Peering through the window

Peering through the window.

Awaiting the coveted monsoon. 

Long days of scorching heat.

Storm clouds roll in and roll out.

Or leave only sprinkles.

Droplets sizzle on the hot dry earth.

Teasing desert plants that wilt in the relentless sun.

Thunder in the distance.

Rain in the foothills again. 

A micro-burst takes out a neighborhood tree.

Finally, the pitter patter of rain drops on our roof.

We rush out to watch it sink into our basins.

And refill our tanks.

Is this the promised monsoon?

Where are the daily downpours of years past?

Struggling with the relentless heat. 

I seek solace in my little veggie garden.

Palo Verde branches can't shield the plants.  

Chard lays limp on the ground waiting for water. 

Leaves yellow, tomatoes melt. 

The path burns my bare feet.

Sad feet longing to sink into moist soil.

 Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

I rush back to relieve them on the cool kitchen tiles.

Chilling in my casa.

Peering through the window.

At the desert habitat we lovingly crafted, plant by plant.

With the help of our little partners who sowed the seeds. 

Starlings, sparrows, finches, thrashers, woodpeckers, doves.

Peck for seeds in the mulch.

Vie for a spot in our bird baths.

A mockingbird torments a red-tailed hawk. 

Until it takes off on majestic wings.  

We gladly share this food forest with feathered friends.

But thrashers break into our veggie garden.

Hop and peck and knock off basil leaves

Poke holes in tomatoes meant for us.

A small price to share our yard with endangered fowl.

Then greedy harvester ants strip every edible leaf from a cherished moringa tree.

But it will grow back, won't it? 

This is the season for tasty purslane and sprawling, spiky goat heads.

In our rain basin transplanted purslane thrives beneath hand-watered pollinators.

Nourished with captured rain. 

Birds and ants snatch the leaves - the tastiest part for us too. 

But hope reigns in the rain.

Leaves grow back, flowers bloom, seeds spread.

Attracting the long awaited and longed for quails. 

One settles in a puddle under a newly watered weed.

 I watch from my window and smile.

A joyful sign of hope in the desert.

More Information: 

Our Yard the Bird Feeder

Reporter shares my passion for rainwater basins

Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows how passionate I am about our rainwater harvesting catchment basins. I've been known to share the benefits with anyone who strolls by our yard. I even started a #lovemyrainbasin campaign to promote them. 

If you're looking for a way to conserve water, putting in catchment basins to water native plants is one of the most effective and affordable things you can do. Sure, covering your yard with gravel and drought tolerant cactus and agaves saves water, too. But there are more productive uses for that space that actually enhance our desert environment. With a little love and care, you can create a shady habitat to enjoy the frolicking birds or glean delicious food from your own edible forest.

I recently had the opportunity to share my basins with Clara Migoya, a reporter with the Arizona Republic, who had read about our campaign. 

Spurred on by the water crisis, a few reporters have done mini-stories on our rainwater harvesting features. While I excitedly pointed out the benefits of our basins, they inevitably zoomed in on our rain tanks. So it was refreshing chatting with an environmental reporter who seemed genuinely interested. 

After the usual interview questions, I showed off how our gutters and downspout direct rain into the long basin that nourishes our three jujube trees (Chinese fruit trees). I explained how Dan had to remove a hedge of ugly, aging oleanders before digging the basin and planting the saplings. The tree on the far end grew four times faster than the two that were planted where the oleander had poisoned the soil. Clara snapped pictures as I pointed out how the native grasses slowed down the water, keeping it from washing away the mulch and organic matter. The roots of those grasses also allowed the water to sink in and helped build healthy soil. The basins soaked in so much rainwater, that I haven't had to water the jujube trees this spring. And the two smaller trees have grown nearly as big as the tallest tree! 

The next stop was the right of way basin. Dan rooted out the bermuda grass that had taken over the area, and dug basins around higher mounds where we planted moringa seeds and a wolfberry plant. He filled the basin with woodchip mulch (that has since broken down into soil). And we planted native bunch grass to help the water infiltrate and prevent erosion. Along with the mulch and other organic matter, it creates a sponge to hold the moisture longer.

Three moringa trees, a wolfberry, Mexican honeysuckle, a volunteer desert broom and some wild flowers provide sustenance for a variety of pollinators. We harvest the moringa leaves to add nutrition to various dishes and dry them to make a healthy tea. 

The moringa trees die every winter during a hard freeze. But they come back from the roots in the spring. Native grasses really did their job here. So much water sunk in from the rainy season that we haven't had to water them so far. During a rainstorm the water will continue sinking in long after our 500 gallon cistern is full. Here I'm demonstrating how high the moringa grow during one monsoon season. That means the roots under the surface must be that long as well.   

I pointed out a good angle to shoot our mesquite guild with the slimline rain tanks in the background. Noticing the Audubon's HABITAT AT HOME sign, Clara asked what makes it a habitat. I was happy to point out the native plants in the mesquite guild that provide food and shelter for birds, pollinators, and other desert critters.  

The mesquite tree provides shade and nitrogen to the desert hackberry and our cactus garden. It acts as a "nurse plant" to protect a young saguaro cactus from the harsh desert sun.

You might be asking, "Where is the basin?" Dan built a berm to direct roof water away from the foundation of the house and into a shallow basin. The desert plants were placed on the high end of that basin. I remember when Dan brought home his scrawny "Charlie Brown mesquite tree." Now it is thriving! 

A gravel path separates the other side of the front yard basin where we have planted a native acacia and another variety of hackberry. Birds enjoy shade from these trees as they peck for seeds from volunteer wildflowers and native grasses. A sign proudly proclaims: PLANTS FOR BIRDS. 

No tour of our yard is complete without a stop at our little garden. The garden is watered with rainwater collected in our rain tanks. Yes, I appreciate them, too. The catchment basins conserve water leaving more in the rain tanks to irrigate our garden! 

What a lovely way to spend the afternoon - discussing a shared interest with an inquisitive environmental reporter (and my son Jeremy who took the pictures of us.)  

Clara and I searching for worms in the compost pit

Wanna help promote rainwater harvesting basins?  Share a pic of your favorite basin on your social media pages. Add the hashtag #lovemyrainbasin 

 If you don't have a basin, you can still help out by "liking" or commenting on other people's posts. 


READ CLARA'S ARTICLE (in the Arizona Republic): 

It's free, it's drinkable. Why don't more Arizonans harvest rainwater during a drought?

Our Yard the Bird Feeder

Someone on Nextdoor asked where to get a bird feeding table. I don't have one. We've designed our yard to be a habitat for birds - even got a sign from the Tucson Audubon Society for it.

Birds really like bushes (like bougainvillea and purple sage) where they can hide.

I don't put out seeds for the birds. But I have plenty of birds. Here they are enjoying the dried poppies.

I do have bird baths.

That's hackberry to the left

I have native plants that the birds enjoy: hackberry, wolfberry and chiltepin in the front yard.

Wolfberry in foreground and hackberry to the right of the mesquite

This bunny finds shelter and shade in the hackberry bush while it nibbles on some native grass in the basin.

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I leave some chiltepin peppers for the birds...

And the birds love the horse purslane (some people call weeds) that I purposely grow in my catchment basin. See the pink weeds? That's dying purslane. The birds just love the seeds! When I leave it, the ants will go after the seeds rather than stripping the leaves off of my moringa!

I grow horse purslane as living mulch then break it down into straw-like mulch when it dies. It also nourishes the microbes in the soil.

Some birds also like my Mexican Honeysuckle seeds (that we water with our kitchen sink rinse water.)

I recommend you apply for the Habitat at Home program too! It's fun! 

https://tucsonaudubon.org/habitat-at-home/

More information: 

Seeing Desert Native Landscaping as Bird & Pollinator Corridors