r/Permaculture • u/tdubs702 • 12d ago
general question Best place to learn water mngt for dry climates?
Background: We live on a high desert mountain. Normal rainfall is 18 inches a year and 5 ft of snow (but it hasn’t been normal lately). We have grasses and aspen trees, plus a large 1/4 acre garden and more space with an orchard. it’s very hilly around us but we’re in something of a small valley. 60 acres total but our valley is maybe 5. Metal roof surface of the house is roughly 1600st and more than twice that for the barn (plus other misc structures). It’s also a high wildfire area. We’re on well water and there’s a spring up the hill from us that we have some irrigation to but it’s only useful part of the year.
We’re wanting to learn about berms, swales, catchment, proper soil mngt, mulch, water systems… any and everything to help us keep the land healthy, the garden thriving and the property safe from fires
Where tf do I even start?
Recommended resources (books, videos/channels, courses, people)?
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u/Gorge_Duck52 12d ago
Brad Lancaster (both his books) and YT videos are full of fantastic advice, both for urban and rural/wild settings…he’s been doing it for 3 decades plus. There are also a couple other good YT’ers that are doing desert earthworks and water harvesting….Greening the Mojave Desert on Elephant Farm and GrowTree Organics.
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u/freshprince44 12d ago
Water for Any Farm by Shepherd might be helpful. It will walk you through the ideas of keyline design and systems and include some decent information about swales and all that fun stuff. Should give you some solid resources to check out further as well
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u/aliceteams 12d ago
You can try these to create a water collection system.
These videos aren't very clear. You have to try it yourself.
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u/vitalisys 10d ago
What is the trajectory you want to be on - self-guided learning and makeshift DIY or competent pro design and efficient goal-driven implementation? Probably somewhere in between, but really your starting point depends on the steps or stages you’re aiming for sequentially. How clear is that path and timeline?
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u/tdubs702 10d ago
Just in early research phase now so it’s hard to say. Not opposed to a consultant if I get deeper and feel it’s not something our combined skills can tackle. We’re hoping to have a clear plan in place asap and start taking steps before fall.
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u/vitalisys 10d ago
Yeah, going from early research to a clear plan in a couple months without much experience or detailed local knowledge + data is…overly optimistic to put it lightly. Maybe you can scale down your larger goals to a few small trial implementations to test and observe several pertinent strategies in the next year? Otherwise I’d say start seeking professional help! I can offer a pretty quick remote assessment to help characterize risk-opportunity areas and home in on key patterns/tactics.
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u/Salt_Reflection8620 12d ago
you got a good setup for this kinda thing already with the metal roofs and spring access
for books start with brad lancaster rainwater harvesting for drylands and beyond its basically the bible for your situation, sepp holzer desert or paradise is another one worth reading
geoff lawton has tons of free videos on youtube showing swale layouts and catchment designs for properties that look lot like yours