Permaculture Projects

Terra Sante means sacred earth.  Sloping gently from the 6000-ft Sierrita mountains toward Brawley wash at 2400-ft, the valley here was once a vast grassland with occasional mesquite and cactus.  In the 1800's it was badly overgrazed by ranching.  Large scale farming activity has dropped the water table from 12 feet to around 100 feet.  Now numerous mesquite, sparse grasses, and an assortment of cacti grow here.  The scars are deep and new threats loom, such as buffelgrass.  The issue ultimately becomes how to manage the desert ecology.

Here we are experimenting with permaculture.  Earth scooped from open places creates crescent shaped holes (swales) where water collects.  The soil is used for berm walls and bulding projects.  Retaining the water from rainfall increases local soil moisture to the benefit of plants and facilitates dry farming.  The swales also mitigate sheet flooding, perhaps adding to gradual percolation.  Mesquite trees in the swales double, possibly triple, their water uptake, thus leafing earlier and more lushly, providing more shade, and more food in the form of mesquite beans.  They have fixed more carbon than their unswaled neighbors!

Over time, the swales become fertile shady bosques full of plants like mesquite, wolfberry, grasses, and communities of various plants.  Appearance in the new swales of numerous amphibians with the summer rains was a welcome surprise.  Sculpting the earth in this way promotes oasification, the opposite of desertification.  Of particular interest are which plants we can grow in the swales to also provide us with food, medicine, and building materials.

Shower water feeds a small pond where carrizo, a native reed grows quite fast.  Carrizo can be used in wattle & daub construction, woven structures, or with cob as a structural reinforcement, much like the rebar in concrete, at a fraction of the carbon footprint.  We are also reusing other domestic greywater, and gradually creating more storage for rainfall.  We have the goal of operating our well pumps on solar/wind electric, initially as a backup, and ultimately in daily use.

Agriculture at TerraSante includes sustainably harvesting desert plants and seeds, growing and preparing raw foods, and organic fruit and vegetable gardening.  Our year-round intensive organic garden of only 1/4 acre demonstrates locally sustainable food production and the high value of fresh raw foods.  ( note - resident gardener position available - please see wish list )

Fruit bearing trees (apple, pear, cherry, jujube, persimmon, moringa, plum, apricot, peach, almond) are planted in two large swales.  Swale moisture will be optimized by drip irrigation, shade and mulching.  We also plan to explore espalier.  We have been successful in growing grapes, they create delightful shade!  Ultimately we hope to optimize the food output while minimizing energy & water input, and see how this compares (local vs. imported from california) in terms of carbon footprint, food quality, etc.

One project anticipated perhaps for 2012 would be a 15 foot (3 meter) deep excavation, 30 feet across, covered with a geodesic dome and terraces.  Theoretically, tropical species might be grown in the protected walls of the earth.  The dome could be fitted with covers to control moisture, temperature, etc.  The goal again would be to optimize carbon fixation to provide food, medicine, and fiber in a way that is long-term sustainable.

Other possible projects include ecological animal husbandry with goats, tilapia pisciculture, and algae farming.

Arizona Native Seed Resource operates out of the pole barn at TerraSante Village.  Collection and processing of native plant materials is practiced for purposes of revegetation, food, and medicine.