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Planning is very important
Biomimicry and Light Recipes
On missions to Mars, NASA and other world space agencies use every single advantage that they can get to keep astronauts healthy. A journey to Mars would include micro-farms. Plants scrub the air, provide nutrition, and can positively impact astronauts' emotions. We have learned from those agencies that light recipes work well in controlling and assisting the growth of plant life in confined spaces.
When light passes through a prism, the light is broken into several colors. Plants use different color spectrums. Red for instance will help a plant grow quickly and tall, while the color blue will keep a plant short but stocky. Using 3D printing we will create a special scaffold that wraps around the base of the tree or plant and add different colored plastics. The plastics will amplify color lighting and reach the plant base.
3D Printing will also be used to mimic the Dynastinaes of beetles, which are small horns or husks on the beetle. The husk is used for many things, but one important use is to capture water in the early morning dew. We are including these beetle-style horns within the printed scaffold. As the water gathers on these husks it becomes heavy enough to fall and deposited to the plant below.
Finally, we will use specialized tubing with caps at the top and bottom. A simple shoestring is fed through the buried cap. The tube is then filled with water and humic acid to the root bed around the roots. The shoestring gradually releases water to the roots of the plant for weeks. This gives the plant an advantage during the long months between monsoon seasons.
We should talk:
If you cannot join us on the property, you can still get involved. Use the buymeacoffee link to donate. We will soon offer merch to help fundraise for our excavator, but one of the fastest ways to help us is to share our website and social media accounts with others to spread the word and help us grow, no pun intended.
Fund Raising
An Excavator is badly needed:
We are looking for a used excavator that does not need a lot of repairs. We are open to a donation of heavy equipment, but it is unlikely that anyone would happen to have an excavator lying around. The excavator will be used to dig swales on contour. Without the heavy equipment, the work will go on with shovels.
This is a big-ticket item for us, so to raise funds, we will sell hats and other products. We have not decided on the type of items supporters might enjoy. Since funding is limited, we have to budget very carefully. To blindly purchase items that no one would buy defeats the purpose of raising funds.
If any of our readers have any ideas, please let us hear them. We hope to meet others along the way with access to this type of equipment, but due to our extreme location, and current road conditions, renting equipment is not an option.
Ground Cover
Plants chosen
The plants that we will initially add will be very small nitrogen-fixers that grow in Zone 8b. First, we need to work with the soil. We need to determine what is missing, what can be added, and how to adjust the pH level of the soil. This will take time. The small seeds like chia and fescue grass will be the first step. The soil will be enriched with humic acid and biochar worked into the ground. Larger plants will follow:
- Verbena Bonariensis
- Salvia Farinacea
- Amorpha Fruticosa
- Asclepias Asperula
- Asclepias Speciosa (Showy Plant)
- Baccharis Salicifolia
- Chamaenerion Angustifolium
- Lupinus Arizonicus
- Arizona Aster
- Antelope Horns Milkweed
- English Lavender
- Desert Lavender
- Chilopsis linearis (Erosion Control)
- Handroanthus Chrysanthus
- Mint
These larger plants were chosen due to their ability to grow when the pH levels are at a specific target, the plants also encourage pollinators like bees, and butterflies and some offer food for the smaller wildlife. Other plants not listed like legumes will be used for nitrogen-fixing.
10,000 Trees
We hope to plant 10,000 trees in our first year on the property. The trees will be planted in a Fibonacci pattern on the three ridges on the property. We have chosen 28 species of trees. The trees are mostly native, but we will include Fruit and Nut trees. The plants we will add in the first year will start from seeds. We have created an Amazon wish list for anyone interested in purchasing seeds.
- Velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina)
- Blue Jacaranda (Ornamental)
- Olneya Tesota
- Foothills Palo Verde
- Arizona Walnut
- Pinyon Pine
- Chokecherry
- Arizona Ash
- Farnesiana Acacia
- White Balsam
- Prosopis glandulous
- Quaking Aspen Tree
- Papya Tree
- Goodding’s willow ( Salix Gooding)
- Mulberry Tree
- Western Redbud
- Ash Fraxinus Anomala
- Arizona Sycamore
- Water Birch
- Silver Oak
- Emory Oak
- Arizona White Oak
- Yellowhorn
- Marina Strawberry Tree
We chose the trees above for several reasons, growth elevation, shade, lifespan, growing zone, Nitrogen Fixing, and consumables for humans and wildlife. Many of the trees listed above can be found on the Wishlist.
Using the button below, you will see basic drone footage of the SE Corner of the property. This footage and topography maps will help us plan the swales and areas where trees will be planted. We are starting in the SE corner because it is ideally close to where the well and engineering habitat will be located. This is a small corner hill that is approximately 1 acre. We can plant many trees on this ridge.