I have 120 acres of mountain land in California, a very large excavator and a medium dozer. When building roads up and down this wilderness [well, old mining properties from the 1850's gold rush] I built the road edge drainage wider than normal and built stepped tiny ponds, quite deep, as a step stone down hill. I have water in these clay pits well into summer and the wildlife is quite pleased. Not to mention that nearly each pit has a healthy pine tree growing very lush with the retained moisture. On the fill side, the downhill side, elderberries have grown with great vigor on the northern exposures. Zone 8b, elevation 2800 to 3200 feet Mediterranean climate. Berms and pits make for a much better environment. Of course with time they fill and thus another pass must be made or one reverts to the original slopes... Vernal pools of a sort and a game changer. At the base of this property I have my house with a 150 foot deep well. across the road at the high 120 acres lot, I have a 800 foot deep well. When I compare the bottom of the wells the 800 foot well is bottomed out about 60' below the 150 foot well. but the standing water level in the 800' well is about 300 feet! Hydraulic backpressure. I have a creek that flows millions of cubic feet of water in the rain season, yet no practical way to capture but a drop of it. The wells are all in hard rock and shale and produce perfect water. If you go 1000 feet upstream, the neighbors have nearly no water in their wells. Absolutely a conundrum, the issues of ground water.
Sounds like you know what you're doing and that you've got a little (or big!) slice of paradise. Thanks for reaching out. All the best to you and yours.
I wish I knew where to find the climate zones(by the numbering mentioned above) for South Africa. It will cut down a lot of harvest losses when I can know which cultivars of vegetables and fruits are best for my zone.
@@louiseswart1315if you have internet access using agricultural planting zones would probably help you. You may need to find a way to enter in your specific coordinates too though if the microclimates vary a lot.
Living from rainwater only in the Med it's advisable to also incorporate water use reduction methods such as grey water recycling and dry toilets. That's what we're doing here in NE Spain and even so we're struggling this year with lower than usual rainfall last autumn and this spring.
@@wildalentejo750 I'm sorry to hear this. If a person does not receive rain for a year or even two, then it is basically impossible (and very costly) to try and live via rainwater only. I speak about this with my students regularly. In these extreme cases I advise a well or a city connection to be used during these times (even importing water via truck, if possible). Then when the rains return try and go back to rainwater only. But there is no guarantee, as you know, and that is extremely difficult to deal with. Extremely difficult. I worked with a man in India who had a plot where it didn't rain for 3 years. It was very hard for him to take. Very frustrating. Hang in there my friend. We'll be praying for you.
Why don’t you just say Catalonia? We are not geographical challenged. Use a vermiculture system. Your system is clearly under-developed. The faster you develop humus in your soil, the faster you will create water retention and the faster you will achieve soil resilience.
My wife and I have been living off rain water for 2 years. We drink it we bath in it and water our gardens with it. Our neighbors think we're awesome/crazy for doing it. LOL we do filter the water for drinking and cooking
Awesome! We are also 100% off grid and get all of our water from rain water catchment in Hawaii. We of course get more water than your area but have had more and more droughts, which just creates even more awareness of water usage and appreciation of the rains when they come. I think it's something we can both be proud of!
Here in the Algarve (south Portugal) we are facing a serious dry... It's such a shame looking at the industrial farms with loads of avocado trees or orange trees and GOLF COURSES! They suck all the undergroud water and us small farmers are left with very few bits of water...
stop blaming other. it's not avocado trees that are a problem. avocados are very good crop and give a lot of good nutritional food! it's growing methods (industrial agriculture/monoculture etc) and abuse of ground water etc. This blame game is not helpful at all
@@annashealthylifeeverything8583 No point against the food you decide to eat! But please, the Algarve is a regions that lacks LOADS of water and 2023 is being quite a dry year. If you suck all the water that those plants need to succeed, then it will be people's water that will be in danger! Keep eating you lovely avocados but please help us have our much needed human consumption water in the first place!
Hi Vitor. It's a valid concern. The only solution I have control over is what I choose or choose not to do on our own land. The rest is decided by local government, etc, which I have no personal control over. But I do have control over how I design my land, and that's what this video is about. All the best to you and yours...
Love ya John, thanks as always for years of commitment and content. We only use rain water at home and at the farm site, you are right we have recharged under ground aquafirs and now have natural springs. Permaculture for the win
We owe it to ourselves to have a garden and figure out the water issue, because there is a HUGE water issue in much of the world. Especially here in Baja Mexico where I live. Capturing rain water is a very good way to do it, so always looking at videos like this to learn how. The one thing I would add to this is reuse your water. Set up two septic tanks, one for the toilets' and one for the shower, and cink water to reuse on the gardens. Then you get to use the same rain water twice. At my home we tried to do this, however on a small scale and not much success. But our garden is small also. I am now looking at buying a ranchito and doing it right this time. In my opinion it is better to over do it (as cost are not that big) than to leave it short.
So Glad you made this Video to share your Wisdom with the World!! Thank you! Keep doing more Videos cuz the World Really needs to hear what you have to say! In Hawaii you are called "Kupuna" or Elder who shares their Wisdom to the Younger generation! We appreciate you!
Hello, John! It is so good to see you again. I have missed your videos. Each one is a gem and well worth the time it takes to watch. You've inspired me again. I'm still here in the central, gulf coast of Florida where the climate is described as humid, but the reality is that we have quite a long dry season from fall through the end of spring. Following your sound teaching, we have been working for years now to turn our sandy, sugar-sand soil into fertile soil, and the methods you teach have been working well. I made a poster based on your video to remind and inspire us about what we are doing. We (mostly my son) have spread countless truckloads of mulch across our property, and planted cover crops, etc. Now, this reminds me that even though we have a reliable well, we really should be harvesting what rainwater we do get. I have been concerned about the salination of the soil from the well water. Back to the drawing board.
Thank you for your message Kimberly. Florida is sub-tropical and at much less risk of soil salinity. The organic material that is being added greatly reduces this risk as well. So no worries. It sounds like you're on the right track. But just remember, trees eat trees and plants eat plants. If you want to grow trees, be sure to add lots of woody material as well. All the best...
Your food forest there looks amazing in such a short span of time. We have quite similar climate here in Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa. We are also harvesting rain water for our backyard garden, and are gleaning knowledge everywhere to curb our water usage while growing as much as possible of our food ourselves. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.
Your videos make us happy dear John. Can’t wait for a new tour on your property 😊. Kind regards, Yiannis from Aegina island, Greece (the pistachio island)
Hi John. Hope all is going well for you and your family. We have been hearing about the high heat over there and trust you’re coping well with all the effort you have put into your place. Kind regards Urban. Queensland Australia
Thanks for your comment. Yes. Sometimes it takes me months to add another video. That's just my rhythm. But I hope you enjoyed this one. All the best...
Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Rainwater catchment is the way to go if we want to preserve and increase the water in the ground. Where our farm is located, it is not allowed to drill a bore hole more than 28 meter deep. It is even illegal to have bore equipment that goes deeper than the limit set by law. I will finally go back to visit our farm in Thailand this Autumn after 3,5 years. My plan is to start to make swales in and around the food forest we have planted, and to plant more trees. But first I have to see what state the trees are in and replace the dead ones, and take it from there. I also want to plant Lime and Orange trees in between the old Pomelo trees. But in order to do that the water supply has to be up and running. So the swales and pond need to be working together to be able to feed those trees on a regular basis.
Always great to hear from you Svein. I'm happy to hear that things are still alive and well on your plot in Thailand. One step at a time, right?.... All the best my friend.
You are not water wise. All citrus fruits use vasts amounts of water. This water you do not have. A countryman of yours already has coconut palms growing in between swales. In the swales he grows aquatic species which he sells domestic ally. He went to Vietnam and realized that Thailand is missing out on a very lucrative crop which is vanilla. He will go back to Thailand and grow vanilla underneath his coconut palms. I suggested to him that he could also grow pineapples since they could be harvested every day in Thailand. That means there will be money in your pocket every day.
juggernaut you have been a huge inspiration to me. I live in southern California very similar climate as Sicily near me. Water is crucial here, i have been collecting rain water this year next year i will be water self sufficient. I appreciate 🙏 you
Thank you for your kind comment. It sounds like you're making great progress. It's definitely a journey worth taking. All the best to you and yours... John
Great stuff as always John. really neat tweaks to the core concepts that you've adapted to your site. So great to see the progression year over year at your property too!
Great video. I've been thinking of doing this in the Sierra mountain foothills where the climate is basically the same there. This really makes me believe I could do it.
It s a great pleasure to see you again! keep up the amazing work you are doing there and I really hope the bureaucratic system in Italy does not get the best of you. Thank you for your wisdom. Looking forward to the next video.
I really appreciate you taking the time to speak on where these techniques came from and how they were shared through migration and sharing amongst peoples. Many times permaculture practicing folks leave these parts out, but understanding of these roots helps provide a deeper understanding different methods and lineages of practice that often just get thrown under an umbrella of “permaculture.” Looking more into the Arab and North African rain harvesting techniques such as the Gebbia you mentioned helped expand and deepen an understanding based on your awesome examples demonstrated and explained here, and showed connections between cultures I hadn’t previously heard of! Also the cherry on top for me was placing the rainfall amounts in comparison to other well known natural farmers and demonstrating how you are adjusting to your specific corner of the world. 🎉
Oh My!!!!! So glad I found your channel. I am in the Campania region and will be moving onto my homestead in the next month or so. I have always said that we need to get back to the basics; rainwater harvesting and get back to nature. This is right in line with what I plan to do and thanks for identifying and verifying the agriculture zone....wasn't quite sure if I had it correct. Peace and blessings
Thank you John 😀. As always your videos are inspiring to many of us who aspire to follow your lead into more and more permaculture effort on our land ❤😀❤️😀
Dang YT algorithms, just stumbled across this one.... Glad to see you making another video, and your farm is coming along great. It looks awesome!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!
Hello John, just wanna say, do be proud of what you did. And though you don't know me, nor do I you, I'M PROUD OF YOU! I'm starting my own FoodForest adventure right now in the Tropics (about 6 acres) and my family kept asking me about installing city water or underground water pump but I decided not to, for the reasons you mentioned. Watching your video helped boost my confident with that decision. If you can do that in the Mediterranean, there's no reason we can't do that in the Tropics! Thank you! 😊
That was a very kind comment you just left me. Thank you very much. To span our 4-5 months of Summer dry here in Sicily I have calculated that each sapling (baby tree) requires 300 liters of water. Now that figure should be much less where you are, but hopefully this gives you a ballpark estimate to start from. And as Bill Mollison always suggested, start small, stabilize the system and get success, then expand... All the best to you and yours. It sounds like you are all setting out for a great and rewarding adventure!
I started following you few years ago, everyone of your video is a pleasure, an inspiration and a source of informations. Congrats on your work and on your Italian.
Grazie John, i returned home (Puglia) from France after 30 years and I share your passion and your convictions. I start a new adventure on a magnificent sloping terrain, similar to yours and immersed in nature. Your videos will be very useful as well as very pleasant to watch. Thanks for share.
Not mentioning that back a few decades after ww2 most of the fresh vegetables were grown in gardens, it's something possible to do, I've seen in America how wasteful lawns are, some madmen raising them in the desert. It is possible to reduce the dependence in the industrial farming but it also requires a lot of change in how people see working the land.
Nice video. Thank you very much. I saw your trees and your land when you just bought it. It is huge surprise now! With no city water! You are hero! Great. Greetings from Czech Republic....
Thank you for sharing your sicilian venture. It looks just great. Congratulations. A hug from Montijo, Portugal. You are invited to meet our little community urban farm managed according to permacultural principles.
Great video, great teacher and a wonderful holding. Also inspiring to see so many in the comments with similar projects underway. After struggling with unreliable shallow wells here in Serbia, and seeing the 'race to the bottom' with deeper and deeper wells I decided to build a cistern and collect rainwater which is still plentiful here but increasingly unreliable in the summer. We run our house off it and will soon be filtering all the grey water we produce as well. There's still work to do to make the water potable, but with a composting toilet it's enough for a frugal family.
Thank you for 'being' John. We need the info that you gave and your video was short, to the point and easy to understand. Now I will subscribe - because your ideas are the same as ours.
This is brilliant. I am so excited to be diving into this hobby eventually. Im thinking years ahead, to be honest, but its something I know I wanna transition to in time. But you just need to know that it has to be you, since no one else is going to provide these niche perspectives and drive this blossoming concept. I truly think that the growing desire to leave the big city and the rat race to live a simpler, and more sustainable life like this is a trend that is here to stay. But you need to keep up the support so that people who are on the fence about it can be welcomed into it, and that its doable and practical in a quality of life POV.
I believe "rainwater only" is the standard that permaculturists should strive towards. I live in Texas, and I can grow a pretty mean spring garden, but once that summer heat starts in may, my hubris becomes clear. Anything that isnt native dies. Now I could use an inordinate amount of groundwater to keep some of those plants alive, or I can accept that they were never meant to grow there in the first place. I think that by embracing rainwater only, we become better permaculturists.
Hi from Australia. Your channel popped up and I am now looking forward to working back through your videos. Where I am we have approx 520 mm annual rainfall, often dry from Nov - April, so I am interested in ways of improving water management. Such an important resource. I feel for all the folks out there who are getting less rain than they are used to. It seems that some places have been really baking this summer. We are all going to have to adapt.
I live in Tennessee USA, we get very heavy rains here. I have installed perforated pipes leading from our roof downspouts, out into my garden and one into a fishpond. I have three 100 gallon rainbarrels and hope to install a larger water catchment system in the future. One issue I deal with is tree pollen; it makes the water fetid in Springtime. Thanks for the video! India is making strides towards water retention, very good to see.
Thank you. You have inspired me to utilize my rain collection system better. Also to add to it so as to harvest more water from the roof. I can upcycle a few more 55 gal barrels to store rain. My food forest only needs young tree irrigation during the severe heat waves. But the organic garden, though heavily mulched, still relies on village well water. In fact, we're facing at least 8 days ahead of 100 degree sun days and hot nights. Yikes.
You set out to use rainwater only, and accomplished your goal. Well done. We live in Great Lakes region of US, and although it is "temperate" by definition, in our little part of the region, most summers in the last few years have been extremely dry. This year has been different, for which we are grateful: we have been receiving good "farmer's rain" a couple times a week this summer thus far. That being said, we are still looking for a way to capture the rains we do get. We have a series of catchment swales, a rain garden, we do have a frog pond, and very much want to harvest the water from the roofs of our structures. Large, clean containers are difficult to source in our area, and if you can find a clean one, it's very, very expensive. But we persevere. Best wishes to you for continued success.
Doing the exact same here in a semi arid Puerto Rico. After being denied local community water hookup (due to diminishing groundwater) when we arrived we designed in rainwater catchment in the landscape. We don't have a pump but we use sheet metal on the ground to funnel into a gutter and into a cistern uphill from us. Been a lot of trial and error and we're testing various species and trying to get them drought adapted. Time will tell how things go as we continue, but we've already had plenty of water at times when the community water runs dry, so it comes in handy.
Dude that is amazing what you are doing by informing, educating and letting people know what there’s a better way to live in harmony with our environment don’t stop keep up the good fight and peace be with you!
Hi John , I only use rainwater for irrigating my gardens too , although it is harvested from my roof top into tanks......the mains water in the tap is so full of chemicals and rubbish that I wont use it and you can really see the difference between the two by the growth of the plants and trees. Keep up the great work.
Rain water is magic water! Yes. The difference is not subtle. Our village water contains no chemicals. It's cold and clean out of our two wells. We're very fortunate in that respect.
NEVER apologise for feeling proud. However many mistaken pride for arrogance which is defensive and belittling. Pride is healthy and a sign of good self-esteem. Great job on your water systems. 😃
