I love that you immediately said the name of the technique. No holding back information to force people to watch further into the video to get information, just frontloading the subject.
@@GrowTreeOrganics Yeah, one of the best techniques for RU-vid is to pull a cold open that answers the major question posed by the title and/or thumbnail succinctly, and then you do a regular quick "hello/welcome" kind of intro followed by the content. Giving the answer up front shows you're not gonna be annoying about it, but since it's so succinct it warrants more information. The rest of the video is that more information, so the viewer is actually looking forward to sticking around rather than just trying to see if they even care enough to do so. I haven't gotten it all mastered yet, but you seem to be doing it great whether you knew about this and meant to or not. Great video otherwise too, by the way. This is something I've always wanted to do (reversing desertification).
Yes to be honest with you I believe that these are people that are just not putting in the work ethic they just truly don’t understand why we’re doing this they don’t do this on a daily basis they haven’t made this part of their life whenever somebody is really happy and giddy and continues to talk about some thing in a good manner where they’re not running on Where they’re teaching not preaching I love it I love the energy I love the reinforcement of telling you how to do it because we are people we do make mistakes again we are just human and we need to realize we are all a community of people realistically that are trying to learn yes a lot of us aren’t really learning however the ones that are we need to be community driven we need to show people that we are a community worth fighting with not fighting within!
Wonderful information. Thank You. We're on 40 acres in Australia, In an off grid Shed House. Building a lot of Hugel beds to grow food trees, on gravelly steep land. Working a treat. Blessings to You and All Humanity as we Re member ourselves and how to live.
This method was used by desert people all through central Mexico and the U.S. West. I was taught this by an indigenous Mexican elder, who said his people were taught this in Pre-Columbus days to help farm near a water source. Besides catching water, no water goes to waste if you must water. He had a large garden, easily cared for.
@@chakagomez8129 when I use them, they are smaller, the big Zuni bowl is to catch water. Make the basin about 3 feet across, you'll need to water more, but it plants easier. Enrich the soil in the center , fertilise, mixing well and deep. You want a 6 inch deep basin, not a deep hole. You can use tiles, rocks, even plastic mulch on the sides. Once the plants sprout, start mulching. You'll have no water waste, and even soil temperatures. That matters on hot days. These do 3 sisters planting well and in a high desert, ( like here) , assist many other plants to survive. I still use these basins, the method is probably 1000's of years old. Natives know things.
This is my first seeing this, and my first thought was of the "bathtubs" done on Dustups. Over the last 20 years, Ive watched and followed a lot of different "greening" and regenerative ideas. Its really amazing how "ancient" methods are proven to be great at saving our soils and plant diversity.
The dustups guy is just doig it for money. He doesnt want to actually finish anything or do anything logically or correctly, just draw things out to create content. His intent is not pure.
@@TransNeingerian If he manages to get more people into the idea that a desert isn't just dead, and is helping grow the diversity and wildlife in the desert... Impure intentions do not matter. Just in the same vain that many millionaires donate to make themselves seem better, it still is them donating massive amounts of money and creating jobs and change. Is it enough? No. But impure intentions can create massive and real change.
@@TransNeingerian Have you seen any of his videos? Doesn't sound like it, he seems genuinely elated every time a plant does well, it's not his fault the dessert's going slow, his region had an 'extreme drought' this year.
greeting from saudi arabia i pefer the practical 3 methods u can find them in youtube 1-zai pits 2-demi lunes 3- rock dams easy to do with little compost to grow some vegetation good luc
@@breezywilson760 it is digging a hole in the ground and put little compost and plant either trees or crops (almost similar to what u did) both techniques is famous in africa you can find them in youtube type plant or grow by zai pits or demi lunes
This was clever. I watch channels like Nomad Architecture too. You are showing how resourceful and clever "primitive" people can be. Looking forward to seeing more.
Neat, I just learned a new one. These at ~10 feet deep are the Ancient Greek "filled dry well" irrigation / planting technique I was trying to describe in my rant on your last video!! If you're not opposed to heavy equipment, you might look into the big augers they use to dig the holes for big foundation pilings - I know they exist, I know they get rented, and I know the rocks they throw can tear up a concrete form bad enough you have to start over. This video's "ancient" idea: The Aztec used to dig miniature "reseviors" about the size of your plastic covered "ponds", bring it back up to just below surface level with rocks the size you used in for your Zuni Bowls, and then cover that with a mound of soil & manure that they'd plant crops on. (It is at it's core just a variation on the "plant on top of an artificial water-trap" theme, they just happened to start with knee deep "family planting" sized water traps roughly the size of your plastic covered "pools".) P.S. You're making awesome headway - doing these projects at scale took thousands of seasonal conscript laborers decades. P.P.S. Still loving the project, and the way different parts of it are dredging up bits of "useless information" from my memory and replacing text-book line drawings with actual physical examples - I can't wait to see which sketches you "make real" next!!
I'm out here in tonopah and now have 120 1 year old mesquite that will provide wind break and fodder. They were free with 2 chip drops, my soil has improved drastically, I see all kinds of unique wildlife.
We recently took a trip to central north Texas. We asked a man about all the little trees, or large bushes depending on point of view, that were growing all over. He said if we did not know what mesquite was he was jealous. They try to get rid of them. I say use the making lemonade approach. You know what I mean. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!
Daaaaw. With the mini grass part forming two humps at the top, you could have made it heart shaped! Just a little extra pointy at the bottom. ❤ Thanks for sharing this.
It-s been a long time since i`ve learned this much from a permaculture homestead! Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge here with us, lots of love from Switzerland
Gabion walls, a walipini green house, rammed earth, and Zuni techniques... this guy is living in my own personal heaven. He should make a zuni waffle garden next
This is my first video watching. Instant subscribe. I live in a condo in Dallas, but I like to think that these videos will help me with my environmental goals.
Man, I'm really enjoying (and learning from!) your channel! I absolutely love the water works you're doing. I'm guessing one of your favorite activities is walking your property during rainfall to see what is working and what needs to be done. Peace!
That's awesome, thanks for supporting the channel too! You would be correct, highly enjoy running around watching everything! I have to run around because everyone soaks into the soil so fast after the rain tones down!😅✌🏾
@@GrowTreeOrganicsHere in Lancaster PA I use rain gardens to capture rain so it doesn’t leave our tiny, less than a quarter acre lot. I also walk around in the rain to see how the 7 collection points are working. As a small boy I loved directing water during rains. Now it’s super practical for keeping our fruit trees and native plants for attracting birds thriving, even during a dry summer as we just experienced. In our unique location, we have the advantage of collecting from our neighbor’s large driveway runoff and also water running down our side of the street can be diverted into a street-side rain garden. It’s all about being a good steward of the blessing of rain God had given us. Enjoyed your video! Thx!
Where is your backhoe Brandon. Much easier method of digging zuni bowls 😊 That is tough hand digging my friend. That is why my vote was for rock berms/leaky weirs. They are quick and easy to build and you have all the rock you could possible want readily available for the cost of loading it onto your trailer. Zuni bowls sound and look cool - but they are way too much work for the benefit. and you can't shovel out the sediment that is sure to collect. Just dig a hole and line the top edge with rock if you really want small pools. At least you can shovel the sediment out of a simple dug pool. 👍
Some spots are so sandy, it really doesn't take too much time and when the rocks are right there... but the backhoe is on back hold...😅 until further notice, so it'll be hand digging for now, but don't be too depressed you said exactly what I've got in the works next, you just said it before I did!😅 besides... we want to make the landscape have a bit of a natural ascetic "coolness" im in no rush! Definitely appreciate your input though and for stopping by!✌🏾
Love what you have done with this method. I wish we could do what the older gens did before us and learn more about dowsing rods used for finding water as well as minerals and gas on our prop. In fact all the mining company's use them and I'm not just talking about equipment to find this they use the educated ppl that pass this down. It's a true blue method and would help so many like you for watering your land animals and so on...
Thank you, actually I do water dowsing, so I have walked the property looking for different water features you could say. But totally understand what you're saying!✌🏾
@@GrowTreeOrganics more than welcome, you literally just helped my next plans here in southwest Iowa to capture and filter the farm toxins before they enter the streams and rivers, we have a mile high wood ash pile in my town and I tend to put that filtering substrate to use
I enjoyed watching you build that bowl. Zeedyk videos are so inspiring, excellent citation. 👏 Love the function stack of getting materials + mini earthworks. Blessings!
Well, for a start, you are a natural at presenting these projects to camera :) Explaining what is going on and what the aim is is very important. That's because, despite all the heavy work that goes into making them, the earthworks and landscape structures are not all that evident when filmed and our small 'view' of it is too constrained to understand how it all interlinks.
Great video, it seems like the last week when I worked with nature she’s worked with me and started working on water harvesting structures and then the rains came and we have been in a serious drought. We have tons of rocks and I’ve been looking for more uses for them for water harvesting structures we have several ideas but you are utilizing rocks much better than most people are and it’s obvious you’re having great success thank you for pointing out these different ideas concepts and areas. I subscribed to continue to learn and support!
I assume hay is scarce in your area but any dead vegetation you could gather and lay on top of the bare soil that is gathering water would help retain the captured water in the soil. This would assist the latent seeds to germinate and grow vegetation native to your region.
We'll be getting more hay and straw actually, but I did a previous video showing how I'm laying straw, compost and cover crop seed in our bare areas!✌🏾
I appreciate you sharing your ideas and plans. It helps people make plans for their own properties. Your efforts will result in a lush and verdant oasis that will not only benefit you, but wildlife. This is what God meant when He gave mankind dominion over the earth. To love and care for His creation, just like you're doing. Great video. Thank you for sharing!
I like what you have accomplished so far with your water structures. I suggest that you also think of sunlight as a resource. Grass likes full sun. All of your trees are limiting the amount of sun hitting the ground. Prune them as high as you can reach and be amazed at the bounty of life that comes.
Put as much mulch down everywhere you can. It will help the soil retain more moisture and prevent evaporation. With the sun beating down, I think it'd do wonders!
Wow, you're such a hard worker! Keep up the good work wishing you all the best all the way from South Africa, may the Lord bless the work of your hands and make you fruitful in everything you do❤😂
Bill zeedyk sounds as if he has dome Dutch heritage. With such a name you have to do something with water. Not so long ago I was reading a little about the Dutch heritage in relation to water. And I learned that the first existing earthworks that they have found so far and dated, go back to 2000 years ago, and those were similar small earthworks as I see in the many videos that I watch today. In this case it were rammed earth walls backed by wooden stakes and such, because we do not have any rocks here in the Netherlands. Anyway, thanks for sharing 👍
Many cultures were doing earthworks, and designing these water holding techniques. Every place and culture was different according to their location, their own ideas, and materials available!✌🏾
@@jasoncorlee5579 Oh absolutely not. It was just something that I recently learned after I did some research about how the early people who lived in this part of the world dealt with the water. The most early really big water works in the Netherlands were done by the Romans, so that were not the early Dutch people who can take credit for that. The Romans even changed the course from the oldest continuous flowing river in the world, the river Maas, just so that it was easier to use for shipping. The Finke river in Australia is the oldest river in the world, but it is not continuously flowing. Many many cultures and civilizations across time have worked with and against the water in various ways. It is more that it was a personal discovery for me to learn that bit of information about the history from this country, the Netherlands. We have a very close relation and long history with water, earthworks, and turning sea into fertile and productieve land. But I was never aware when that exactly started, so I did a little research about the history from my own country. Just to give you an idea. The Netherlands is about 180 miles long and about 173 miles wide at the longest and widest point. But we have 13670 miles of dikes to protect the land and the people against the water. And 18% of the totals surface area is water. The entire country has a complicated system with pumps and canals and swales to keep the ground water level always at a certain range. So that we can keep our feet dry. Because of our water management and also because we have one of the largest ports in Europe the Netherlands has become the second largest agriculture trading country in the world after the US. That is in terms of total value. The total value in 2023 was somewhere around 124 billion dollar. And around 80 billion was produced domestically, with a huge amount of surplus of food and flowers and other products that is being sold globally. And the other 40 billion or so was from international trade, since we are also an international trade hub for the European continent due to our harbor and infrastructure. Personally I like gardening and greening the desert projects of all sorts. And to learn more about it from all cultures and people. I admire all the people who who have the courage to do it, and who like to share their knowledge and experience. And to me it is a joy to watch the videos. But it was a good question. And I was happy to answer it. It is good to fight against racism of any kind. And I also think that it is good to create awareness for different cultures.
I donated to help you guys along. Much luck. Why not do many shallow on-contour swales with the backhoe? It would go pretty quickly and cover a lot of ground and you would have to do less spot treatment of particular areas. Plus also things aren't soaking because the ground compaction needs to be broken up. Maybe consider a way to perforate the soil.
I'd like to make a suggestion regarding your Zuni pits. I noticed that there are plenty of dead branches in your trees, along with other grasses and materials that you could use to shade the pits to reduce evaporation. A bit of shade would make your Zuni pits a wonderful place to plant seeds, and it would provide shelter for the critters, which would in return add fertilizer to your soil. It appears to me that you have a lot of plant material to utilize. I sure admire what you are doing!
@@GrowTreeOrganics I watch for your videos because I am so in love with what you are doing. The ancient peoples had beavers to do your work, and roughly ten percent of North America was covered with wetlands. When the beavers were gone, the ancient people harvested water as you are doing. Somewhere along the way humans developed technologies that changed our way of life, and the old ways were lost. It will be folks like you that bring that knowledge back to humanity.
Thank you. I appreciate your detailed explanations. Subscribed. I'm about to embark on a "food forest in the Karoo" (South Africa) project. The plan is to use earthworks like swales, half-moons & zai pits to slow, spread and sink water. And thanks to you, I can add Zuni bowls to the arsenal 🙂 These structures should help with soil hydration. For fertility I intend to implement the "Chicken Tractor on Steroids" (one of Geoff Lawton's videos). I'm a developing a succession plan starting with hardy nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs to eventually end up with a productive forest. Thanks for the tips and tricks! Sharing information and learnings make us all better. Much appreciated. 🙏
Daevor, my father in law farmed in the Ciskei till his death in the 1960s. He was looking into making mini-dams in the dongas by packing them with silt & rock in the dry season. He hoped they would catch & hold some water for the stock.
Your technique reminds me of two methods I once saw in documentaries about desert renaturalization. The first was that spirals were laid with stones to hold water and the other was made up of semicircles arranged like cascades with a similar depth to your bowels. Maybe it will help you. all the best on your journey
You should look up Brad Lancaster. A good fellow that knows what he is doing. Even though I do not have any use for it I have his two books on dryland water harvesting. A facinating read and exactly what you would need.
Yep I've definitely investigated most of his work and any work he was included in! Appreciate that! Brad has definitely put some good information out there!✌🏾
Interesting notion - Zeedyk's last name actually translates to sea earthworks(zee dijk), so it's interesting to see that same theme come up in a different context. Such awesome initiative, results are clear to see!
Yea very interesting! Zeedyk doesn't get the most credit on his ideas and work compared to people like Geoff Lawton and others. But thank you the proof is in the pudding!✌🏾
This reminds me of some of the techniques taught by Andrew Millson & his permaculture projects from Oregon State's online lesson plan. Also check out the Indian greening & food forest projects & the Al Baydha water project.
@@a_fellow_homesteader if only you had a skid steer, you could do way more per day. You could do a years worth of work in a day. Even an old Ford jubilee tractor with a back blade can do furrows or pits
@@RandomsFandom we have limited access to some big toys to dig and such. But we prefer the slow build up for most things. So we can experience how things are functioning and make more permanent tweaks. We are in no hurry, this is a lifelong project.
Bill Zeedyk! His name literally means 'sea dike' in Dutch, and here he is holding back water in Arizona. Nominative determinism strikes again. :) Keep up the videos.
I like your building ideas. I live in Arizona also and have been wanting to move up north and enjoy the cooler weather. I am currently down in the mount graham area. I try and go up north as often as possible for fishing and enjoying the quiet.
@@GrowTreeOrganics If you want to retain more ground water get rid of as many evergreens as you can they use a lot of ground water and plant other native trees that don't use as much water. Other white mountain native trees include maple beech birch, aspen-birch cover type trees, Gamble Oak, Rocky mountain white oak, or Utah white oak. Hope everything goes well for you all.
Thanks for sharing the valued insight bruv appreciate the effort you're putting in for us. Our 1st zuni together lets see how long it takes to catch up with the rest!
If you have plenty of rocks, stack a large pile on the bowl. The rocks on the centre will never be heated by the sun, so they stay cool. Any time there is moisture in the air some will condense on the cool rocks and drip down into the bowl.
Woww. You have heavy equipment.. A series of level berms.. Can keep nearly all of the rainwater on your land.. That changes the whole ecosystem quickly. Am happy for you.🐳⚡❤😊🍻
@@GrowTreeOrganics I probably remember it inaccurately.. But, in or bordering Saguaro Nat'l Monument, west of Tucson.. There is an area (a few acres or less), where berms/ swale was installed. Memory fails me. 50 or a hundred years ago.? Anyhow, the native Palo Verde and mesquite trees are really big.. Tall grassy meadow inside.. Tons of wildlife use that spot, just from the pooling of monsoon rains. The surrounding area is rather barren. Some creosote and Saguaros. Nature loves your efforts!
"What's growing on everyone?" is also the opening at: "Green Dreams" in Florida, USA. It's a global salutation for nature loving plant nurturers. Brandon: Why did you use a shovel when you have a "front loader"? Mark all Zuni-spots after careful inspection, then the tractor will be 100 x faster. Rock dams, rocks to slow flow, but not rocks in the bowl, just hay, organic matter, plus seeds. Start with lots of indigenous trees, e.g., mesquite, nitrogen fixers. Then fruit trees, pomegranate.
Oh nice! I didn't know! But this was more a demonstration video, too give the idea, we have other Zuni bowls that are deeper, but they're are plans for more! We've only done the earthworks so far for the material to build the gabion!✌🏾
Maybe try a bigger hole? More water caught and more top soil caught. Swales are great but you can also do directed water flow with some trenches and the more you focus on the collection of water in the ground in the beginning the faster it will progress
These can also be called zai pits. I used these and they have been great for establishing shrubs without a lot of extra watering. A bigger (wider) pit does better than smaller, mine were about 2', when 3-1/2' would have yielded more vigorous growth.
They are also called that! Nice glad yours are working excellently! I'd agree in some situations, the width and depth can depend on on the situation and person!✌🏾
@@GrowTreeOrganics Think I only watered them three times. Twice in the first year, once in the second. We live in a temperate, Mediterranean climate area that experiences little summer rain. This was a lot easier than dragging the hose around...
I heard of the story man called Yakuba Sawadogo, he dig holes put cow dung in middle of dessert like their ancestors, Glad to stumble upon this video and found about Zuni ball
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤ I could be one's worst critic.. it is great to take criticism.. But sometimes with a pinch of salt... I believe you've done a great job trying to explain what is going on with your project and lifestyle... I imagine that you're probably helping a lot of wildlife as well... Nothing worse than to be thirsty... And it is okay to repeat yourself as many times as you want... There are ones out there like me that's sometimes explaining a couple of times or even more can truly understand and remember...
Thank you very much. Always a lot to explain, but in a condensed form. Repetition is practice and practiced enough times create habits. But I appreciate your support!✌🏾
There are a lot of trees for such dry soil. It seems like there must have been some consistent moisture deeper in the soil for a while for there to be that many trees.
In Ohio we call this mosquito farming lol Out here where we often get too much rain, as well as occasional dry periods, it is common to do some form of a french drain. Same basic idea of a bunch of loose rocks, often around some kind of void, but then wrapped in a sediment filter and buried. It prevents water buildup and wash-out on the surface, while promoting a slow even release for the week or two after when we might get no rain.
Is there any science as to the depth in relation to diameter etc? Cool idea. My immediate instinct was to have a deeper bowl, but my mindset is more toward a pond or mud hole. Glad I came across your channel. I’ll be checking out more of your work!
You could definitely calculate how much water you want the bowl to hold and design from that! It also depends on the location, your goals, etc. Thanks for coming across my channel!😅✌🏾
Very interesting. Watching you work, would it not be more efficient to use a wheelbarrow, rather than carrying one shovelful of soil or one rock at a time? You spend a lot of time just walking back and forth, which slows down the job.
It would be, but most of the spots chosen are next to lots of rocks, no need to go far. The video I am walking back and forth but those rocks are only a couple feet away, so it wasn't a big deal not to use a wheelbarrow. It's not saying anyone can't do the bowl without a wheelbarrow!😅✌🏾
Wish I could do this. Collecting rainwater is actually illegal in my state, because of water rights dating back 100 or more years. It'll be really cool to see how yours work, though.
I come from Slovenia and we have a well known Karst- a land where water disappears underground into caves. Although we technically don't have a desert, but it kind of is. People were always very skilled at collecting water. Maybe you should learn about building so called 1)kal or kali in plural 2)štirna or štirne in plural 3)korito or korita in plural (which you are already doing). In Croatia they also built special walls to retain dirt that is eroding really quickly because of the high speed wind and to retain water to some extent. Maybe you go deeper into structures and see if anything of that could work for your part of land.
Digging holes in a soil with clay and/or stones by hand is a hard work. It may be easier to start with a pickaxe imho. To increase water infiltration in the bowls and increase their lifespan it may make sense to dig deeper, like 1m deep. I am a big fan of vetiver, but frankly it needs watering for couple of weeks to establish itself, so it may not be practical to plant it around the bowls if you can not water it.
Appreciate the insight. This is simply a demonstration, plenty more deeper and shallow Zuni bowls to do! BTW I did plant cover crops in the bowl! Results are already showing up!✌🏾
Wondering if road/s and paths have run off issues… if so that would be a huge priority Id think. I should get a 3d camera if my excavator arrives so that I can show grading better & really hit the best water management areas.
In the desert that goes pretty quick. All the vegetation has evolved to withstand the harsh conditions and to benefit from every drop of water as soon as there is any. Seeds can be dormant for years, patiently waiting for some water and germinate as soon as there is even the slightest amount of water. Trees are already soaking up more water than before, so next year they will have a larger canopy. I mean, if you would take a picture from above each following season you would be able to notice the difference very clearly. The start of the increased growth will be slow, but the idea is that each year there will be more shade and more roots and earthworks to hold the water, so eventually things will speed up even more in terms of growth. But there is no guarantee, there will be good years and there will be bad years. That is how nature works.
