Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Tommy Tolson <healinghawk@earthlink.net>]

But people did it in the desert of NM.  Once enough organic matter was  
in the sand, a lens of water formed, and supported an oasis, a  
Permaculture design that supports the people living on/in it.  These  
folks could only afford to buy desert land no one else would buy.   
They got a Permaculture designer in, and, five years later, they had  
the oasis, and food and water (rain harvest, as I recall).  It's been  
featured in a book or two.  It would be beautiful anywhere, but in a  
desert, it's stunning.

Geoff Lawton's (Mollison's hand-picked successor) claim to fame is  
turning a Jordan desert into date production.
See http://permaculture.org.au/2009/12/11/greening-the-desert-ii-final/

These two designs are testaments to Permaculture's restorative power.

But I failed utterly at building a Permaculture market garden (if  
that's not an oxymoron) on caliche in Austin.  My beds were not deep  
enough to keep spinach taproots out of the caliche.  Spinach does not  
like caliche.

Smiles.
Tommy

On Jan 17, 2010, at 8:07 PM, Tradingpost wrote:

> Just suggesting growing a forest garden on a dry, treeless plain is  
> pointless.