Looks good

As much as I want to give a thumbs-up for the check dams & water-slowing & the harvesting of water back into the local landscape for aquifer & water table refilling...I'm sorry. I only get to bestow one (1) thumbs-up Like, so I *had* to give the thumbs-up *specifically* for the names of your dogs. Blessings on all of you!

Maybe worth mentioning that the check dams do require infrequent, but regular, maintenance. I've been building them on high desert land in Utah for several decades, and they work as shown in the video. But on occasion, flash floods come down in monsoon season at such high volume that they wash out even the largest check dams. Luckily the washed out rocks are usually near by. But its not a once and then you are done solution. Its not a bad idea to build a "keyhole gap" in the top of the dam to provide an exit point for the collected water, which helps prevent washouts along the bank ends of the dam. Thanks for the video.

What did it taste like?

If it will be a traditional home with a mortgage in the desert you will not have scorpions 🦂?

Interesting. You see few of these vids with actual water flowing to see how it's behaving around these check dams and other types of rock dams.

there was a small scale study done that proves this correct. idk if a water plant that likes the shade is best for the desert, but the idea of using water plants to stop/slow evaporation is 100% correct. You can make it better by adding in multiple types of plants as well that have different sizes/heights off the water's surface to really stop that wind/sun

cool video bro

Turn around and have the light toward you.

God bless brother keep up the good work I'd suggest if you grow purslane as salad and a ground cover or wild forage for chicken and you can grow pomegranate near the check dams from seed and moringa is food and fodder and a very fast growing coppice tree

What other platforms do you use? Would be nice to find you in other locations.

you need an old cement truck to mix that! thats what i want at least. ive seen the bnig take off going for cheap

Use a mortar mixer instead of a backhoe for mixing your cob

Awesome work!!

kzbin.info7QakWekDYBc?si=xcGBIdg1g_723bQb came to mind, it's about half way through the video, at 22s

Have a sprint missile/re-entry craft on mine. I assume it's to chase after something similar to what you showed at 1:31, I said some pretty necessary stuff right beforehand

That's funny but so true! Never move in until it's finished. I failed to follow that advice, and it's like building a plane as it flies through the sky. Not easy.

Mount a rotor tiller on a hinge so it can dip down in half a steel drum for mixing the cob.

There is a middle eastern design for a house that uses an underground ice house.

Does the Cob walls crack like the 3D printed concrete* walls do? I know that’s a big issue given 3D printed walls do not have rebar.

I love your philosophy. I call myself a conservative hippie, I think you can save everyone and do it under budget.

Very interesting, I think any time that shade is provided evaporation is slowed, adding double layers of shade is great.

I’m going to mix shredded card board in my cob/adobe mix i found that in saturated rains and if it socks in water it doesn’t Disintegrate , with the right mixture. Cardboard is readily available for free. Shred the cardboard with a dado blade on a table-saw. It’s hard to find straw in the desert. What county are you in if you don’t mind me asking?

Right on G. 😎❤✊

👍

Looks like a great place to grow lots of okra

Thank you. Appreciate the progress report. Great to have family helping! And friends!

thats right

Consider recording the video in wide format instead of tall format; hold the phone sideways.

Really, really, really need to hear more about collecting bentonite clay, really really

This homestead is my Magnum Opus

And then the clay silt flows out into the pond, the clay settles out, and it seals it? I ask because I'll be doing this at some point down the road...

Thank you. Thumbs up for amaranth!

Well at least you had a good reason to pull someone out this time. Unlike when you help me out

Looks like we’re going to have a real monsoon season this year

Yall got it good on that side, we seen all the clouds and had the lightning and thunder but not much rain over here

This🔥💚 mmn feels good dont it?! Blood sweat teas fears fits grit n love sweet feeling of gratitude for life n living nothing compares g💚

What are you growing in your orchard? What are you doing for your soil and how are you keeping your trees happy?

paintin them black is a great idea

Good rising Nice veiw Request more 😮content on bringing water ti the 🏜 🫶🙏🙌

2:20 I’d love to see a breakdown of your current desert garden.

0:58 that flowering plant looks just like a baby pumpkin plant. Imagine if you grew a pumpkin in the desert 😂

A small pond with a shade of solar panels and azolla mat in it would be a great efficient system

Been learning about John Kempf's Plant Health Pyramid, and when a plant starts creating lipids (fats! oil vs water), that's an indicator of excellent photosynthesis progressing into excellent nitrogen--->lipids and other drought resistant enhancements!!! You're rockin it

More pics of the mint raft, please

Fantastic!

That will help for sure to at least reduce the evaporation of water. It makes it not so easy for the warm wind to pick up water because the wind doesn't get in direct contact with the water, or at least much less. Planting plants around the pond also helps a lot because it acts as a windbreaker. Keep an eye on the water hardness levels, because with all that plant growth the minerals can be depleted rapidly, resulting in rising PH values and algae growth. And try to aerate only during the dark hours. That is very important for preventing a PH crash during the night. I have an issue with too much rain. It is soft water, and that makes the water hardness levels from the system go far too low. Resulting in a slightly too high PH and some algae growth. So now I keep adding minerals hoping that I can get those levels back to the ideal numbers. GH 12 and KH 6-8. But it is difficult to get it right with so much rain and a small pond. It seems as if the next rain event completely nullifies the additives that I added before. As always a big 👍

Coupled with the natural cooling effect of the shade the mat's going to produce, that seems like a very plausible outcome and a fantastic way to prevent evaporation

Just by shading the water with the plants and preventing it from heating you are avoiding evaporation, also i bet some vapor immediately condensate back on the bottom of those leaves. Still most plants eventually release some water in the air during respiration just like we do.

So how would you account for the amount of water the azolla use compared to evaportion?