Future Plans

An Apricot Tree

Development Plans 2011 and Forward

• A sustainable ecosystem will be nurtured by planting primarily perennial plants and using permaculture techniques targeted for a dry climate, focusing on drought and disease-resistant varieties and good fruit producers. Tree-planting is on-going with some trees producing fruit now. Chinaberry trees are being planted for windbreaks, shade, and potential firewood and leaf mulch.
• Complete pond by installing new liner and finishing shade structure (fall-winter 2011)
• Fence in the pond area (Fall 2011)
• Finish drip systems for all perennials (Fall 2011)
• Develop lower terrace of garden, installing 9 new garden beds (winter 2011-2012)
• Individual "eco-dwellings" will be constructed from natural or cost-efficient building materials and passive solar design, to accomodate permanent residents as they join, when time and resources allow.
• A community center will eventually be built, which will contain a common kitchen and meeting area
• Shared restrooms for residents and visitors
• We are currently planning to use a modified Cal-Earth (earth bag/tube) construction, after completing a trial dome. We plan to use a more inexpensive tubing material, which is used for onion sacks, rather than Cal-Earth "sandbag" tubing.. Adobe domes will be heated in the winter and cooled in the summer mainly using passive solar and thermal mass to moderate day/night temperatures, which can vary up to 50 degrees in a 24hr period. This may be supplemented by wood stoves in the winter and evaporative cooling in the summer, if necessary.
• Because we need to block spring winds for comfort and good growing conditions, We will use the domes and adobe walls between them as an outer barrier around the courtyard and garden space. The above-mentioned trees will also contribute significantly to the windbreak as they mature.
• Gabions and check-dams will be heightened over time as gullies fill in with sediment.
• Swales will be fine-tuned to ensure they will hold water during the most violent "gully washers" and planted with trees and/or bushes.
• Additional trees and perennial vines and shrubs will be planted for windbreaks, shade, fruit crops, and privacy,. Additional fruit and nut trees, vines, and shrubs will be planted, gradually expanding the variety and number of perennials. We might try cold-hardy olives, figs, and dates in 2012.
• A tree nursery has been used to grow seedlings for later out-planting drought-tolerant trees, and will continue. We have already planted desert willows, Chinaberry trees, and pomegranates. Apricot rootstock "suckers" will be grafted with fruitwood scions for additional apricot trees, as well as purchasing them.