Buck Anfeldt

Hi all! Just moved to 8.5 acres in SW Tucson with plans to use permaculture practices to green up my little piece of the desert. Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions.

Here's some more pics of the stuff I have to get cleaned up before I can even get started. Due to the heat, I am only working on cleanup a few hours in the morning and again in the evenings when it cools down. I think I'm going to take all the plywood, rotting dimensional wood, and clothing that is natural fibered to use as the base of a few hugels out towards the back of the property and plant those with ornamental perennials and trees. My reasoning for reusing the stuff instead of disposing of it goes a little something like this: this stuff has been sitting here in the sun and monsoons for a few years now leaching all sorts of chemicals and such into the environment. At this point the land is pretty much contaminated and there's not too much I can do about it other than try to sequester the rest of it away from the areas where I plan to live and eventually garden. Am I thinking correctly here or do I need to consider this some more before I commit? Any words of wisdom?

I love looking at big cocks! 😃

Thanks for the info, folks! Lots of info to digest. Luckily, I've got the cleanup to keep me busy in the morning and evenings. That leaves quite a few hours in the afternoons to study.

Here's the county flood map for the property. As you can see, there are two elevated areas on the northwest and southeast corners of the property. The rest of the land is considered "riparian" according to Pima county which means I can't do anything to interfere with the water flow through the property. I plan to get out and take pictures of the property so maybe I can get some suggestions as to what needs to be done to keep as much water on my property while not interfering with the creek.

Miles Flansburg wrote:check out anything you can about Brad Lancaster.

As I was watching the vids you linked my spouse walked by, stopped and watched for 10ish minutes, and then said, "That guy is doing everything you're always going on and on about when you talk about the future of the property." So I will definitely look up more of Brad's stuff and maybe reach out to him at some point. Thanks, Miles, for the link to the video!

Just bought 8.5 acres (830'x440' borders according to the county) right outside of Tucson and according to the flood map most of my land is considered "riparian" due to a dry creek bed that runs from the southwest corner into the middle of the property on the north. According to the county the dry creek bed can potentially have 5,000-10,000 cfs flowing through it and there is a minor risk of sheet flooding (0.5 cfs) throughout the rest of the property. There are two rocky raised areas on the southeast corner and the northwest corner. There is a 18' tall saguaro we named "Edna" in the northwest corner, a couple of ocotillos, some acacia (I'm thinking it's sweet acacia but I'm not sure), palo verde, mesquite, a few different types of cactus (mainly cholla) and a s**t ton of creosote!

I plan to build on the northwest raised area which is where the previous owners had a double wide which burned down to the metal frame. I want to use the frame from the double wide as a patio/deck when all is said and done. I would like to do as much as I can to keep as much water on my property as possible without damming up or interfering with the dry creek bed.

Most of that wood is dry rotted and brittle. I plan to reuse what I can but there is quite a bit of plywood that is falling apart, particle board that is crumbling, etc. Could this be used as a base as long as I planted ornamentals on top? Nothing edible, just pleasing to the eye stuff.

I've just obtained some acreage with a burned to the frame double wide trailer about 30 minutes southwest of Tucson (about 40 miles from the Mexican border). There is a huge amount of trash (clothing, glass, plastic, and such) that needs to be cleaned up and some of it is milled wood. I was wondering if I could use that wood as the base of a Hugelkultur pile? Some of the wood is plywood, some is particle board, 1x6s, 2x4s and some 4x4 post and I want to make sure I don't put in some wood that wouldn't work. Could I contaminate the ground (more than it already is from the melted plastic and such from the fire) by using possibly treated lumber in the base of a pile?

The land is sloped and bisected by a dry creek bed. There are stands of mesquite towards the back of the property. I plan to clean up the mesquite and clear out the dead wood to use as Hugelkultur piles. I know I need to observe the water flow during the monsoons before I start putting in swales and such. I'm on a 5 year plan so there is no rush. I want to make sure to keep as much water on my property as possible and if anyone has any suggestions to help accomplish this I would greatly appreciate some dialog.  

I had a junk removal company come by to give me an idea of how much it would cost to clean up the burned down structure and trash on the northwest corner of the property. They don't want to even start cleaning until the temperatures cool off in the fall and they are talking about charging upwards of $10,000 to get it back down to just desert again. I knew it was a big job which is part of the reason I got the estimates, so I'd have an idea, but I didn't think it was that bad. I'm now considering buying a used tractor and doing the majority of it myself.