Hello from northeast New Mexico! High, dry, windy plains, mostly flat, need advice on how to start.

Zone 6b, old farmhouse on 10 dusty, degraded acres,  abandoned for years. There are some large elms around the house/yard where birds spread an understory of blackcurrant bushes from the 2 ancient, mostly dead ones prev owner/gardner planted decades ago before she died. This natural process/symbiosis is what reminded me of what I'd read about permaculture back in the 80s, I was living in the FL Keys where I had a 1/3 acre tropical food forest plus grew annual fruit and veg for abut 10 years. So got excited and have been exhaustively researching. BUt the climate here is so challenging I'm at a loss as to how to proceed aside from starting lots of legume trees/shrubs to slow the wind down, it is brutal. I have a couple dozen thornless honey locusts started in 1 gal pots, comfrey, blackberries, nanking  cherry, and a few buffalo berry about 3" tall. Had a bunch of siberian peas started, too, but these apparently are a delicacy, and were eaten to the ground by grasshoppers. Ranging lots of poultry eliminated the grasshopper problem, and I am rotating and feeding sheep and goats roundbale hay, so slowly filling ruts, adding organic material and improving the open, flat ground where wind eroded, sandy channels surround isolated clumps of native grass and patches of prickly pear, and areas disturbed by accumulating blowdirt or where old farm bldgs were knocked down there are spiny gourds& nightshades, some quelitas, and tumbleweeds.

Long-gone prev  owner (her name was Goldie also planted roses, lilacs, other ornamentals in the dripline of the metal roof, and asparagus, apparently, as a brave, lone spear appeared in the spring after I dug away the 12-18" layer of blowdirt accumulated against the south side of the house. All these have been watered and kept alive by condensation from the steep, unguttered metal roof during the long periods between rains, and there are a couple of rhubarb clumps surviving in the dripline on the south side of the garage/shop. There are brief times the monsoon rains have water cascading off the roof, and I know it would be better to add gutters and harvest it. But it's amazing Goldie's garden survived decades with no human attention at all.

Oh MAN...I had a nice long post and accidentally erased the entire thing. argh. I grew up in NM, so familiar with the area, at least, and living in a nearby desert in AZ now.

So, quickie redo.
Desert food forests need a higher ratio of support species to food forest plants in the end. Common start, as you may have seen, is 90% support and 10% food to start off with, aiming for 10% suport, 90% food by the end for a food forest. Desert food forest, you're likely going to have more of a 66-75% support species end goal, because the more severe the climate, the more support the forest will need permanently.

2nd thing - wind break species sound like something to focus on a lot, yeah. And things that add to the soil.

Personally, I like to use as many native species as I can, because you're going to have the best luck for them to survive when they have to grow in more severe conditions. One great resource for this is the fire effects information system put out by the US fire service. It's aimed at helping know what grows with what, in native conditions, as this is really useful for when there are fire and we need to know what was lost, what to replant, etc...
So if you search on their site for a plant that grows local, like, say, prickly pear cactus, you get this:
https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/cactus/opuhum/all.html

It has lists of ecosystems, various lists of plants that grow with and near the prickly pear, and so on. It takes a while to go through, but it has really helped shape my plant choices, when I know what WILL go well together, and is native, and then I can research them and find out what might be useful for various purposes. And it creates a really unique, region specific support species system that is honestly kind of neat.

i also recommend checking out books and info on wild edible in your area. Many can be support species but you can also still get some use out of them, a little. A nice starter book I liked was the wild edibles of new mexico by charles kane (the arizona one has some species that I also found in NM, but not in the NM book).  Many of these were plants that grow will in my yard, and I simply let them grow now rather than pull them out, which was worth the price of the book, honestly.

Last couple of things...
If you are looking to plant pinyon pines, you may want to make sure you have the soil a bit better and more able to hold water first, even though they are native. The pinyon pines lost about 2/3 of their numbers in the entire state over the last 20 years or so due to drought. They are susceptible to a particular beetle there and can't fight it off as well when they have too little water, which is why they were killed off in droves. So it IS a good plant, but a bit more water availability will make them more resistant to the local pest, you know?

asparagus - that stuff lives through anything, seriously!  I have some I forgot about for 4 years, in a spot that got NO extra water, but only had a bit of shade and ground cover. We got 5-12 inches of rain a year those 4 years, with temps over 100 frequently in the summers...asparagus did just fine. It is still kicking.  That stuff is gold! ^_^

And...critters. If there is not a lot of growth around you, you will become a critter magnet for EVERYTHING. You will not be able to stop this, so you'll have to plan for it.

Me, I try to make it as much of a feature as I can. I have fruit trees where the birds get the top and I get the bottom, and the poop from them helps the tree. I plant a lot of native edibles that I don't have to water or care for on the edges of the property, on the outside of any fencing or other barriers, and often, the critters will eat those easily accessible foods and not venture further in because they are so desperate for food. And their manure will often add to the ground on the edges and can help with planting more plants there later.

Also, desert animals can find water better than anything else in the world. They are often desperate for THAT too. This is why the common advice to save on water to try and irrigate in the evenings is, well, really bad advice in the desert. Because what happens is every nocturnal animal in the desert (which is a LOT of them) will smell the wet dirt, assume that means water is available, and will dig their way into your property to try and get to it...and then dig DOWN into the wet dirt - that is holding your plants - to try and find the water source.

One way I've managed to take care of this is to actually have a small water source I keep for animals either AWAY from where I water the plants, or on the other side of a barrier hiding my plants, where any animals attracted to the wet will find water available and not have to investigate further to find it.

I know this isn't perfect or all encompassing advice, but hope it might be of some use, anyway!

Take care, and good luck. Look forward to hearing how it goes!

Hi Tish,

Shauna gave you some great advice. I'm also in high desert country. And 11 years ago I didn't know where to start or what would work. The property had been abandoned and abused for decades. I decided to 'follow the water'. That was my number 1 objective and super important. And I recently went to the permies 'search box' at the top of the page and typed in 'high desert country'. That narrowed down my search a lot and gave me dozens of different ideas I hadn't thought of. It can be a little intimidating but it sounds like your identifying each challenge and then tackling it. Sounds like you'll do well. Best wishes to you.

Sounds like really harsh country.

Are tempoary wind breaks a good start? IE woven mesh and posts or steel poles.
Is it practical to harvest rainwater?
A good sized tank 20,000L would help a lot but more would be better.
Could that fit a budget?

Hey,

Can you please post some pictures,

I would like to make some suggestions as to how you can reduce erosion and manage the dust!

as well as hydrate the land!

Kind regards,
Alex

Do you have a well, how much area can you irrigate? Even with a low flow rate of 3gpm you could establish a 1acre orchard.

While it is a good idea to have a master plan for the entire 10 acres. Implementing it all at once on 10 acres would be too much in my humble opinion. I would tackle just 1/4 of an acre. And make it my vegetable and herb garden, then slowly move down to the next level.

1/4 Acre Kitchen Garden
Waterworks/Earthworks: I would add swales and irrigation lines
Soil Carbon: I would add 6in to 12in of woodchip
Soil Life: Compost + Aerated Compost Tea + Mushroom Slurry are all great additions
Species/Cultivar Selection: For the 1st year I would start off with 80% chickpea/pole bean/legume family, and the remaining in the amaranth/spinach family+tomatoes/pepper/eggplant family + zucchini/squash family + sweet potatoes + mustard green + and from the mint/thyme family.

Small Animal
Honey Bee Hive: I would get at least 3 of them so the even after some winter kill, you can still split and have 3+ hives going at all time.
Chicken: Eggs Layers and Meat Chicken sounds like a good idea, you can have them 100% store grain-fed, and then slowly grow more of your insect+mushroom+plant feed

1 Acre Orchard
Waterworks/Earthworks:Swales for infiltration, Ditch/Swale to channel runoff water to the Orchard, Well+Irrigation for rows/trees
Soil Carbon: I would add 12in of woodchip
Soil Life: Compost + Aerated Compost Tea + Mushroom Slurry are all great additions
Support Species: 80% Nitrogen Fixers, 20% (Burdock/Comfrey Family + Tillage Radish + Mint/Thyme Family + Carrot Family + Garlic Family)
Species/Cultivar Selection: 20% each Legume, Nuts, Vine, Exotics, Rose Family, most likely at 15ft centers

Species/Cultivar Selection:
20% Legume (Alder/etc)
20% Nuts (Hazelnut, Yellowhorn, Pistachio, Chestnut, Walnut Family, Almond, Sweet kernel Apricot, etc)
20% Vines (Native Grapes-not the European, Artic and Hardy Kiwi, Maypop, Akebia, etc)
20% Exotics (Mulberry/Fig, Persimmon, Jujube, Pawpaw, Elderberry, Currant/Gooseberry/Jostaberry, Cornellian Cherry, Blueberry, Goumi/Seaberry, etc)
20% Rose Family ( Native bramble sub-family:raspberry/blackberry/dewberry/strawberry, Native stone subfamily:beach plum/sand cherry, Asian imports:asian pear/flowering quince, japanese plum/etc, European Imports:plum/peach/apricot/cherry/hybrids/etc and apple/pear/medlar/quince/etc, (I didn't find the native juneberry to be hardy, so like the rest of the European imports I cant give it a big recommendation)

At maturity 10years+ later, only 20% of the food forest/orchard will be legumes, but at establishment it will be closer to 80%, because between the orchard trees that are place every 15ft or so we will have legumes planted, it could be a blanket of dutch clovers, other clovers/alfalfa/etc or it can be adlers/etc planted every 3ft or a combination. And as the fruit/nut trees grow and expand we will cull more and more of the supporting 80% legumes. Trees from the walnut family will easily take up 2-4tree spots (aka 30ft vs 15ft). Chestnut might take up 1.5tree spot so planting a bramble or shrubby sand plum next to it will even out the spacing. If possible it's plant seeds and then graft named cultivars on it. And when you plant the seeds, don't transplant them, aka don't start them in pots/nursery/etc so as not to destroy the taproot.

8 Acre Pasture or SilvoPasture
Earthworks: Swales on Contour
SilvoPasture: rows of trees maybe every 60ft+ possible on contour with the swales, trees will be most fodder tree esp legume
Pasture Mix (40% Grass, 40% Legume, 10% Tillage Radish, 5% Vegetables, 5% Herbs)
Maybe you can just have it slightly improved and harvest a wild deer or two per year
Maybe you will just run poultry on it
Maybe you can just keep 8 dwarf milk goats, and harvest one or so per year
Maybe you will just run a few sheep on it, and harvest a few per year for meat
It's possible that you could have a dwarf cow-calf pair on the 8acres but it will take alot to establish such a pasture.
Maybe you will do a combination of the above.

Tish, you have been given some really good advice.

I would like to add that if that were my property I would be doing things that would build the soil.

Have you started composting?  I know it is a pain where the wind blows though maybe you can compost in an area next to the house where the wind is not so bad.  Or try using a bucket to compost in.

Another way to compost is by using trenches where a person digs a trench puts veggie scraps, etc. then that is covered up with dirt.

Do you have a source for leaves and/or wood chips?  Both make great soil amendments.

I save all my coffee grounds and bury them in the garden.

Dr. Bryant Redhawk's Soil Series is a great place to learn about how to improve your soil:

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

Hey,

Without seeing the property,

I can suggest, that Adding trincheras to hydrate from the moonsoon rain, would be a great idea, as would be buying some silt stop fences for the heavy rains,

maybe dig out a couple trenches for hydrating the land.

You could also add some wind break fences, go wire if your going to grow on it else, you just want to slow down the wind. any fence with holes in it will do more or less.

I would also sugest pulling apart the old collaps buildings for parts, but seriously check for asbestos, without any information I can not advise on what may be in there.

You will likely find plates, beds, metal of various sorts,

But you will likely also find a lot of nails, you will want to make sure these do not get in your animals eyes and feet,

by pulling this apart you will be able to find resources and gain space,

My other Idea is to go the University of New mexico and stalk Dr David Johnson SU and grab some of his Fungi,

I would also take soil samples, and do some basic tests,

Walk the land, and get to know all the animals, all the plants, get an idea of what resources are available.

Get some rainfall gauges,

I would also meet your neighbours, odds are you are going to need there help one day and like wise for them!

If you break a leg, on your property it is they would will be the reason, you make it to the hospital,

Also they will have vast amounts of experience on the land.

I would also find where to buy whole said seeds and supplies,

I would also, make sure to clean out those gutters.

you will also want to make sure to find out where you can service your trucks, and tractor if need be,

I would make sure the tractor had an auger attachment,

I would also make sure you had a decent freezer for processing meat.

I would also clean up and reorganise that shop, if need be also restore some tools,
Make sure you have a Grinder, pliers, wire, Drill, miter saw, some clamps, hand saw, sledge hammer, couple wrenches, a decent knife, maybe some welding gear, duck tape and lube, trenching shove, and spade, is basically as minimal as you can go,

Y,all will also want to know how far it is to go shopping and know when the store owners take lunch,

You will likely also need to know what you can get free shipping on to get delivery,

Plus you will also want to make a couple burn barrels for waste.

Now you may also want to practice cooking because good food in hard times makes a world of difference,

Plus depending on how far you are from town you may also be able to get free wood chips from arborists, and you may be able to get other goodies, like coffee grounds from cafes or mcdonalds,

you are also going to want to make sure you have decent paths and spaces to move around.

I suggest you read up on disasters of the area, fire, flood and etc and plan,

Also seeing as your on a farm in the USA, it may be worth while getting some of those slip on boots, that go up to the knee or there about`s!

you will also want to make sure you have a high clearance truck, and a tire punch repair kit, you will also want to have a winch,

You will also want to have containers and eskys to keep your food items in case of a plaque.

you may also want a fire arm to protect your animals from wild animals.

ow and utilising thermal systems to save money on heating and cooling if you can, would be great!

Ow and if you can build a green house awesome!

But again I really would like to see some pictures so I can comment!

Tish Toren wrote:wind

Stand 4 pallets up on edge and tie them together in the corners to make a wind / sun / deer protector. Compared to plants out in the open, whatever you plant in there will grow better.

S Bengi, when you speak iof 'wood chips' what are you talking about, what species of wood is used.
In Australia wood chips can damage the soil, so I want to understand the difference.

Thanks, everyone (and especially Shauna ) for the suggestions and encouragement! I probably should have mentioned I am not new to farming, gardening, composting, and raising livestock,  have been at it since the 80s. And when I lived in places where I could get free woodchips brought them in by the truckload! There just aren't a lot of trees here, so nothing to chip, it's the high plains, where the wind comes whipping along unobstructed, and any trees here that are not in the vicinity of the old house benefitting from condensation drip died years ago in the droughts without watering, they are dessicated standing skeletons/ future firewood now, or someday sunken hugel-food. Mulch that isn't weighted down or caught in stubble or undergrowth just blows away, it's impossible to keep it moist enough to stay in place on bare ground. So I'm thinking the answer is to get cover crops and other plants in, closely spaced, and maybe strategically add mulch with rocks to help hold things down and collect some condensation.  

Heavy equipment is not an option, I couldn't even afford the trucking to get it out here, nearest town with a grocery and a feed store is 50 miles away, nearest bigger town  is a hundred+. It is mostly flat, a few higher areas near the house are inhabited by pocket gophers, their population is shrinking thanks to good farm dogs, but it will be awhile before it will be safe to plant anything in the ground in that area, so far just doing containers. The dogs also happily deter other plant-eating wildlife from visiting, so that's not a concern. And there are some lower places where it appears the long-ago humans may have directed runoff away from the house lot into a neighboring cow pasture, or could just be where they drove across the property before it was divided, seems more compacted. They are not on contour but I could probably build up lower parts to capture, add mulch and plant them.

It's probably hard for someone from the east coast with 45+ inches of rain and forests all around them to imagine the challenges out here . Think "Greening the Desert", lol.  I am from NY and raised my kids on 70 acres in the Fingerlakes, so know what it's like to be able to grow basically  anything with a minimum of effort.  Also farmed in FL, MO. and most recently the OK panhandle (even drier!) as well, which was a shock for sure, and not somewhere I wanted to stay long. And did not own that place so couldn't make any changes to the property, just raised livestock and hid out in the house when the wind storms blew miles-wide clouds of glyphosated topsoil across the plains. Here in this part of NM we don't see the tillage exposed soils everywhere, I'm surrounded by rangeland and a few places with irrigated alfalfa.

I have hand-dug some small trenches to slow and redirect rain from running off, and filled them with prunings, chopped/dropped weeds and composted chicken litter. They are still too small to plant out, but I know I will need to protect the baby trees, berry plants, others, and have been situating coops and sheep/goat sheds/paddocks to block prevailing winds and plan on building more, and have been observing and identifying other microclimates. The pallet corrals for baby trees are a great idea, thank,s will also protect them from my goats. Someone on another high, dry thread mentioned planting the nitrogen fixers close, touching the other plantings, to shelter and  help them establish, that makes good sense, too. Main reason I am keeping sheep and goats is to run cheap hay through them to help build soil. Also because they are entertaining, delicious, don't need fossil fuels to run and quietly mow overgrown, weedy areas, and produce valuable fine wool and mohair. The fleece skirtings (soiled/unsaleable parts) are great to use as mulch, too, stay in place better than vm, and in planting holes, hold a lot of moisture as they break down. Feeling a little less overwhelmed now, can you tell? Thanks again!

Hey Tish Toren,

I was just wanting to here some more news!
and know how you are going and not just in terms of the farm!

Tish Toren wrote:Thanks, everyone (and especially Shauna ) for the suggestions and encouragement! I probably should have mentioned I am not new to farming, gardening, composting, and raising livestock,  have been at it since the 80s.

It's probably hard for someone from the east coast with 45+ inches of rain and forests all around them to imagine the challenges out here .

Here in this part of NM we don't see the tillage exposed soils everywhere, I'm surrounded by rangeland and a few places with irrigated alfalfa.

Feeling a little less overwhelmed now, can you tell? Thanks again!

I have spent a lot of time volunteering working to renovate, restore, organise farms and stations, for elderly people to be sold and or passed on. sometimes by young people who have bought them.

Bellow is a picture of me working on a station in the outback, this was just a demo, rebuild of cattle yards, restoration of accommodation, building of a demountable house, and hooking up some sheds with electricity, plus doing some basic earth works, plus hunting feral animals, plus basic road grading, plus repairing a dozer, tractor, grader, and about a thousand other little things.

I have experienced and spent a long time understanding the difficulties.

the station got 20mm the year before I went, which is less than an inch,
luckily it has bore water.

I say this because I am passionate about people like you who buy property which is a huge investment, and I would like to help!

Unfortunately I can not see pictures of what's going on, I am a strong believer in the link between seeing and advising,

I know you have years of experience and grit,
I know you do not need any advise from me,
but I do care about people like yourself!

Sincerely,
Alex

Hello from southwestern New Mexico (outside of Silver City)! I appreciate this post and the replies, have gotten a few more good ideas.

Are you familiar with Zuni waffle bed technique? See a photo here: https://bit.ly/37D8gCH

I've started using these with good results. The only caveat is if you have really hard dirt/rocks it's difficult to dig the small pits. We purchased an electric jack hammer that's been super useful breaking up the decomposed granite we have here. Also, since we don't have much of anything to build the sides up with, I've used wood chips, rocks, lengths of tree trunks. Lots of things will work, I'm sure you can come up with something.

This design really reduces transpiration and helps the mulch stay in place, too.

Best of luck!
Caroline

Hi Tish,

I’m wondering how you’re doing now that it’s about a year out from your original post. I’m an urban permie down in Albuquerque in the valley, so quite a bit different from you… but also uniquely challenging. I’ve got a wind problem, too, and am using fencing and native species for windbreaks.

I also second the recommendation about Zuni Waffle gardening for your kitchen garden, at least just to get some success to help bolster your motivation. Waffle gardening has helped me grow so much here.

Also, New Mexico is rich in permaculture resources. They just tend to fly under the radar. I would visit the following websites:

Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute (https://www.floweringtreepermaculture.org/)
Good Earth Medicine (https://goodearthmedicine.com/)
Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center (https://ampersandproject.org/)
Zia Energetics Permaculture (https://www.ziapermaculture.com/)
Santa Fe Permaculture (http://www.sfpermaculture.com/)
San Isidro Permaculture (https://www.sipermaculture.com/)
Four Bridges Traveling Permaculture Institute (http://www.4bridges.org/)


These projects all offer different info and services, but they are a good start for getting local information. New Mexico high desert is like few other places in the world, so unfortunately, much Permaculture advice doesn’t suit us here. What’s helped me the most is to actually go look and see what is working for other people in my area.

Also, if you haven’t looked at Brad Lancaster’s water harvesting books yet, they are bibles for those of us growing in the high desert.

And a fund for Permaculture projects… maybe they could help you get some of that big equipment. We’re considering applying next year for our little urban food forest project. https://www.newmexicofoundation.org/permaculture-fund/

Wishing you the best and would love an update. 😊