Why is there a Dam? Syntropic Garden Q&A with Rebel & Thiago @ Lightning Ridge

This is a follow up to A Literal Oasis - Syntropic Agroforestry @ Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia: • A Literal Oasis - Synt...
I caught up with Rebel and Thiago at The Hungry Spirit at Lightning Ridge to discuss some frequently asked questions from the previous video about the syntropic garden growing in semi-arid Lightning Ridge.
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Special thanks to Rebel Black from The Hungry Spirit and Thiago Barbosa from Syntropic Solutions.
0:00 Introduction
0:20 Garden Update
2:53 Introducing Thiago
4:38 FAQ - The Dam
10:05 FAQ - Syntropics vs. Permaculture
12:35 FAQ - Cactus & Weeds
16:12 Support Curiosity Mine on Patreon
16:31 FAQ - Lightning Ridge Climate
19:42 Environmental Impacts
26:22 Diversity of Philosophy
27:10 Other content on this channel
27:35 Acknowledgments
Lightning Ridge climate statistics: www.bom.gov.au/climate/average...
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Thank YOU for watching!
#lightningridge #syntropicagroforestry #sustainability

[@deanmurray7676]

Really good follow up Video Russell. Personally I think the whole idea is one of the only truely sustainable methods we have. I’ve always lived on or near the eastern seaboard of Oz, and watching some of the best arable land disappearing under concrete for the last 50 years only make these topics more relevant. Good stuff 👍

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks Dean, really appreciate the positive feedback! 👍

[@littlewildflowergarden]

Thank you for making this video. You are amazing!! By sharing content like this, you have made people think and dream. You might not be a gardening channel but you have opened a whole new world of gardening for a lot of people. It’s refreshing to see stories of realness and people working with what they have and can. Truly inspiring!!!

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the kind words. 😁

[@mytube7473]

THIS IS SOCIETY CHANGING CONTENT. Thank you very much for following up on it. I would love to see a video that goes over how to plan one of these gardens in more detail

[@Michilar]

I absolutely agree with the use of Opuntias as water tanks. An opuntia I had kept my garden hydrated when we were suffering through a terrible drought. I simply chopped off the pads and let them decompose around the roots of the plants that I wanted to hydrate. The pads had incredible amounts of moisture, which was released to the soil I needed to hydrate.

[@andresamplonius315]

Some people chop it up to soak for a week or more, then pour the jelly when they plant trees

[@za8002fsr]

Thanks for covering this inspiring garden. Look forward to future videos on it.

[@CuriosityMine]

You’re very welcome, thanks so much.

[@mrsshs3264]

Hi, I recently subscribed to your channel as I found your content in general, very interesting. I did enjoy the first video on the syntropic garden and was excited to see something environmentally positive after all of the damage we humans have done to this land over the years. I feel sad that this video was almost apologising the whole way through. I can also see the argument against syntropic gardening, but overall, surely this is a good thing and hopefully finally returning some vegetation back after the still continuous removal of it from our Mother Earth.

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks so much for the kind words, I really appreciate it. There are definitely pros and cons to any method of altering the environment, but I’m optimistic about this approach.

[@barbarahowarth4953]

I look forward to seeing more updates in the future, particularly after this coming hot summer. Thank you for the video. Very interesting.

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks so much! I’m looking forward to seeing how the garden deals with summer, too. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@jimmygerano7163]

I think a lot of people not from Australia don't realise how remote some of these places are. Bringing even a portion of food production locally and sustainably would have massive social and economic benefits. I would love to hear the perspectives of the traditional owners regarding this project.

[@jmaros15]

I believe some have a kind of city slickers mentality.

[@lewdards1127]

thank you for the follow up, im really interested in this project!

[@CuriosityMine]

You’re very welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@Hansulf]

Yeah, good you made a video expalining this

[@stevtab2205]

Would definitely love to try this on my acreage. Where did you find that map as I thought my town was semi arid also but your map looks like I may be arid. Out land needs regenerating and this is how it should be done. Thank you so much for sharing this 😊

[@CuriosityMine]

You’re very welcome, thank you for watching! The map is based on the Köppen classification map from the Bureau of Meteorology: www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps/averages/climate-classification/?maptype=tmp_zones - I altered it to reflect the terminology we used in the video. There are quite a number of different climate classification regimes, so your area may fluctuate between classes depending on context. Lightning Ridge remains consistently semi-arid across most models.

[@ARoseGrowsInHarlem]

I think it’s fantastic that you’re including gardening ideas and creative solutions into your channel! Lots to be curious about there! 🌱👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks so much! Always exciting to explore new topics on the channel. 😁😁

[@michaeljames5936]

I watched the previous video about ten minutes ago, and the one question I asked was about that water.

[@mackquack2929]

For a "non-gardening" channel, you make a good gardening channel.

[@CuriosityMine]

That certainly seems to be the way the content is trending. 🤣

[@taptapindustries2580]

Overwhelmingly positive project! Much appreciated and inspired. Thank you!!!

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks for watching! 😁

[@edbrown1166]

It's not surprising to see new housing developments being placed on top of useful farm land. This, in turn, pushes farming further out into less than optimal land/regions or requires clearing existing habitats. What is surprising is that anyone would think this is not a worthwhile experiment. The possibilities of where this practice can be applied is not restricted to arid areas. Experiments, like this one, in creating a thriving ecosystem is essential to our future. It will help better our understanding on where we can grow what we need and where we should be expanding our cities (ie. expand out and away from productive land). One area of interest that was somehow missed in the two videos is the topic of carbon capture and reuse. Could you follow up with another video covering this topic?

[@philomel1000]

People complaining about terraforming seem to think that the land is ‘natural’ as ir is but thats to ignore broader human impacts - climate change and desertification. This method of regeneration is core to the great green wall which is attempting to hold back the advance of the saharaha across Africa . The increasing aridity of the increasing desert is a result of our actions as a species. And one of the amazing things about this Saint Tropic garden is the arrival of birds and butterflies, which are desperate to find places to survive. And it’s not as if there’s not going to be any desert left…

[@deborahroberts1300]

Thanks for the update on THE GARDEN. I found it very interesting and Im glad I subscribed as I like the other content on your channel as well.👍

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks so much Deborah! Really appreciate it 😁👍

[@mikeycbaby]

I’m curious if their permaculture techniques are attracting more wildlife?

[@mechanics4all405]

does the project try,to expand say ten percent or more a year,or is expansion limited to results from the growing plants? is there not an already very sucuessful lady with established syntropic forest in lightning ridge as well ?❤❤❤❤❤

[@joshs470]

I don’t know about this idea as cacti as a “water tank” for other plants. Any research to back this up?

[@ournewbulgarianlife4097]

Thank you for the great Info. I live in the Danube plain of Bulgaria. Since climate change really kicking in there is no rain from February until November. I am building a permaculture food forest but find without any running water and clay soils even my Swales are drying out to create huge cracks. I am now mulching with woodchips but find that moisture that was not trapped before cannot remain even with mulching. I wonder which syntropic concepts would be applicable to me. Can you pint me in the right direction?

[@goodmorningaustralia163]

Have you heard about mustard greens? Apparently if you grow them and mulch them into the soil it increases available phosphorous and nitrogen in the top layer of mulch, and the root structure disturbs the lower layers under the mulch and makes more holes for water to sit in like a sponge.

[@gaspikefan]

With regard to "Terraforming", I feel like our unwittingly negative impact on the climate over the past two hundred years or so has already intensified the extremes of some climates. To counter this by "terraforming" in the other direction, to me, is to nudge some areas back in the right direction. It might be different than the way it was originally, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing to do. We already damaged it so this is a positive step, whether exactly like it had been or not. I doubt we could return many areas to 100 percent what they'd been.

[@cedriccbass-jp8ky]

Great video. Any idea what grass they used ? Bana, Mombassa etc? tks

[@leisacarney1700]

Love it x

[@CuriosityMine]

Thanks so much Leisa!

[@user-bw9uf7so9j]

I may have missed this, how long has the garden been going

[@rolfpoelman3486]

17:00 How keep the rainwater apart from roofs with tanks, and dams and swales?

[@rolfpoelman3486]

Does duck weed shade and reduce evaporation of the dam?

[@LabiaLicker]

Aussie Scott Manley

[@mikecamacho1736]

Cerius peruvianus or Peruvian Apple... Cheers Warwick & thanks Russ for another great vid.

[@Metamorphica2]

I've only just come across your videos and syntropic agroforestry, and it may be an answer for a vision I have for remote aboriginal communities to live sustainably and independently on their country. I see a big part of the aboriginal plight is due to the loss of the ability to restore and sustain their ecosystems and tribal structures that were desecrated because of colonization. Syntropic agroforesty might enable aboriginals to find purpose again.

[@CuriosityMine]

I genuinely love this, and I hope you succeed with your vision. Thank you for commenting, I really appreciate the positivity and future thinking. 😁

[@rolfpoelman3486]

Heard of Permaculture?

[@rolfpoelman3486]

3:15 northern NSW, has he been to Zaytuna?

[@rolfpoelman3486]

21:11 is that green area on the left, the dam? What is the green from?

[@CuriosityMine]

Yes, that is the dam. The water is green as it is very shallow at 20% capacity and is becoming stagnant with algae growth. There is a clear comparison at 6:45 between the dam in 2022 (full) and 2022 (low capacity).

[@rolfpoelman3486]

2:30 And ice cream bean ie Inga edulis.

[@michaeljames5936]

Re 'Terraforming'- it's a bit like AI' Art', where 'If it doesn't have human conscious, purpose, emotion and thought...then it isn't ART', except.. 'If it does have human consc... .... then it isn't 'natural'' We are animals; we do stuff. Sometimes that is beneficial to us and our fellow creatures, sometimes it is not. To decide whether we had improved, or damaged a two acre plot, we would have to define, the ideal that, that area could embody. Most animals? Most biomass? Would we then prefer a dump with a thousand gulls, preferable to a creek with a dozen endangered newts? If it looks like it may be a part of the solution- then let's not jump to naming it part of the problem.

[@gregself6203]

There is a problem with food wastage in Australia. A large part of the problem in the semi-arid environment is poor soil quality. Could a combination of trucking in and adding food production waste with syntropic agroforestry and constructing swales help to green the desert in the vicinity of settlements like Lightning Ridge? kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6STYWNjjrBsqJY. It would take some government willingness and funding which is probably the hard part. A grant would cover the cost of a few (or many) truckloads which the processors currently have to pay to dispose of. About 16,000 tons of orange juice is made in the Riverina annually.

[@diggles]

Looks like you've got mother of millions in the weed combo too?

[@rolfpoelman3486]

Should there be a mention from you about the Prickly Pear not being the pest species?

[@CuriosityMine]

Prickly pear and cactus referred to colloquially as such are considered a weed species in most states of Australia, so I would be hesitant to claim otherwise in a video. The prickly pear eradication methods have been largely successful, so it is not the invasive weed it once used to be, but it’s still not a plant generally encouraged despite its potential benefits. Invasive cactus are a hot topic on the opal fields due to the much more dangerous Hudson Pear variety of cylindropuntia, so I am not going to personally comment on the use of any type of non-native cactus in a garden like this. Thanks for all of the comments, I really appreciate your interest in this subject!

[@donTeo136]

Very cool..but.. it needs scale. Bigger. No doubt - there wanting that. I mean thats proof of concept.. Nothing wrong with a dam, we would not exist as a civilization without dams.

[@rolfpoelman3486]

Where did all the rainwater go after the flood?

[@CuriosityMine]

The floodwater shown is river flooding arising from excessive rain to the north in southern Queensland. Local rain has been high in 2022-2023, but has not caused localised flooding. The floods shown continued to move through the relevant river systems, ultimately the Murray-Darling into South Australia.

[@rolfpoelman3486]

The Prickly Pear could be kept for fruit.

[@joepeeer4830]

😊🎉❤

[@daveknight8410]

🤗❤🧐😉🌍☺🤔😎😎🌍❤🎉

[@DATONALKY]

Damn!.....ill see myself out.....😬

[@CuriosityMine]

Someone had to go there. 😂

[@ResortDog]

Personally I am a student of the Sun. That is the source of all energy into our environmental system and it HAS CYCLES just like the magnetic/electrical field of our planet does.