Comment Responses

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@collectorscafefan4524 10 ай бұрын

Hey Gerard. I absolutely love what you are doing. For the last several years, basically since the pandemic, I've been saving and planning to do something very similar. I'm passionate about greening the desert and creating a homestead, and automation is obviously an essential ingredient to make it all feasible. I too am a fan of Geoff Lawton and I follow everything he does. You mentioned that you believe cattle grazing can be beneficial to the process of greening the desert so I assume you already know about Alan Savory. In the off chance that you don't, I wanted to bring him to your attention because using cattle to fight desertification is his wheelhouse and could be an important next step once you have established grassland. In any case, thank you for all you do. I discovered you only a few days ago and immediately became a fan. Keep up the good work. I hope to meet you in person one day.

@offgriddesertgreening1647 10 ай бұрын

Thanks, I forgot to mention Alan... between the 2 I could do a multi hour livestream with what I've observed here... simply brilliant and breaking down the many false narratives about desertification.

@mattreeves2451 10 ай бұрын

Been watching all your videos this holliday. Congrats on all the inspirational work. Would like to see videos and images of the plantlife, both evolution of your garden and orchard, as well as general greening from the water works you have done

@offgriddesertgreening1647 10 ай бұрын

Thank you! Will do!

@kasperjensen363 10 ай бұрын

How are you planning to create biomass? Willow is fast growing but water consuming. Is bamboo worth a try? Fast growing but not so thirsty.

@offgriddesertgreening1647 10 ай бұрын

Biomass predominantly is coming from the local abundant cactus, chicken/livestock dung, etc. Mid term free mulch from the nearest towns... but long term my target is azolla which is now growing like a weed in the spring, fall and winter. Other pioneer species will be bamboo if I can hydrate the soils to satisfaction but mostly what i've grown well here prosopis(mesquites), CA pepper tree, amaranth, lantana, mimosa, palo verde and a few other dry loving species I can use for income.

@insAneTunA 10 ай бұрын

I have a huge passion for desert or dry land projects. It is weird because I live in one of the most fertile countries in the world, which is the Netherlands, and it is also the second largest food exporting country in the world, with plenty water. But I believe that greening the desert will become a necessity for future generations just to be able to survive. I love what Geoff Lawton does. He is brilliant indeed. And I learned a lot from him as well. Although I do not have the extended knowledge about all the different plant and tree species and all their specific symbiotid relations. But I use the internet to learn about that whenever I want to know more about a specific species. Especially the philosophy behind the micro organisms. Geoff's whole method of making land fertile is based on taking care of the micro organisms. And via Geoff Lawton I stumbled on Dr. Elaine Ingham, and Dr David Johnson and Dr. Su who are micro biologists. And after that I started to look at others who are able to teach me more about the importance of micro organisms, and things that we can do or apply to enhance or improve the habitat from the micro organisms which in turn improves the soil quality and the ability from the soil to hold water and grow even more micro organisms. It all starts with the micro organisms. In fact, that is how life on land started to begin with. So to me it makes perfect sense to use that as the foundation for a garden or a farm. I also have a hobby size aquaponics system, and I always try to learn more about what happens in the system that makes it work. I am not a fast learner and not a scholar by any means, but if you do things long enough with enough passion at least some of the information that you find along the way will stick. And I learned that a major component from having a successful aquaponics system is the micro organisms in the water since there is no soil at all in the system. I did add some clay minerals, but at the end of the day the micro organisms have to convert the nutrients that are present in the water into plant available nutrients, the plants need the micro organisms for that. And this is also true for soil based plant growth, or at least for most of the species that are productive and usable to us humans. If for some reason the micro organisms are not able to convert those nutrients in the water or the soil into plant available nutrients, or if there are not enough micro organisms, or if there is something wrong with the water or soil quality such as acidity or salinity, or if it is too hot or too cold for the micro organisms, the plants won't grow, or they won't produce any fruits. No matter how much water you give them. And I know that, because I have experienced all the above with my system. So if you can protect the micro organism in such way that their habitat is as constant as possible in terms of temperature and moisture and food, which you can establish with pioneer species who are not so picky about soil conditions, and with the help from some modern technology and materials, then you can build up the micro organism population, and grow more bio mass for their habitat with those protective pioneer species, and expand the ecosystem from there. Geoff teaches us, shade, mulch, ground cover plants, pioneer trees, water, especially in a desert. It all needs to be in the system at the same time, with enough quantity to make it work. I mean, one square yard of shade is not going to do it in a desert. And there also needs to be protection against hot wind. It is a complete waste of time and energy to water productive plants and trees if there are not enough living micro organisms in the soil and when there is not enough shade and protection against heat and UV light and hot wind because that is all bad for the micro organisms. If you are able to minimize the impact from external conditions on the habitat from the micro organisms, then you are automatically improving the conditions for the productive plant and tree species to make them grow healthy. You can also turn that around. If your productive plants and trees don't grow well, or if they never produce any fruits, or when they are getting attacked by insects, then you can bet on it that the soil is not a good habitat for the micro organisms. Anyway, sorry if my story was too long, Happy new year, and I am looking forward to see your project evolve in a brand new year. And I keep sharing information when I think that it is suitable for the subject of the video, because there is always somebody who can do something with it👍

@jalbu8330 10 ай бұрын

You are doing some really interesting things, its a real pleasure to watch. Keep up the good work 😊

@offgriddesertgreening1647 10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much!

@molly36910 9 ай бұрын

My suggestion for a homestead, a woman😅 I understand it sounds counterintuitive. A woman's reason for homesteading is to make comfort. You're a man. you don't need comfort. You've got your fig leaf and a stick your fine💪😖"grr. but if you had a woman 💃 knowing that she wanted a shower or fire place or whatever will inspire your actions. and hopefully, help fulfill them.🏠🌳

@mattreeves2451 10 ай бұрын

Are the chickens for meat as well as eggs?

@offgriddesertgreening1647 10 ай бұрын

They could be but I have decided that one yet. I am a vegetarian but plan on bring in most likely mostly meat eaters into the community. I've never farmed before and need to learn about myself. We used to have a firm relationship with our food in terms of raising and caring for it then eating it. I'll have to see based on the chickens personalities... lol that sounds so wrong but a few nuisance chickens I could process and send off right now.

@insAneTunA 10 ай бұрын

@@offgriddesertgreening1647 hahaha the troublemakers always go first 👍