Chance Lunceford

Nancy Reading wrote:Do you think you would buy a big tract and then subdivide? I imagine that doing all the earthworks at once would be most efficient.

Who would you be selling to? I mean, homesteader, someone who just wants a nice place to live, someone who wants a camping spot? I suspect in most cases water sources would still be required for drinking/washing.

My answer to these questions is the standard, often maddening, permaculture answer to almost any question:

It depends.

But, a particular opportunity I have observed lies in creating, say, 1-10 acre sites with a cabin. The structure is a big value-add and if there's locally sourced materials and/or sweat equity, then that becomes a more attractive feature. The addition of the beautifying landscape features adds progressively more value.

A possible intermediate step, or even permanent step, would be running these sites as rentals while developing the landscape. A potential buyer might be attracted to a property that offers cash flow.

I've had a good number of years now (20 or so) learning and practicing desert abundance principles and practices.

I'm good at it, understand the rules, and I can bring the green in just a few short years, especially with earthworks.

I've been planning, for a good number of years, on purchasing some extremely cheap Desert land ($500 an acre cheap), applying my knowledge to design a water and fertility harvesting landscape, getting the system established far enough that it will persist and sustain itself for the foreseeable future, and then selling that land at a substantial profit.

Rinse, repeat.

Ultimately, I'd like to make a career of this practice. There's plenty of desert in Utah, and my pioneer forefathers bestowed a legacy of greening the desert upon me, and it would be glorious to demonstrate to my children that you can build a life centered in the Garden.

Any thoughts from anyone about how I might go about making this a reality while trying to make a smooth transition from corporate job to total Garden Everything ™️ instantiation?

This will be good reading across the winter.

Just came here to let you know that I took some feedback to the creator and he was happy for the feedback and made some changes.

I'd encourage you to reach out via the Contact tab on the site and let him know what you like and what you'd like to see added or clarified.

He wants to the resource to be as valuable as possible.

He's released a few new updates, as of today, dealing with hardiness zones and related data.

Go take a look.

I had an old bag of dry culinary pinto beans, maybe 20 lbs worth, and I took 'em outside and chucked 'em all over my yarden.

That was midway through laying down my wood chips.

The areas with beans underneath the wood chips have tons of beans growing after a single watering event.

It took three days of rain for the beans to germinate on top of the wood chips or on bare soil.

I took a couple photos, and I have areas growing even more densely than these.

Got me thinking about how bulk culinary beans might make some of the most affordable cover crops.

Here's a close-up of a pumpkin flower.

What do you notice?

AHS book is out for delivery today.

I'll post a picture later.

John Weiland wrote:

Nancy Reading wrote:The link to the 'nursery' (presumably the originator) seems to be in Southern Manitoba, so Canada I believe.

Yes, quite likely from the Morden Research Centre which is SW from Winnipeg.  This is an Agrifood Canada (Federal research entity) station and coupled with trials in Saskatoon and Lethbridge give good data for hardiness from the Canadian Rockies back through Ontario.  Several tree varieties out of southern Manitoba are sold at nurseries in North Dakota and northern Minnesota in the US as these come with strong genetics for productivity in our soil types and tolerance to cold winters.

The Creator runs a small nursery.

Montana Fruit Trees carries a number of the varieties mentioned on the website.

Manitoba, correct.

The creator is in Zone 3.