Gaines County Texas-Greening my part of the Seminole Draw.

Here is a picture I took at the end of July on the hole dug for the water diversion from septic tank. And front yard Aug 2, 2017 after a rain.  Other then that this year in the front yard I tried growing alot but nothing grew, but at the same time I did the back yard and same stuff and things took off.  Come July I started working nights stepped out around 2 am one morning and realized I had 25 rabbits feeding and then knew why the front didn't take off.  So Currently working on putting a T-Post Fence around this front area.  Though first Two post took my energy.  Going through Rock is a pain.

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

I am working the best I can with the tools,  right now I started working on a t post fence to get it up to keep the rabbits out of the front area where I had planted a lot last year but rabbits decided to eat the fresh sprouts before they had a chance.  At first I was thinking it was a Locust problem, but as you see in the picture above in the area that has a fence to keep rabbits coming from the west side those planted in one month had grown pretty well.  I actually had a bunch of cantaloupe and honey dew that grew along with the sunflowers.  Even with 14 dogs the rabbits are so abundant that many still can get up to the house and feast while by dogs lay around full.  Though driving the first 4 T-Post into the ground took about an hour to pound into the ground so I have my work for me on nearly a 300 foot parameter.

Here is an video I have from October last year with and update after a rain with my new swale I finished with the existing swale from two years ago.  Nice to see how fast a place changes with a basin and swale system to hold back water.


One of my projects I am going to be working on this year is putting up a huge pile of wood and other vegetation brought in from local landscapers in the area on the west side to put up a wind block for this area to help out against our 50-80 mph winds we get.  One more year till I have my truck paid off so maybe I can work a little faster on some other projects but with work the past 6 month taking more of my time that is another thing that keeps me slow going out here.  but nice to say where I have touched things are a whole lot better then what I started with.

Looking good!  We're also seeing an almost miraculous effect from swales and basins.

Well since it hasn't rain in several weeks decided to fill my swales.  Will at it weeded an area for future basin and using the cuttings to cover the newer swale.

Ready for April to get here to be free of truck payments.  Then maybe things will really get going.

Somehow I lost track of this thread. The progress look great!!!

Mike Barkley wrote:Somehow I lost track of this thread. The progress look great!!!

    Part of that is this year I kept being put on night shifts at the jail cause people keep quitting so it seemed more work was jailer and not enough day time to work as I was sleeping most of the summer.  Just hopefully this year will be more productive as I will have more funds available to get some stuff I have in mind worked on.  Only so much one can do alone.

Hey James I found a website from TAMU which might be of use to you.
Outstanding Shrubs for Texas

This can be useful resources to plan wind breaks to conserve water.

Just found this thread, hoping you are still at it! Any updates for 2021?

James, it is great to hear from you. You have come a long way since you first started posting.  You have accomplished a lot!

I love your flowers from April 2019!

Well Last year and this year has been hectic with work as people keep quitting left and right so I been working to much.  That and last July I had a minor tear in a rotator cuff in my arm so I really didn't do much so pretty much doing a catch up on cutting weeds down from last year as some how they grew taller then my cargo container.  Other then that Things are progressing well and have a good supply of logs, wood chips and other organic material three lawn care personnel keep bring out to my place.  It sure has changed over time for sure. as you can see around the house the difference in color around the house

Well still working quit a bit but have things back under control on the growing process.  working full time and doing this alone is a big chore.  But I have gotten the dog pen and pond cleaned up and dug the trench out to where it is now knee deep.  In the two years of towering weeds found a Mulberry tree that has made a home by my home.  In which I need to dig out and relocate as it is up by the house.  Chopped down the weed forest in my septic tank area and western portion near house.  while digging out some of the muck and dug a deeper hole for the start of the dog pond inside the fence.  I do have a friend that has now moved just to the north part of this area so will be figuring out where to design a better yard for it after they finish the construction of RV pad and cover.  Not much can do on this view for it due to leech field but the more west view has plenty of space to do more.  possible figure a pipe to draw water underneath to expand the water around and then make a hundred foot or more swale to have rains help keep it all full as well.

Well Colder weather and Working to much is keeping me from doing what I really want.  But I have moved the Mulberry tree that was planted by a bird on my house the other day and started working on a drainage pond to drain water off my road quicker.

Well I have now dug close to a 50 ft length of the basin that is planned for my driveways mid point basin.  Luckily compared to the basin near my house I am able to dig deeper before hitting my caliche layer.  I also started laying out a section of limbs that will be buried by the dirt that is dug out of area.  It will take me a long time to do this with shovel and pickaxe.

Well between windy days and working I got out the other day to plant some asparagus crowns and was amazed at how well my soil after a few years of turning caliche rocky land has become in this West Texas environment.  I have gone from 1/2 inch of dirt to who knows how deep in caliche to now getting a shovel all the way to the caliche layer now in soil.  I also like that I am seeing earth worms as I was putting in the crowns.

James Everett wrote:Well between windy days and working I got out the other day to plant some asparagus crowns and was amazed at how well my soil after a few years of turning caliche rocky land has become in this West Texas environment.  I have gone from 1/2 inch of dirt to who knows how deep in caliche to now getting a shovel all the way to the caliche layer now in soil.  I also like that I am seeing earth worms as I was putting in the crowns.

I just read your entire thread start to finish. You are doing an incredible job! I’m kinda wondering have you looked for holes to divert water to like a previous poster suggested?

Gierlothnir Wodanson wrote:I just read your entire thread start to finish. You are doing an incredible job! I’m kinda wondering have you looked for holes to divert water to like a previous poster suggested?

As far as the areas I am expanding out from no I have not yet.  The area is around my house near the edge of the draw where almost all the topsoil has be eroded down in to the draw leaving the caliche hardscape that I am chipping away at and building up soil on top of.  the further away from the draw I am getting deeper soil/sands I am seeing the potential for holes to do this in.  Even down in the draw itself I see many holes that I can divert water to as well I am just about 2 years from being debt free to where I can to larger scale project then what I can do alone right now.

Now If I knew of others around the area that was interested in helping that would be good, but for now taking advantage of a few landscapers that have brought several loads of organic material over the past few years that is currently rotting up on the norther part of my land.  Most of the other land that's not in my zone one area at the moment I have been just buying 5 lb bags of seed each year to spread amongst some of the mesquite and other plants quail, dove, rabbits, and other animals have brought in over the years that are already growing.

Well so far another busy month mainly moving around picking up the stuff my dogs have drug around.  I took a short video of the area on the area I have people dropping off organic material.  Other then that seeing what has been coming back alive and getting an idea on what to do next.


just a short video showing how much stuff I need to get moving around my place that keeps piling up.

Edit: My neighbor to my west border has her 13 acres with a trailer on it and small shop up for sale.  I am not sure how much she has it up for but if some one is looking for land in Gaines Co Texas is looking for something to work with.  I will say this though most of it is in the draw and small portion is up out of the draw is where the buildings are.