I Won a Small Battle in the War for Desert Water
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 มิ.ย. 2024
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Transforming over 300 acres of desert into a thriving forest as a "software guy" seems impossible. Even the optimists admit that this task is extremely challenging.
For those new here, turning 320 acres into a forest might seem impossible, and to some extent, I agree. I'm not trying to green the entire property right away. I'm currently running a small pilot project with terraces, a dam, soil preparation, and seed planting-but it's all for nothing without WATER!
In the last episode, I almost had water. We found water in the well but didn't have a long enough pipe. When I returned with a proper pipe, I had rubbed off the outer insulation. Now, what else could go wrong? Besides... failing again?
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👉 In case you missed the previous episode, here’s a shortcut:
• I (kind of) Have Water - I (kind of) Have Water
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#desertforest #desertplanting #greeningthedesert
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Tripod next time you have to pull that pump. Put your snatch block at the top of the tripod.
Do you have a pump controller on that system? Without a pump controller, the pump will only run a minute or two. Submersible pumps need a controller.
As a software guy we could build robots to do the massive task so that the forest happens within our life times.
Are you the guy on tiktok who does the boomer series??
They make a pipe clamp with teeth that you pull pipe up through & cut off with grinder wheel
your replacing it anyway, i would use soft copper with stainless steel foot valve & above ground pump
I highly recommend getting the water from these wells tested for metals, oil & grease (HEM), semivolatile organics (BNA), and volatile organics (VOA) before you begin applying it to your plants. The crayon odor leads me to suspect that there could be petrochemical contamination of some sort. BNA and VOA analysis will determine concentrations of the most common organic contaminants, including solvents. HEM (hexane extractable materials) testing will let you have a general idea of how much organic contamination is present, but it won't identify which compounds are in the mix. A full battery of metals analysis will let you know if any toxic metals are present and in what quantities. In your setting, the metals results are primarily a reflection of the geology rather than contamination from point sources. At the very least, I would request analysis for cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, arsenic, antimony, and mercury. Hopefully, they would all be non detectable , but if not, you'd at least have some data to use for deciding whether the quality of that water is adequate for your intended uses.
I seriously doubt VOC or SVOC contamination out there. Tph and such are definitely a possibility. Metals, especially arsenic are definitely worth testing for.
I second this. This aquifer is known to have water level declines that have contributed to brackish water intrusion and increased salinity with arsenic, chloride, fluoride, iron, manganese, sulfate, and total dissolved solids already being a known issue. This is especially true in the southern portions of the Hueco Bolson.
I hope he gets it tested too. The "good enough for plants" comment made me cringe. I'd want to know what was in that water before putting it on my land, especially after all that work to build and plant those terraces. I imagine monsoon rains will do a lot to flush away any salinity or nasty things that might be in that water (if he already used it to water the terraces), but he would have been wise to test the water first before using it. I just don't get the devil may care attitude about some of this stuff, but that's why I'm me and he's him, I guess.
@@b4k4survivor Great comment. I think Shaun has a good mentality to get ahead. If the water is not good enough, it will be a setback, but it is worth a try. I would be too risk averse to try a project like this too, i think. But I think he said he would get the water tested. So if it's bad, a few of those tanks won't ruin everything for ever, but I hope the water quality in the well improves.
You forgot Iron and aluminium both are pretty toxic with high cioncentrations. Through usually you can see if there is iron in the water.
Guys, when I say be really careful with that well head and cover plate, I mean it. If you drop that while your fingers are over the pipe, it will slice your hand or fingers clean off. I saw that happen to a guy in the oil fields. He had rested his hand over the pipe, and the rig operator started down and just cleanly cut his thumb off. Those heavy equipment pinch points are NO JOKE.
I cringed each time they cut that pipe and let it fall without wearing hard hats too.
Wearing sandals is not wise. Swinging on the chain is dangerous. If he slips he may be impaled. These decisions are worrisome.
There is no regard for safety or doing research prior to doing anything on this channel.
They really should have brought in a well technician. It may not be super cheap but it beats the hospital costs if they mess up.
I understand the worry, but it has to be balanced with an attitude of "call the experts" for each and every problem. Self-reliance and initiative are good, and rarer and rarer nowadays. Agreed that the risks were not reasonable in this case: lifting something unwieldy and heavier than you without having a good grip on how to do it is a bit on the wild side.
it will be interesting to see if the irrigation will prove the concept and get some biomass growing to hold future rain water. Next will be finding a way to keep the cattle from just coming into the area and eat it all again.
Fencing is next
@@dustupstexas Curious...ummm...who owns those bovines?? Perhaps some could find their way into a freezer? lol
@@canoetipper019 not messing with another mans wife comes second only to not messing with another mans cattle. For freezering less than 10 head you can face 10 years in jail in Texas. They're all a little crazy down there, I think the sun bakes their brains.. :) I did love living in Texas tho.
@@canoetipper019 I 100% agree!! 🥩
@@canoetipper019That is what I would do.
I'd be very interested to learn about the water quality if you do get it tested. And if any rains start, I'm eager to see what the various dams and divets across the property look like! Final idea/request: maybe set up a tripod near the seeded area where you can take regular pictures of any sprouting for a timelapse idea?
I'm just very eager to see some green - but of course patience will be key with this project.
Yeah Shaun get yourself an under 30$ water test kit
Congrats on getting even a non-potable water source on the ranch Shaun. Giving people a ground-eye view of how costly and difficult it is to terraform a section of land, and how experimental the whole process is will forever be a service to the future. I wish that the working knowledge that went into the swales and berms that greened parts of the Sonoran desert during the work programs of the 1930 wasn't lost. I'm sure you don't want to reshape the geography of your ranch using only hand tools like they did, but it would be nice if someone had access to a list of all the work performed so that we could evaluate which subprojects succeeded 90 years on. I know that some of them did. There are microvalleys with eight inches of topsoil in the middle of the desert, but I wish we knew what the failures looked like when they were dug.
Sean, you're allowing your lack of practical experience to transform from being merely ineffective, to being a danger to yourself and others.
Just use a pipe wrench to lift the pump. Two pipe wrenches one to lift then put the next one on and lift again. The wrench will also hold against the casing to prevent the pump from sliding back down.
Buy 2 large pipe wrenches, they grip the pipe, to stop it slipping, using the jack or a person on each wrench lifting then stepping under wrench after wrench.
The fact he could lift it was all he need to know. Just using the rope and jack at first till it was at a Hight where he could get a better grip and pull it up about a foot or 2 foot each time. Then once he had cut off the first section it would have been a lot easier. He doe's like to make job's a lot harder for himself.
Yay, you’ve got water. Hopefully the first monsoon rain isn’t a gully washer. I’m excited to see the baby sprouts.
Hope your pump works man! Adding some biomass to your property will only result in more water retained each rainfall.
Congratulations on getting water to your property. Now your dream has a chance to come to fruition. Spot ON!
Two 24" pipe wrenches is all you need to pull pipe.
I’m curious. Call me stupid! But how?
Finally! Someone else that's work on putting pipes in wells. Pulled a lot of well pumps like that.
Vrryhappy for the two of you. Any chance you can explayhiw it is done?@@TedSpider2023
@@nithinpeter7 They bite into the pipe wall, you use them like handles, one on each side. One lifts while the other scoots down to bite again. If you have four people, get four 24" pipe wrenches and lift quicker/safer.
And if your team gets tired, just let the wrenches rest on the casing pipe, holding the inner pipe by themselves.
YEP, watching these guys use the jackall / straps / pulley was a bunch of "what are they doing" lol.
Maybe use the discarded pipe lengths to build a basic tripod over the well with a pulley at the top, Attach some steel rope to the pump so you can use a winch to lift it out when you need too.
You guys worked like mad men through that heat and it paid off big time. The knot game was on fire and congrats on all that water. Can't wait to see what this does to the terraces.
I can't wait for the progress on the crayon well water. Especially how the mesquite tree holds up to it.
This episode should be called "watch all the things I am willing to do to avoid going into town to get the appropriate equipment I need" lol
The easiest way to pull up the pipe and hold it is to put, what looks like a large pull tab off a drink can, and when you lift up the pipe,it slides down and when you start to release the pipe, it leverages the pipe itself from falling
Large pipe wrenches also work well.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how well your water retention and capture works during the rainy season. I really think that is where you are going to get the most, bang for the buck on your project.
he built a bunch of incorrectly built rock dams (by piling rocks up on top of each other, not actuallying keying them into the grade like is shown on countless videos), and several of them washed out, so I think now he has given up on the notion. It's a shame, because I agree with you, best bang for the buck is a bunch of simple earthen structures down in those washes to control erosion and slow/spread/sink water, start growing native grasses...
It's not just the "most bang for the buck" but the ONLY way.
The progress should be measured in:
1. Catchment amount of water in gallons / cubic meters
2. Retention of the caught water.
Spending thousands $$ and weeks trying to establish a few plants at this stage makes little difference and is likely a waste of money and effort.
@@b4k4survivor Yeah probably best to check over the rock dams and if he built the beaver dams, before the rain comes to make sure they can withstand any down pour was built very quickly when they first started. Also Was also thinking if he got a small rotovator to go along the level he's hoping the water will go to planting grass seeds and others seeds to help kick start thinks. Now he' got plenty of water.
@@lesliebrannon2191 From everything I can tell, he abandoned those rock dams he "built" when most of them washed out (because they were built incorrectly) and hasn't rebuilt them or built any others. He's said he has other priorities and maybe he thinks the rock dams are waste of time because they failed.
I still think they are his best bet (if built correctly), but maybe after some big rains and him seeing water zip through those washes, he'll start to consider how important it is he spend the next year building many of them during the dry months so they are ready to harvest these big monsoon rains.
Not sure if it will reach his ranch, but I think Texas is expected to get a lot of storm activity from a possible tropical storm that's developing (Angelo, I think it was called)
@@b4k4survivor Those rock dams are so important, Not only holding back the water and slow the speed of it in flash floods. But spreading out the water out along the valley given pools of water along it for longer and soaking into the ground. He needs to get them right so next year he can expanded into other places and retain more water. That is the key to it working.
I happen to be a world expert in the specific thing you’re doing at any given moment and I’ve materialized to tell you that you’ve done at wrong after you’ve already done it
Welcome to the channel.
I see you have brought your team. 😊
Hey Shaun, in case you're gonna need better quality water out of those wells, I have some experience with "restarting" old wells full of sediment - you shouldn't use submersible pumps to do that, because it may damage the rotors and other components, you should either use a more durable external waste water pump, if it has enough power to lift from that depth, or the fastest method - you stick two poly pipes down the bottom of the well, you use one to pump large volumes of compressed air down the bottom to disrupt the sediment, which then flows out the other pipe, which you keep doing until the water runs clean. You need a powerful high volume air compressor to do that, but since these "air lift" methods were pioneered in the US, I'm sure there's some available, the only issue remains towing it to the location. If your analyses show any sort of bacterial contamination, use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect it, it's relatively cheap and neutralizes quickly.
A friend is planning to show me a cheap bubbling method next week
Quite likely the more you pump the wells, within their inflow limits, the water quality and clarity may or should improve. You are likely pumping the fines and whatnot out of the well casing at the height of and below the current pump location.
When pulling pipe like that all you need is two 24" pipe wrenches.
Was scrolling to see if anyone had commented this. Was the first thing that I thought of.
I appreciate your stamina and project. I wish you incredible success. I have seen such projects around the world that have been successful. As you demonstrate it's not easy. Be Strong.
If the water turns out to be too contaminated, you could always build a passive, solar distiller setup out there!
I’m happy with the format the videos are published. Love seeing the updates, no complaints.
Well, that was exciting, I’m pumped…
You should look into the programme in Chile where they use net to collect condensation to then use as drip irrigation. I think that's the best investment to make, also those wild cattle roaming about would help you immensely.
The air there is arid so the condensation nets would not be useful. Right now the relative humid is about 5%. When I lived in Lubbock, sometimes it would rain and the rain would evaporate as it fell due to the dry air. Where Shawn is it is more arid than Lubbock.
There is no fog
Slow pumping water out prevents the bore collapsing and a return back down the well helps ( forking runing out of water in the hole ) animals that fall down the shafts can make the water a little bit smelly a bit of pumping will Fix it a tank left nexto the well will help capture more water slowly
Guy does everything crazy. No one would put a high volume pump on a desert well. Not to mention how hard is it to put a couple of beams between two of his shacks at camp and make a carport.
Why he got such a small trailer instead of car trailer flat deck that he could haul 3 icb on is beyond me. When he has the dozer I don’t know why he didn’t build a little ramp to drive up on to transfer water to his holding tank at the grow site. So many things he does makes no sense at all.
Then again wearing sandals in. The desert playing with pumps and heavy metal pipes. Not exactly the common sense group
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I wonder if the smell is from the plastic tanks and plastic pipe.
You're doing amazing work! 🥰
Great work, keep it up! I hope this project works.
You're freaking me out wearing sandals and working with this heavy equipment though.
😰
These many obstacles are frustrating, but you have amazing help and everything you need to succeed, it's just a matter of time!
"... and then they get cut off the water and have to make it on their own". This is very much like what happened at the Al Baydha Project.
Would truly appreciate if you could talk a bit about how you see that project in comparison to Dustups!
Excited to see your progress. Thanks for keeping us in the loop :)
A quick internet search reveals that crayon smell is Calcium stearate.
So excited for you. Looking forward to next video.
Great work Dustups team.
I have a good feeling this time it will work according to the plan :)
Watching you start pulling the metal pipe by hand had me convinced that someone was going to get hurt. Fooled me! Glad you are both ok.
Success!
I’m working with a much smaller scale area to be watered. I’ve still got a problem with attaching the water to the piping. Only saving grace is that the rain has been constant!
Seeing your progress and just your skill set grow has been amazing to see!
To cool a greenhouse of 40x20 feet with 16-foot ceilings in a hot environment like the Texas desert using a geothermal air conditioning system, you need to calculate the cooling load and design a ground loop system that can handle it. Here’s a step-by-step outline to estimate the pipe length and diameter:
1. Calculate the Cooling Load
First, determine the cooling load of the greenhouse. This calculation considers factors like the size of the greenhouse, the temperature difference, insulation, and solar gain. For simplicity, we'll use a rough estimation method.
Volume of the Greenhouse:
40 ft×20 ft×16 ft=12,800 cubic feet
40 ft×20 ft×16 ft=12,800 cubic feet
Cooling Load Estimate:
A rough estimate for a greenhouse is around 30-60 BTU per square foot per hour. Given the high temperatures in the Texas desert, we can use 60 BTU.
40 ft×20 ft=800 square feet
40 ft×20 ft=800 square feet
800 square feet×60 BTU=48,000 BTU per hour
800 square feet×60 BTU=48,000 BTU per hour
2. Determine the Ground Loop Size
The efficiency of geothermal systems is measured in tons, where 1 ton = 12,000 BTU/hour. For a 48,000 BTU/hour load:
48,000BTU/hour 12,000 BTU/hour/ton=4 tons12,000 BTU/hour/ton48,000 BTU/hour =4 tons
3. Pipe Length and Diameter
Pipe Diameter:
The most common pipe diameter used in residential and small commercial geothermal systems is ¾ inch or 1 inch. For a 4-ton system, ¾ inch or 1 inch HDPE (high-density polyethylene) pipe is typically used.
Pipe Length:
The required length of pipe depends on the thermal conductivity of the soil and the efficiency of the system. For a rough estimate:
Horizontal Loops: Typically require 400-600 feet of pipe per ton of cooling capacity.
Vertical Loops: Typically require 150-200 feet of borehole per ton of cooling capacity.
For a 4-ton system:
Horizontal Loop Calculation:
4 tons×500 feet/ton=2,000 feet of pipe
4 tons×500 feet/ton=2,000 feet of pipe
Vertical Loop Calculation:
4 tons×175 feet/ton=700 feet of borehole
4 tons×175 feet/ton=700 feet of borehole
Loop Configuration:
Horizontal Loop: If space allows, you can lay out 2,000 feet of pipe in trenches. Typically, trenches are 4-6 feet deep, and the pipe is laid out in a "slinky" or "coiled" pattern to fit more pipe in a smaller area.
Vertical Loop: Requires drilling multiple boreholes. For example, 4 boreholes at 175 feet each.
Summary
For a 40x20 feet greenhouse with 16-foot ceilings in the Texas desert, you need:
Cooling Load: Approximately 48,000 BTU/hour or 4 tons.
Pipe Diameter: ¾ inch or 1 inch HDPE pipe.
Pipe Length:
Horizontal Loop: Approximately 2,000 feet of pipe.
Vertical Loop: Approximately 700 feet of borehole (e.g., 4 boreholes at 175 feet each).
Final Considerations
Soil Conditions: The actual pipe length can vary based on soil thermal conductivity. Better conductivity means less pipe length.
Professional Design: Consult with a geothermal system designer or contractor for precise calculations and system design tailored to your specific site conditions and greenhouse requirements.
These estimates provide a general guideline. A detailed site assessment and professional design will ensure the system is correctly sized and installed for optimal performance.
Can't wait to start seeing the progress. It's been a long journey. I've been watching since your 1st video
Congratulations on another great milestone!
Just last night I was reading through my Ashley Book of Knots and the section on various pulley set ups once common and now almost forgotten. Very nice to see the Prussic getting a little love!
The progress should be measured in:
1. Catchment amount of water in gallons / cubic meters
2. Retention of the caught water.
Spending thousands $$ and weeks trying to establish a few plants at this stage makes little difference and is likely a waste of money and effort.
How many cubic meters / gallons of water your current structures (dams, leaky weirs, ponds, holes) can catch?
and that little bit of water per plant will transform and create the firestorm of a desert forest. . . . That will create its own environmental creep
Okay armchair qb
Great progress and exciting news!
Can’t wait for the next video to see if we got any rain from the tropical storm
Nice dude. Now we’re talking, your in business! We used to have well pulling parties with some permaculture group I was a part of on one of my chihuahua desert properties that I was trying to build forest on. Pretty nice to have enough people to just walk them out. My well was 1100 feet there so we couldn’t do that though lol.
Listen brother you are right in the money with the bio char- now that you have water ducks are an incredible resource for fertilizer. I don’t know if you have people there full time but on the property I own now in NM my treed acreage and food forest is so successful this time because of bio char and massive amounts of deer and elk hair ( I tan 200 hides a year) all charged with duck poop and different compost teas. Bio char, burying deer hair and cottonwoods, worm castings, epsom salts, and duck poop are what I’ve really narrowed my focus on. Now we have a huge cottonwood forest down low and nice emery oaks, locusts, walnut, and different juniper up higher. And we farm about 3 acres of food. Still working on establishing more resilient perennial pasture for my sheep.
I think your place could really benefit from picking the right spot maybe where there’s sign of historic cottonwoods or mesquite bousques and putting in a series of consecutive one rock dams to stop headcuts and spread ground water where rains gather and start profusely throwing down biochar charged with compost tea and loads of wood chips. I made the mistake of doing this in chihuahua desert style land I worked on once without tilling. After 3 years I had 2 feet of chips and decent soil for a patch of jujubes but the native soil was still like a rock. I think land like yours really needs to be tilled just once before loading down with wood chips and layering amendments. If you can retain water and get down enough nutrient dense biomass and you have a well now I would start planting trees. One thing that is crucial in compacted chihuahua desert soil when planting actual trees is using gypsum. Gypsum will over time continue to loosed soil so that root systems can penetrate. If it were me I would choose Arizona ash. Of maybe 30 different species what did the best on my low desert permaculture projects were as ash and jujubes bushes. Congrats on the well man that really changes the whole scenario here. You have a real chance at getting a real desert forest.
Very exciting so glad you hit plentiful water. Looking forward to hearing about the water's quality🤓.
Awesome guys! Look forward to each new video, thanks for taking us along!!
18:06 Just saying buy a ultralight plane for your property. You could park outside of your property save wear and tear on your truck. Mind that I don't mean the whole family just you when you need to drive into town 10 minutes in an ultra light would be way better then a 4 hour truck drive or whatever you drive Everytime you want too. Hope you checked the wire connectors before running it into the second well. A little late but wanted to mention it
you wouldn't be able to move much weight over, never-mind any mechanical failure, or refueling. Also ultralights do not go very fast.
@@danabanana4408 it wouldn't help move, but he could leave the truck there and fly pretty close to home.
You're suggesting he take his life into his hands and learn to fly a death trap instead of just driving? 😂
@@Nighthawk20000 2023 Plane crash statistics The all accident rate was 0.80 per million sectors in 2023 (one accident for every 1.26 million flights), an improvement from 1.30 in 2022 and the lowest rate in over a decade. This rate outperformed the five-year (2019-2023) rolling average of 1.19 (an average one accident for every 880,293 flights).
Let me first say that I believe you can and will do this. The only thing I saw/heard that was worrisome could undermine the entire project. That was only watering the trees for a year. Let me explain that it takes years for trees to develop decent root systems in normal environments, much less in that desert. Think about doing this instead with that in mind. Maybe water them 20% less in the second year and another 20% less the third year, etc. I know that is your pilot program, but stop thinking things will be linear. They won’t be. However, once you get the trees large enough to creat shade, that will create a natural mulch effect which will make everything else you are trying to do easier.
I have been following the project for several months now. That was a very exciting episode. Im looking forward to the next ones.
following you from the start, youre a great insparator ! greetz from the very wet netherlands, europe.
Several people suggested two pipe wrenches for lifting the well pipe. I’ve done this exact thing before and used two big ViseGrip pliers. Worked great. I could do it all by myself and I’m not that strong. I just lifted a foot or so and put on the Vise Grip. Easy.
Good luck!
Use two pipe wrenches, get a grab of the pipe and lift then move one wrench below again to secure it and then the other then lift again. Just keep repeating the process. Sometimes you will need the big wrench to have a better grip. We do this in the Philippines all the time when they make wells.
I really admire everything you’re doing (and all your team) I love your tenacity & enthusiasm 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼😃
Man, I love this story. I really wish the best for you guys. Would love to see this succeed.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing Shaun.
Congratulations on getting the well water running!!! Let's get the terrace growing!
Thats an excellent win. Hopfully the waters not too contaminated or worse, toxic.
That guy wearing sandals makes me nervous, snakes , scorpions, hurt his toes by accident maybe ❤
Keep 'em coming, we are rooting for ya!
Enjoying these videos, thanks Shaun. It's quite a lot quicker to cut metal with a Sawzall and metal blade rather than a grinder. Safer too. I learned this watching plumbers working on steel pipework. Once the blade gets a bite on the pipe it goes through like butter.
Nice job getting that well up and running. When the monsoons do come, you might want to capture as much of it as you can to supplement. Any rain in areas you haven't terraced will just wash over the desert without soaking in, so you're better off placing it strategically. Literally a large tarp funnelling downhill into those containers would be all that's needed.
If the water isn't to bad or was just from that old well fill and the new is clearer this sounds great!
With this much more water you'll be able to do much more :D
This is dope, enjoy seeing the struggles and harsh reality behind projects like this
Love the content! You're doing great!
Happy to see that the second well is producing.
I dint think I have ever watched a channel where so many people want to tell the person how to do it :)
An army of experts
I hope the water doesn't kill plants... odd smell you described. Definitely get it tested so you know what you have.
It's "good enough for plants" is what he said (so maybe they used it without testing), but he also said they should test it, so hopefully he did.
Looking forward to seeing your plants grow.
If you do irrigation you allway have to look out for Salds building up in the top soil due to evaporation . You have to wash the salt away from time to time. Also you need something to catsh nutients ( charecoal) in your soil mix outher wise you are just going to wash them out. DeinStamm
Very time I watch a video of yours I learn a whole lot. We are searching for off grid acreage to purchase, probably in Northern Arizona. Thank for sharing your journey!
I wonder if its worth it to get someone to assess the well that 's close on your property to see if it can be dug down deeper. Good luck
You are right not to spend allot of money digging a well. Do you have a pond liner for when it rains?
You did very well to find that water. There might be enough water down there for the plants but not clean enough for people. Woo hoo!
This may be obvious, but why are you not using the wellhead tower to mount your winch or tackle to raise and lower the pump and pipe" A bar with 6" pulley laid across the tower upper end, rope over the top and shackled to your truck tow hitch, and drive away to raise the pump. This method would work for well no.2 also if you had a pair of shear legs there. These are made using 2"/50mm galv pipe pivoted at the top with the pulley on a shackle under the head.
it is possible and has been proven that the most cost effective weapon to stop desertification is "Management of Grazing Animals" which requires appropriate infrastructure. So when somebody like Allan Savory says "there is no other way to restore desertification" he means there is no other economically viable way. Management requires "fencing" to manage grazing animals. Without fencing "green shoots" will attract grazing animals. Savorys methods are the most successful on a global scale against desertification.
There are co-incidentally no "rainfed food forests" in deserts anywhere. They do not exist.
Rainfed means non-irrigated. Management requires an understanding of your ultimate objective. With management this 320 acres can be restored with heath and a few trees first by restoring groundcovers which requires fencing to exclude grazing animals. So until somebody commits to laying down the basic infrastructure required to manage this patch of desert - results will be limited - unless you know differently. SO ALL of the money already spent on extra land + poly pipe etc... could have been directed into an exclusion fence.
there's the case of the orange juice dump that turned into a forest by mistake, a thick layer of dump that would hold the moisture would step up the process faster, the rest is just like running in place... the orange pulp is similar to the animal dung from managed grazing... there are also ways to change the land that have worked in the middle east and africa, but they require huge changes like huge cisterns and surface water catchment... without something big only small results will be seen... and this is not unknown, professionals already know how to do this and all he needs to do is consult the professionals and use big machines... but he's growing his viewers and sponsors while he runs in place
@@VenturaIT the orange juice dump was in a much larger rainfall zone + is nothing like animal dung that cover a square foot per dropping - this is a 300mm rainfall - so refer back to Savory - land use can be economically viable - SAVORY is the originator of "triple bottom line" economic + social + environment - THIS DUSTUP PLACE has insufficient stored water to achieve anything economically viable - SO BEST to ACCEPT the FACTS and Work with the Rain - YOU DO NOT NEED BIG MACHINES to restore Desert Landscapes YOU NEED MANAGEMENT that starts with Fencing to exclude animals UNTIL some time in future you want animals to improve groundcovers. SWALES are not required to Restore Deserts - Long term they are conterproductive as they take water from the system of groundcovers and redirect to deep aquifers where the water is unavailable unless pumped back up - which is now back to square one
@@VenturaIT the orange juice dump was in a much larger rainfall zone + is nothing like animal dung that cover a square foot per dropping - this is a 300mm rainfall - so refer back to Savory - land use can be economically viable - SAVORY is the originator of "triple bottom line" economic + social + environment - THIS DUSTUP PLACE has insufficient stored water to achieve anything economically viable - SO BEST to ACCEPT the FACTS and Work with the Rain - YOU DO NOT NEED BIG MACHINES to restore Desert Landscapes YOU NEED MANAGEMENT that starts with Fencing to exclude animals UNTIL some time in future you want animals to improve groundcovers. SWALES are not required to Restore Deserts - Long term they are conterproductive as they take water from the system of groundcovers and redirect to deep aquifers where the water is unavailable unless pumped back up - which is now back to square one
@@VenturaIT the orange juice dump was in a much larger rainfall zone + is nothing like animal dung that cover a square foot per dropping - this is a 300mm rainfall - so refer back to Savory - land use can be economically viable - SAVORY is the originator of "triple bottom line" economic + social + environment - THIS DUSTUP PLACE has insufficient stored water to achieve anything economically viable - SO BEST to ACCEPT the FACTS and Work with the Rain - YOU DO NOT NEED BIG MACHINES to restore Desert Landscapes YOU NEED MANAGEMENT that starts with Fencing to exclude animals UNTIL some time in future you want animals to improve groundcovers. SWALES are not required to Restore Deserts - Long term they are conterproductive as they take water from the system of groundcovers and redirect to deep aquifers where the water is unavailable unless pumped back up - which is now back to square one
It's not wasted energy though. The whole project is a lot of 'fool around and find out', and a lot has been found out already. The greener it gets, the more cattle may become a problem, but if the growing works, fences will be more and more useful and necessary.
So you are probably right that fencing is very important, but just putting up a really long fence is expensive too. If the startup/nursery works, that should be fenced, and afterwards larger parts.
One of my favorite channels 🙏🏾😁
looking forward to the water test results
I feel for you
So much effort for an amazing project but constantly challenged and always the hardest version of every incident in front of you to contend with
Keep it up 👍🏻
Very cool!! Quick question, Do you have a filter between the 1000l totes & the dripper valves? If not, you may get blockages &/or sediment build up. It will need to be placed before the pump & easily serviceable.
Can i offer my opinion on greening your desert, Never under estimate the power found in dead wood. As logs & branches, it helps to support swales & sediment traps. It slows down water flow, it absorbs moisture creating cool spots where insect life & ultimately it rots, feeding the mycelium that plants require to grow.
Get the wood chip down, heaps of it & watch the magic happen
Yes on the filter, but I want to add more screens to make it as sediment free as possible
Excellent instalment, really enjoyed this
Great news my old mate. I that a thoughty (Ouch!) could you use the left over metal work at the new well to build a new frame to support the pump and fittings. Cheers
I have done some drip irrigation. Usually the nozzles are pointed down, as close to the soil as possible without clogging. The less time the water spends in the air, the less evaporates.
Gas powered T-post driver is so worth it if you have more than about 25 posts to drive in difficult soil. You can do the math, hours per post x labor cost per hour vs $1000 powered driver and time cut by about 75%.
you do have another option.... you do won property by a river. a shallow seepage well would not be hard or expensive. pulling directly from the river may have legal issues, but a 50 foot hole 50 foot from the bank.... that's a well baby.
What he has there is probably brackish water though, that's why I suggested that maybe he can plant coconuts near the bank, at least near enough the flood plain, but not in the flood plain so that it doesn't get washed out during heavy rains. That way he can get some concrete benefit from his desert forest. I assume the wind breaks in his desert forest property might not have the temperature to fall down to 32°F, or 0°C.
risk management? pulling the pipe without proper tools, vises, etc was very dangerous, if the pipe dropped, alot of trouble. a windmill was there, i'd get another one to pump the water
Hats off to your tenacity. You deserve to succeed
In Climbing with top rope (same concept as your setup) you can belay someone who is twice as heavy as you.
So the friction alone from the carabiner is enough to 1/2 your force!
And of cause you first have to overcome the static friction to get it moving, all in all odds are stacked against you to lift the pump easily like that.
Nice work and well done getting that old pump out. I often wonder, I could see you getting great use with an old 500 dollar tractor with a front loader with forks on it. It would have been handy for lifting the pump, lifting water barrels, an attachment for drawing light trenches for planting. I reckon you would find a million and one used for an old tractor.
Love your project and determination..
What ya do top pull a steel pipe string. First, each section of pipe will be a 20 footer, connected by a coupling,, threaded,, fairly conventional. They DO make gripper teeth to hold the pipe in place as you lift it. but if you don't have that use two large pipe wrenches The modern pipe wrenches are steel jawed but aluminum of magnesium handles/ I use to do it with all steel pipe wrenches but that adds another 20 pounds to the lift. The jaws should be opened just a touch more than what is correct for tightening or loosening a threaded connection. Walk the pipe up. Lift with one, transfer to other to lower down. Lift with that one and and again repeat.. when the coupling clears the casing head take two pipe wrenches and un screw it. You HAVE been cutting the tape free as the cable comes up. Repeat. One hundred feet down,, 5 sections of pipe. Completely remove, do not reuse. Go to poly on the new install. Been there, Done that. many times with wells as deep as 200 feet. Strong back and weak mind. I have pulled by hand and installed by hand. It can be done. Two cautions Do NOT drop the string. DO not ! Second. a 20 foot section of 1 inch pipe,, or 1.25 inch pipe is heavy. (Yeah, right.) To unthread it for removal,, or to thread it back in for installation you MUST hold it absolutely stone vertical above the coupling. It ain't easy. a 20 foot length of 1" is about 35 pounds, a 20 foot length of 1.25 is 45 to 50 pounds.. You are supporting the weight of the pipe entirely as well as holding it absolutely vertical at the same time.
When you have finished your new install,All new pump, check valve, cable, connectors, poly pipe tape etc pour in a half gallon of bleach to kill the bacteria,, and run the pump until there is no longer a chlorine smell.
Your debugging and problem solving skills is what gives you an advantage on this journey.
Jesus dude, you sure insist on doing things the hard way... Gotta admit, it's fun to watch...
Congrats on the water though. Don't worry about the quality/sediment quite yet, those wells haven't been run in a long time and will filter out and the water will freshen up significantly after a while.
GOOD JOB BOYS!
Amazing , can't wait to find out what s in that water
What a great journey. I've been watching your videos for a while, and every little step is a great achievement! The viewers can feel it as well, my man! Cheers.
I'm glad the momentum is coming across
@@dustupstexas it's exciting!
I've been watching since the beginning. really awesome project man
We used to pull pipe with pipe wrenches (monkey wrenches) 1 to lift with your legs. Slap the second one on. Repeat as you did.
Awesome work! Getting some water to the seedlings is really encouraging.
Do you know how long it takes for the rain to end up in your well from the info you have? It depends on how porous the rock layers are and if there are impermeable layers in the way between the surface and the well. But I'm interested if you know if it's mostly local rainfall or underground streams from further away. Could be useful knowledge some time along the way:
The more water retention you can build across your property, the more water could gather in the wells too (maybe it can create a new well on your property that is less deep). So plants will grow and remaining water will fill the ground water tables (in time) All of this in the 5-10 or more years ahead I guess, but that would part of be the plan: slowly turn around 'erosion and run-off' back to infiltration and circulation though the forest and water retention structures.
Keep it up!
Was that pump on bottom when you filled the two totes with it being all silty, or did you put it on bottom then lifted it 10-20' before pumping and it still remained that cloudy?