Lessons from the Rain: Connecting with Our Neighbors

I recently posted a pic of the gutters and downspout Dan installed on our neighbor's overhang pouring rainwater into our new cistern. The overwhelming response on Facebook was, "Good neighbors!" And Dave certainly is a good neighbor. But it was also mutually beneficial. Directing that water into the cistern prevented unwanted erosion in his yard. This story not only illustrates the importance of having a good relationship with your neighbors, but also how interconnected we are. 

Nature knows no boundaries. What grows in the neighbors' yard, may end up in ours. This morning I found a branch with pine cones on our side of the fence. We don't have a pine tree. But I benefited by using the pine needles in our compost pit! (If only we could replace our eucalyptus tree with a tree that would drop leaves that would nourish the soil. )

Last night, a gust of wind dropped a branch from our eucalyptus tree onto our neighbor's roof. They say good fences make good neighbors. But if you have one of those "widow makers" it's better to have open communication with your neighbor! A friend shared how his neighbors got mad because he took out a tree that shaded their yard. So we discussed the tree situation with our neighbors over the fence. 

A big downpour (not to mention birds) also spreads seeds. Weeds don't stop on the property line. If allowed to go to seed, they will spread throughout the neighborhood. That's why I sometimes venture into my neighbor's yard and pull out the sticker weeds. And Dave always thanks me.

I recently pulled the native grass that lines Dave's sidewalk and replanted it in our street-side catchment basin. Again, it's mutually beneficial.  (The roots of the native grass work with the woodchip mulch to create a sponge to hold the water longer. The grass also helps prevent erosion from big storms.) 

There is a right of way on our block that is covered with highly flammable, invasive buffelgrass. Just after it rains, I have been known to get out there with my little shovel and pull up what I can by the roots before they go to seed and spread throughout the neighborhood. If I see one popping up in someone's right of way, I simply bend down and pull it out. It's good exercise.

buffelgrass 

My husband likes to call me "The Crazy Weed Lady." Not sure if that has caught on with the other neighbors yet. They might be calling me "Annoying Moringa Woman" or "Edible Weed Gal" or "Water Schlepper."  Anyone who walks their dog past our house may be privy to an unsolicited lecture on the benefits of our rainwater harvesting basins or get a taste of the moringa or purslane growing in our yard. Sure, this might be annoying for some, but others have caught on and implemented rainwater harvesting in their own yards. One neighbor even planted some of our purslane seeds in her yard. I think it's worth it.  

I hope my lessons on edible weeds have kept some people from spraying Roundup. The herbicide some people spray all over their right of way doesn't just stay in their yards either. It is washed down the street in the rain. It sinks into the ground. Roundup has been detected in aquifers! That's a problem because, here in Tucson, we store our drinking water in our aquifer. The aquifer is only 5-8 feet below property near rivers. Watershed Management Group encourages people near rivers to put catchment basins in their yards to replenish the aquifer. 

Rainwater doesn't always stay in one yard either. It often runs into the street or even into a neighbor's yard causing erosion and damage to the foundation of houses. But we can put in catchment basins to slow down, spread out and sink in that water in our yard to use on our native landscaping. If your street is at the bottom of the watershed, neighbors can work together to put in street-side green infrastructure to protect and shade the neighborhood.

We can have beautiful, cooler, green neighborhoods. We just need to take a lesson from the rain and connect with our neighbors. 

Before and After the Rain

Last night we celebrated the long awaited rain by taking a lot of pictures. 

There is always some preparation for monsoon season: clearing debris from the gutters to the cistern, adding more mulch to basins, and  making sure that nothing is obstructing the earthwork channels that direct water to the Mexican Honeysuckle. 

But this year we have had to deal with the effect of extreme heat followed by flooding on our landscape. A couple weeks ago, a "Tree Stress" alert was issued. We were encouraged to deep water all our trees to survive the excessive heat. Dan was shocked by how much water we used. 

That was followed by a "Flash Flood" warning. And down it came with a fury!

One thing I learned was that I could have held off on deep watering my native trees. I also learned that every drop of water is precious! 

Luckily Dan had already installed a small cistern to harvest the water from our generous neighbor's roof. Thanks, Dave!  . 

It was a delight to see it working well.

Dan tried to get in another cistern before last night's storm. But he only managed to get in the gutters before the downpour started. 

So he grabbed every bucket and pan he could find to catch the water rushing from the downspout. 

This was quite the gully washer! Our new cistern and the blue water barrels filled up.  It completely filled up our greywater basin... Wow! 

Our right of way basin was quickly filling up...

Our jujube basin started overflowing...

No worry about mosquitoes... The water in all the basins sunk in beautifully (as planned) by morning! 

After seeing the effects of extreme heat on our plants, we learned that every drop of water counts.  I've gotten in the habit of checking the weather each morning to see if it is going to rain. I try to use up the water in our buckets before the next downpour. I don't want to leave water in the buckets long enough for mosquitos to lay their eggs in there anyway. 

But where to put the water?  

I used my favorite water bucket to deep water my garden and the jujubes (alternating between them so the water could have a chance to sink in and not cause erosion.) A few of the buckets had lids so I left them for later (in case it doesn't rain.) Dan is in the process of installing a bigger cisterns that won't need to be completely emptied before the next rain.  Thank heavens!  All this bucket schlepping is killing me! 

While I was out there, I also did a little damage control.  I made sure that the mulch was three inches away from the trunks of the trees so termites didn't get them. I was  careful not to disturb the white stuff (mycelium) that means that the soil is healthy.  I was also happy to see the little mushrooms around the big jujube (that also means that soil is good.) Wow! The soil sure loves all that rain! 

Checkout how these tiny "weeds" kept the mulch from washing out of the basin! The native grasses that lined our right of way basin also slowed down the storm water to prevent erosion!

The roots of the native grasses and other desert plants work with the wood chip mulch to create a sponge to hold the water longer.  These so-called weeds are a vital part of our earthworks! 

Now we're ready and looking forward to more rain! 

After more rain this happened. 

Remnants of Hurricane Bud on our Yard: The Agony and Ecstasy

I wasn't sure how our moringa and edible forest would fare while we were away for a two week trip to Lebanon, Missouri. I had left directions on how to water the yard with my distracted son.  Saturday night we came home to this... Our littlest moringa had doubled it's size! The ground was still wet from two days of lovely rain - the remnants of Hurricane Bud.

The next morning I surveyed our terrain. The little moringa seemed to grow overnight. The wonders of a good downpour!

I was delighted to find the "dead" moringa stump (I had given up on after loyally watering it everyday with the rest of the moringa) had finally sprouted a branch! The palo verde/moringa mulch was holding the water nicely. The mulch, along with the native grass in the basin, had also prevented erosion! 

The tallest moringa had grown another foot! It towered over Dan's head. My reward for smuggling three dime bags of my moringa tea in my luggage for my mother? Now we have plenty! 

I found out later that Josh hadn't watered them at all in the two weeks we were gone...

Oh, no! Déjà vu!  Closer inspection uncovered some dead branches. Our old friends the ants were back again wreaking havoc on one of our moringas. 

But right next to it, the morning sun shimmered on some budding blooms offering me a ray of hope.

The effects of Bud's downpour on our desert landscaping caused a roller coaster of emotions!

While watering the young chiltepin, grape plant, and Tombstone Rose, I spotted a line of erosion from the rain dripping off the roof. Before monsoon season starts, Dan really needs to install gutters leading to water barrels to redirect and save that rainwater!  Funny, I never noticed a line of erosion before Dan dug out the Burmuda grass. It seems that the elaborate root system of the die hard grass prevented erosion.

Click on the photo above to see how the little patch of mulch and weeds (native grass and purslane) interrupted the erosion seen on either side of grape plant. (Note: Dan advised that you wouldn't want a big mound of mulch retaining water right up to the foundation of the house.) For the first layer of mulch I used clippings from the native grass I found in the front yard. I didn't worry about the seeds because I knew that the roots from the grass would work with the mulch to create a sponge to retain the water like it did in our street-side catchment basin. I was happy to discover that the sponge also helped prevent erosion.  

My daily watering was doing double duty by nourishing the edible purslane, too. Actually, it's doing triple duty since I planted some cowpeas to add nitrogen to the soil.

I have gleaned from this little patch of purslane three times - leaving the roots and some branches so it can grow back. And it did! Think I'll grab me a little snack now! Yum! Refreshing citrusy greens! (I wash it before I munch. At least I'm secure in the knowledge that there's no herbicide on the edible weeds in MY yard. Hear that city council!)

The nearby Tombstone rosebush is also doing well in it's bed of organic mulch, native grass and used coffee grounds. The cowpea seeds I planted to add nitrogen to the soil also help with erosion. 

Now it's time to water the backyard edible forest with the rainwater collected in our blue rain barrels! 

Unfortunately, the leaves of our loquat tree in the greywater basin got fried despite Josh washing some loads of laundry and dutifully hand watering it two times a day. Maybe I should have given the non-native waterhog more shade to survive the brutal June sun. Live and learn.  

The walls of the basin also suffered some flood erosion near the loquat tree. 

To be honest, there was already some erosion from the rocks Dan put in the greywater basin to slow down the flow. So many lessons learned! We really need more mulch in the basin. But the winter wheat we planted to infiltrate the floor of the basin is helping to prevent erosion and breaking down into mulch.

The heritage fig trees and pomegranate are doing great thanks to Josh for watering them and the welcome remnants of Hurricane Bud. Oh, the agony and ecstasy! 

Sinking in the Autumn Rain

I was overjoyed that it finally rained last night!  First thing in the morning I scurried outside to see how my garden was doing. The cowpeas were thriving, snug in their bed of pala verde mulch and some fallen corn stalks.

 One still had a flower!

The tomato plant seemed to enjoy the fresh rainwater. With a little help from some mulch to keep the ground consistently moist, the tomato had gone from orange to red overnight.

When we first started this garden we used some stinky compost (not good), but I tended the soil with used coffee grounds and tea leaves until the soil is really rich and nice now. That, and palo verde mulch, is all we use in this kitchen garden. Tryin' to keep it native - to see if we can actually grow food with only what we have at our place. 

When I first went out, I got sticky mud on my feet from trekking through our backyard basin. By late morning the ground was already hard and dry.  But the little mounds of mulch around the fig trees were holding the moisture nicely. A good reminder that we need to finish digging the basin and fill it with mulch! 

It wouldn't be morning without checking on the moringa in the catchment basin. The pala verde mulch was thinning a bit, but along with the roots of the native grass and some moringa branches with yellowing leaves that I had "chopped and dropped," it was forming a nice sponge to hold the rainwater. I noticed that the mulch also prevented erosion from the rain. 

This little guy (can you spot him?) flittered by to enjoy the sweet moringa nectar. Our moringa is great at attracting pollinators of all kinds!

I'd say that was worth celebrating! So I grabbed a branch. (They come off easily at the stem. It's a very giving tree...) Thought I'd try my hand at making some moringa tea.

I washed the leaves thoroghly.  Boiled stems and all for about a minute then strained out the leaves. (It's the water that has most of the nutrients.)  It tasted sorta like green tea. I tried to sweeten it with stevia, but it didn't really work. I liked it better plain. (Maybe it would work with a combination of white tea?)  

Later that afternoon, I was so fatigued from working on desktop activist; I needed a nap. I drank one glass of moringa tea and was replenished immediately. Even had enough energy to write this blog! 

To autumn rain, muddy feet, mulchy gardens and miracle moringa! Cheers! 

Last preparations before the Monsoon rains!

Inspired by the looming rain clouds, Dan works on his long neglected catchment basin.

First, he digs up the gravel and pulls out the plastic to find a tapestry of roots.

Look at me! A human tamper! 

my baby moringa

Check out the moringa we transplanted in the street-side basin.  Poor thing is struggling in the heat. Hope it can withstand a good downpour!

A familiar sight in the neighborhood...

I dig out some weeds UNDER the sidewalk. As always, pooh is a big help.

To prepare for the coming rain, I clear out the dirt and debris blocking the ravine I built last year.

Dan secures the rain spout by our kitchen garden. 

Yikes! We really should clear the cat's claw from the gutters...

But we're off to harvest the last of the mesquite before the monsoon starts....  

...or doesn't...hmph! 

Ann Marie from S.E.R.I. delivers our rain barrels.

Gives us a chance to get rain barrels from S.E.R.I. before the next day's downpour! 

Ready for the rain!

To be continued...