guildfordcycads

I am about to close on a new 30 acre property in the Eastern Utah high desert and am beginning to plan the path towards making it a productive homestead focusing on rotationally grazing stock. The plan is to ultimately graze cattle, sheep, and horses with poultry thrown in the mix. My question is regarding the building of the pasture.

First order of business is clearing most of the trees, not all of course but a vast vast majority of the junipers, and then installing swales to capture the minimal rainfall (area averages 14-16” a year). And then getting to fencing.

My experience with traditional pasture creation involves preparing the soil, planting, and then waiting an entire year to start grazing so roots can establish. I wonder how that plays into the regenerative approach though as the animal impact is important for breaking the soil up and allowing water to penetrate as well as fertilizing the soil. Does it make sense to follow the traditional path, or is it better to immediately start grazing and rotating the stock across the land and feed mainly hay rolled out across the, largely bare, ground to start incorporating more organic matter into the soil?

Any guidance from folks who’ve started from scratch in high desert would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there, beautiful brothers and sisters! Hope you’re having a nice evening, I have once again had to order walking onions online as my chickens have eaten them down to the ground, so I plan on replanting them in my greenhouse. I am needing success tips on how to properly propagate them and get germination going from a bulb that I will be receiving through the mail. I know it may seem fairly simple but last I had heard I needed to get the roots wet and let them germinate on a wet paper towel. That was not a high success rate. Thank you so much.

Dear friends. Like Johnny Cash I feel like been everywhere. I grew up in PA/Ohio, lived also in New England, up and down California, Pac NW, and now have landed in the Gulf South region. Had a often small garden. Was successful. I loved permaculture gardening in Oregon, but have found Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida to be a real challenge. In theory Zone 8b/9a, but in practice the intense heat, the bugs, the degraded soil stripped and eroded seem to be mocking me. Is anyone successfully doing permaculture in the Gulf South? Any advice? I also find our county extension offices VERY unhelpful (was in New Orleans for awhile – no Master Garnder courses available – closest one 50 miles away – what?). And the availability of compost, chips, and organic matter for delivery has been less than ideal. I love my life here but I hate my gardening possibilities and I am struggling.