The Unfiltered Status of My Desert Forest Project
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- Опубліковано 24 вер 2024
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In this episode, I return to the ranch after a two-week break, only to discover both progress and new challenges. Brandon gives me a tour of the work he's been doing, including updates on the beaver dams and terraces. We discuss the improvements needed before moving forward and the ongoing work to balance the progress with new obstacles.
As we check out the new dams, terraces, and the current state of the land, I reflect on the changes that are happening slowly but surely. With some patches thriving and others needing attention, it’s clear that every small detail-like soil amendments and water distribution-makes a difference in transforming this desert landscape.
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Going from a Desert Storm to an Incredible Sunset
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#desertforest #desertplanting #greeningthedesert
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Why are there no Patreon, Ko-Fi, or other types of ways to support you? Every time I go to your website all I get is hounded about is my email address which I have supplied a bazillion times. I think I even supported one of those per-foot things, but I can't seem to find any updates.
have you thought of using bigger logs to terrace your property/hills? might be a too big of an effort.. there are actually horses that traditionally pulled logs through the forest also they don't densen the ground as a tractor or best a harvester would... but I guess those professional horses are hard to find in texas :D but maybe your lucky!
I am very happy, sorghum is growing very well this could be your frontier plant go full scale. Why the native seeds? they will comeup on their own. i think just focus on growing sorghum like stuff that actually easily grows and act as nitrogen fixers and improve the quality of soil. without much work. Thats a good thing. grow more of what grows , once the quality of soil becomes better then think about what too grow or not. Cull later, just grow something any things grows.
Get dogs to deal with the cattle. Or eat a lot of steak. If they’re wild cattle they’re fair game. If they’re a neighbor’s give them warning and then they’re also fair game. You might even be able to sell them to someone on a you catch them and take them basis.
Study the green belt line they are planting in Africa to stop the encroachment of the Sahara. Also a rancher in California brought back his land and the aquifer by planting native grasses and then moved on to trees. Once he established the foliage the animals started to come back and soon the ecosystem was sustainable on its own. Beavers eventually built their own dams accelerating the process. The beaver-like dams are okay but I think you’d do better with the Half moons like in Africa along the creek bed and native grasses.
You should grow the paloverde trees all over by seed across the tops of your hills and put a bowl structure around them. This will catch water and you can fill them with organic material. This will give you shade and will condense water from the air at the right dew point. The shade provided will allow other plants to grow under the canopy.
man i just can't wait to see the next rain event with all these improvements
I live in El paso, not that far from the ranch. Whenever it rains here i always email him asking if they getting any of it lol😂 imma be watching for the rain footage
The seeds that sprout are the ones that are able to sprout with the current conditions. As they grow and start modifying the environment the conditions will change and you may have other types of seeds sprout.
Yeah and diffrent ones take diffrent time to germinate too. What we're seeing is a succession.
It seems to me that they started the germination process for all the seeds they planted, and once that process starts the seed will either grow or die.
Loved this longer episode. I hope everyone else did too.
Agreed. The curated lesson type videos are good but enjoy this episode of just trudging around looking at everything just as much
Oh for sure
absolutely
"This is all clay, it's funny because I never noticed that before" reminds me of the quote:
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" -Wayne Dyer
Wow, there's a name from the past! Wayne Dyer - saw him live about 50 years ago.
@@Janer-52 That's funny, because about 20 or 30 years ago, he had an epiphany of sorts, and basically disavowed everything he had said before, as narrow-minded, judgemental and self-righteous b.s. I like him muuuuuch better now.
Brandon's demeanor is so much more relaxed than when he first started. Maybe it's because he's more comfortable with the camera or maybe because it's so peaceful on the ranch.
Maybe because him and shaun are growing their friendship 😊
A couple tall wooden posts near the terraces, for hawks to sit on, would probably help with the rabbits. You could even attach some bird houses/bat boxes for some habitat.
Oh yeah bat guano will be premium organic matter!
Not a bad idea, nor should it be too expensive! May also help with rats lol
I don't know what finishing touches are planned on these beaver dams, but be sure you cover the downstream side of the base of the dams with larger rocks where you have built the base with lots of loose soil that's currently exposed. As it is now, the water flowing over the top of dam through the brush will wash away most of that soil you worked so hard to drag down the hill and dump there. It's called armoring. You can completely cover that loose soil with a layer of rocks, probably at least 3-5 inches across, and save most of the soil from eroding in the first rain. The rocks protect the dirt underneath and also their jagged shape will help slow the downhill flow of the water into the wash channel.
Can’t wait to see water in the trenches. Hope you can film it filling.
Looks like .5% greener every new video. Awesome.
That’s because SW Texas got some rain. After another 6 months no rain, it will be back to dry greenless scrub.
Brandon: wearing flip-flops kills me!!! 😂
I live in Northeast Texas and am in boots pretty much 24/7 and it is nowhere near as rough as your ranch.
@@Cwbyupdfw Japanese safety boots, to Australians 😬🤣
It’s too damn hot 🥵 for boots 🥾
Come to Arizona and you will have a hard time finding anyone wearing boots
Flip flops 🩴 are the way to go 😂
@@mohammeda9805 Australian here - we have deserts, & we have HOT! - & we get our good wool socks on with our well fitting boots & get out among the spiky, bitey things 🙂
I work with trees everyday with no gloves, in boots. My hands are tough as nails, I can scoop up broken glass with no gloves. But... my feet are soft as noodles, dry breadcrumbs on the tiles hurt, and you bet your ass Legos nearly break the skin😂
All that to say, your skin will harden and callous when and where you use it. I used to run around barefoot as a kid and the thorns and stickers would literally break under my feet with no pain. Now my 4 year old daughter runs down the gravel drive easily barefoot, but I can't even walk it because the uneven pressure hurts my soft feet.
@@sharonyoxall7553 Exactly, I end up wearing a muck boot style boot most of the year. Because they're pretty cheap to replace when cacti or barb rip them up. good Wool socks really make the difference especially if your boots are baking you alive. At least your feet being baked is better then them getting steamed or boiled from all the sweat. 😂Dry heat for the win.
TO MOVE FERAL CATTLE: A HAND HELD FOG HORN FROM A MARINE STORE. BEAR SPRAY; DONT GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO HIT THEM WITH THE STREAM BUT IF YOU GET IT IN THE VICINITY. YOU CAN ALSO CREATE A SCENT BARRIER AROUND YOUR CAMP SITE.
THANK YOU
Fog horn is a genius idea. I love that low sound across the water - wonder if it changes across desert?
That is a great idea! Hit the cows with the scent so they remember it. That makes a lot cheaper fence than the one they are building
This is a great suggestion.😅
Yes, Noise/ Sound to move cattle.. with most animals they will move "off pressure" (sound and physical presence). Hence you can "push" using cattle dogs for instance as they are trained to move from side to side and direct stock in the direction the handler is directing.
Commonly chipper shredders aren't designed to shred dry wood. Ideally you use them on green wood.
Yeap... that dry of wood, I wouldn't use anything less than a PTO driven chipper.
Also the desert wood is slow grown and dense.
I'm up at 6am in Sydney watching this!
Worked out nicely for a breakfast watch in NZ
4.30am in Perth
just woke up lazy :-) in Wellington NZ
6.30 am in Brisbane.
My Galah and I love this content.
Im here to mourn the loss of the Great Emu War. Cracking a Foster's for ya. Is this fermented roo piss?
If you get any rain, that clay can be used to help seal those beaver dams on the up stream side. That is what beavers do.
The cattle are a resource (so long as they aren't at the place you are investing in) their manure is hugely beneficial. Make sure you bring in some dung beedles
In Belize, they use whips - no waste of funds to just make a noise, and a coiled whip is easily carried. In dry climates, keeping the whip oiled is just as easy as a pistol. You have unlimited reloads and don't have to injure the animal if you are just spooking to drive away. Whips can be used at close range with minimal damage too...😅.
Zero water filters when new and under .06 can manage to filter floride.....but I'd only use that for personal use or as a backup option.
Rhodesian cattle farmers rode horses and used whips to drive cattle
You definitely have the right attitude to the cows. We had a local woman try to cross a 5 meter gap between two cattle gates. She got stomped so bad she almost didn't make it. Broke a lot of bones and passed out. In very rough shape. She only survived because she passed out and didn't move anymore. Stay safe.
Sometimes this seems quixotic and I'm sure you probably feel that too even though it's your project. But this is what people should be doing. The earth is our home and you are learning about how to make it a better place. It might take a few lifetimes to get it right, but that is not a long time in the big picture perspective.
Excellent perspective.
For the cattle you should just need a simple hot wire fence around your property. They are relatively easy to build as they are designed to be able to section off a large pasture and rotate to keep the cows from eating/stomping too much of the grass and kill it.
Couldn't tell you how many miles of that stuff I've built and torn down. Just requires those short rebar posts with insulators, simple fence wire, and a "fence charger". And a small handheld sledgehammer to hammer in the rebar posts.
They aren't dangerous, it will zap you but nothing super crazy. Far below getting tased.
When I was a kid, the Gallagher chargers were the ones to have. Looks like they make solar powered ones now. Back in the day you just needed a car battery for them, they are pretty efficient.
Out of curiosity, how many miles (roughly) to fence out cattle from a 320 acre property?
Can you share the calculations and cost?
I'm not being a smartash, I really want to know. Thanks.
@@allanturpin2023 I haven't built one since I was in High School.. I'm 45 now. lol.
I took a quick look around and it looks like they use totally different posts and electric systems now.
It might not be the best thing for your needs.. you can build more permanent type electric fence but I don't have any experience with that. Also depends on what you are trying to accomplish... like only keeping cattle out? Probably trying to keep other animals or people out too?
The temporary fence also needs maintenance. If you are a rancher you are out checking cattle every day and inspecting the fence/doing maintenance each day.
Look-up the channel "Pharo Cattle Company", looks like he has several good videos that sort of give you a start into electric fence designed for rotational grazing, which is the kind of fence I'm talking about.
@@yayinternets- thanks. I was actually hoping for the estimate for Shaun's project so his fans and potential sponsors can plan to reach the goal to exclude the cattle from his property.
No worries.
@@allanturpin2023 Ah, makes sense to me now! He could start small and just fence close to the vegetation. I'd guess around $500-800 for something basic to get by. Probably even less if he found a used fence charger, could find a farmer with a wire spool trailer who wouldn't mind him taking some of the wire permanently, etc. Even cheaper if he used someone's old rebar posts as I don't think many people use those any longer.
Awesome growth on the terrace and in the valley through the BDA's. Awesome to see the progress despite the lack of rain. Keep topping the mulch layer and you will have a Forrest in no time. Good work guys.
Assuming you still have seeds for the sorghum I imagine they will just become mulch later? That being said, I would collect seeds from the ones that grow the fastest. Over time you will have a sorghum variety that will be adapted to growing there, with hopefully a focus on increasing biomass vs producing a lot of grain (so basically a variety that makes lots of leaves and grows a long stalk but not much flowering and seeds so less manual removal of flowers is needed). Sorghum sudangrass hybrid would be something to look into.
All you need now is RAIN!😊
Excited for the next rain! I've been watching since your first episode, and I really love the content!
Those small chippers are designed to chip green wood. Really hard dry wood are much harder to chip so you have to reduce the diameter greater to give the chipper a chance.
There is no point in adding fill dirt to the downstream face of a BDA. It will simply wash downstream in the first storm. Add all of the dirt, gravel, and cobble on the upstream face. Leave a landing zone of bigger flat stones on the downstream side to prevent head-cut erosion.
The drone herding of the cows is a solid idea if iterated on, if you could put some speaker on it which can make a loud noise that could do the trick.
How about lions growling and wolves howling…
@@louisegogel7973😂😂😂😂 that might actually work 😊👍👍
A new dustups episode always brightens my day
good man
smart steady
I like how you understand that rescaping for water retention will be your most efficient expenditure.
everybody is anticipating the first 1+" event.
2 fold benefit of your son doing his graphics for the channel. He actually has to watch keeping him engaged and you get the adorable graphics! Win win!
Make sure the throttle cable is adjusted properly on that chipper. If it isn't, you can have the throttle all the way open, and still technically not be at full throttle.
I just love watching your progress and enthusiasm.
Watching at 8am in UK. Such a beautiful landscape. I love your positivity. I love how you support and encourage Brandon. How you accept the extreme conditions and that small steps build up. Such a great life lesson ❤
You can really improve your results of your ranch by focusing on the compost, land segregation, and logistics on your ranch.
Keep trying to improve soil health and start a worm compost bin. Every time you go to the ranch, add a little more compost to the areas that have water.
Build a fence to segregate your planting area and keep un wanted visitors from showing up.
You should focus your attention on building trails to the different areas of your ranch. It'll improve the accessibility and, in turn, will make you and your ranch hands jobs easier. It might take some elbow grease and a few days to get it done, but it'll be worth it.
Once you take care of those things, the rest of your projects will improve.
You'll notice they are more heavily amending the soil in the next terraces. I hope they see better results when they have time to plant them.
Speaking of microbes, Great Job. You might also want to research a microbial product called "Recharge". It is around $200-$230 for 5 lbs of product. It will last me for 3-5 years on 1/3 acre. I put about a teaspoon into my 2 gallon fertilizing water mix. It works great in my opinion, especially with my seedlings or where I have spread compost. Maybe give it a try on your terrace.
Glad to see some progress and some green. Praying you get a lot of rain this winter.
Watching from Houston, TX, sayin' "howdy" to you folks down under. I'm amazed at the broad appeal of this endeavor!
Much of my state looks like DustUps.
When the area was "settled"- a contentious term- towns sprung up far in to the outback as areas which were green and fertile were discovered, and farmers planted wheat in places that would never be considered arable now.
After a scant few years of European agriculture the area became barren.
The settlers inferred that there had been abnormally high rainfall before they came which tricked them into thinking it was more fertile than it actually was.
I wonder now if this was true, or that the environment they found was just extremely fragile.
@@Altheodi I think they were often tricked by the "boom and bust" nature of our weather cycles in Australia. So many towns were established on the banks of what the Europeans thought were "large creeks", after all, they were nothing like the constantly full rivers from back home! Then the once every 10 years big rains come and that creek turns into a raging torrent that spreads kilometres wide, and as you know those rains can happen over 1-2000km away at the very top of the catchment (especially the Murray-Darling area) weeks or months before the flood even reaches you (if you were in SW New South Wales or South Australia). There was a classic example with the establishment of Gundagai in southern NSW right on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. Even the local Aboriginal tribe tried to communicate that it was not a good idea. Then sure enough there was huge rainfall in the upper reaches of the river in the Snowy Mountains and the town got swept away. they had to rebuild significantly higher up the hill from the river.
If you were settling an area in the last few years you would be tricked into thinking there was plentiful rain. If you were doing that this time in 2019 you would think that it would never rain as the rural areas were almost lifeless after 3 years of severe drought.
Waiting on the rain!🌬 🌧🌦⛈
Hi, Just a thought. Your water totes are made from clear plastic, which is not UV stable over a long time. If you were to cover them with some black plastic or tarpaulin, i think you would both extend their lifetime and the water that you put into the ground woud be cooler, and would evaporate a lot less. I'm very impressed with your work here. I'm just about to buy some farm land in a very opposite environment in the temperate himalayas, with a lot of rain annually, but also some omnths without any rain at all.
Have you tried taking cuttings of the native plants home and get rooting hormones to get more established plants to plant....rooted plants tend to grow better...or graft plants too...seedlings take longer and need more water
Great idea! Established plants should do better
Shaun, you are definitely on the right track when looking into fungal and microbial growth. That stuff can make such a difference! It makes the nutrients available. I was also thinking about what you have and what else you need. And I was comparing it to commercial growing in desert areas. You have an abundance of energy but a lack of humidity... A greenhouse is a solution to just that. A lot of people vent out their greenhouses and get rid of the humidity but that is not the way to go about it. You want to retain the moisture. While a greenhouse is prone to winds and a forest doesn't have a roof, I really think there is a huge advantage to be tapped into here. At my family farm we lay out plastic cover for a greenhouse effect and can harvest more than 3 weeks before anyone else. It helps to hold in the moisture, gives a protective barrier to pests and warms up the area for a longer day. Would love to see you try this or at least consider it in your next big update. Best of luck.
As long as you are supplying water you might consider planting sunflowers. They will grow tall fast and give some shade to everything around them. Of course they are not perennial and will not survive after you remove the water but that’s fine. They would just be to give shade and provide some bio mass
I considered it, but I'm really trying to focus on perennials because I don't want to plant seeds more than once
@@dustupstexasthey may not be perennial but with enough of them, the birds can’t eat all the seeds before they drop and seed the ground for the next generation.
If you're eating a lot of jackrabbit. I highly suggest basting it with plenty of butter. Or maintaining a higher fat diet than you would if you weren't eating such high levels of protein. Too much protein and not enough fat starts getting toxic, and can cause serious health issues.
Protein toxicity, particularly to kidneys, is a complete myth. You can literally consumer hundreds of grams per day without issue.
Excited for the Johnson su compost. Your finally going to get things kicking, especially the woody species and higher succession grasses. If your going to make the compost yourself you should definitely make it at home where you can watch it more closely and a more dependable and straight forward irrigation system. It requires to be kept moist for a full year in order to mature and get the fungi to sporulate.
The chestnut photo u used is slightly misleading. What the farmer sprayed was a mix of liquid Fish amino's, liquid seaweed extract, some whole milk, and the Johnson-su compost extract. You will get much better catch with those beneficial fungi and friends if you put out the extract with a microbial food sources as well. Dr. Johnson has had his best success with in-furrow inoculation and compost extract seed coatings. It's beneficial as a top dressing or foliar spray, but best for the plant if it gets its rhyzosphere inoculated at germination.
The past few weeks I’ve been wishing the videos were longer. Love this extra long one this week!
If you have access to a mushroom farm anywhere nearby they'd probably be willing to outright give you some of the mycellium sapprophytes (it's a waste product for them) which you can them place in your wood berms to help break down the wood fatser and return those nutrients to the soil. EVentually those wood berms will become soil. B/c it's so dry there it will take longer but cover them will something to hold what moisture they get and it'll go faster. They also support the establishment and growth of your microrhyzal fungis in the soil as well.
I saw a video of an unintentional desert forest in Arizona when a canal was built and the burm collected runoff and inturn trees began to establish themselves.
any chance you have a link? i'd like to see that. ty.
Where there is water that has time to sit, there will be life.
@@karronlaneNOLAua-cam.com/video/jf8usAesJvo/v-deo.htmlsi=gRAvk4kYZ5BWvZeR
I saw that a few days ago , beautiful sight to see .
@@karronlaneNOLA It was in California
The beaver dams look really good!
Shaun... That terrace looks lush green. It's beautiful. I live in northern Pakistan and the soil structure resembles that of your ranch. Olive trees are thriving here. Have you thought about planting an olive plant on the terrace to start with? It doesn't need that much water and helps in improving soil structure.
You two are the best dam guides. Thanks for the dam tour.
I'm sitting here in England with the rain hammering down, enough to fill your dams in minutes. I wish I could send you some, it looks painfully dry there.
I've been a Mint Mobile customer for years. If you're considering it, I would highly recommend it. It's awesome they stepped up to sponsor such a great project.
Really good seeing all of the progress. Those cows are just looking for that yummy stuff on the terrace. I’m glad you have the electric fence.
They can smell green and juicy.
I hope you get some rain soon, would be great to see that be captured on camera.
Just a usless tip.
Instead of useing a sled for moving rubble try 12 lenths of light roofing iron ( demo stuff ) and make a rubble slide down from where you dig on the embankments to the dam wall. Two men can move a couple of yards of rubble in a short time. You can roll the bigger bolders down the slide to stablize the dam wall. Looking good - cheers
Something that sprang to mind is that Self Sufficient Me (an Aussie, I think) built raised planters with sections of branch and log ate the bottom, then covered them with good soil. Then, a few years later they needed to be rebuilt, and he found that the wood was breaking down beautifully, holding water and providing an environment for micro life to flourish in.
That wouldn't translate directly, since Dustups is so dry, but digging a deep-ish pit/trench and then throwing down some hunks of wood, then covering that with some living soil, then maybe light yard waste, finishing with a layer of the original would help Shaun start building his own soil. Perhaps a trench just up the way from each beaver dam, to give the water something to soak into. Dug deeply enough (no small task, granted), say around 4-5", and you could bring in smallish amounts of everything on each trip out (a bushel or three?) would allow you to add another 3-layer installment each visit. Local biomass works, too.
Small, easy, and sustainable is a useful strategy for a long process like this project. This suggestion would take a heap of work in the beginning, but filling the trench with layered materials would be easier from there. Then dig up a sample in 3-4 years, and see what you've got going on down there, presumably with more life taking hold atop the former pit, indicating it's holding water well.
If not upstream of the dams (not too close, erosion), then perhaps dedicate a "bathtub" or two, and see how that does. To harvest, dig most of the way down and use the last little bit as a new base, and start over. You could conceivably start a new tub pit every year, then when the first is ready you can add your new living soil as an amendment to your planting mix every year. Life sustains life, so an inoculation of living soil for each batch of mix would be a good thing, too.
hügel culture, but he's basically doing that with the beaver dam analogues. orgnaic and fine materials will build up around those sticks and start breaking them down.
Keep up the hard work gentlemen enjoy all your post and look forward to everyone that you put up...
Glad to see your ocotillo leafing out!
For shifting in and out of 4x4 you have to make sure you do everything correctly. There are safety mechanisms equipped on vehicles to provide you from shifting incorrectly. Just go through your manual one more time to see if you're doing it just right. If you are doing it just right it could be a wheel speed sensor not correctly informing the vehicle how fast it's going.
You can go to a local national chain parts store and they will scan your vehicle for you for codes. Even without a check engine light there could be a sensor that's out or malfunctioning preventing you from properly operating 4x4. And it can be a relatively easy fix for you to perform.
You can also buy your own bi-directional vehicle code scanner. They're not too expensive. And as I've recommended before since you drive so far into an isolated location being able to at least diagnose what's wrong with your car so you might be able to retrieve the part yourself and fix it we'll make your life much more stable. There are tons of UA-cam videos on how to replace various parts. A lot of it can be done with relatively simple set of tools.
It's an actuator in the transfer case
Love what you're doing man. Would just like to emphasize that you should have mulch covering your irrigation lines. The cohesive and adhesive properties of water will cause the water to travel a lot further when mulch is applied directly on top of the irrigation. That straw manure mix would be the absolute perfect thing to do this with and a thin layer would go an extremely long way. I would recommend staying thin and using something light (like the straw) as this will allow germinating plants to pop through! Good luck!
I’ve got a 2000 suburban and it does the same thing once in a while. I’ve found that if you shift it into neutral (got to be stopped) then switch the 4x4, it’ll usually switch over. Sometimes you have to let your foot off the brake so the drive shaft can have some play in it to let the switchover happen.
yep, to maximize likelihood everything will work as expected, i shift into 4x4 only from a neutral stop, then slow reverse for 10 ft, then creep forwrd.
also why you make sure 4x4 is on before you get stuck
Or it's an actuator in the transfer case
Another great episode, thanks for keeping us updated/involved in the process.
sand Lupine native to North America grows in sand rocky grown and just plain gravel. is a nitrogen fixer. in Iceland on the lava plans they give out sand lupine seeds and aspen seeds to jump start their reforestration efforts. or plant lavender which does the same thing and is just as hardy.
2:37 love how you two interact, every video you two seem more relaxed around each other
It is so refreshing to see someone with a little money spending it wisely on research to benefit their land and to educate people on how it is done. Do you have enough power to run a water softener? Those wild cattle look tasty as well. Have you thought of culling out that herd? I am very interested in learning more about this Johnson fertilizer. Keep up the great content!
I was waiting for this update video for the past month. So glad you made this!!! Also, great progress!
Starts to looks like a nice green garden in the desert.
Respectfully.
Brandon is fine. I appreciate the eye candy content.
Lol
Brandon, the flops legend
My spirit animal lol
I was previously trying to explain to you about 4'x4'x4' sand bags. To stack to build walls and fences for wind blockage, shade, water channeling, protection.
Well, I hope you get a great rain event to see what happens there. Enjoying it from Canada
Cows looking at the drone-
"That bumble bee is pretty big, ehy...."
Lol 😂. Good one!
You really need to look into adding some detritivores to the terraces. You have added the organics and started plant growth, but now you need to add the critters that will help break down those organics into useable nutrients for the plants.
It's the missing step in your setup to bring life back into the soil.
You need worms, springtails, and Isopods. All of which can be easily ordered online for very cheap.
They will really help to improve soil quality where you have organic matter.
I was going to write similar, add worms etc.
It doesnt make sense for now. The soil or what should become the soil isn't that big at the moment and also it still lacks moisture in it. Adding worms and other soil shitters is more recommended when the set up is a little more stable and self sufficient. He can use them, when he makes a compost box and let them working in there in a more enclosed and secured environment with enough depth for them as a habitat. But the terraces I think are not in the necessary condition for now.
Also the stones hold down your organic material :) I can tell how fragile everything is... but also very promising. You'll keep this momentum going, and everything will just get easier and easier. I'm excited to see which seeds come up in successive years.
I hate to break it to you but that side chute for the bigger branches is most likely attach at the wrong angle to work correctly. If you want to stay safe, stop using the side chute. If you want blood to fly, ... no, never mind, stop using the side chute. Just use the top but you should be able to go up to 2 inches of softer wood and about 1.5 inches of harder stuff.
Shaun, fun video series to watch. for some odd reason I just read through every comment in the comments section (as of today) and a concise summary is evident:
1. Your audience cares very much about Brandon’s feet!
2. Scaring the cows away is as easy as hanging a loudspeaker that weighs 5-7lbs on a drone that weighs 1.6lbs and remotely playing various loud sounds to scare them off. I suggest AC/DC for this.
or…simply eat the cows since it’s quite easy to capture, haul back to camp, butcher, and store a 1400lb animal in the desert with no refrigeration…by yourself! Almost guaranteed to work if Brandon put some warm boots on. 😉
You should look into getting a mountable speaker for the drone to play loud noises on command to herd cattle. Awesome video as always
This whole project is something I have always wanted to do
I love the continued obstacles you are making to slow the water down, the hard work will pay off. One thing i have learnt through experience though is to not attempt to put damns or obstacles next to a junction where water meets, the combined force of the water will blow out all but a fixed damn. Leave enough room for the water to meet, stagger obstacles ie rock piles & then damn. Water is very strong.
Like I said in the video, the entity that writes the grant checks gets to tell me where to put them and how to build them
I love this format Shaun! Regarding the cattle, make burgers out of them lol
Yes and everything he can't eat is fertilizer and everything he did eat is fertilizer so good all round.
Texans don’t look kindly on you killing cattle that aren’t yours! 🤠
Are these cattle tagged / branded?
@@michaeldriscoll8434 he said its wild cattle so yeah, dont think will have any problems, besides its on his property
@@michaeldriscoll8434 If it is someone esle's cows they can pay for the damages and trespassing.......in beef.
@@michaeldriscoll8434The fun thing is folks not controlling their cattle means payment in beef for damages like another person commented. Ideally, that could be avoided.
Thanks for another adventure.
The stones are also helping retain water and dust too. theyre a primary "nearly soil" defence.
all we need now is a decent rain event to fill everything up again.
THanks for sharing
Yeah when b started turning the soil with the manure and the dust went flying and in just over here like STTTAAAAHHHHPPPPP!!! lol
I did some work on a ranch in Arizona in my youth with Barzona cattle. Man those kine were no joke. Even the females stood like five feet with horns. One charged me and it was very scary.
Dry wood is tough to chip!
Since it doesn't come though on video.
Consider showing us what using a wheelbarrow would be like.
Informative and entertaining!!
That sounds like a good way for them to break their wheelbarrow, so likely not a good idea.
Epiphany… rake all the looses dirt and gravel down the sides into the gully…it will wash down to the dams and build up a mud bed helping to seal the dam and the loose stuff will absorb water and hide it from the sun. Also plant trees at the upper side of the dams. One on each side, or one in the middle of each dam… the wider the bottom of the channel, the slower the water moves…
I think the dams are the main key to reach the goal of creating a forest. Even if you put little effort to maintain them and visit the ranch few times a year it will change the whole area within few years. I hope you get funds and approvals to build more dams
Hey @dustupstexas please identify and plant more of the outlier plant. if it grew outside all the comfort of your bed it means it will grow well anywhere on your property. Especially where your water gathers and moves after and while it rains. Since you're supplying the water in this situation.
At the top of the "beaver dams" maybe one could sink an auger down where the water comes in an inch below the fill height, and then insert a 3" or 4" PVC pipe in so water can get below the clay surface.
It's looking great. Loved seeing all the new green growth!
Those rodents could actually very well be a keystone species.
Because they burrow around the root systems they also loosen the soil for the plants to better root in the tough terrain.
Their tunnels also aerate the roots leading to better moister retention and nutrient absorption.
wood chippers are made for green fresh wood, not dry hard wood.
make a cave with side entry for safe borrow from tornado's...
You've done so much work, and it's so good to see progress. Good work! Hope you get some rain soon. Hope you can keep the cattle at bay! The plants all look great on the terrace! The cattle are good eating, hard to process in the field.
dustups brand jerky
Very much appreciate what you're doing. Some ideas. Introduce way more mulch on the terrace, bio-char and earthworms. Clean brown cardboard inoculated with Oyster mushroom spawn would speed up decomposition and increase water transport/holding capacity. Can't wait to see your place in three years ! Good luck 👍
30 years ago my husband and I used a DR Power Wagon that included a bucket attachment as well as a flatbed option. We used it on some rough terrain to carry cement, heavy beams, lumber and even 8 foot gypsum wall board. It has gears and a brake so it doesn’t get away on you. I am sure there are even better models today. It might be able to handle some of your rough slopes and save wear and tear on your bodies. A it expensive but we always felt it paid for itself over and over again.
A collie with some training can herd cattle.
Run the chipper at the highest speed and back out until it is at highest speed then feed.
On digging a hole, dig a little fill with water dig a little fill with water.
27:00 Tip… make sure you aim the camera lens to center on what is being spoken about, or we don’t get to see it! Otherwise, it’s looking good you guys.
Good to have the Metric measurements! Ngā mihi from New Zealand.
I really hope you get some meaningful rain soon.⛈🌨I'm anxious to see the Beaver Dams and the bathtubs in action.. It's exciting to see the way the terraces have started to grow..I wish I could come down and see it in person.. I enjoy watching all your episode ..Thanks Allen...
Run a few tanks of super premium fuel through your chipper engine. If it's sat a long time, there is an internal build up of varnish in the fuel system. The premium fuel will give you enough octane to power through the rpm drop and clean the fuel system.
When chipping thicker sticks, don't feed them. The machine will suck the branch in as fast as it wants it.
Also check the screen. This type of chipper is usually shipped with a small diameter screen. For what you are doing, you want the largest diameter available. If the chips are too coarse, run them through a second time. The second trip goes real fast.
Put some seafoam in the tank, that cleans the tank and carb, etc. It burns like gas and works with gasoline or diesel. We use it on our boat for the diesel engines and the twostroke dinghy motor.
Kudos to Brandon for some heroic work already.