How can we dwell wisely in the desert?
The drought has made water more precious. I invited my out of town friends to join us for our first Desert-Wise Living Landscape Tour hosted by Morongo Basin Conservation Association. Their long morning trek is rewarded with banana pancakes, an award-winning custard pie dessert and coffee, then off we go together to learn desert-wise water and energy strategies.
We first visit the homestead of Mr. Jose Martinez in Flamingo Heights. He’s a cactus whisperer as all his plants look mightily healthy and happy. He regales us with origin stories of his plants and adventures of local fauna. He has cultivated a desert garden of mostly native desert flora with cuttings and seedlings. He tailors to the plants’ water needs as conservatively as possible and sometimes treats them to old milk and cola!
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| Spring bloom! |
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| Like desert roses... Cactus bloom galore! |
The next stop is called the Ocotillo
House in Yucca Valley, a straw bale house under construction with sloped butterfly roof. The landscape is undisturbed, dotted with diverse
native vegetation, so the focus is on energy efficiency: solar panels, rainwater
collection, straw bales for insulation, gray-water usage and an unusual power system. Kevin
the owner/builder explains how the day’s solar energy would power electric
motors to lift a boulder, and at night the stored inertia would cause motors to
generate electricity as the boulder lowers itself. Another novel element: the pipes on the eaves are
designed with holes so the wind would play them like giant flutes! What a house of dreams!
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| Photo by Ocotillo House |
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| Butterfly roof! Photo by Ocotillo House |
After a refreshing cold drink stop at
Food For Thought Cafe at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, we drive through long stretches of unpaved roads north
of Joshua Tree to the homestead of artist Judy Wold & Robert Wold who are
ambitiously restoring a formerly scraped landscape using various permaculture elements:
downspout drains, gray-water usage, contour swales, berms and mulching. Their
lovely garden is thriving with native and drought tolerant plants. The former homestead
is transformed to a beautiful art studio and their adjacent new home is built
with solar panels, rain gutters and rainwater tank. The inside and outside space handiwork is all exceedingly good and gorgeous!
The tour was an enriching experience. It was a wonderful way to see friends and share an experience together. We all agreed it was an inspiring call to action to see the desert homes and gardens use creative ways towards desert-wise living. Water is life so use it wisely!