Land Planning High Desert

Hello all, my fiancé and I have just bought land in North-Eastern Nevada (finally!), it’s a 10 acre parcel surrounded by BLM in Zone 5. It’s mostly sagebrush plus a mix of pinyon pine and juniper. There’s a fair amount of wild oats as well plus wildflowers. Some of which are useful - arrowleaf balsamroot for one. There are two seasonal streams. The soil is high in dolomite/limestone and alkaline. It‘s quite rocky but seems to retain water decently. I want to make this land as fertile as fertile as possible. My location tends to have cool summers and a short growing season due to the altitude. I can’t get an accurate measurement of rainfall as it’s only recorded for the valley and the mountain clearly gets more rain due to its relatively higher lushness. I’ve noticed a lack of local fruits, so I’m hoping I can find a way to fill that void and market my products.

I’m also hoping to bring my horse along with some goats and chickens for milk and egg production asap. I’ve also been looking into other livestock, but I want to make sure the land can support them as hay is quite scarce around here. Anyone heard of the awassi sheep? I saw a breeder but I’m unsure how they handle the cold and the investment is $$$. We are on VERY tight budget.

I’ve done some research and watched a lot of videos regarding desert greening, but most of them are geared more towards warm climates. I was thinking of planting honey locust, black locust, Russian mulberry, and hopefully chestnut and Bur oak. I feel a little overwhelmed with where to start or which earthworks I should do. It’s also difficult to get manure or mulching materials out here as there are very few farms (other than rangeland cattle) and trees are sparse. I’ve attached some photos of the top ridge looking down. I’m open to any and all recommendations regarding crop selection, animals, etc.

Hey Ann.. Welcome to Permies, and welcome to Nevada! I’m down south, in the KINGDOM OF NYE, so different approaches.. but lots of smart people here will hopefully chime in. Best wishes in your endeavors!

Hi Ann,

a desert climate is not because it is warm or dry, but because of how it rains. Where there are not enough forests, the biotic pump does not work, then the rain regime is of long draught followed by a few floods. If you want to increase fertility in a desert climate, you absolutely need to increase water retention. This should be done before planting.
There are several techniques, depending on how big your land is and how much you can expend. K-lines are good when you have access to the K-point of your valley. Swales are good enough when the steepness is not too much, nor too low. Terraces are all around good, they allow to grow with machinery, but are expensive. Interconnected retention ponds is a good option if you need surface water from the beginning (for better temperature stability, wildlife drinking, ...)
If you manage to raise the  water table through these techniques, you may gain permanent bodies of water which will warm the air around, but that takes time, while built ponds might give you these powers sooner.
If you are on the cheap side, there are also small interventions you can do: collect debris where you find runoff water (spread, slow, sink, no matter how), dig small contour lines and fill it with tall grass seeds.
Use your roads for collecting water too.
Plant also wind breakers in your borders, even if wind is not an issue in your land. Less wind is less water evaporation, thus more for your local ecosystem. If you are in a hurry, you can build small hills around to make a fake closed valley.
If you go with the mentality of not letting one single drop of runoff water exit your land unmanaged, that's a good start.

For fruits, maybe you need more warmth. One technique is to use spaliered trees on the western side of a wall, Another one is to use slopes, since warm air climbs the hill underneath the plants canopy. Also, check out Joseph Lofthouse 'landrace gardening', who explains how you can get hardy seeds for your local conditions fast.

You don't need manure or mulching material. What you need is to create your own local compost, then waterspread the finished compost, and immediatly seed a good mix of grass for your herd. Buy a good compost if you don't have time or know how to do it, but it is not really difficult. Don't let your goats eat everything they can find. Move them to a fenced area and switch areas before they eat more than 2/3 of the grasses. The reason is that you need to leave some grasses alive if you want the soil to remain mulched, and it also regrows faster.

If you want to grow a food forest or a market garden, start small, make some good decent soil where your plants grow nicely, then expand using the resources you gain from your grown vegetables/trees.

And finally, expend as much time as you need watching your land. Smell it, hear it, feel it, all at different moments, early in the morning, late in the night, when it rains, when and how a hard pan forms. See wildlife interact. See yourself interacting and how everything changes. Be honest about how much you can work. Take your time to process and digest all that information, and it will help you greatly in your decisions. In short, learn to love it.
Every system has inertia, and when you move your land into a different direction, it needs time to adjust to changes.

As for species, try to find what grows already like a weed, something you have to fight to keep contained, and those will be your carbon generators. Even if you can't eat them, they are too useful to let go (it's better if there's something else useful to do). Check what local farmers grow and start with that, Once you have something to feed yourself, you can experiment with harder crops and fruits.

Wow, Abraham, such a great post. I’m going to take a lot of what you said into consideration.

As for local plants in the area, it’s mainly extremely hardy species. I was hoping to add some nitrogen fixers in alongside the natives that are already doing well, but I haven’t seen too many local ones.

My plan for grazing is to keep the goats in a movable electric fence and then lock them up at night to protect from predators. For the horse I’m thinking just a sacrifice lot, but possibly graze him as well if the land can support it.

I suggest that you watch this video about retaining water in the landscape. They are located in southen Arizona. They have caused thier seasonal streams to flow 3 to 4 weeks longer than the adjacent watershed. And just look at the diversity in plant life, compared to the neighborng watershed!

And take a look here at what Wayne did over four years in Texas.

Well, some places have adapted to herd animals, or are already nitrogen rich, so there's little need for nitrogen fixers. Your bottleneck is water, not nitrogen. You also seem to have a short growing season due to low temperatures. In these conditions, warming techniques are more useful than nitrogen fixers:
- Already mentioned ponds and vertical farming.
- Flat rocks on a sun exposed surface will heat the soil beneath (best effect when snow melting in spring)
- Trees increase humidity, which moderate temperatures too. Place your woods where they can shelter or provide humidity to cultivated areas.
- If you make compost, the compost pile is also a heat source.
Don't be afraid to introduce foreign species, If you want to try some cold resistant, dry climate plants, try some elaeagnus varieties (silverberry =elaeagnus commutata) or myricas (northern bayberry = myrica pensylvanica)

If you want to expand any of the points of my post, feel free to ask. You may find these topics in the forum already, if you prefer to google it.
But I strongly reccommend not to plant until you've figured out your water management and your pathways.

Abraham and Joylynn both bring up a good subject about rain and water.

Do you have a water source?

Your land looks very similar to our land out in West Texas.

We use rainwater catchment off a patio cover for water to wash and shower with.

For animals, we use what folks call a guzzler.

You might enjoy this thread:


https://permies.com/w/198448/Replacing-Irrigation-Permaculture-live-webinar

Also, I would like to recommend the work of Brad Lancaster:

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

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

For making the land fertile I would recommend Dr. Bryant Redhawk's Soil Series:

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

I don’t have a water source yet, the local town uses spring water (apparently there is at least 1 natural spring nearby). I am planning on digging a well, but I’m hoping to add some rainwater catchment to my water collection plan.

Oh and eleagnus was one of the species I’ve been considering, I do know that it can grow a little too well though. But I suppose I’d rather have to fight it back and get mulching materials than have it die on me.

Ann Davis wrote:Oh and eleagnus was one of the species I’ve been considering, I do know that it can grow a little too well though. But I suppose I’d rather have to fight it back and get mulching materials than have it die on me.

That's the spirit!

My land is pretty much the same in southern Colorado. We have pinyon juniper and alkaline chalky soil.

My recommendations are that you start from seed sown into your water retention features. Don't even bother planting trees unless they are in some kind of earthwork. The reason I say from seed is multiple. 1. most trees sold in nurseries are grown in perfect conditions. 2. You can spam way more seeds than grown plants. This allows the seeds with the unique genetics characteristics to survive on your site to germinate. All the rest will die. So then you are getting the best 1 out of 100.  3. It's cheaper and easier.

My winners for trees are honey locust (80% survival rate and the pods provide winter animal forage), siberian pea shrubs (80%), goji berry (80%), false indigo (73%), sand cherry (72%), mountain mahogany (71%), nanking cherry (68%), golden or wax currant (68%), and black locust (47%). Black locusts survivability was low, but the ones who survived were the most successful growing five feet in one year. I recommend these for areas where you want shade immediately.

Herbaceous plants that have done well for me are jerusalem artichoke, pumpkin, orach, kale, sunflowers, and swiss chard. Good perennial cover crops are sainfoin, sweet blossom yellow clover, and alfalfa. The best annual cover crop and chicken feed is millet/sorghum and hairy vetch.

Since your place is rocky I recommend you use the one-rock dam method to slow and sink water. This website describes the method https://regenerativeskills.com/how-to-build-a-one-rock-dam-to-regenerate-an-erosion-area/

Finally, respect the juniper, pinyon, and sage that already exist. They can provide you with mulch through their duff, and prunings. Pinyon nuts are the most nutritious tree nut money can buy. Many birds and animals (to include dogs) eat the juniper berries. Sage brush are nitrogen fixers and are essential winter forage. Junipers can be pruned mercilessly and still survive. Pinyon are more sensitive. Too much pruning can expose them to pine beetle attack. Wait until midwinter when the beetles are dormant to prune or cut branches off the Pinyon.

Good luck, Ann.

Ann - First and foremost, you need to think MULCH. And when you nod and say "oh yeah, mulch is important" you need to realize you will want even more mulch. I am looking to buy in the desert area in northern California. I have no land that I own from which a large amount of mulch can be harvested. So, I plan on getting whatever carbon I can get for free. So, here is what I have thought of when I find that parcel that yells "Buy Me, Fool"......

-Saw Dust/wood shavings: (Home Depot cuts wood; you can ask manager about how they dispose of  saw dust; I believe it gets sucked up into a machine that disposes of it in a bin somewhere. Ask manager if you can work out an arrangement with them to collect; if you get the empty-eyed employee who doesn't know how to help you, go back 10 hours later when another manager is on duty;  Also, lumber sellers or lumber mills might let you collect; big mills may sell the wood shavings, but not sure if their is a big demand for the sawdust. cabinet makers also may have some)

-Grass cuttings: (Identify the parks, schools, colleges, golf courses or other place with large lawns; they have to cut it; if they do not mulch themselves (and they probably don't), they probably pay to have it disposed of; contact landscape department and talk to them about when they cut and work out a deal to pick up; offer them booze I say; Look up landscapists in the phone book and ask for their cuttings, especially the mow & blow people....they have to do volume to make money so they go through a lot of houses on your average weekend; even if you can't find some cuttings that you are sure are chemical free, the grass cuttings still might be useful to mulch areas of the property not needed for food. II would not be surprised if even nasty chemicals are broken down by the constant interaction with bacteria/fungus/free radicals after a few seasons; I bet you can find places that only apply fertilizers but not chemicals. Chemicals are expensive and people in the country generally just want green from whatever plant will grow. Fewer and fewer people say "I only want Kentucky blue grass in my yard, and only it. Nuke the rest." I dare say that putting greens might be the last holdout of the "only one type of grass" mentality.

-Horse boarders, equestrian centers/ranchers: (Anyone with horses or animals in which they fees hay certainly buy and store hay; inevitably loose hay builds up on the ground of barn; ask if you can clean out their barn on a regular basis; they also may have straw thrown on ground of stalls, which means they regularly clean it out and pile it somewhere on their property; they may be eager to be rid of it; I used Google Earth to identify ranches with a lot of animals. They are easy to spot because of the dark brown dirt; ask them for manure; They may already get rid of it or sell it to farmers, but they will probably be ok with you getting a pickup load or two once in a while.)

-Utility Company: (Electricity companies have to clear fallen limbs; see if you can get the wood chips)

-Arborists: (see above)

-State Forestry Department (see above; they may be regularly cutting wood in the parks and forest)

-City Dept. Public Works: (they trim trees and bushes on a regular basis; ask for the wood chips)

-State/Federal Forest: (Not sure if this is legal, but you can bring a trailer to nearby national forest and pick up fallen branches from forests; call the forest rangers to check.)

-Contractors/Construction companies: (When clearing land they have to deal with the trees and bushes they take down; some simply bury the waste on site; perhaps you can get lucky and have a situation in which they have a lot of trees they need to turn into mulch; if they go to the expense of shredding the trees, they might want to charge you; perhaps you can just tell them you will take the branches before shredding and shred yourself)

-Fencing contractors; (many, many backyard fences remain untreated and are ok to mulch. Fencing companies must pay to dispose of and they work it into their price; I would think they would be happy to give to you; hell, give to your kids to tear apart. I'm an adult male and I still love to demo something....amiright fellow males....?)

-Dirt: just like free mulch can be found on craigslist, so can dirt.

-Forest Property/ Country Folk: Look for people who own a lot of land with trees; ask if you can pick up fallen branches or trim their trees; keep an eye out for the properties where you know people have not spent a single moment to deal with fallen branches; Offer to remove the branches and even trim the trees for them.....I bet you can find a lot of people who will take you up on your offer. And hey, offer them booze. Maybe even put up an add in craigslist "WILL TRIM YOUR TREES FOR FREE.....BOOZE INCLUDED"....in fact, put up a sign at local hardware store, farm supply store.

-Wild Grass: Every Spring the green grass gets a certain height besides freeway/roads before the city/state cuts it down; ask them what they do with it and how you can get. They are government and are not known for thinking outside the box, so you may have to be pushy. Your ten acres could be three feet deep in grass cuttings every Spring.....not sure about the grass in your area. On private property ask people if you can cut their grass in the field or the stuff that grows besides their 1/2 mile long driveway.

-Brewery: Places that make their own beer dispose of the hops and other grains. Some places go through a lot of this stuff; Chances are almost a certainty that a farmer has gotten to them first and asked for the waste so as to feed their hogs. Ask if you can get in on that action, or locate the pig farmer and ask for his manure.....not HIS manure, his pig's manure. Geez, where are your minds at?

-Farmers/Grain Mill: Even in the desert people grow crops that stay perfectly green for months. Well, they have to bring the grain to some sort of mill. The mill might have some sort of waste laying around comparable to loose hay on the floor of a barn. Moreover, the Farmers might have waste from the harvest. I knew a tomato farmer who did not compost his plants at the end of the season because he did not want to propagate disease that might be hidden in a plant and potentially devastate the next year plants. Maybe alfalfa, soy, wheat growers dispose of the chaff by burning, or maybe they compost it. It is worth asking. Can you imagine how quickly you could create soil if you could mulch get 20 acres of waste corn plants that are not needed after harvest. The good news is that when you convince Earl to let you have the green waste, he is good friends with Skeeter and Old Jim who farm 200 acres down the valley who can help you......if there is booze in it for them of course.

-Orchards: Fruit/nut orchards are trimmed yearly...maybe not in desert climates. Ask them what they do with the trimmings. They also cut down trees....although those might be diseased.

-Supermarket: Some supermarkets have a trashcan next to the corn so people can pull off the husks and toss them. Ask market to save for you. It also occurs to me that fish goes bad quickly, so a friendly neighborhood market might freeze some of the bad fish for you to pick up;

-Butchers: search the area for butchers, and not just butchers in the market. I believe there is a lot of hunting in Northern Nevada, so there are butchers of game. Ask them to let you have all meat waste including bones. You can compost all that.

-Produce Distributors/produce shippers: you can ask local stores and market who they use as distributors to identify who to call; you can bet some deliveries are bad when they arrive because they arrive late or refrigerator in truck went out; distributors reject loads on regular basis.  This means the load stays on the truck. The distributors might put you in contact with the trucking companies and you can tell the trucking companies that them that you will take green waste; some produce will go bad while at the distributors, so maybe distributor will have some good green waste for you a couple times a year.

-Ponds/Lakes: When you make friends with someone with a pond or lake, perhaps you can ask to take some of the silt at the bottom of the pond. Not sure this is worth the effort unless you have machines. Keep an eye out in the new for the word "dredging" and see if you can convince someone to give you a few yards of that sediment. Good stuff. Perhaps look for the seasonal ponds that dry up. When dry ask the person if they want you to get rid of some of the sediment to make their pond deeper. That could get you a good amount of good soil.

- County Fair/Rodeos: So, remember 4H? I recall my sisters raised animals to display at County Fair only to loose to the guy who definitely had his animal on roids.....I mean, what cow has biceps on its hoof? Guess what they use in the stalls at fairgrounds when cows, sheep, pigs, are on display....straw. They probably have straw covering the stalls they have the horses and bulls in for the bull riding, cow roping events. All of that gets cleaned up. Talk to the fairgrounds about getting some.

-Water Treatment Plant: Seriously, does anyone really knows what goes on there? You think you do, but do you really? Go ask if they produce green waste/sludge/algae...avoid the men in dark suits with earpieces.

That is the list I have compiled as to mulch sources. Hope this helps.

Thanks guys for the tips about sourcing mulching and the survivability of plants. Have you found wax and golden currants to taste nice? I’ve been hoping to add species that are edible, so that one sounds promising. It’s also great to hear goji does well. Sunflowers are one of my go to crops for horses, chickens, and goats, looking forward to planting a big swath. Anyone have experience with comfrey in my conditions? It grows really well for me in my old garden but the soil is completely different.

Also, as far as sage and winter animal browse, does anyone know what percentage can be fed safely to different species? I’ve tried researching and always come up empty handed.

I have a few questions/comments:
1. Do you plan on using artifical watering/irrigation if so plant intensely makes sense to me, maybe even an aquaponics setup.
2. Do you plan on using only/mostly natural rainfall, use wide spacing, plant in natual collection point/along streams/etc.
3. I assume that there will not be some perfect vineyard/orchard/pasture in year1 and you will be importing "all" of the food you and your animals eat, is this true?
4. How many years do you envision it taking you to get to that "perfect" vineyard/orchard/pasture/firewood lot/market garden/kitchen garden.
5. How much of the land will your tackle to convert each year?

6. SOIL: what your plans to improve water infiltration rates, organic matter, soil life, soil structure, artifical watering, soil cover.
7. COVER PLANTS: whats your legume species to cover 80% of the land? Grass/Mint/Onion/Carrot/Cabbage/Lettuce/Spinach family species/cultivar selection?
8. BERRY: Currants/Blackberry/Blueberry/Strawberry/Goumi-Seaberry/Jujube family species/cultivar selection
9. FRUIT: Mulberry/Persimmon/Pawpaw/Native Prunus/Apple-Pear family species/cultivar selection
10. SMALL NUT: Filbert-Hazelnut/Edible Apricot Nut/Almond Nut/Chinquapin Chestnut/Yellowhorn Nut species/cultivar selection
11. VINES: Grape/Hardy Kiwi/Maypop/Akebia/Five-Flavor Vine species/cultivar selection
12. KITCHEN GARDEN: Mushroom/Herbs/Leafy Greens/Shrub/Vine Greens/Legumes/Root Crops/Grains/Squash-Melon/Tomatoes-Pepper, selection
13. STRESS/PEST MANAGEMENT:Crop Rotation/Good Microbe Foiliar-Soil Spray/Good Nutrient Foiliar-Soil Spray/Good Insect Habitat/Good Cultivar Selection based on eco-zone/Good Water Practice/Species Diversity/Carrying Capacity/Sunlight-Shade-GDD/Wind

14. PASTURE MIX: for goat vs horse vs honey bee vs etc and also for eco-region
15. ANIMAL BREED: selection that has been proven to do well in your eco-region
16. ANIMAL SHELTER: What type of shelter do you plan on having for each type of animal
17. ANIMAL WATER-FOOD: Where do you plan on sourcing/distributing your animal feed and water
18. GRAZING STYLE: Will they just be kept in a pen/barn/coop or will they be able to roam after year 4 when the pasture is doing well? Will it be rotational grazing?
19. SUPPLIMENTS/MEDICINE/SICKNESS: what type of sickness/toxin/predatar/parasite is common in this area, how will you manage it, fix it?

20. HOUSE: Potable Water, Septic, Electric, HAVC, Outdoor Kitchen, Indoor Kitchen, Food Preservation, Transportation, MakerSpace/Art, Clothing,
21. SELF: Meal Plan, Excercise, Social Group, Stress Management, Healtcare, etc

I observe goji berry growing wild along the railroad in North-West Nevada with no care since the shanty-towns got abandoned a century ago. I occasionally observe an apricot tree.

Winter rye may thrive without supplemental water.

The wild parsleys and biscuitroots thrive without additional water.

As a market crop, you might grow something like ephedra, or learn how to harvest the pinion nuts.

I observe that compost in the desert just sits there. Seems like it sucks water out of the ecosystem. Perhaps in the bottom of swales it might prove useful.

I consider single layer rock/wood check-dams the most successful water retention strategy that I tried.  Increasing their height after each runoff event.

Woven mesh fences across the wadis can act as sand dams after flash floods.

Benji,

You bring up a lot of excellent questions. Some of them are easier to answer then others, but here’s the gist:
I do not plan on using artificial watering at least at first except in a medium sized kitchen garden. I had considered aquaponics, but I think it would need to be placed in a greenhouse due to the extreme climate. I’m thinking ollas in the kitchen garden, thoughts?

I’ll likely be bringing in a lot of the feed for my animals. Ideally I’d like to rotationally graze the sagebrush the first year (likely never touching the same piece of land the first year) and reseed following the animals. The animals will be kept in a dry paddock with shelter when not grazing. I’m also hoping I can an annual kitchen garden going the first season, but that may have to be have to be put off depending on how much time I’ll have available with other building projects.

I’m hoping to build swales/berms, mulch/manure heavily, and seed the land with many nutrient uptaking and nitrogen fixing species + other beneficial ground covers (edible, medicinal, etc.). Some of the plants I was hoping to include are sainfoin, arrowleaf balsamroot, comfrey, sweetvetch, etc.

A lot of of the berry species I’d prefer to grow are not particularly suited to my area (lovers of low ph + rich soil), so I’m planning on enriching a few garden beds separately for them. Some species that grow in the area are thimbleberries (high water locations only), blue elderberries, and golden currants. So I’ll be playing around with those. I’m also curious to taste the native prickly pear. I hope it tastes as good as the more common taller variant. For fruits and nuts, basically I’m thinking of holding off on all but the hardiest varieties until the nurse trees and soil health improve. After which I’ll be able to grow more variety.

My fiancé and I have a solar power van conversion he built. But we want to but in a small cabin as soon as able. It’ll have a composting toilet, running water for shower, and solar for electrical. We have a generator for backup power.

I see our “perfect” property take at least 10 years, but probably longer knowing how these things can be.

Joseph

Winter rye will probably thrive here. There’s lots of wild oats growing without a care in the world. On the especially poor and dry soil they are stunted and short, but they still grow.

Do the apricots ever fruit? I’ve seen some hardy apricots listed in catalogs, but I’ve always been a little suspicious of the actual fruiting ability due to late frosts.

As for the rock check dams, I’m very interested, and I’ll have to do more research into them, seems like a great solution.

So many ways to approach this problem. Personally I would focus on just a tiny  1/4 acre, the 1st year, call that my heavily modified zone 1. And then just observe the rrst of the property. Attached is a picture of what I think your zone1 could look like:

Kitchen Garden
10 Beds each around 100sqft (5ft by 20ft)
The usual Grain/Legume-Bean/Mint-Thyme/Onion/Carrot-Celery/Cabbage/Lettuce/Spinach/Potato-Tomato/Squash-Melon family
Could be fertigated with a aquaponic/hydroponic setup, it could tie in wonderfully with the animal system

Animal
A simple shelter for your Goat-Milk, Sheep-Meat, Eggs, Chicken-Duck, Fish-Fertigation, Compost. Bee-Hive
3 beehive right outside the shelter, if you only get one there is a 50% it will die. But if you get three, there is a 96% chance at least one of the hive will survive and you can do your own hive split.

Perimeter "Orchard"
About 40 plants on 10ft center, could surround the Zone1 aka 400ft perimeter
It could be a 15ft Tree and followed by a 5ft berry for 20ft, or it could be two 10ft trees for 20ft.
SMALL NUT: Filbert-Hazelnut/Edible Apricot Nut/Almond Nut/Chinquapin Chestnut/Yellowhorn
FRUIT: Mulberry-Fig/Persimmon/Pawpaw/Native Prunus/Apple-Pear family
BERRY: Currants-Gooseberry/Blackberry-Timbleberry/Blueberry/Strawberry/Goumi-Seaberry/Elderberry/Jujube family
VINES: Grape/Hardy Kiwi/Maypop/Akebia/Five-Flavor Vine

Base-Nurse Species-Legumes for Ochard/Pasture
I like it when at establiment 80% of the system is nitrogen fixers and even at maturity at least 20% N-fixers.
TREES: Alnus glutinosa (Alder), Elaeagnus angustifolia (Autum Olive), Chamaecytisus palmensis syn. proliferus (Tagasaste, also know as Tree Lucerne )
SHRUBS: Acacia cyclops, A. longifolia, A. melanoxylon, Cytisus scoparius (Scotch Broom)
HERBS: Dalea candida (White Prairie Clover), Astragalus cicer, Medicago sativa, Trifolium repens

Base for Garden
The waste stream from the Animals (and also compost from the vegetable stalks/waste/etc)

I could see something very similar working well for me, I’ll definitely have to adapt the species a bit for my climate though (I wish I could grow figs! Maybe with a greenhouse!). One of my ideas is to invest in rabbits right away for meat and fertility. I’m incredibly interested in keeping bees. My fiancé is highly allergic to them, so I’ll likely need to place the hives further from the house.

In my climate in Northern Utah, apricots fruit heavily about 2 years in 5. They fruit a little 1 year in 5. Then 2 years in 5 the flowers die from frost. Some varieties flower later and avoid frost better.

Planting them on north facing slopes can entice them to flower later, thus bear more reliably. Planting them on a hillside above frost pockets can help.

I saw an article about fruiting wine grapes in Alaska that used buried wine bottles to attract heat, do you think something like that would be beneficial to the apricots? I was worried it might dry out the roots in an arid climate.

Quite a few fruits cultivars will save up resources and fruit every other year, esp if they are grown from seed and if the area is lackoing in water/sunlight/resources. I dont think that Growing Degree Days/ Sunlight is a problem for your or even your winter temperature. Apricots are actually pretty hard.

I do find the buried wine bottle idea to be super cool. I wonder whats really happening does it help with infiltration, does it make its way out of the soil with each freeze-thaw cycle? Like rocks I can see them absorbing the sunlight and heating up the area. I wonder if they have any native alaskan/serbian grapes? Wow there are quite alot of grapes hardy to zone 2/3: https://practicalselfreliance.com/cold-hardy-grapes/

I wonder if there are any zone1 grapes

Ann,  I think that the Chicago Hardy fig cultivar will survive in your area if you bend them down to the ground every year. Maypop will also survive your zone 5 too. They are both hardy to zone 5. Blue berries will grow on bedrock here, and even with high ph, they will still produce esp if you put some compost/manure nearby.

If we focus on just the zone1/year1 heavily modified quarter quarter acre. Which species/sub-family would you dropoff the list and why? what are your limiting factors? summer Growing Degree Days, winter min temp aka USDA zone 5, or is it that it will be hard for you to find someone to buy it from? Can you confirm that you will have a well to water the 1,000sqft kitcken garden and the 400ft of fruit area. I womder how much water the bee/chicken/rabbit/etc will need? Uhmm I am thinking that in year2 you could even do another row of fruit trees so that there is a total of 80, to me that is more than enough.

SMALL NUT: Filbert-Hazelnut/Edible Apricot Nut/Almond Nut/Chinquapin Chestnut/Yellowhorn
VINES: Grape/Hardy Kiwi/Maypop/Akebia/Five-Flavor Vine
FRUIT: Mulberry-Fig/Persimmon/Pawpaw/Native Prunus/Apple-Pear family
BERRY: Currants-Gooseberry/Blackberry-Timbleberry/Blueberry/Strawberry/Goumi-Seaberry/Elderberry/Jujube family

I really do like the checkdam ideas in all those "creekbed/gully". It will slow and soak in the water, and increase the fertility of the area. I am also thinking that your vegetable beds should be sunken into the ground vs the usual raised beds.

There are a hundred easy ways how animals(sheep/goat/etc) could degrade the area and only a few specific/dificult ways how animals could improve the land. So I am very hesitant to recommend getting them before year 4. You will already have so much on your to-do list that it might just be too overwhelming and then the pasture/kitchen garden/nurse-support species task will make very little progress. Esp given that you are new to the eco-region.

S0 focusing on the 1/4acre zone and then the all the "creekbed". About how many feet of creekbeds do you think you have all togather, that you will tackle in year 1 and year2? What species of nitrogen fixer will you plant to help. Which time of the year will you plant them? I like the checkdam idea so much it will trap soil/etc so you don't have to digg holes, it will also trap water so you don't have to water as much. Will you install a drip irrigation system.

My biggest limiting factor is the growing days in my region. It’s a very short window for crops to ripen properly before the cold moves back in. I think it’s smartest to start with the easiest species to cultivate then branch out to more exotic species. I foresee plants like pawpaw struggling for instance due to the longer growing season often needed to ripen them properly. That being said, I adore blueberries. You mention that they can be grown on the bedrock? I’m very intrigued, I’ve always been taught they suffer in alkaline soils.

I plan on having a well put in this summer and starting my garden when I move in this spring. The water table is unusually high in the nearby valley (10ft, the town is actually spring fed), but I won’t know how plentiful my water resources are until I actually start digging.

I also really like the checkdam ideas, I’ve been looking at a lot of rock style dams. I think my land is ideal for this sort of system. As for the sunken beds, I know they have great advantages as far as irrigation/water retention is concerned, my only worry is the beds struggling to heat up at quickly once the snow melts. I was thinking maybe including rock borders could fix this? Thoughts?

It’s honestly very difficult to estimate the amount of creekbed I have. There are two gullies that circle around, maybe equaling 1,200 linear feet? It’s hard to say. I’m hoping to plant a black locust, honey locust, autumn olive, and sea buckthorn. I’m also considering some less vigorous, but native species such as buffaloberry and western redbud. I think I can spend a lot of time working on the checkdams as I’ll be staying home, as I’ve never built one before, again it’s hard to say how long it will take me. I do not plan on installing drip irrigation. I’m trying to avoid bringing in any plastics to my farm if I can help it.

I remember you saying that you want to have some honeybee, but due to allergies honey extraction and management could be an issue. Have you looked into the FlowHive extraction system. https://youtu.be/Z54bL6kjyOI  and https://youtu.be/kAF6wGT8bag Checkout the videos and let me know what you think of it? Each hive cost aroung $275 https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Palace-Beehive-Frame-Super/dp/B078HS689X

Pawpaw is a shade loving tree, similar to elderberries. so they are okay with less sunlight and GDD. I just checked the three zip codes for Elko County, Nevada and they all get a bit more growing degree days than my location. And I am growing all the plans that I have listed, so that shouldn't be a limiting factor. Obviously the amount of wildlife broswing on your plants, natural rainfall and other factors will be unique and different when compared to mines. ( https://www.greencastonline.com/growing-degree-days/home just enter in May to Sept of last year and your zip code)

Worse case 5ft blueberry plants do awesome in a 5-gallon bucket. So if you focus on your 1/4 acre zone1 you can just plant a couple blueberry plants in some compost, the trick is is to plant in a hill so that the "salts" aren't accumilating instead they are draining away. The reason why blueberry do bad in alkaline soil is due to iron and zinc lockout, but with the right fungi, they can just trade sugars for the minerals that they have a hard time getting.  

I completely agree that step1 shouldn't be putting in exotic fruit trees or any fruit really it should be the support/nurse species. As for nurse species, that can survive easily in the creekbed area without any irrigation. Look into "Falcata alfalfa" and any cultivars that decended from it. And really just look into all the legumes listed below, in addition to the ones that you listed:
TREES: Alnus glutinosa (Alder), Elaeagnus angustifolia (Autum Olive), Chamaecytisus palmensis syn. proliferus (Tagasaste, also know as Tree Lucerne )
SHRUBS: Acacia cyclops, A. longifolia, A. melanoxylon, Cytisus scoparius (Scotch Broom)
HERBS: Dalea candida (White Prairie Clover), Astragalus cicer, Medicago sativa, Trifolium repens.

Compared to the town in the valley below that is spring-fed, how much higher is your elevation? 100ft?. The rainwater collection creeks that run thru your 10-acres how much land above you, drains into them? 1,000ft of creekbed with vegetation extending 45ft on both side is over 2acres out of your 10acres, which to me is more than enough orchard-foodforest area to work with.  I think that things will do well. It will just take a bit of time.

Instead of struggling to raise meat/cattle is it possible for you to hunt a couple deer/etc and fill up a chest freezer. I f you can harvest 3+ deers. I don't think that you would be upset if they eat some of the black locut plants by the creekbed, lol.

I completely understand not wanting to install drip irrigation plastic that needs to be replaced every 5 years. But maybe a 100ft hose and some olla wick irrigation pots will do the trick for the 1/4acre zone1. That idea does sound pretty cool.

As to the suggestion for free sawdust from big box stores, as a former carpenter, I would avoid that as you may very likely end up with Pressure Treated/CCA dust which stands for chromium, copper and arsenic...not something I'd want imported onto my land.

I'm looking for land in New Mexico and was considering the Jujube tree as one to plant for fruit:

Jujubes are some of the most drought-tolerant fruiting trees you can grow! They are pretty trees with glossy, small green leaves that turn vivid yellow in autumn. Called "Chinese Date", the fruit is very sweet, reddish brown when ripe, 1-1/2" long with a single seed. These grafted trees will grow to 20' or more but can be maintained much smaller. They are very productive and early bearing, and the fruit needs hot summers to ripen well. In cooler summers, before fall rains return, pick them half brown and half green and bring inside to finish ripening. Most varieties require a different variety as a pollinizer. Zones 6-10

Ann,

I'm a person that hates plastic. In my unfinished house there is plastic only under foundation slab and around stainless pipes going through the slab. I'm not planning for plastic other than electrical outlets, cables and interior of the fridge.
With this attitude I decided to install irrigation system and that was the right move. I was not able to keep my trees alive, forget thriving and I have probably better growing condition than yours. I have my land to feed me in the first place. What is 1000 m of irrigation hoses and a bag of emitters compared to hundred gallons of fuel (and car wear) I have to use to drive to buy food?
With irrigation you will help to establish trees as fast as possible, they will retain moisture, create microclimate and some of them will be able to reach your potential high water table. Then you will have more choices.
I'm saying it all, because you mentioned that your area may have water, so let it work for you.

I think the only way I would consider sawdust is if it was directly from a lumber mill cutting actual logs. Otherwise, I’m hoping I can find a horse boarding ranch willing to part with their old bedding/manure.

I am about 1,000ft above the local town.

As far as irrigation is concerned, I hear what you’re saying about the irrigation tubing, I do worry about micro plastics and such, but if I have to install it I will. I really wanted to experiment with ollas. My mom is a potter (and a nurse lol), so I have a source of basically free ollas if I want them. But that might be unrealistic on a larger plot, time will tell.

Oh and to answer your question about meat, my plan is to hunt as much as possible (grouse, deer, elk, etc.) plus supplement with rabbits. I think the rabbits are a great fit as they don’t need much land and provide great fertility.

Ann,

I think the ollas will work for garden. I'm watering my garden manually once per day or once per two days. For orchard I wasted 7 years for experiments and only everything started growing when I set up irrigation system. I'm observing the trees and for example such a hardy and drought resistant species as pomegranate will just drop all flower/fruits at my location if not irrigated. It will survive the droughts, but will be just a useless bush from my perspective. Olive without sufficient water will grow fine but with almost no olives.

Cristobal,

I’ll definitely consider the drip irrigation for the orchard, I suppose the chances of micro plastics and other contaminants are lower in tree-crops than in vegetables. I know that fruits do not uptake lead from soil for example.

Benji,

I’ve seen the flow hive before, I do like the ease of use, but I have two problems with it, 1. It uses a lot of plastic which I’m trying to avoid, and 2. I won’t be able to collect any beeswax, I make my own beeswax balm and candles, so having wax for my own use is very important to me.

I’ve read that black locust is poisonous to horses. I don’t know if it’s true; just thought I’d mention.  

I’ve read up on it, while black locust is toxic, it’s considered unpalatable to equines so unlikely to be ingested. I still won’t be including it in the horse pastures just in case.

A couple of notes from someone at ~7k feet in north western Nevada (White Mountains):

Some people aren't into mulch for the desert but I really disagree. The heat hitting the ground is a big issue especially for younger plants and you need to blunt that: mulch. Mulch does absorb water a bit but I think on net it's worth it.

Large water collection systems (rain, pond, well, whatever) that is then pushed into drip irrigation is the most practical way I know of to get through the brutal summers. This is in addition to, not in place of, things like swales and terraces. But if you end up with a month of 85+ temps and zero water it is very hard for anything but the hardiest local plants to live.

Nevada has a state nursery, one in Reno and one in Vegas and maybe some occasional drops in Ely or Elko: https://forestry.nv.gov/washoe-state-tree-nursery . I'd really recommend checking them out because they're going to stock you up with the best thing for your area.

In my area any soil you disturb will have invasive plants next year (russian thistle / salt lover). The biocrust is very thin and there are seeds all over the ground just waiting for a foot to push them into the ground. One of the best things you can do is to make solid paths for where you want to walk and try to minimize cruising through native areas as you will increase weeds that way. One hard and durable path is much better than 12 that you oscillate between.

Lastly, the Juniper is an invasive species. They are supposed to be there in small doses but nowhere near the level they are now. Their roots push fast and wide, you can easily have juniper roots 3x the drip line / canopy distance. If there is a juniper within ~30 feet of anything you are attempting to grow, chop the juniper. I push them through my mulcher and use the big chunks (> 3") for my biochar. I've read forestry guides that say large Junipers will push their roots 25' down and 100' wide.

For mulching Juniper for plants I'll toss it all in the chipper then leave it out over the summer for the needles to dry out and the anti-microbial stuff to break down. Fresh evergreens aren't good for mulch, you want to let it sit for a bit. Likewise you want the bigger stuff to dry (~1 year or at least 1 summer) for bio-charring.  

One way to make trails that I like is pallet wood or rocks on the side, cardboard or packing paper down on the weeded / raw ground, then dumping fresh or old mulch on it. https://permies.com/t/217561/Charcoal-Garden-Paths#1846946

See if you can find a local source for a lot of mulch. One of the landfills here has aborists dropping lots of it, you can load it up for free. I got 23 yards the other day in a big haul on a trailer with walls and a soft top. Was $20 for the landfill to spin up the loader and dump it in.

Interesting! Good tips. I wonder about ways a mulch might be optimized for high thermal insulation, high reflectivity and emissivity, and low water absorption.

Yeah, it seems like stress of the long seasonal drought combined with high evapotranspiration naturally forces plants to either be xerophytic, go dormant, and/or have extensive root networks.  

Relationship between Desert subsoils and plants

“The availability of water usually poses the single greatest limitation to plant life in deserts. Although desert environments are defined by the amount of precipitation received, the amount of moisture that is available for plants to use is modified by features of the soil.”

The amount of precipitation that is lost to runoff or absorbed by the soil (and how deeply) is influenced by not only the surface contours but also by the composition of mineral layers in the subsoil.

Layers of caliche or thick clay are largely impervious to water. This matters because shallow soil-moisture is more readily lost to evaporation, whereas water stored deeply is more protected from evaporation.  This also matters because deep soil permeability to water (and roots) is correlated with the occurrence of desert canopy perennials and the rich biodiversity, soil building, and soil life they support. (presumably deep soil permeability is not only correlated with but actually the cause of habitability for desert canopy perennials).

The depth and availability of soil moisture is responsible for much of the plant composition in the Desert.  Thus, observation of local plant composition can help indicate subsoil conditions.

In the Sonoran desert, layers of hard caliche or thick clay are indicated by the presence of these shallow rooted species:
triangleleaf bursage (Ambrosia deltoidea), and cacti, including staghorn and buckhorn chollas (Opuntia acanthocarpa and O. versicolor)

Places where water is able to penetrate into deeper soil are indicated by the presence of these deeper rooted species:  creosote bush, bursage, ocotillo, palo verde, and desert ironwood.

Source:

https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_desert_soils.php

Tony,

In my experience, fresh mulch absorbs water, but as it breaks down, the lower layers become more and more useful. At least in my old climate (18” rain annually, extremely hot/dry summers). Do you think it’s better to compost the mulch before applying? Or would it still be helpful fresh?

I want to get into rainwater harvesting, but the cost of water storage tanks is pretty high. Anyone know of any alternative storage solutions, preferably non-plastic? Besides a well and rainwater, the other thing I want to complete is a series of pond systems, I was hoping something like Sepp Holzer’s setup might work, but I feel like the learning curve for installation is pretty high. I don’t want to destabilize the hillside.

I’ll be sure to give the nursery a glance, Reno is pretty far, but I can definitely make a trip to Elko.

I really feel that bio-char will be a great asset. I really don’t know much about it, but my fiancé has brought it up to me multiple times. I’ve heard that it can increase pH, but then I read conflicting information. I need to do more research. I want to keep as many trees as possible, but I’ll definitely remove any junipers that are too close. The junipers seem to grow well with at least the pinyons, do you know any other (especially edible!) trees that grow well near the junipers?

Definitely like the pathway idea, I’ve done something similar at my parents place with front yard fruit orchard, cardboard definitely keeps those weeds down.

Mike,

When I last visited the land (haven’t moved in yet, I need to build a road first!), it rained hard, but not prolonged, I noticed the water didn’t run off, it was actually a bit odd. The water seemed to pool in the top soil layers. It seemed to not penetrate more than 1/4” if I can recall correctly. The soil reminded me of kaolin, I believe it’s mostly dolomite.