Bism Illah.
On our return to Saudi Arabia, things didn't just go back to the "normal" life we lived prior to our summer of sustainability on Healing Earth. We brought one of our washboards back with us and a plunger-style breathable clothes washer. Just as we established over the summer, we still do our laundry by hand here. Not only that, but the girls continue to do their own laundry - the 7 and 10 year old as a team. They take pride in showing me how good their socks look once they've done their washboard scrubbing!
Knowing that we will not be able to grow rice, we have made more adjustments to our diet to incorporate grains that we will be able to grow and more potatoes. This is really a health boon, because super-foods like quinoa are easy to grow and yet expensive to buy. We have eliminated the need for crystalline sugar (albeit organic) in our baking and cooking, with great success. We have also transitioned deliciously to using all wholewheat flour - whether hard red, hard white, or soft white - for our baking.
As for making our own, I am now whipping up all the things the hubby was missing - the crunchy stuff and the yummy treats. We have mastered honey graham crackers, organic wholewheat cheese-its, hard pretzels, homemade "Grape Nuts" type cereal and granola, pop tarts, soft pretzels, bagels, our own pasta and noodles, and even our own chocolates (imagine being able to eat homemade Bounty/Mounds/Almond Joy and call it medicinal health food! Whee!
We have found Azure Standard, an organic food co-op, that could provide us with a year's worth of organic wheat or flour (600 lbs) for around $220. Buying bulk from them for the things we cannot grow or won't have during the first year or two, will at least half our food bills. It could even provide organic foods and produce for resale in our farm stand.
We have started making our own all-purpose healing salve, lip balms, lotion bars, and hair pomades to add to our homemade staples of shampoo, deodorant, tooth oil, laundry soap, and household cleaners. No more plastic and foam sponges for cleaning, we now use cotton dish cloths (we can knit them), loofahs for soft scrubbing, and stainless steel for pots and pans.
The lifestyle we live is becoming closer and closer to the lifestyle we wish to live, and that is a great feeling, alhamdul'Illah.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Healing Earth Live
To see videos of the land before and after our summer, and some of the scenery, events, and wildlife you can go to our You Tube page: Healing Earth Ranch & Retreat. The 2012 tour and 2013 tour show before and after. Micro-irrigation shows the simple system put in place for the fruit trees and bushes. Scenery can be seen on Within 10 miles.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Our First Days
All thanks and praise are for Allah, our Creator and Sustainer. On Thursday 20 June, 2013, we finally made it to Healing Earth, our land in Roy, New Mexico. The trip from Kansas City, MO was smooth and uneventful, with speculations as we saw the landscape driving through Oklahoma and Northern New Mexico about whether our land would have any traces of green in the current drought. As we approached, we saw vast expanses of open fields, with rich green plants at the sides of the road from the rain run-off and covered with dry green/blue grass and a nice scattering of flowering cacti and other drought tolerant, flowering plants.
Many things have been done in the first week, with even more to do over the coming weeks. Category, by category, here is what we've covered.
Property Lines:
We have contacted the county surveyor to come and provide the specific boundaries for our land. We have provided him with a copy of the deed and drawing of the land, and he will be providing us with a quotation for his service and come one day next week. Once this is done, we can move forward with building our bathroom and shower stalls and composting unit. He came out on Tuesday July 2nd and informed us that Homestead Road is actually part of our property. It is a county road, and they have eminent domain over it, but it means that we had a visit from the Commisioner's office to inform us that a culvert for our entrance will be provided within a month.
Access:
There was no access to our land off the road. We accessed it through a gate on the land next to it. We called the County Hall to inform them we need an access gate off the county road, and just 5 days later, the following Tuesday, we had an appointment to address the issue. We now have permission to install a gate, and the county will put in a steel culvert at the gate entrance once the gate is completed. The cost of the gate: between $81 - $118, but there is a sale going on next week, so it should be a bit cheaper than that.We may also have to install gates at the bottom end of the 28 acre parcel and at the beginning of the 23 acre parcel. However, we learned from the County Surveyor that there is an allowance for a road between our two properties that the county will be responsible for. We will be checking to see if they plan to lay a road any time soon, in which case they will provide both high quality fencing and gates for both properties.
Water:
One of the thing foremost on the list of things to do this summer was to drill a well. We planned to drill one on each section of land, starting with the northern section this year. The cost per well would be anywhere between $3000 - $12000, depending on the depth they find water. There is, however, no guarantee that they will find water the first or even third try, and dry holes must also be paid for. To get a consultant to come and do siesmic testing to give relatively accurate data on where to drill, the approximate depth of the water, and the yield would cost at least $5000.
We then learned that at the water tower in Roy, we can buy water at the rate of $10 + tax which works out to $10.69 per 1,000 gallons. It would take approximately 90 years of buying water to equal the drilling of just one well, not taking into account any money wasted on drilling dry holes.
Regardless, we would need a storage tank for the water, so we purchased a 1,650 gallon water storage tank ($640) and also a 195 gallon tank ($300) that can fit on the back of our truck for filling and transporting water, that were delivered Wednesday 27 June. We plan to have one 1,650 gallon tank at the center of each housing complex for private and immediate access to water, and at least one other on the 23 acre plot for the retreat. In addition, we plan to get 55 gallon steel drums and perhaps 275 gallon tanks in cages to catch rainwater.
Composting Toilets (Humanure)
We purchased two privace shelter tents to be used as temporary toilet and shower facilities along with two Luggable Loos and a large galvanised steel tub. We got free cover material from the county, who cut down and chip up trees at the side of the road and the chippings are free for anyone who wants them. We got cedar chips, so our composting toilet smells amazing! There are various other sources of free cover, which we have found or have been informed of. We also got some free pallets and constructed the firct cubic meter composting unit. It is used to compost fruit and vegetable scraps, leftover bits of cooked food, paper,hair, nails, and cut up card board.
We purchased 100 3"x4.4"x8' landscape timbers and have started constructing a 4 unit bathroom and show stall structure. However, we ran out of the super long nails needed and won't be able to get more until Friday July 5th, after which it will be completed inshaa Allah. It is extremely heavy, so we will have to use the truck to raise the walls.
Land Contours
Originally we had planned to use the 23 acre plot for residences and homesteading with the 28 acre plot used for the Islamic retreat. However, after seeing the two pieces of land, we have swapped it around. The 28 acre plot has far more flat areas that are excellent for building on, and more suited to our needs for zones, food forests, animals, and accessibiity. There is a good slope going to the back part of the land, where there is privacy from the road. That will be our place to set up temporary housing, but permanent residences will be built up on the highest areas of the land for drainage, overlook, and practical purposes.
The 23 acre plot has a large seasonal lake bed area that is currently filled with high dry grasses. The ground is much more uneven, all the land is highly visible from the road. and the variety of terrain will lend itself well to a campground and retreat cottages.
Plant life:
The area is covered with what looks like dry blue grass. After just three days of rain, fresh green grass is sprouting up everywhere. There are at least two types of flowering cacti scattered plentifully around as well as other wildflowers, plants, and grasses. There are a few squash plants (look like zuchinni) over on the 23 acre plot that might provide a little food this summer. We have planted 23 fruit trees to start a food forest. They are divided by a naturally formed gully which carries rainwater, that we plan to plant melons along and also berry bushes.
We are also harvesting seeds from all the fruit we eat, and have planted a dozen peach seeds. We will do the same for apples, pears, plums, and apricot.
There are many other things to share and we hope to post photos very soon. Stay tuned.
Many things have been done in the first week, with even more to do over the coming weeks. Category, by category, here is what we've covered.
Property Lines:
We have contacted the county surveyor to come and provide the specific boundaries for our land. We have provided him with a copy of the deed and drawing of the land, and he will be providing us with a quotation for his service and come one day next week. Once this is done, we can move forward with building our bathroom and shower stalls and composting unit. He came out on Tuesday July 2nd and informed us that Homestead Road is actually part of our property. It is a county road, and they have eminent domain over it, but it means that we had a visit from the Commisioner's office to inform us that a culvert for our entrance will be provided within a month.
Access:
There was no access to our land off the road. We accessed it through a gate on the land next to it. We called the County Hall to inform them we need an access gate off the county road, and just 5 days later, the following Tuesday, we had an appointment to address the issue. We now have permission to install a gate, and the county will put in a steel culvert at the gate entrance once the gate is completed. The cost of the gate: between $81 - $118, but there is a sale going on next week, so it should be a bit cheaper than that.We may also have to install gates at the bottom end of the 28 acre parcel and at the beginning of the 23 acre parcel. However, we learned from the County Surveyor that there is an allowance for a road between our two properties that the county will be responsible for. We will be checking to see if they plan to lay a road any time soon, in which case they will provide both high quality fencing and gates for both properties.
Water:
One of the thing foremost on the list of things to do this summer was to drill a well. We planned to drill one on each section of land, starting with the northern section this year. The cost per well would be anywhere between $3000 - $12000, depending on the depth they find water. There is, however, no guarantee that they will find water the first or even third try, and dry holes must also be paid for. To get a consultant to come and do siesmic testing to give relatively accurate data on where to drill, the approximate depth of the water, and the yield would cost at least $5000.
We then learned that at the water tower in Roy, we can buy water at the rate of $10 + tax which works out to $10.69 per 1,000 gallons. It would take approximately 90 years of buying water to equal the drilling of just one well, not taking into account any money wasted on drilling dry holes.
Regardless, we would need a storage tank for the water, so we purchased a 1,650 gallon water storage tank ($640) and also a 195 gallon tank ($300) that can fit on the back of our truck for filling and transporting water, that were delivered Wednesday 27 June. We plan to have one 1,650 gallon tank at the center of each housing complex for private and immediate access to water, and at least one other on the 23 acre plot for the retreat. In addition, we plan to get 55 gallon steel drums and perhaps 275 gallon tanks in cages to catch rainwater.
Composting Toilets (Humanure)
We purchased two privace shelter tents to be used as temporary toilet and shower facilities along with two Luggable Loos and a large galvanised steel tub. We got free cover material from the county, who cut down and chip up trees at the side of the road and the chippings are free for anyone who wants them. We got cedar chips, so our composting toilet smells amazing! There are various other sources of free cover, which we have found or have been informed of. We also got some free pallets and constructed the firct cubic meter composting unit. It is used to compost fruit and vegetable scraps, leftover bits of cooked food, paper,hair, nails, and cut up card board.
We purchased 100 3"x4.4"x8' landscape timbers and have started constructing a 4 unit bathroom and show stall structure. However, we ran out of the super long nails needed and won't be able to get more until Friday July 5th, after which it will be completed inshaa Allah. It is extremely heavy, so we will have to use the truck to raise the walls.
Land Contours
Originally we had planned to use the 23 acre plot for residences and homesteading with the 28 acre plot used for the Islamic retreat. However, after seeing the two pieces of land, we have swapped it around. The 28 acre plot has far more flat areas that are excellent for building on, and more suited to our needs for zones, food forests, animals, and accessibiity. There is a good slope going to the back part of the land, where there is privacy from the road. That will be our place to set up temporary housing, but permanent residences will be built up on the highest areas of the land for drainage, overlook, and practical purposes.
The 23 acre plot has a large seasonal lake bed area that is currently filled with high dry grasses. The ground is much more uneven, all the land is highly visible from the road. and the variety of terrain will lend itself well to a campground and retreat cottages.
Plant life:
The area is covered with what looks like dry blue grass. After just three days of rain, fresh green grass is sprouting up everywhere. There are at least two types of flowering cacti scattered plentifully around as well as other wildflowers, plants, and grasses. There are a few squash plants (look like zuchinni) over on the 23 acre plot that might provide a little food this summer. We have planted 23 fruit trees to start a food forest. They are divided by a naturally formed gully which carries rainwater, that we plan to plant melons along and also berry bushes.
We are also harvesting seeds from all the fruit we eat, and have planted a dozen peach seeds. We will do the same for apples, pears, plums, and apricot.
There are many other things to share and we hope to post photos very soon. Stay tuned.
Monday, May 6, 2013
PDC Homework - Behavioral Strategies for Energy Usage
These are behavioral strategies we plan to use on our land/farm.
All
materials are to be as natural, healthy, environmentally enriching (or
at minimum, safe), high quality, and long lasting as possible.
Transportation mode will be dependent on distance. For local travel transportation will be walking, cycling, or horse (either ridden or with a carriage), with a pick-up truck (V6 for better fuel economy but still the ability to tow and haul) for longer distances and when picking large things up. We are a family that enjoys walking and cycling, so they are viable forms of transportation for us. Walking will be fine for distances of up to 5 miles each way. Cycling for distances reaching further afield, and horse and carriage up to 50 miles. Of course, we need to travel smart - get as much done in a trip as possible and prevent unnecessary trips back and forth or retracing our route due to disorganized planning.
An
overall focus on
health and well-being, both personal and environmental, makes a huge
impact on behavior and, consequently, energy usage. Our lifestyle is
moving steadily towards one where the only generated electrical energy
needed would be for Internet modem, phone, and computer use, recharging
batteries for walkie
talkies, a low energy fridge (using a chest freezer with an adapter
plug to make it run at a far lower voltage as a fridge), back-up lights,
and the odd power tool when needed for projects. We plan to utilize a
600 watt solar generator to handle these needs.
Use
of light will be changed drastically, basing our working day around
daylight timings. For the limited amount of lighting needed at night/in
the dark, solar lights
will be utilized using
the sun's energy during the day to charge them for the night.
Eventually, once bee keeping is
established and we start having a supply of beeswax, we will make our
own candles, providing a preferable, alternative, and natural source of
light. Kitchen appliances will be replaced by a hand-crank blender, a
hand operated basalt grinding stone for flour and dry grains (will last
for generations, maintenance free), and a hand crank stainless steel
beater. Cast iron pans and Dutch ovens, stainless steel pots, plates,
bowls, cups, utensils and cutlery will all last for generations.
Water
cooling will be managed by burying 55 gallon steel drums 3/4 deep into
the earth with a steel hand pump Showers are by hung 5 gallon steel
buckets of heated water, with holes punched into the bottom and a lid to
stop the flow when finished. Hot water will be either by a simple
homemade solar heater or heated in pipes running under a compost heap.
Laundry will be done manually, with a washboard and steel tub, soap nuts
or homemade castille soap.
Cooking
will be done on a rocket stove, in a cob oven, and underground in
charcoal pits - minimal fuel required, long cooking times, no electrical
or gas energy requirements.Heating of the house can be from the rocket
stove, as cob can store the heat well.Cob house, storage, animal pens
all mean no cooling and minimal heating with small amount of wood from
trees grown on
property. They also need nothing more than human energy to build
Transportation mode will be dependent on distance. For local travel transportation will be walking, cycling, or horse (either ridden or with a carriage), with a pick-up truck (V6 for better fuel economy but still the ability to tow and haul) for longer distances and when picking large things up. We are a family that enjoys walking and cycling, so they are viable forms of transportation for us. Walking will be fine for distances of up to 5 miles each way. Cycling for distances reaching further afield, and horse and carriage up to 50 miles. Of course, we need to travel smart - get as much done in a trip as possible and prevent unnecessary trips back and forth or retracing our route due to disorganized planning.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
PDC Homework 1.5 Cultivated Ecology
Herb
|
Use / Purpose
|
Location / Condition
|
Nasturtium
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Caraway
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Saffron
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Horseradish
|
Culinary
|
Full sun
|
Mustard
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Aloe Vera
|
Culinary, Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Bay
|
Culinary
|
Full sun
|
Lemon balm
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Sun/part shade
|
Calendula (marigold)
|
Companion
|
Sun/part shade
|
Comfrey
|
Medicinal
|
Sun/part shade
|
Mint
|
Culinary , Medicinal, Companion
|
Sun/part shade
|
Spearmint
|
Culinary , Medicinal, Companion
|
Sun/part shade
|
Sage
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Thyme
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Coriander
|
Culinary
|
Full sun
|
Oregano
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Strawberries
|
Culinary, Companion
|
Sun/part shade
|
Chives
|
Culinary
|
Full sun
|
Rosemary
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Basil
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Sun/part shade
|
Ginger
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Sun/part shade
|
Parsley
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Sun/part shade
|
Lavender
|
Culinary , Medicinal, Companion
|
Full sun
|
Garlic
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Full sun
|
Peppermint
|
Culinary , Medicinal, Companion
|
Sun/part shade
|
Anise Hyssop
|
Culinary , Medicinal
|
Sun/part shade
|
Sweet Woodruff
|
Culinary , Companion
|
Sun/part shade
|
Shiso
|
Culinary
|
Sun/part shade
|
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