James Everett

Most of the stigma comes from the fact that humans have made conditions for them to become more invasive now days.  back when diverserty was fine and the wild fires helped control them they were not a problem.  But clearing forest out for cattle ranches and farming then allowing land to go back to nature they have really grown and taken over on their own.  until we can get the conditions with the oaks to live harmonous again they just need to be thinned out how the natural balace will continue how it once was.  

Here is some youtube walk throughs of the basins I had taken back in April.  Showing what has developed just by the rains that had soaked in.

This one is for the Driveway berm dug out to divert most of the water off the driveway that was becoming a river on rains to my home.



This is a basin that is across the driveway and which the Driveway berm overflows into and somehow an area I found that doesn't have the caliche layer as dominant in the area.



Next three are just random walks one of which was just started to track where I was hearing quail.







This year has really gone by so quickly and have not really had to much to on my land except cleaning out one of the pond areas that I did years ago that cat tails have over run it and spent 6 hours one day clearing only a fraction of what I need to do, but with that I got a lot out of the little stretch it was in.  Other wise I do have several areas that are coming out pretty good with just the spread of seed and even the piles of organic materials the landscapers and tree cutting services are dropping off.

If any of you are in the Gaines County area would like to come out and help change the area with me feel free to reach out.  even if you want to add area for growing food I have plenty of space to do so just need get it from a degraded sandy to a caliche soil to a better system overall.

Well we received another .6 inches of rain at the airport just near me so more or less got around the same.  I did get the chance to go out right after to see how the water was collected after the changes that I did last time to see how well the drainage is working.  I even did a video of the collection for reference in later times.  I do like that my driveway is starting to have less water on it after a rain and is being soaked in to the surrounding landscape.   I am ready to see what sort of vegetation will start to take off with all the birds that are starting to come in.

Not sure how much rain we got today as my rain gage had a hole so no water in it.  but there was a decent amount of water everywhere.  Seems the drainage trench did help as the driveway wasn't as full with water as normal.  But at least now I see where I need to improve the driveway and the drainage into the basins of it through out the way.

Michael Shwartz wrote:Just tuned into the section and saw the date of post!  Anything new going on?  Any updates?!  Has it all been smooth sailing?

Mainly waiting on the rains to hit and see the water collection in the new basins I dug back in November.  Haven't really had much rain a sprinkle or two lately but most going around or north of me.  but many of the shrubs and trees are coming back.

Gives me plenty of experimentation up here on the LLano Estacado/Permian Basin area to grab seeds and just plant around basins I dig and see what grows on it's own.

After work today I made a video showing the different basins and trench that I dug out with an excavator back in November 2023.  Still a windy sound in video but better then a normal day here in West Texas, all though one day I will get something better to record then my phone.  Now with the rain of may hopefully I will see these fill up.

Over the past few days I have been working on smoothing out the dirt around one of the basins I had dug back in Nov 23.  I am filling it up with water to give an idea where the water level is when it will crest over and flow into a bigger basin on the other side of my drive way.  My plans with the ring around the basin is planting a mix of pollinator plants and dove and quail feed mix.  I am also going to eventually put a few trees around the basin that will provide us food as well.  I have already broadcast some of the seen and now filling in wood chips to cover and help hold in moisture in this dry environment.

I would be great if this area was transformed into a forest rather then the Semi-Arid region it has become.  I am down here in Gaines County with 30 acres I have been working on when time permits, and my neighbor west of me is selling her 13 acre lot with double wide on it so I am hoping some one with like minded plans to green up this area and get more trees growing up around this area, that who ever it is that buys it up hopefully we become good neighbors and hopefully even good friends to help each other out and just enjoy life in the long run.  As for me I am going to be 47 in July and if I am not going to work, I am out here trying to improve my land for more self sustainability.  While looking to have more friends that would also like to help improve things out here and benefit from the food and resources that are produced.

Well this morning before the winds picked up I walked another property tour since I last did one in 2016.  I was going to make other videos showing the different areas that I dug out with the excavator that I rented for a week in November 2023,  that will come when the winds are calm enough again.



Update on myself now, I will have more time to work on my land now with a demotion at work.  Nothing I did wrong to get demoted, but need to be home more for my mom.  The week just before the new year we found out that she has stage 4 cancer and lost her job so now she is pretty much stuck here at my home now.  While trying to figure out how to handle all the changes with that I needed to have more time here for her and not have to worry about always being on call every other week and going in all the time for work.  It is such a relief that I don't have to really worry about a phone call from work as a supervisor anymore.  Hopefully with that major change I can do more here on the land on my days off and fix things up for actually growing more food here now and maybe stuff to help my mom get better nutrition.  With the new changes hopefully things will get better where I can eventually stay home with revenue made through other means and have to go work for the county jail anymore.