Dryland-harvesting home gathers sun, rain, food, & more
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Published 2016-08-07
In 1996 Lancaster and his neighbors started an annual tree-planting project, which up until now has resulted in over 1,400 native food-bearing trees being planted (usually with water-harvesting earthworks) in the neighborhood. In 2004, Lancaster augmented the street tree planting by using a 14-inch, gas-powered circular saw to cut away part of his curb to divert street runoff into his street-side tree basins. When the walkway in front of his home sprouted with lifelike mesquite and palo verde trees- many of his neighbors wanted to cut their curbs as well. Lancaster approached the city to convince them to make his water-harvesting technique legal. It took three years for the city to change the rules. Today, three-quarters of the neighbors on his block are harvesting rainwater.
Tucson receives just 11 inches of rainwater per year, but Brad argues this is enough. “Tucson has over a 4,000-year history of continuous farming despite this being a drylands desert community. People thrived creating crops, domesticating crops that are uniquely adapted to this climate, but in less than 100 years we almost wiped it out by becoming reliant on very extractive pumps, extracting the groundwater, diverting the river to the extent that we actually killed our river, we dropped our groundwater table over 300 feet so we didn’t want to plug into that paradigm.”
Today, Lancaster’s downtown Tucson neighborhood (Dunbar/Spring) is alive with drought-tolerant, food-bearing trees and residents harvest from the barrel cactus (chutneys, hair conditioner from fruit), the prickly pear cactus (juice, syrup & natural sweeteners from fruit), the ironwood tree (peanut-flavored nuts, processed like edamame), jojoba (oil, coffee substitute), mesquite (“native carob”, flour) and sweets from the “iconic saguaro cactus”.
Lancaster’s experimentation continues on his property: he calls the 1/8th of an acre site he shares with his brother’s family, his “living laboratory”. Here he plants around the greywater from his outdoor shower, bathtub and washing machine. He captures 100,000 gallons of rainwater per year on their property and surrounding public right-of-way. He cooks with a solar oven and heats his water using a 2 salvaged, conventional gas heaters stripped of insulation, painted black, and put in an insulated box with glass facing south to collect the sun’s rays.
Lancaster converted the old garage on the property into his 200-square-foot “garottage” (garage + cottage) or “shondo” (shed + condo). Nearly all the wood and materials are salvaged. The garage’s original cinder block walls weren’t insulated so he added 2 inches of foam insulation on the exterior to create “ex-sulation”. Lancaster relies mostly on passive solar to heat and cool his home, though he uses an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) on hotter evenings. His kitchen is outside: a rainwater-plumbed sink, a hacked chest-freezer-turned-refrigerator, and a propane camping stove.
His toilet is another experiment. “You can currently get a compost toilet that is manufactured and NSF-approved, but it costs $3000 or more. So we wanted to try making some site-built models that only cost $300 for which we got experimental permits.” His models include a urine-diverting barrel-style compost toilet (the urine is diluted to water plants and the fecal matter sits and composts for a year or more before being used as fertilizer) and a water-less standing urinal.
- Brad's how-to style book “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond” (in English and Arabic) www.harvestingrainwater.com/books/volume1/
- Brad’s website: www.harvestingrainwater.com/
- Wild Food Growing and Harvesting: www.DesertHarvesters.org/
- Street-Runoff Harvesting: www.harvestingrainwater.com/street-runoff-harvesti…
- Greywater Harvesting (including tips on soaps and detergents to use: www.harvestingrainwater.com/greywater-harvesting/
- Multi-use Rain Garden Plant Lists: www.harvestingrainwater.com/plant-lists-resources/…
- More info on Brad's garottage www.harvestingrainwater.com/living-big-by-living-s…
- Brad's YouTube channel youtube.com/user/HarvestingRainwater
On *faircompanies: faircompanies.com/videos/dryland-harvesting-home-h…
All Comments (21)
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I lived across the street from the Dunbar Springs Community Garden where Brad is the center of a very creative universe of permaculture activism and education. He totally walks his talk, lives his passions, and endlessly, enthusiastically educates, encourages, and inspires. Rock on Brad!
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"Leaves are called leaves, because you're supposed to leave them!" needs to be on a t-shirt :)
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I and my wife are devoted viewers of your channel Kirsten. Hello from Mumbai, India. This episode in particular is full of learnings because global warming is slowly turning much of India into the desert landscape. Thank you.
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Brad Lancaster is brilliant! I love everything that he has built! I'd love to tour his property and pick his mind further. Awesome video, Kirsten! And I like that your children are gaining an outstanding education with all this exposure to these out-of-the-box alternative ways of living. All the best to you and your family!!
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"Leaves are called leaves because you're supposed to LEAVE them." lol!!!
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you didn't just build a garden, you helped build a community
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if you run away from your problems you’ll just plant problems everywhere you go. ❤️ you plant your roots deeper than you thought possible⭐️
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What a great quote. "You can't go, if you run away from your problems, you will just plant problems everywhere you go. You got to go home, set your roots ever deeper than you ever thought possible and figure out solutions."
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I love his energetic excitement... especially, when he talks about chasing the car thief. Also ...incredible life and living skills !!! That should be taught at schools.
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That guy is so positive-minded and respectful. I wish him the best
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It’s impossible to watch this too many times! I have Brad’s book, saw this 4 years ago, and am finally putting these practices to work with projects in CA fire country. Huge thanks, Kirsten, for bringing all this good to YT!
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This is four years old? I want to see more of this guy - he is absolutely awesome!
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Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone lived like this man? Truly inspirational.
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Best video! It reminded me of my family in Africa. We salvaged all the Rainwater, desh and shower water and distributed evenly to all trees and plants. And loved watching him chase the car thief, that was too funny! Beautiful! Thank you for sharing! 😂😂💚✌🌍🌎🌏
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Every city needs to design around this guys knowledge! The world would be so different... "He never learned it in school" says it all! The education system doesn't teach anything for all the money it costs
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Why isn't this type of "landscaping" used more? People need to hear and learn about this. This is genius!
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Fantastic - this guy is actually figuring things out rather than just having a high design concept that is too expensive to implement.
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Bonus points for Brad for rescuing the lizard from the earthen pot :)
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of all of Kirsten's videos, this is probably my favourite. what an awesome guy, wise, sage and infectious energy. the kids must've loved tasting the watermelon and listening to his stories
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"We did not want to plug into that paradigm." Wise words.
