Well, friends, we are already at week 5 out of 7 of my Permaculture Design Certificate. It is bittersweet. The end is soon near, but it is not the end at all, it is just the beginning! I can’t wait to exit the program with an entirely new vocabulary of knowledge and skills and apply them to the world.
Drylands : Permaculture
-Week 5 , Part 2-
Did you miss the other weeks?
1-Ethics, 2-Patterns, 3-Microclimates, 4-Trees, 4b-Soil 5-Humid Cool-Cold, 6-Earthworks
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‘Drylands’ is a pretty broad term, for there are different variations of Drylands. The dryness of the Mediterranean can not be described as the same dryness that is found deep in the Sahara Desert. Let’s differentiate them…
Hyper-Arid (Sahara)
extremely dry; barren or unproductive because of lack of moisture
Arid (Australia)
dry; lack of available water; lack of vegetation
Semi-Arid (South Africa)
precipitation is below potential evapotranspiration
Dry Sub-Humid (Mediterranean)
grasslands or prairies; moisture is less than that of a humid climate, but still available for vegetation and agriculture
Drylands» occupy 47% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface
Drylands» are home to more than 3 billion people
What are the causes of Drylands?
- Overgrazing; overgrazing of large groups of animals that have no predators in proximity.
- Industrial Farming; monoculture farming resulting in soil erosion.
- Deforestation; large-scale removal of trees
- Improper Irrigation; poor land management and increasing population
What are the goals Drylands need to focus on?
- Harvest Water; focus on techniques for catching and trapping as much rainwater as possible. (ex. underground rainwater storage)
- Build Soil; bringing back organic matter and soil life.
- Reforestation; plant trees!
- Manage Waste; Produce no waste by bringing everything back to the Earth.
- Maintain Temperatures; techniques to passively and actively cool structures.
The Eight Principals of Successful Rainwater Harvesting
As taken from “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Vol. 1: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape” by Brad Lancaster
- Begin with long and thoughtful observation.
- Start at the top (highpoint) of your watershed and work your way down.
- Start small and simple.
- Spread and infiltrate the flow of water.
- Always plan an overflow route, and manage that overflow as a resource.
- Maximize living and organic ground-cover.
- Maximize beneficial relationships and efficiency by “stacking functions”.
- Continually reassess your systems: the “feedback loop”.
Adding Trees using a Mulch Basin
Creating a hole and filling it with mulch is a great technique for water retention; allowing water to get to deeper root systems. This is a great place to plant a tree in drylands to ensure that the tree is retaining as much of the water as possible and minimizing evaporation.
Ollas
Using Ollas as an irrigation technique can be an efficient strategy in drylands. Placing these unglazed clay pots underground beside the tree reduces potential evaporation in extreme heats, and allows the plant to be slowly watered as needed.
Housing
Earth sheltered housing uses the ground as insulation from the intense temperatures, wind, rain and other weather events. The soil maintains a pretty constant temperature, regulating the temperatures inside the building.
Vine sheltered housing uses vegetation as the insulation to the house. Vines or climbing pants cover the exposed walls decreasing solar penetration and not allowing cool air inside to escape.
Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.
-Bill Mollison
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