What Would You Do With My High Desert Yards?

So here I am, recently having been given creative control of the front, back, and side yards of my father's house that were previously neglected for some time. These yards (pictures attached) are located in southern Idaho, about 30 minutes from the border of Nevada. In the past month, I have been getting into foraging and plant identification, which led me down the rabbit hole, eventually landing myself in permaculture. Suffice to say I know almost nothing about permaculture, so any practical advise on what to do with these yards would be amazing. The majority of the foliage is burning Bush AKA kochia, and the biodiversity that has developed includes common mallow, dandelions, foxtails, blue mustard, lambs quarters, dillweed, and showy milkweed as well as some sort of vine-system plant and what I believe might be creeping bellflower. There are also a few clusters of lillies and irises planted by my sister in years past and three rose bushes parked in the side yard. Soil is generally poor, dry, slightly rocky desert ground. Ideally I would like some sort of low water, permaculture food forest system as well as some attractive, low maintenance decorative plants. I was even thinking something silly like an edible weed garden utilising some of the edible weeds that seem to naturally flourish here. Any thoughts/advice/opinions/resources/connections around this area would be highly appreciated!! I'm a complete novice and have been looking into water saving techniques (ie swales, lol). What would you do with my desert yards?

Aaron, welcome to the forum!

I don't live in the high desert though I do live with drought.

I would suggest looking into the work of Brad Lancaster for water saving:

https://permies.com/t/36676/Brad-Lancaster-Waste-Transform-waste

https://permies.com/wiki/51855/Rainwater-Harvesting-Drylands-Brad-Lancaster

I would also suggest working on building soil health. I would recommend Dr. Bryant Redhawk's Soil Series:

https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

If wood chips are available where you live wood chips are very beneficial:

https://permies.com/t/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

This thread might also be of interest:

https://permies.com/t/218720/Land-Planning-High-Desert