Bruno Pilot

In brazil people are having sucess including it in Milpa(tree sisters, corn, beans and squash). I would combine it with a climbing bean and a ground cover crop (nasturtium, squash, sweet potato,etc). Look for what season and climate and what can grow.

Here are some better pictures. So far um working on making equipment for composting and swales, not so much free time to work on this, but next weeks I'll have some more time and more free willing hands to help me on it. I'm still looking into design ideas, also for ways to remove debris (a lot of it, buried mostly and mixed with soil). Since I can't build on site, I think I'll make a structure with tarps and curved steel pipes to make a rain capture area large enough to fill one or two 350 gallons water tanks (I work in a metalworking and welding facory, so spare scrap metal tube is free to be reporposed). My front living fence will be malvaviscus arboreus(fast growth, edible flowers year round, privacy wall, atracts humming birds, and back living fence(inside my wall) will be Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia, nitrogen fixer, fast growth, good timber, spikes to discourage tresspassers flowering atracts and feeds bees. I'm planning to plant some bananas in the lower areas where water flows strong when it rains so I can use it.

I've come to a few decisions. I'm using Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia as a living fence, it has spikes for discouraging trespassers, grows fast(2-6feet/year), deciduous, is a nitrogen fixer, excellent wood after 4-8 years and can serve as a trellis for edible luffa, passionfruit and other cultivars. Also flowers and atracts bees. I'll build swales with an A-frame, since is not a large land. Not sure about 1 berm raised bed or 2 per swale.

I'm pretty familiar with Loquats, I love them! But they are able to grow fast ? How long would take for them to get 4-5 meters(12-161ft) tall ? I need a fast growing windbreak because I need it at least that height to block wind just on the lower portion of the land. The higher portion I'm guessing a row of moringa trees could do the trick. I also could but 5-7ft plants to gain some time, but that would be kinda costly.

First, unfortunably, the land is not my own, and I can't build a house for me on it. So zoning would be closer to the gate of the property. And greywater use isn't viable. I think chickens are not also viable because of the noise and limited space(urban area and no room for insulated chicken houses), although I think I could raise Quails, since they dont need a lot of room and don't make noise. About the eucalyptus, I could use any other tree that grows tall fast, act as a good wind barrier, has a non-invasive root system (got walls on back and sides of the property), so I am open to suggestions on that topic.

On mulch, my area already has grass rotting in the ground from the last 10 years, It has been cut and dropped many times over. I think about 2 to 4 inches of dry grass clippings before natural compost. I can make use of this, and i'm still acumulating, since now in the summer in 30-40 days the grass grows 5 feet or more. I was planning to use cardboard on planting area, mulch with grass clippings and/or leaves on the raised bed berms, and cardboard and wood chips on pathways. The idea here was to feed me and my family, and also sell surplus, mainly herbs, annuals, greens. I also would life to grow some carbohydrate rich food, since most organic of that kind I buy comes from afar and not my CSA. I'm thinking cassava, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkin and squash.

Some farmers in brazil already use eucalyptus as part of food forests with no problems, I'll look into it for choosing the right variety. Bamboo would be troblesome because it could fall over the back wall.

I could, but I need a very tall and fast growing windbreak, leucena grows slow compared to eucalyptus, and would drop troublesome seeds on my plating area, resulting in more labor. I think I'll plant a row of moringa trees for windbreak more uphill too, for compensation. And plant beans for nitrogen fixing. I am chopping all leucaena I got and dropping it for now, not doing so would be a waste.

I've managed to get a land to farm inside the city, in a my hometown 40km from Sao Paulo. It's a Sloping terrain, almost 1/4 Acre. I've been removing debris and some elephant grass rootstocks for now, accepting any suggestions about how to design the best for this? I'm thinking working some microswales and berms on contour, planting about 12-15 eucalyptus trees for windbreak/wood/trellis for vines on the back. The front I don't have a picture yet but its fenced and i'll plant malvaviscus behing the fence. The soil is good on the fish 1 or 2 inches, the turns to a red clay soil beyond that. Subtropical climate, under heat island effect from the city. I don't have much money to invest, since I needed a fence, a gate and to fix the back wall, which cost me a bit. I have elephant grass, brachiaria, Leucaena and some creeping vine I could not identify, which spreads kind of fast, so I also need ideas on weed control. I do not have a gutter to capture rainwater. What I have is little knowledge, a few friends laying a hand, and a lot of courage. I got full sun in the summer, very good sun in the winter, mild winds going uphill.