New Sonoran

Natural Plaster

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:26:42 GMT

Kristina, asked how difficult it is to get the natural plaster to stick to itself, and where did we get the recipe? First question first. The plaster is remarkably easy to work with. I have stuccoed with "traditional" stucco of sand, lime and cement, as well as with other types of plaster, such as earth with asphalt emulsion added as a stabalizer, and this is by far the most pleasant experience dealing with plaster. First it is non-toxic and all natural. Second, it is free. Third you can actually touch it with the hands without the caustic burn caused by cement and lime. And finally it has a beautiful elasticity to it. It adheres very well to the cob wall. The only question so far is how will it hold up to weather? Often with natural plasters one must replaster periodically, once a year, or every couple of years. That's why concrete and lime stucco is so popular. With the busy modern lifestyle, people just can't get out there and do it, even if they had the knowledge to do it. With Diane's and my changing lifestyle (slowing down, making less money, spending far less money, etc) we can see ourselves doing it once in a while. We'll throw a plastering party!!!! Invite all our friends, get plastered (pun intended), and enjoy ourselves. That's what it's all about anyway, right? I have the feeling though that this will hold up well to the weather, it has a good strong feel to it. As for the recipe, we got it from a book on natural plaster from the Arivaca Library. The book is called appropriately, "The Natural Plaster Book" it is by Cedar Rose Guelberth & Dan Chiras. It is available at several branches in the Tucson. The recipe only called for manure and clay, but our friend Kyle Young, a natural builder in Arivaca suggested the fermented nopal juice. Nopal has been used traditionally for a stabalizer. The have used it on the restoration of Mission San Xavier del Bac. Most of the time it is boiled, but Kyle suggested fermentation for a couple of reasons, the micro organisms in the finished product aid in creating the strength, and with fermentation, no fuel energy is used to make the juice, just the sun and time.
So, there you have it....that's about all I know about the subject. As I said in a previous entry, I'll let you know how it holds up.

The Humanure Handbook

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 00:50:34 GMT

The Humanure Handbook

Every now and then that certain book comes along, or that newspaper article or you meet that certain person who reinforces or re-inspires you, and renews your efforts in the work you are doing. In this case it is The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins. In it Jenkins shows the way to self-sufficiency and sustainability. He reveals the answer, and it is indeed a crappy answer. That answer lies in humanure…creating rich fertilizer from our own crap – completing the Human Nutrient Cycle –the ultimate in recycling. This book is a must read for those of us who wish to create a more sustainable life. Jenkins presents the arguments for recycling our most basic human resource and against contributing to the flow of sewage pollution in a clear and convincing, not to mention humorous way.

His book is available in the public library. The call number is 363.7288 j4174h1999. If you’d like to buy it, go to www.jenkinspublishing.com . Also, Jenkins has a standing offer to provide a gratis copy of the book to any public official involved in municipal, county, or township waste treatment or permitting, or resource recovery. Jenkins has just released the 3rd edition of the book.

So there you have it, now go get it and change your life.

Peace

Prepare for Rains Now

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 16:21:32 GMT

Prepare for rains now

We are again in the midst of our dry season. People are waiting for the winter rains. It is that time of year when we have forgotten how we felt when we saw all that monsoon rain water running off our roof and yard and out into the street and out of our lives. Remember? We’ve forgotten that promise we made ourselves to “next year do some rainwater harvesting.” Other things have taken priority; the holidays are here, family is coming into town, the car registration is due, the list goes on… But, we need to remember, we need to prepare… The time is now, while we are dry; while we are anticipating the sweet onset of rain; before we see that water running out of our lives. Do something to keep it around. Get out into the yard, create some earthworks, install a cistern, put up gutters and downspouts to direct that water where it will do some good for your landscape. When the rains come you’ll be glad you did! Remember as of the first of the year, the state is giving a TAX CREDIT of up to $1,000 toward the installation of a water harvesting system.

Natural Plaster

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 04:26:43 GMT

Welcome to the greatest pooper ever!!!!!! The new update is this. Today we finished the roof, and started plastering the inside. We are using a dung plaster. Here is the recipe: 50% clay, and 50% horse or cow manure. Add to this a water solution that contains 10 parts water and 1 part Nopal juice. Nopal juice is made from
chopped up Nopale (prickley pear) which is added to water and left to ferment. We left it for six days, and it came out looking very good. A little stinky but seemed to work great. This solution is then strained to retain the mucusy cactus juice, but to get rid of the pulp. Mix it all together and it makes a good plaster that is all natural and
easy to use. I will give you updates on how it holds up to the weather. So far it looks great. Check out the pictures. Peace.

Barrio Anita Tree Planting

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:57:30 GMT

On November 4th neighbors in Barrio Anita gathered for the first ever Barrio Anita tree planting project. 26 mesquite, sweet acacia and blue palo verde trees were planted along Anita Avenue. Trees were given to anyone who would agree to water them. Neighbors were out working and talking together in a true morning of excitement. People were talking about the future when
Anita Avenue would be a tree lined street and people would be able "take a beautifu walk in the morning." The economist E.F. Schumacher in his classic book "Small is Beautiful" said that the most political act a person can undertake is "to plant a tree." So people in this election time...LET'S GET POLITICAL...let's get out and plant some trees!!! PEACE!!

Gates

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 04:10:59 GMT

I just took some pictures of a gate I built for some friends. It represents an ocotillo. It is made of all recycled materieals. Rebar, square tubing and metal screening. All the materials were purchased from Gersons recycled construction materials. Incase you haven't visited Gerson's, you should. They are located on South Park Avenue at Silverlake. They have great recycled building materials, bathtubs, toilets, doors, bricks, lumber, steel, all kinds of materials that can be used in natural building. Come back soon for updated photos of the new composting toilet. Peace.

Composting Toilet/ Cob Building

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 02:51:13 GMT

Since the first weekend in June, Diane and I have been building a composting toilet on our property in Arivaca
We have a small cabin there, and are going to build a cob cottage. We eventually hope to retire there. Here is
the challenge. we are not going to drill a well. We have decided to harvest all our water. We have been harvesting
rainwater for years for use on our landscape and vegetable garden. However, we have not taken the challenge of
using harvested rainwater for all our water use. I will continue to add coments and thoughts as we progress, but
point of this entry is that we are building the composting toilet. For those who have no experience with a toilet
like this, I'll fill you in.

A composting toilet, also known as a pit toilet is a water free human waste disposal device consisting of two chambers
built above ground. A toilet is placed above one of the chambers. This chamber is used for people's toilet needs until
it is filled. It is then sealed up, and the stool is moved over to the empty chamber. The full chamber is sealed and
remains so while the other chamber is used. For our family of two, it will take approximately 6 months for the chamber
to fill. During that time, the first chamber is composting. After the second chamber is full, the first is opened and
the composted Humanure is removed. At this point, it looks and feels like soil...because it is. The humanure is removed
for use on plants. The second chamber is then sealed and the stool is moved back to the first chamber.

Attached to this article is a photo showing the finished chamber. The concrete forms are in place to pour the slab that will form\
the floor of the toilet/lid of the chamber. Above this we will build the out house. We are going to build the house using cob. I will
write more on cob in future entries.

When we talk to people about composting our own waste, we often are met with looks of disgust. People can't imagine "going" in
an outhouse. They think it will stink and generally be disgusting, like the port o potties at a rock concert. But if done correctly,
composting toilets don't stink, and there is no risk of pathogens being spread. The waste is completely composted and rendered
benign. The resulting "soil" is safe to use on plants.

How We Started Harvesting Rainwater

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:26:19 GMT

How We Got Into Rainwater Harvesting.
Diane and I got into rainwater harvesting purely by accident, and before we even knew what rainwater harvesting was. In 1991 we bought an old adobe house in Barrio Anita on Tucson’s west side. The house had been neglected for years, and was on the verge of being condemned. It was sold in “as-is” condition for – get this - $19,000. This was good because we had no money.
The house sat on the bottom end of a slight slope. Since there was absolutely no vegetation other than weeds on the lot, over the years topsoil washed down slope and settled around the foundation of the house. The fact that the house actually sits below grade compounded this. Eventually the soil level rose above the top of the foundation. Anyone who knows about adobe knows that you should above all keep it dry. The stucco on the house was in terrible condition, with much of it missing. As the soil rose above the foundation, it allowed water to wick into the adobe and compromise it (called coving). The first thing I knew I had to do was to remove the soil from against the house. So I began hauling dirt from around the house. I hauled it back to the top of the slope. Then I thought that it was only going to wash back down in the rain. Next I thought, why not keep the water from running down to the house. So I started building berms with the dirt that I hauled. I built a series of them to slow down the water and allow it to infiltrate the soil. This sounds like the basic principle of rainwater harvesting right? Next I came up with the idea of planting things on the berms. Since money was shy, we took cuttings from friends’ cacti. We brought in rock that we scrounged from road cuts and decorated the berms, we built a retaining wall (with salvaged broken concrete chunks called urbanite) to further slow down water. But still water tended to settle around the house. So, I installed two French drains (basically a ditch filled with ¾ inch gravel, there is one shown in picture 2. It is covered with gravel and urbanite pavers), and we installed gutters and 55 gallon barrels to catch water from the roof, all in an attempt to keep water away from the house. We dug catchment basins and directed water toward them. In the meantime we continued to gather plants. Diane gathered mesquite seeds and sprouted trees which we planted.

While this was going on, we noticed that in a near-by neighborhood called Dunbar-Spring we noticed things happening with native desert plants. We thought, “hey that looks a little like our yard”. We then started hearing about this guy in that neighborhood named Brad Lancaster (see his link above), and what he was doing with rainwater harvesting. Around the same time we took a workshop at Tohono Chul park on rainwater harvesting. The workshop was taught by Scott Calhoun formerly of Civano Nursery, but now the owner of Zona Gardens (see the link above). It was here that we learned about cisterns, and we knew we had to build one. Over the years we had watched our rain barrels fill and overflow within seconds during a good monsoon storm. We piggybacked several barrels together, but still they overflowed. We needed more capacity. Scott Calhoun taught us how to get it. Today we have two cisterns made from highway culverts (pictures 1 & 3). We catch thousands of gallons of water off our roof each year. That combine with our basins and berms allows us to catch every drop of water that falls on our property. It is now a desert garden. Here are some pictures.

Our Backyard

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:32:50 GMT

This is a picture of our backyard. When we bought this property 15 years ago, it was a bare empty space. The only vegetation were weeds -- amaranth and bullheads. Since we had little money, the first plants we installed were cuttings from friends' cacti. We gathered mesquite tree seeds and grew our first trees ourselves. We started water harvesting out of necessity (more on that later.) We now have approximately one hundred trees along with other native desert plants on our lot which is 50' x 150'. It is a beautiful piece of restored deseert habitat. We have desert birds, lizards, squirrels, a desert tortoise who visits once in a while, all nesting and living in the yard.

Beginning Water Harvesting

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:12:17 GMT

Out of necessity, interest in rainwater harvesting is growing rapidly in Tucson. The purpose of this blog is to discuss that increasing interest, and share ideas about how we can save water while creating beautiful desert landscapes. After all, why did we move to Tucson anyway? My company New Sonoran Desert Landscapes is working on a concept called Desert Restoration Landscaping in which we recreate natural desert environments in individual homeowners' backyards. I'll keep you informed as we progress. I'll also provide links to people in the Tucson area who are leaders in both this field and the field of rain water harvesting. Rain water harvesting is easy for the beginner to do. It can get more complex if you want, or you can keep it simple. The photo above is a simpe basin and berm. It'll catch water in a storm and hold it for the native desert plants to use. So let's get out in the backyard and start shovelling some dirt around. Plant a native desert tree, sit in the shade and listen to the cactus wren chatter at you.
Peace.