Try to plant Texas lupin great to fertilize soil.

Shaun, you need to double check that manure before you use it. If the horses were fed hay that was treated with herbicides, then those plant killers WILL 100% be in your manure. It will kill your farm before it has a chance to start. Please, be careful. Watch the following KZfaq videos by David the Good for reference: "WARNING: This COMMON Toxin in Manure Will DESTROY Your Garden!" "How to Test Manure for Grazon"

I personally think you shoudl dig a pond, wait for rain and then do industrial farming. Grow Corn, potato or something that can grow in poor soil! Corn gives you mulch, seed and money. Later keep cow and you have more money. Make it profitable and sustainable.

A plan you can use: 1. Site Assessment and Preparation 1.1. Soil Analysis • Conduct a thorough soil analysis to determine nutrient levels, pH, and composition. • Identify specific deficiencies and toxicities in the soil. 1.2. Land Preparation • Clear the land of any debris and unwanted vegetation. • Implement contour farming techniques to prevent erosion and maximize water retention. 2. Water Management 2.1. Rainwater Harvesting • Design and Construct a Lined Pond: • Calculate the volume of water needed to sustain the farm for a year considering evaporation rates and expected rainfall. • Select an appropriate site near the rain catchment area for the pond. • Excavate and line the pond with a durable, impermeable material to prevent seepage. • Install an overflow system to handle excess water during heavy rains. • Rain Catchment System: • Install gutters and downspouts on all structures to channel rainwater into the pond. • Use first-flush diverters to ensure that the initial, debris-laden runoff does not enter the storage system. 2.2. Irrigation System • Drip Irrigation: • Implement a drip irrigation system to minimize water waste and ensure efficient water delivery to plants. • Solar-Powered Pumps: • Use solar-powered pumps to move water from the pond to the irrigation system, reducing reliance on external energy sources. 3. Soil Improvement 3.1. Organic Matter Addition • Cover Crops: • Plant cover crops like legumes to fix nitrogen and improve soil structure. • Composting: • Establish a composting system using farm waste and other organic materials to create nutrient-rich compost for soil amendment. • Mulching: • Apply a thick layer of organic mulch (such as straw or corn residue) to retain soil moisture, suppress weeds, and add organic matter. 3.2. Soil Amendments • Lime and Gypsum: • Apply lime to raise the pH if the soil is too acidic and gypsum to improve soil structure and drainage. • Fertilizers: • Use organic fertilizers such as bone meal, blood meal, and manure to add essential nutrients. 4. Crop Selection and Management 4.1. Crop Selection • Corn: • Choose drought-resistant varieties of corn that are well-suited to the local climate. • Potatoes: • Select varieties that can thrive in poor soil conditions with proper amendments. 4.2. Crop Rotation and Polyculture • Crop Rotation: • Rotate crops to prevent soil depletion and reduce pest and disease buildup. • Intercropping: • Implement intercropping strategies to maximize space and improve soil health. For example, plant legumes alongside corn to fix nitrogen in the soil. 4.3. Pest and Weed Management • Integrated Pest Management (IPM): • Use IPM techniques, including biological controls, mechanical controls, and selective use of organic pesticides. • Weed Control: • Utilize mulching, cover crops, and manual weeding to keep weed pressure low. 5. Livestock Integration 5.1. Cattle Management • Breed Selection: • Choose cattle breeds that are well-adapted to the local climate and have high feed-to-meat conversion ratios. • Pasture Management: • Implement rotational grazing to prevent overgrazing and maintain pasture health. 5.2. Manure Management • Composting: • Compost cattle manure to create high-quality organic fertilizer for crops. • Manure Spreading: • Use composted manure to enrich soil and improve its fertility. 6. Profitability and Sustainability 6.1. Diversification • Additional Crops: • Grow additional crops like beans, squash, or sunflowers to diversify income sources. • Value-Added Products: • Explore opportunities for value-added products such as cornmeal, cattle feed, or organic compost for sale. 6.2. Market Analysis • Local Markets: • Identify and establish relationships with local markets, restaurants, and grocery stores. • Direct Sales: • Consider direct-to-consumer sales models such as farmers’ markets, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs, or online sales. 6.3. Sustainability Practices • Renewable Energy: • Incorporate renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, to power farm operations. • Conservation Practices: • Implement water conservation techniques and soil erosion control measures to protect natural resources.

You can sub irrigate with drip tape next time. You save massive amounts water. You could need a larger pump and might need pressurized drip tape.

Yes!

100% !!

Exactly! Especially granite shouldn't be to difficult.

Feather and wedges

Exactly, you buy the tools once, no ongoing expenses or chemical residues. Figuring out how to split stones yourself onsite will also give you an edge on building water retention structures that work.

yeah, I bought the same thing and had the same problem. I'm going to rent a chipper shredder this fail for the piles of brush I've been struggling with.

10 hp and up for headache reducing chipping

I thought the same! Hope he sees your recommendation. Greetings from Austria

Yeah, this is a the call. A mobile chipper that can be hauled anywhere on the ranch or to a differiet site. Bring a shovel and chainsaw and go to town filling the trailer high. Woodchip will probably be your best choice even though they don't retain water as well because they are less prone to being blown away. Remember part of the reasoning is to sheild from that wind. On top of that, you need a metric butt ton of wood chips to cover even the smallest area if you want to push growth. And the following year you will need about 1/2 to 1/3 of first year deposit to make good thick layer of good soil.

The fibers in some desert plants are really strong like twine I think he should rent one and see how it goes

Shaun could use the sandbags for that. Cover sandbags with lime-clay plaster for a breathable and rain resistant structure. Dustups Ranch will get torrential rains.

excellent suggestion. I was also thinking Shaun needs some kind of animal feedback to provide soil nutrients and mulch. Birds are not a bad option.

I love this theory. Every oasis farm settlement has them in Iraq

They also eat the birds

Great suggestion. Hope he sees this

I was thinking the same thing. Even small roofs over each one would be orders of magnitude better than having nothing at all. A cost, sure, and possibly impossible since they're a wind sail that might get ruined with the first good storm, but something worth investigating since it'd help so much with the cooling costs as well as providing some "quality of life" improvements. Nothing better than sitting under the shade of your porch, in a rocking chair, and watching the world go by!

@@threeriversforge1997 It could probably be done quite cheaply with salvaged materials. I'm a scrapper and could build one for free.

I'm in West Texas too, and people with successful canopies have heavy-duty anchors (welded steel appears to be 4-5" diameter). Also, heavy duty poly canvas. It must be taut to prevent wind from moving it, so it doesn't damage the canvas.

Anything would be great. I have encouraged him to consider an actual metal roof that he could harvest water from. Materials would be expensive but I think he mentioned wanting to do something like your saying

Greenhouse shade cloth is potentially a better material than tarps.

US civilians aren’t allowed to play with explosives without significant licensing and oversight……surprisingly. I guess in the cowboy days too many rich guys had their trains robbed and safes exploded with readily available mining dynamite, so now we don’t get to have fun.

Spitze Ideen! 🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭

Way to much work, you cna break rocks with just heat and cold. Heat them up and they expand and if they are hot enough they'll break when they contract as they cool down. In a place like texas it might be enough to paint it black.

@@DaDunge Also a great plan!

@@DaDunge With a proper drill you are done in half an hour. But that's the point: you need to know what you are doing.

That's such great feedback.

Lol governments do love their meetings

Yup. Just like nothing happened with phone calls. Everything happened after I showed up in person

@@pauljones9150 and reading their emails.

That and I think wood chips attract more beneficial insects than harmful ones. But I don't know if that is an issue in the dessert.

I think he needs all the above. And then layers will be best

in the Middle of nowhere Texas? yeah they will, no cover.

@@gillsmoke not if thrown into dirt tubs, but wind can absolutely blow dried grass out even from a hole in the ground.

But water will. My bet is, after a heavy rain all this work will be vanished. I hope, I am wrong

This is correct. Persistence and tenacity win the day here - not perfection and efficiency.

As long as you focus on ventilation, they're actually pretty comfortable, even in summer. I'm laying in mine right now at 3:14 p.m. while it's 96F outside. I'm sweating just a bit, but it's really not that bad

Sometime in the fall we are going to build a secondary roof to increase the catchment area for rainwater harvesting

Used in jumpable parachutes ars excellent for large shade area. Cost very little and have vents sewn in.

@@dustupstexas This is why you burn money, you don't listen to people with experience. As long as you focus on shade, the amount of fuel you burn to air-condition those cubes will plummet. You will also create an environment more suitable for human habitation. You should have shade cloth strung up between and above any structure and object you have in your compound. The more shade, the cooler the area. You mulch the soil to SHADE it to reduce evaporation and yet you completely dismiss this idea for your own environment. I worked 20 years around mine sites in Western Australia, it's a lot bigger, hotter, drier and more remote than little Texas and if there wasn't shade at the camps, no one would ever come back for a second swing. And stop using passenger vehicles to move tiny amounts of low density bulk goods hundreds of kms. Find the nearest source of bulk chipped biomass, preferably free like arborists waste, and hire a transport company to deliver it 50 tons at a time. Spend your time spreading it, not driving around collecting a few sticks at a time. $2k to get 100 yards of free mulch delivered is cheap.

Cool idea. That should probably go on the experiment vidoe

Not sure if that is going to work when there isn't much water in the air.

Interesting! I was wondering about this very thing because I have rock mulch around the (already established) plants in my planting beds. It's amazing how much dirt those rocks trap, and I consequently have to fight the sprouting weeds!

& the mulch covered hose will protect the hose from sun damage & make the water cooler instead of being hot, & prevent evaporation

Interesting information

what is the difference between terra preta and loam? cant find an answer on google..

​@@mrhappystore8611loam regards the consistency of the soil while terra peeta is a way to produce a black earth replacement

Please don't, any drugs or chemicals flushed down the toilet are in that waste.

@@mrhappystore8611 search for the wikipedia artikel, i can't explain it better as it is written there. I think the most importanted part in Terra Preta is the charcoal. It holds water and nutrient. would be be intresting too see a test area over 2 years.

I think they have to bring in hay/straw from other states, so I don’t believe this is a great option.

All of the cost of straw is in shipping here imagine shipping in straw from spain

I'm not sure about bulk prices, but Timothy hay goes for like $7 a pound. I see farmers with bales of alphalfa and whatnot all the time in the fall, but that's in a much wetter (relatively speaking) part of Texas than where he's at

@@patrickday4206 I'm sure you're right, but I'm not sure why this is pertinent here...

@@misstweetypie1 letting the guy from the Netherlands understand pricing

Fight the WInd! onward HO!!

@@westwashere2214 ❤️❤️👍👍

The wind is a huge concern with grass. I've had several dust devils blow through the terrace. Aside from witnessing it, I know the incidents that I missed because you can see a gap in the grass mulch where it blew through

@@dustupstexas When I put down light mulch like clippings and leaves, I always have to put twigs on top of it to keep them from blowing away in the wind. I can't imagine what the situation is in your area with baby tornados wanting to raise a fuss! With all that woody material piled on the side of the road, it'd be worth investing in a heavy duty wood chipper. I just rented a diesel-fired tow-behind chipper for a weekend to break down some crepe myrtle and it cost me about $350. Did a fantastic job on the crepe myrtle up to 6" in diameter, so now I'm spreading out a ton of mulch! Just make sure to rent it on Friday so you don't have to return it till monday since the rental store is closed for the weekend!

@@dustupstexas Edge of Nowhere Farms just put out another vid and demonstrated how their area handles the winds and rains of the monsoon storm. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qqmDqKt0vNa6iI0.html They're putting the wood chips on very thick, but you can see just how it pays off for them. The chips might take longer to break down and become soil, but just look at how beautiful that soil is! 😀

Love the story. Very cool

True. I will factor that into the analysis, but grass decomposes much more slowly out here because we don't have enough moisture

In the deserts of the southwest a cow pie can last 100 years without breaking down. Ranchers have to import dung beetles so the manure can become part of the ecological cycle.. So, people's experience with mulch doesn't necessarily apply in this case. Even the guy on KZfaq comparing mulch and water retention might have different results with the desicating winds at DUSTUPS.

@@treefrog5218Yes, each area requires different approaches!

Was thinking the same. Not every where will have enough rocks to build a rock dam. but using the sand bags and the larger gravel to cover and protect the bags could help . Plus if he gets the right bags next time, they will last longer.

@@lesliebrannon2191 doesn’t really have to last that long. The wash will back fill the dam soon enough, depending on the amount of rain. Unpacked sand/rock is going to saturate quickly and give. It’s a ton of work to build a sandbag dam. But a ton of zig/zag to slow things and collect sediment to build up on it might over time slow things down enough.

@@windirono5409 HE needs to hold the water as long as he can, Using the machine I think it does 30 sand bags at a time, Plus with the gravel sieve it also give him larger gravel to put in front of the sand bags . That will catch the sediment. Maybe 1 or 2 trip in the pick up would be enough each time. The zig-zags also involves lots of work, but does not hold the water it only slows it down. Which is fine if you have lots of water. It might work in some places.

I'd rather spend the money on Dexpan and not hammer all day. Got too many tasks to get through

@@dustupstexas dexpan sounds like expanding demolistion stuff yes.... makes sense and yes a bit less work than splitting it by hand. I'm a bit of an arm and leg power fanatic lol (sometimes even when its to my detriment)

I'm betting that road like so many others can never be good enough.

@@westwashere2214 lol

The county only fixes the road once per year. It will likely create a hauling season. Hauling is a bad idea during monsoon season

I bought a 6.6L 2003 Silverado 3500 with a newish engine (10k miles) and have been fixing it up at home here and there. It will be on the ranch in August. You're right about the Tacoma and the trailer. It's a bandaid until I can run the dually. The dually will be a farm truck. It will rarely leave my ranch road

@@dustupstexas Sweet. Glad to hear it and sorry if I missed it on other videos that you had that other truck. Hope you can get it fixed up soon. I like the mentality of Daniel (?), looking for solutions in unexpected places. Turning a waste that TXdot has to pay to haul off or burn into a resource is 100% good permaculture thinking. Permaculture is about the mentality that "the problem is the solution."

I live near the area in El Paso and I can attest that indeed the rains were really spotty

They burn it

I do

The woodchipper is just as _professional_ as the cheap hoses he is using. This guy is just a amateur that keeps buying things he doesn't need.

@@RogerKeulen I mean.. Yea he is an amateur. But that's why we are watching him on youtube. No challenge in bringing in a 1000 man strong construction crew with the budget of a small town. This is not really something done. There just isn't any money to be made

I thought about lining my roads with prickly pear for the reason that you mentioned. It's kind of a dead zone for growing. Because time is limited resource, I want to direct the efforts to where it has the most impact, which is why I didn't pursue it

@@dustupstexas I had similar thoughts, like the one about the roads, but like the bathtubs, that relies on establishing new plants in difficult spots. It would also be destroyed, if you have to expand a road a little. Also, many places along the roads are rather vulnerable when it rains, and those places which are good and not damaged by further road building, will likely become greener anyways, whenever the roads interrupt slopes. In contrast, what I was proposing, is meant to maximize impact for minimal effort. The plant islands on top of the hills are allready home to successful and resilient plants, which would expand their area of coverage without further help, if the local conditions were fixed on a very small scale. There problem isn´t that they don´t have a lot of soil, water and organic materials around. Those existing spots are limited by the fact, that the area with loose dirt, organic matter, shade and water in the ground completely ends there. The existing and established vegetation will take advantage of every little help, which it gets there. Other than some additional prickly pears along the roads, those works would specifically improve the highground above current and future terraces, which should also benefit your new tree plantations there - especially, once you put the irrigation to the next spot and it must become self sustaining. Also, the workload should be much less than planting prickly pears. Everything works with what is already available. Sufficient amounts of suitable rocks are everywhere around those spots and you only rely on the dead plant material which is already there and some loose dirt, which can be scooped up with a broom or shovel. Plants on top of hills cast the maximum amount of shadow and reduce the winds which dry out the lands the most. The water they retain and the nutrients they produce benefit the area the most. Unfortunately, you can hardly sow or plant new plants there, because they would not survive. But investing in benefiting the existing vegetation by some low intensity measures is a completely different thing.

I already bought the dexpan, but I'll probably try wedges if I get grumpy with how long it takes

very interesting post. Small equipment tends to shift to gas at about 3-5 hp becasue the North American power standards aren't wired for 3 phase aside from commercial and government and some farm, the 220 v just doesn't supply the needed power to run larger tools (due to the pre installed wire gauges), say a 10 hp chipper and then there is portability, so manufacturers don't supply these items here, so they may be hard to find, IMHO. That being said attracting solar power and implementing is brilliant and a very good idea!

I like the idea of solar electric, but how much of a load can electric devices take? It seems that electric machines tend to crap out when gas powered machines don't.

@@kevinh6008 I seen on another site a portable power pack that can power a small house . It's about the size of a very large suit case. It is power by 2 solar panels and he has been using it on all sorts of power tools for over a year with out a problem. Am sure you be able to get bigger one's depending on what power you need . There also mini wind turbines which can be used.

You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you? I think Shaun's videos have started all of our wheels turning! 🤔

@@melaniedeare5427 I agree with you 100%

Bunterpartybus you brought up an interesting point.

Excellent idea! Also a good way to get around the ranch; either a golf cart or a side-by-side.

Especially as once you do get rain the roads will probably be impassable due to washouts, mud and flooding! Lots of small slow-down dams across valleys so the water doesn't flow away as fast as it can: it will start filling up the local water table, and also evaporate so making the area more humid (which is good for local ecosystems). Such dams can be just a foot or two high and very simple -- rocks, even compacted dirt is better than nothing. All they need to do is to slow the rainwater down, not stop it.

You do not need roads to grow plants.

@@rivimey good roads attract good volunteers.

​@@RogerKeulengood roads make it easier to access areas & to move supplies & equipment

@@RogerKeulen You need roads to get to areas that you want to plant stuff. Without the roads he has already built . At least half of what he has done so far would be impossible. Just getting to the ranch in the first episode was a mission.

Especially as you seem to have a lot of wind... a 3m dia wind turbine should produce quite a bit of power, and you can use power in many ways!

​@@rivimeyI always have the impression, that Shaun likes to play with big toys texan style - trucks, bulldozers, hats, ... to turn the desert into a parking lot. Ecology and green energy is for sure not his priority

Electric trucks don't have very much towing capacity. If I'm going to spend a lot of money on a new vehicle, I need something that can haul 30,000 lbs

Are there any EV that can carry the load? Cyber truck? 😁

@@dustupstexas Makes sense.

If you have any fast-food places where you live or where you go to shop, try to talk to the employees and find out if there are certain days when they have a lot of empty cardboard boxes that they have to get rid of (normally the day they receive their weekly truck load of food or the morning after that day) Those employees normally have to break those boxes down and toss them in a dumpster, so you can probably convince them to let you take them instead (saving them the work of breaking them down or even the space in their dumpster). When I was in college, I worked at a pizza chain and we always had a ton of boxes to get rid of. Just make sure to only use corrugated cardboard and nothing that shines or is glossy. Pretty much any food place (even sit down restaurants) will have boxes at least one day a week. Grocery stores, drugstores, dollar stores too. You can cut the cardboard into strips and run them through a paper shredder, or even just lay it down in sheets and weigh it down with rocks, but shredded smaller pieces is better (more surface area, breaks down faster)

@@b4k4survivor I would try that with rocks. Whenever there are rocks involved things grow better here. It's worse than some deserts because we have long windy seasons that will blow away and dry out areas. I would try gravel and rocks over shreded cardboard. I have avoided the weak electric shredders and the motorized ones are looking like a possibility. The wind takes it if it's not heavy enough.

Birds love it for nest-building too, but I guess there aren't many birds there yet?

It's not a case of either grass or woodchip but both. They are both good in their own way.

Correct. It's not all or nothing

Persistence is my strength. I think I've heard nearly every possible criticism, but I haven't seen a single comment accusing me of not being persistent 😁

@@dustupstexas Shaun if you where not persistent and determent you would not have started this great adventure.

Be aware that ammonia in particular is essentially a poison -- it only becomes "good" when broken down by the relatively few microbes that can eat it. They excrete nitrogen compounds, which are good for plant (woody) growth. Phosphates are good/better for leafy/flowery growth.

Even one of the bigger kind from harbor freight like what you have would have been better than what he tried. I get him not wanting to spend a ton for a pull behind, but i think he can get a decent sized one like what you have on Facebook marketplace or even estate sales for like $200-$300

why do you say that? Aside from the mesquite everything there should do brilliant in a 10 hp chipper. The mesquite can be cut in to short lengths and used for nurse logs.

@@westwashere2214 The throat size. I just didn't think the throat on the chute would be big enough. And mesquite is a pretty dense wood isn't it? I have no experience with it. Everything I have heard says it would be tough to chip in a 10 hp chipper. I would look into how much it would cost to rent a big chipper.

I have a major warning for that. PFAS contamination has been found in some sewer cake waste and it is about the last thing you ever want in your soil. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eciIZ9alyNLHg5s.html&pp=ygUWdGV4YXMgZm9yZXZlciBjaGVtaWNhbA%3D%3D

I would be wary about bringing pollutants into the area and then spreading them around. There's enough polluted land around already and there are alternatives.

Yeah you read about all the farms shut down because of that pfoas and heavy metals terrible idea

I spoke to his a hydrologist that did his PhD research in this area. He told me about walking through the fields where that material was deposited and still finding pubic hairs 10 years later. No thanks

I have never seen any condensation coming off of them.

​@@dustupstexasthere is normally a drain tube, but some just have a pan where the condensate collects before it evaporates. Definitely worth looking at because they will produce something, especially now in monsoon season (even when not rainy, if the dewpoint is higher than 55F, you surely can harvest some condensate) It might seem like a tiny amount, but bear in mind, it adds up over time and it's distilled water, which is wonderful for what you're doing. Even if it's just a few quarts at a time, try to drain a tube into a small jug that you can keep the bees out of and then use that to water the nearby circles you planted with Joao

Most of the commenters that are saying use the condensation or trap the dew don't understand just how dry it is there.

I'll be expanding them with a rain roof and overhang after the growing season. The goal is make a porch and use IBCs as pillars to increase the catchment area

Or wood dowels and soak in water

We did that in the yard here. Surprisingly fast too. Had a pretty big drill being done with holes in maybe 20 seconds. Splitting was done with $10 worth of chinesium wedges and it worked great. Even 1 ton plus rocks

And don't forget some kind of a shade structure. The sun is brutal!

Yes, every real gardener starts with a big pile of shit. But he is not a gardner. This is a mix between commedy and a soap. The only thing he needed was a one truck load of actual compost (garden waste) with manure mixed in to it. With that he could start a small circle (OASIS) at the deepest point protected from the wind, that will give him mulch for free every year. You only need to protect it with some small shock wire (on a solar panel), otherwise a single cow will destroy it within a hour.

​@@RogerKeulenthis is what I have been saying. Dig a big hole and line the bottom and half way up the sides with pond liner and fill the entire thing with mulch, compost and manure. Then plant several species of grass. The pond liner will hold water in the bottom of the hole for the grass roots to drink. Then the grass will grow and provide more mulch when cut. Basically building a pond that has the water protected from evaporation by mulch.

Not going to happen, this guy aint got the money to spend and is looking for investors " your donations" to get this fairy tale going.

Yes, i see this as a commedy show.

I'm betting his pocket book runs out before the Tacoma does!

The Tacoma bed is 1.6 yards. We hauled 4-5 yards

I can't do that with a dozer is a narrow spot. I have to work with what I've got

I already have a used dually. I just haven't finished fixing it up. It'll be out here next month