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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

> I have ordered a couple of used books dedicated to organic gardening in
> the desert, and they should be here soon. Any input is appreciated, as
> books aren't necessarily written from the homestead point of view.

Get a copy of John Jeavons "How to grow more vegetables ...."

> RAISED BEDS
> Pros/cons.  I could stack cement blocks, depending on how much $$$.

Raised beds vs boxed beds.
A raised bed is simply a bed slightly higher than the surrounding soil.  The
advantages are many.  By not stepping on the bed soil preparation is easier.
With mulching methods you can get to the point where you never have to till.

Convenient bed sizes are as wide as you want to reach from the sides to the
center and length is as long as you want to walk around several times.
Space between the beds should be wide enough to push your favorite
wheelbarrow or garden cart.  Don't forget to leave room to turn at the ends.


A variant of raised beds is the boxed bed.  Boxes can be made from blocks,
used pallet lumber, ferrocement planks, what ever you can get your hands on.
On sloping ground the boxed bed will help keep erosion to e minimum.  Wide
enough sides does gove a convenient place to sit to lean into a bed.  
 
> For the raised beds, would I be just adding the local soil (of which I
> have acres) plus manure/compost or what?

What sort of local soil do you have?  If it is desert sand you need to add
organic material and clay.  If it is clay soil you need to add sand and
organic material.  In either case you need to add organic material.

> In the raised beds are you growing in rows?  or in something called a X #
> of plants per square foot method.

Lay out blocks then using the recommended spacing plant in a honeycomb
pattern.  I am not a fan of the Square Foot gardening method, mostly because
you waste a lot of space in the separators.  BY not having to step in the
bed you can plant intensively.

My last garden was raised beds in the desert.  The plot sloped about 15
degrees so I used boxed beds.  The beds were 4 by 16 and I used some 2X4s
that had been used as concrete forms.  Spacing between the beds was 2 ft.
The wood lasted the 10 years I was there including a brush fire that burned
one corner of one bed away.  I patched it with some wood on the inside.

I would make two changes to the garden.  One was that the spacing was a bit
narrow, I would rather have had 3 feet.  When I laid them out the engineer
in me made them square with the compass.  The problem was that the slope was
to the northeast.  The SW corner of the worst bed was at grade and the NE
corner was 24 inches above grade.  I think a better plan would have been to
lay them out parallel to the grade lines or bend them along the contour.

> COMPOST PITS
> Any suggestions on the most economical?

Find some old fence wire and make some loops.  Fins a few pallets and bake
some bins.  Find some scrap wood.  Whatever you can find or just make piles
on the ground.  Just make it easy to get to and turn.  In desert conditions
you need to have a source of water handy to keep the pile the dampness of a
squeezed out sponge.

> PLOW
> I'm currently using a gas engined rotor tiller, which I know is not
> sustainable in worst case scenario, but it was a b-day gift from dad.

Another advantage of raised beds is that you can do all the tilling by hand.
In fact some methods do away with tillage altogether.  After the soil had
plenty of organic matter I could till a 4 by 16 bed in about 45 minutes.  I
would first dig a trench the long way with a square shovel then throw a
layer of compost on the while bed.  I would then use a fork to break up the
next layer then wet it down.  The next trench overburden would be thrown in
the first and the process continued.  When done I would rake everything
level.

When I started with southern California desert soil tilling was a real job
that I attempted only after a few days of rains.  I dumped a lot of stuff in
that soil to make it workable.

> Where does one even get an old fashioned plow and harness system these
> days?
 
Working with animals is not easy.  The operator must be trained as much as
the animal.

> HONEY
> Anyone raising bees?  There seem to be plenty around here naturally, but
> I' thinking in terms of honey for the yeast in bread.

One or two beehives can provide up to 100# of honey a year depending on the
honey crops near your.  Bees are easy to work with and equipment costs are
low if you can find someone local who can extract for you.  A very low cost
way to get started it to use the Top Bar hive and put in a local swarm.

One thing you did not bring up is seed saving.  Learn to save seeds from
open pollinated plants then you will not be dependent on purchased seeds.
Besides there is a growing garden seed shortage.

As for animals, look at chickens.  They are easy to care for and can help
out in may ways.  Gene's Chicken Moat will help keep critters at bay and the
chickens provide valuable meat, eggs, fertilizer, and bug control.

Don Bowen  KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html