New Project Needs your input

[Carey Ma]

Hello friends. I need help with suggestions on another farmscape project.

I need help identifying:

1. Crops and plants that grow well in sandy dirt (not soil).
2. Animals.
3. Identify possible attractions.

It covers an area of about 166 acres, at an elevation of around 1,500 feet above sea level.

The geology is rocky sand, high plateau/ high desert, similar to Sierra Nevada high plateau/ high desert.

Its climate is considered continental monsoon, semi-arid and sub-humid transition zone. The annual average temperature is 23 C with the coldest being –8.8 C, in January and the hottest being 26.1 Deg C in July. Springs and autumns are quite short while winters are relatively long.

Annual average relative humidity is 57%, average annual rainfall reaches 447.8mm, with 180 frostless days. With obvious temperature difference between day and night with daily winds during sunup and sunset. Dominant wind direction is southwest and southeast winds. The southwest wind velocity is stronger.

At present, the local communities grow wine grapes, apples and raise ducks to the west (near the lake), with some grain production (wheat, buckwheat & corn). Most of the soil is alkaline; much of it is low in nitrogen and poor in physical characteristics.

Plants planed for use so far include:

Trees (shade): The tree-of-Heaven ailanthus, often called simply ailanthus, Green ash, Velvet ash, Aspen, Boxelder, Siberian/ Chinese elm, Mesquique, low Pinyons, Junipers, Hackberry, Norway Maple, Thornless honeylocust, Red mulberry, Russian mulberry and Bur oak.

Trees (fruit):

Bushes:

Grasses:

Vegetables:

Animals:

Fish:

____________________________________________________________________________

Entertainment & Attractions:

Camping, fishing, goat carts (as main transportation within the community), Aquapoonic demonstration, my “tractor style” cow/ deer/ fowl portable pens, petting zoo, ATV/ motorcross track.

The major limiting factor not including climate and poor soil is that only one percent of land can be used to build permanent structure/s. At present, I plant to build a community/ activilies center with commercial kitchen and dining room.

Portable residences will be made out of recycled shipping containers and busses.

[Raychel A Watkins]

Carey here is another link

http://naturalfarminghawaii.net/tag/natural-farming/ 

It is amazing stuffRaychel

[Raychel A Watkins]

http://cromalternativemoney.org/index.php/en/forum/75-farms-agricul...

Here is a testimony of a farm near me

[Carey Ma]

OK. I think I have a plan. Please read carefully and critic. 

First off to reply and answer your questions:

Steve: Good idea, however, like a bank account, there has to be input before one can withdraw. Simply trying to fix N into the ground without anything for it to be attached to is like pouring water into a sieve. There has to be organic matter for the rest of the symbiotic system to work. Rain water catchment probably won't do me much good because of the lack of  rainfall.

@ TC: The climate at this parcel is similar to high plateau on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Very dry, cool, strong winds at sun up and sun down and short growing season with sandy rock, dirt. There is hardly any organic matter. Water does not accumulate; it just runs through. Thanks for the plant list.

@ Will:Hey buddy, I've been crazy busy with investors recently and just got my first money yesterday to the tune of 300k for the chicken farm project in Shunyi. I am hoping this will bring my an income of one mill a year starting next year, after I build my flock to "commercial" size, provided everything goes as planned with no catastrophes. I'd sure be glad of the day I don't have to tutor shitty lil kids anymore to pay for my expensive hobby.

Yeah, pretty disgusting how some people think. My care takers let my dogs at their outhouse to reduce the volume so I wouldn't need to pay for pumping. Then they laugh when my dogs come to lick m y face. Now that Fkr isn't working for me cause I set the cops on him and canned his ass along with his useless son.

@ Raychel: Thanks for the links and thanks to one of our dear members, I do have a VPN now so am able to watch You-Tube. Now I get it. That is pretty much the same thing I do, except I make what I call compost brews. This "natural" method is very good but wont help my situation on this plot of land until I am able to input some organic matter. Otherwise they'll just dry up and go dormant. 

Raychel my dear, would you please ask your IMO gurus if they have a damaged/ used copy I can have to add to my library? Try to convince them that I am a good cause. PS It's not that I am so broke I cant afford a book or two but it is still difficult to get money out of the country, esp without a credit card and US book stores do not send overseas. We have one book store here that we can order books from but it takes about three months to get approved before they will/ can order overseas.

____________________________________________________________________________

How I go about treating this property depends on whether I get financing and gov assistance vs independent CSA.

This is my basic plan for this property:

Step one: Grade/ level and remove most rocks (to be used as building materials for features like BBQ pit/ out door kitchen).

Step two: Divide the property into thirds. Double dig or till in organic matter, and xeriscape one third. The second third I will plant forage crops leaving one third for grape vines/ orchard.

Now what I'm trying to figure is whether or not I should simply draw two lines and divide the property that way or into strips approximately the width of plow and build the soil row by row in a staggered fashion. Any suggestions people?

I'm working on this as I have time and only have another month or so until I make my presentation. I'll start a new blog next weekend to update y'all.

Please keep adding your ideas to this forum I really appreciate and need you continued support.

Cheers

[Converse]

Since you are going to have earth moving (rock moving) equipment on your place, why not burm up some hills and ridges and make some gnarly mtn. biking  runs!  (Jumps, challenges, etc..I am not sure if this is a sport that has caught on where you are, but the young adult crowd in the USA (and many are very eco-minded) has taken to this...If you are hoping for some kind of tourist draw, this might do it??  The runs/trails could easily go between the Ag. thirds divisions for the uses you are going to divide your property up for....and of course you can offer the BBQ as part of the deal if you want.   CAn you put yerts on your land? A great easy-up place for people to stay.  I realize this is a way-out-there idea...but-outside-the-box sounds like what you need.

 

[Glenn]

That IMO stuff looks very interesting and seems a vauable resource for raising bio strength with locally strong and adapt organisms. I wager there will be a special section for it in many aquaponiums soon. Mine for certain. Thanks for the links.

Raychel A Watkins said:

Hey Carey

 I have been trying to figure out how to get Master Cho's Natural Farming to you.  This is the answer to your problems.  You need to read a little about it before you understand it,  It will make your soil grow spectacular food and plants.  I have not been to Korea to see the farms there but I have a few friends who have,  They are practicing this here in Hawaii also.  It is really on fire on The big Island.  I will try to get you a link to Dr Park and to Mike Douglas I think that is his name. There are several videos on you tube.  Do you have access to You tube.  They are called 'Korean Natural Farming - IMO 1.  It is a series of videos explaining how to do it.  If you don't have access to You tube ket me know and I will see how to bring them down for you

[Jane]

strawberries like sandy soil.....

[Carey Ma]

Hi Converse, one of the original concepts was to incorporate ATV/ motocross tracts as part of the draw but switched to animal carts due to the fact that someone reminded me that promoting the use of dino oil might not be the message I want to give if this is an example of eco rehabilitation. I will present it as good whore would and see which way the investors want to go.As for yurts: That was one of the options I will present. Along with yurts, I have recycled shipping containers and converted buses as options for a more civilized campground/ camping theme. Tents space will also be available for those that want to rough it. However as an exclusive cellar with wines costing hundreds to thousands of US dollars, I think most overnight guest would expect decent, modern accommodations. American yurts would be pretty ideal considering the circumstances.

[Carey Ma]

Thanks Jane. Everyone loves strawberries and I plan to use them in a variety of ways. before he left, a former member introduced me to a newer, low cost hydroponic set up using two wires to support a thick plastic sheet which holds the medium like a V-shaped trough. I hope to experiment with this type of system using sand culture and AP. I would also like to use my verticle planter for strawberries in a U-pick area. I also plan to use Alpine strawberries as my main ground cover in between beds.

I attended the international strawberry symposium held here in Beijing two months ago and have sources to some decent berry cultivars.

[Converse]

The hills,jumps etc. I was suggesting was for Mtn. Bicycles, not motorized vehicles.  A large part  of the crowd here in the USA that are "into" this are very eco-conscious...This is why I suggested it as a possibility.

  There are some very posh yerts I see them advertised in places like Mother Earth News magazine  and Hobby Farms and  a few of the other newer eco-ag magazines.   You can go as simple or as posh as you want....Complete with beautifully finished wood interiors, and any modern amenitites one might expect if they were looking for a pampered get-away...Or you can go rustic. It would be much less than a modern hotel as far as construction goes.  You could add on as time/money/other resources /space allows.  SOunds like you've looked into this option already.

 

ANy way, my best to you on this project!

[Carey Ma]

Ah I see. I'd have to check into that but the populous here simply don't have time or facilities to engage in hobbies other than golf. Kids are mostly over protected so much so that we'd call them mamma's boys. Clients/ guests would need to drive an hour and a half to two hours in order to get there. I'd really have to do some research before I'd feel comfortable enough to add this as an attraction. RC toys though, seems to be more popular but again unlike other cities (even in china), there are few places that offer tracts/ airports because land is so expensive. Imagine two or three L.A.s in the same area San Fran occupies. With no traffic, it takes about forty-five minutes to an hour drive from the middle of town to drive to the outskirts in any direction. Indianapolis has one circular hi-way going around the city. Beijing has six. Comparably, it takes me about twenty minutes to go around the second ring road at full throttle at three in the morning.

I will definitely present yurts to my clients though I'm not sure how we will get them...Mongolian yurts may or may not be an option. US yurts are most likely cost prohibitive. We'll just present it and let them figure out all those details.

Please keep your ideas coming.

Cheers

[TCLynx]

Yurts, shouldn't you be able to construct them yourself?  Just need to find some good plans and get the materials if you have some one you can hire to do it.  Shouldn't need to import them.

[Carey Ma]

The thing is, there are very few skilled craftsmen here that pride themselves enough not to neglect the details but yes you are right we can get/ make some sort of facsimile here. Cheers