permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

Hello water harvesters,
I take my rainwater harvesting book tour and presentations to northern New 
Mexico and central Arizona in June. Please visit the events page on my 
website www.HarvestingRainwater.com for the specific dates, locations, and 
times or see them in the message below. PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

-Brad Lancaster



Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands
Turning Water Scarcity into Water Abundance
Slide Show & Booksigning with Brad Lancaster

NORTHERN NEW MEXICO (Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Lama Foundation, Santa Fe, 
Taos, Ramah) AND CENTRAL ARIZONA (Globe)
JUNE 10 ­ JUNE 20, 2006

Although rainwater harvesting has been accomplished by humans in
virtually every drought vulnerable region of the world for millennia, our
society seems to have collective amnesia about the utility, efficiency,
sustainability and beauty of these time-tried practices.

In his newly published book, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Volume 1, 
Brad Lancaster encourages us to turn water scarcity into water abundance by 
welcoming rain into our lives, landscape, and soil. Sharing techniques and 
strategies from around the world, some ancient, some new---including the 
inspiring story of Mr.Phiri, water farmer from Zimbabwe---readers are 
empowered to create their own integrated water-sustainable landscape plans.

Rainwater harvesting is the process of capturing rain and making the most 
of it as close as possible to where it falls. By harvesting rainwater on
the land within the soil and vegetation, or in cisterns that will later
irrigate the land, we can control erosion, reduce flooding, and minimize 
water pollution. Living in a world with a finite supply of fresh water that 
is increasingly polluted this practice becomes especially valuable.

Living on an eighth of an acre in downtown Tucson, Arizona, where annual 
rainfall is less than 12 inches, Brad practices what he preaches by
harvesting over 100,000 gallons of rainwater a year. Brad and his brother
Rodd have created an oasis in the desert by directing this harvested
rainwater not off their property and into storm drains, but instead
incorporate it into living air conditioners of food-bearing shade trees,
abundant gardens, and a thriving landscape that includes habitat for wildlife.

Brad Lancaster is a permaculture teacher, designer, consultant and
co-founder of Desert Harvesters (DesertHarvesters.org). Brad has taught
programs for the ECOSA Institute, Columbia University, University of
Arizona, Prescott College, Audubon Expeditions, and many others. He has
helped design integrated water harvesting and permaculture systems for
homeowners and gardeners, including the Tucson Audubon Simpson Farm 
restoration site, the Milagro and Stone Curves co-housing projects.

For more information,  visit www.HarvestingRainwater.com or call the 
contacts listed for the various events and dates below:




TOUR DATES 2006 NORTHERN NEW MEXICO (Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Lama 
Foundation, Santa Fe, Taos, Ramah) AND CENTRAL ARIZONA (Globe)
JUNE 10 ­ JUNE 20, 2006

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Noon
Plants of the Southwest
6680 4th St. NW
Contact: 505-344-8830 or plantsofthesw@juno.com



LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico
Sunday, June 11, 2006
7pm
Pajarito Environmental Education Center
3540 Orange Street
Contact: Randal Ryti 505-662-7392



BUILD HERE NOW
­ A Natural Building and Sustainable Design Convergence at the Lama 
Foundation north of Taos, NM
June 11-18, 2006
Brad will present at the gathering June 13 and June 14.
www.lamafoundation.org/build_here_now.htm
www.lamafoundation.org



SANTA FE, New Mexico
Saturday, June 17, 2006
3pm
Plants of the Southwest
3095 Agua Fria Rd
Contact: 505-438-8888



TAOS, New Mexico
Sunday, June 18, 2006
7pm
Kit Carson Electrical Cooperative
118 Cruz Alta Road



RAMAH, New Mexico
Monday, June 19, 2006
7pm
Old School Gallery/Community Center
Contact: Paula Tripodi emaac@osogrande.com 505-783-4710

GLOBE, Arizona
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
7pm
Blue Mule Gallery
656 N Broad St, Globe, 85501
Contact Laurie or John at (928) 425-4920

The following presentation will be given at the preceding New Mexico and 
Arizona book tour stops:

Turning Water Scarcity into Water Abundance with Water Harvesting:
Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain Into Your Life and Landscape

This is the inspiring story of how a poor dryland farmer and his family
turned a wasteland into an oasis in the driest region of Zimbabwe by
teaching themselves how to harvest the rain ­ and you can do the same where 
you live! Eight guiding principles of integrated water harvesting
are demonstrated that can be replicated anywhere to help turn water
scarcity into water abundance.

This story and its principles are presented in the context of how my
community of Tucson, Arizona, like many across the globe, has taken the 
wasteful path of scarcity by rapidly depleting its water resources by
dehydrating the landscapes of its watersheds. Yet, we can choose the
stewardship path to abundance by rehydrating our landscapes through simple 
water harvesting. Mr. Zephaniah Phiri Maseko and his family ­ the 
Zimbabwean water harvesters ­ are our example and the principles are our 
guides.



Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Volume 1 -Guiding Principles to Welcome 
Rain Into Your Life and Landscape Volume 1
By Brad Lancaster
www.HarvestingRainwater.com
Now Available!
Turn water scarcity into water abundance! Rainwater Harvesting for
Drylands, Volume 1 is the core of the complete three-volume guide on how to 
conceptualize, design, and implement sustainable water-harvesting systems 
for your home, landscape, and community. This book enables you to access 
your on-site resources (rainwater, greywater, topsoil, sun, plants, and 
more), gives you a diverse array of strategies to maximize their potential, 
and empowers you with guiding principles to create an integrated, 
multi-functional, and water-sustainable water-harvesting landscape plan 
specific to your site and needs.
Clearly written with more than 40 photos and 115 illustrations, this volume 
helps bring your site to life, reduce your cost of living, endow yourself 
and your community with skills of self-reliance and cooperation, and create 
living air conditioners of vegetation growing beauty, food, and wildlife 
habitat. Stories of people who are successfully welcoming rain into their 
life and landscape will invite you to do the same!
Learn more about the book and see sample chapters.

Brad’s own site is featured in the book along with many other case studies 
­ urban, suburban, and rural. By using simple and inexpensive techniques 
the Lancaster household now harvests over 100,000 gallons of rainwater in 
an average year of 12 inches of rainfall (most water is harvested in the 
soil and vegetation), while using less than 20,000 gallons of municipal 
water. Due to the low water use, Tucson Water has visited a number of times 
thinking the water meter was broken. All utility bills have dropped due to 
a landscape design incorporating passive winter heating and summer cooling 
to the point that the combined bills of gas, water, and electric do not 
exceed $35 per month. Turning scarcity into abundance then extends into the 
neighborhood with neighborhood-wide native, food-producing tree plantings 
and water-harvesting traffic
calming strategies that double as flood control measures that beautify
the neighborhood. It will all get you dancing when it rains and lessen
the negative effects of drought!

Brad Lancaster’s bio
Brad Lancaster is the author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands,
Volume 1 - Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain Into Your Life and Landscape 
(www.HarvestingRainwater.com). In addition, he has been teaching the 
sustainable design system of permaculture and integrated rainwater 
harvesting systems, and running his own permaculture design,
consultation, and education business since 1993. He has taught programs for 
the ECOSA Institute, Columbia University, University of Arizona, Prescott 
College, Audubon Expeditions, Berea College, Sonoran
Permaculture Teaching Guild, Permaculture Drylands Institute, the
Amphitheater School District, and others. He has designed water
harvesting permaculture systems for Milagro Co-housing, Stone Curves 
Co-housing, Rio Development, Civano, and others. Brad and his brother have 
created, and live on, a thriving 1/8th of an acre urban permaculture site 
in downtown Tucson, Arizona. Within his neighborhood and beyond, Brad feeds 
his passion for community building and activism, resulting in the creation 
of the Dunbar/Spring Organic Community Garden, mini-nature park, BICAS 
(Bicycle Inter-Community Arts and Salvage), annual neighborhood native tree 
plantings, and the desert harvesters project (www.DesertHarvesters.org).




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