand?
Hey Shaun, maybe plan to visit Lightning Ridge perhaps in the off-season, when you're not as busy with planting, etc. Seeing something similar to what you want to create in-person could be invaluable towards realizing your dream.
Trap water. Do that. Make sure you are ready for the monsoons . What you are doing is recharging the local water table. As it fills, water gets closer and closer to roots. Only after you are doing that successfully, should you worry about organic matter or plants.
Plant until this round of monsoons; then shift to water retention afterwards. Some places for recharge: Any spot that looks promising for recharging a well. Any spot that will help reduce salinity down by the river. Any spot that will retain water above the confluences, or help keep the water from running straight into Oxford Canyon and off the land. Areas where the impermeable layer is 3 feet down. Areas that are quick and easy to fence off and fill with sorghum. Areas where it's easy to build a sand dam designed by an experienced specialist. Beaver dam analogues above the confluence, or, if permitted, in the river. Bathtubs that prevent some of the water from heading down the main wash would be useful. Terraces really appear to scar up the land, and probably need specialist help to design. When you are 2-3 months out from the next monsoon, then plant whatever is easiest to accomplish (and fence).
You might want to deal with the salinity by the river first, as that's a situation which will get worse the more time passes.
He's spent time messing with so many things that don't seem nearly as helpful as installing one rock check dams, run downs, and zuni pits throughout the various washes on his property. He had a whole year to prepare and I don't think he did anything to slow/spread/sink the water that flows through those washes, and afaik, the only earth work he built and installed were the two swales. The bath tubs were from the year prior. An entire year and not one "one rock check dam" built. Funny, he talks about proof of concept, but he won't even build ONE Of these structures. They are not the same as the doomed-to-fail check dams he was trying to build in the beginning (by stacking rocks up on top of each other), but he's stubborn and doesn't want to do what people suggest if he doesn't like them or how they suggest it. His loss.
He built a big damn so the smaller check dams are less of an issue.
@@JohnDoe-vm5rb I've seen the location of those dams. They might catch and hold a lot of water, but 99% of the washes on his land are untouched.
Also, it's a common mistake that people make when it comes to water harvesting that assume bigger is better. The problem with building a big dam is if it fails, the results are very destructive (he'll lose part of his road and the sudden crash of all that water causes an enormous amount of water erosion both at the spot of failure but also downstream.
Hopefully his dams hold, but there is no reason not to be building hundreds of little rock structures within the washes.
People love bigger because it's something they can point a camera at and it makes them feel like they accomplished so much, but look what happens when those big investments of time/energy fail (like his steel reinforced gabion dam he built a year or two ago)... then the person gets discouraged and they stop trying those types of structures.
If his dam fails or doesn't work as intended, he's less likely to use dams and similar earthen structures in the future.
His biggest bang for his buck would be the installation of tons of small rock structures, as is suggested in Brad Lancaster's "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond" and as was used by a couple in AZ/Mexico who built thousands of small rock dams to green their desert ranches:
I think there is a small section about them about 1 min into this video:
th-cam.com/video/c2tYI7jUdU0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=RZ1bPPA-VMXhcBam
I would agree with focusing on one spot to really add a lot of organic material and setup an "ideal" scenario that's big enough to sustain it self but not so big you can't manage it or fix problems if they come up. If you spread it too thin trying to stretch resources to cover more ground you probably get more failure.
How many yards of fence can you build for the cost of an Australia trip?
If the video sponsors and Adsense are good, he can do both. The catchy thumbnail and clickbait potential of a trip video are probably more appealing than a fencing video.
@@whiskeyinthejar24 so this channel is about being a vanity parade influencer and not actually being practical then? Are we watching some greenwashing tiktok influencer bullshit or somebody who is actually trying to green the desert?
@@whimsofmim you don't have to be a fake influencer to make money off your videos. He has paid video sponsors, so it's not like a normal person who's projects/trips are a pure expenditure.
@@whiskeyinthejar24 I know, but more and more, this channel feels like it's just for show to appeal to the audience/his sponsors and not actually about achieving his goal. It's just hopping to one showy idea after another ("I bought a river property" / "I got water from a well"), but I"m not seeing enough of the hard grift or practical things that are needed for success, like say a freaking FENCE, simple earthen structures in those washes to slow/spread/sink some of that water into the land, no rainwater catchment that utilizes those oilfield doghouses.... etc.
I'm sorry, but if he wants to green the desert, there needs to be simple one rock check dams, run-downs, and zuni pits being installed in the washes to slow/spread/sink water into the land. He needs to install a fence to protect the work he's already done from grazing animals. Instead we get all this stuff with the well, the other land by the river, and now talking about a trip to Australia.
How about he shows us he can build a one rock check dam before flying over 8,000 miles to look at how somebody else already did stuff like that (just for him to act like it's a freaking epiphany that will CHANGE EVERYTHING! when, in fact, people have been telling him to install simple earthen structures from the beginning).
It's his money, his time, his effort to do with as he pleases. If he wants to gallivant around like some jetsetter, showing what an eco-warrior he is as he leaves a carbon footprint the size of his enormous ego, then he's free to do so.... and I will be here saying it's all an enormous vanity parade until it stops being about what he thinks will look good for the camera and starts being about what actually will work.
@@whiskeyinthejar24 The other thing is, he has ranchers and "experts" within two states of him, who did exactly what I'm saying needs to be done (and were successful enough to be featured by the USGS), so it is utterly ridiculous to me that he's not considering visiting one of these experts or sites but would rather fly 8,000+ miles one way to consult with "experts" on a totally different continent.
Despite what he says about nobody ever doing what he's trying to do, there are people in AZ, Mexico, Colorado, likely New Mexico and even Texas who are doing these types of things and he could learn just as much from them, if not more, if he visited them.
But just look at the comments.... "go to Australia, I'd love to see a video of it!" Just a bunch of people who want to live vicariously through him traveling. They could go on YT and watch videos about the site in Australia and see it, but they want him to go there. Not because the stuff he needs to learn can ONLY be learned there, but because they think seeing a trip to Australia would be cool or something.
It's vanity. It's just empty "influencer" type content if it turns into this "I'm going halfway across the world to learn how to do XYZ... that I could have learned from reading a book, or watching some videos, or going to a similar project site closer to my home")
Btw, here's a fairly short video that discusses the THOUSANDS of small rock dams a couple used to turn their desert ranches into productive land. Why Shawn isn't considering visiting those ranches, or some like them, that are all much much closer is a mystery until you consider it probably won't be as appealing for people to watch than him going to Australia for a similar type of learning experience.
This whole channel is giving me the vibe of somebody cosplaying like they're a rancher/eco-warrior or something. When I see him start to actually admit there are multiple ways to accomplish his goals and start being open to all of them, I will change my mind. As it stands now, it's just a tech bro who thinks he's above taking advice from strangers who is showing us all how much money he can spend and getting patted on the back for his good intentions.
th-cam.com/video/c2tYI7jUdU0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=RZ1bPPA-VMXhcBam
Here in the eastern US whenever there is a highway project they create an enormous amount of mulch grinding up poor quality lumber and under growth. I'm talking 10s of thousands of tons.
I'd try to find access to very large volumes of high quality mulch. Fill your bathtubs and terraces with it. Create islands of life. Get some taller vegetation going more quickly and then you may start seeing results within a few years. These bathtubs may not look much different than they do now in 5 years
The Sahel region is using a technique called half moon to combat desertification, also if you want to reverse desertification I would get those wild cattle to come stomp around and loosen up the soil. You give them water & food then they repay you with manure, free earth moving and seed spreading...just have to probably put up an electrical fence where you want them to stay out of.
I appreciate your efforts and your honesty. I vote that you check out Australia, not simply because it will be interesting to some of us, but because you will undoubtedly learn something that you hadn’t anticipated learning. Best of luck!
Great video Shawn! Used your code and got a short sleeve Bombas shirt, a must in TX. They were out of my size in the long sleeve. I’ll come back another time. Great work!
My idea is to make hexagonal inch thick trays that connect together made out of hemp pulp and cover a large surface area with them , the trays can be seeded with whatever you want to grow and impregnated with potassium nitrate. The trays would have kind of a mesh design in the middle, this would be able to draw humid night air into the trays and preserve moisture underneath. When the trays have degraded there will be a thick layer of cellulose left behind under whatever is growing above.
I think you should definitely take a trip and look at a successful desert forest in a very similar climate.
1. It's great content for you and for the viewers. This type of success in alternative agriculture should always be promoted!
2. I think it'd be a great vision for the viewers and for yourself about what is actually possible. Let's us see the forest through the trees.
Shaun, Indio Mountains research station (UTEP) says on their website that they have documented 334 plant species in the area! That’s almost unbelievable but encouraging to think you have so many native choices in your tool kit! Have you told us how many species you have counted on your ranch? I’m sure their number is higher if they also take into account the higher elevations of Eagle Peak. Rains again (6/25/24) dancing around Van Horn and Sierra Blanca today. Hopeful you get a direct hit! 👍😎David inHouston,Texas
You are learning. Its a process.
As far as lightning ridge: if the trip will not only be educational for you and help you target the necessary strategy for your end goal...then yes, and if the show allows you to help get across your process to us viewers with the help of a successful forestry...then also yes. Id watch it. Note tho im also biased and have been following your adventure since the start. Keep up the good work!
Agree completely!! It would help us to see more of what you are trying to grow but could also be done remotely possibly. In addition, additional contacts you make or info you pick up may be helpful. Hard to justify the expense but if you think it would help you to be in that environment to be surrounded with what's possible in your future then that's invaluable because when stuff goes wrong on Dustups you can recall the feeling of standing in your future & trust the process. Any doubts you have get put away so they dont steal energy from you & that's worth a lot!!