Great work James. I love seeing how verdant everything appears after the desert rains & around your hand-dug ponds & swales. You really are bringing life back to your plot.
When you mentioned that you were working mostly with hand tools -as opposed to large equipment- in the desert I immediately thought back to the notes I took from Bill Mollison's 1983
Permaculture Design Course:
Observe & Interact
"
Page Ranch, University of Arizona: He (Page) brought barren, overgrazed dry prairie farm back to life. He went out during the rain events (about 5 times per year) making small V-shaped marks in the
land with a spade (shovel) directing the water down into prairie dog & gopher holes. That resulted in a tremendous germination of gathered
seed, some of which they put down in the holes. The prairie dogs had to evacuate the lower levels of their tunnels. His ranch came back into production. It was the only vegetated ranch in the area! He did hundreds of small things on foot. The farm was over a square mile or two, he used only a spade, he moved very little & he was very old. The desert is riddled with holes (eg. Scorpion holes)!
So observations may lead you to small moves which have very large effects over very large areas. I
think it is the way that
people who don't have a lot of energy [oil] manipulate the environment.
The desert's life is below ground. If you can turn the water down there too. These animals lift the hole slightly up above the flat desert surface, so all you have to do is take a spade and shave it off. Take off the surplus and the water will pour down those holes. Now you've got the water. It can't evaporate & it can't get away from the tree
roots. It can only go down there [into the hole]." -
Bill Mollison,
Permaculture Design Course, 1983