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Jeff Rash wrote:Before being uprooted from the deserts of Arizona, I had finished my first proof of concept desert corn growing project.
I submitted it to the Arizona Grain Council, a farming group dedicated to (obviously) growing grains in Arizona. There was some real interests, but before I could really move on it I lost my job and only found it in North Dakota.
Be that as it may, I developed an entire corn growing method that traps natural water sources and locks them into the soil for use by corn plants later. I wrote the whole thing up in proposal explaining the method, the science and the simplicity of the system.
In short, it uses methods adapted from how the Indians of the Southwest grew corn. It all started when a local Permie told me it was impossible to grow corn in the desert. Well that chaffed me a bit, because the Indians that lived there did it, with zero automation and without breaking their backs.
Started looking into the ancient methods and suddenly realized what they were doing was tapping into the very nature of Western soils! Well that led me to a man perceived as a crazy Mormon Professor, from the late 1800’s, who said farming in the West would one day be common. A forgotten genius, I discovered his theories were right!
So if anybody wants a copy of my research, I am happy to share! The method works with any vegetable and was all based around my Troy Bilt tiller. I was in process of developing a no till method when “disaster” struck in the form of economic chaos. Regardless, this is a simple to implement method that uses the tendencies of the desert- rather than working against them.
Just let me know if you are interested and I will send a copy of the proposal. It is written in Word DOC format. I look forward to seeing the area green up and lowering the temperature of our brutal southwestern deserts for more comfort, less energy use!
Sincerely,
YLE
Hi there. I have just registered with you because I was researching growing corn in dry / desert environments. Is you research still available ? I would love a copy. I want to try American Indian Techniques in Australia. Cheers Robin