My first post! Parkinsonia Spp.

  My name is Ryan. I am a registered nurse who is a permaculture enthusiast.  The theme I will be focusing on in this blog will be health (be it people or earth).
One definition of Permaculture:  The conscious design of agriculturally productive ecosystems which has the diversity, stability, & resilience of natural ecosystems.

  I have been in Ventura County, CA since mid-July, 2016.  This arid landscape is in a drought. One thing you'll likely recognize, once you become keenly aware of the watershed, is how our governments tend to lack a common-sense approach to watershed stewardship.  I am speaking of our tendency to put in concrete culverts and canals that rush water down & off the landscape.

                                              (2 concrete canals diverting rainwater off of the land)

(This canal was plugged up with silt from all the erosion coming down from poorly managed bike trails.)

Here, in Ventura county, we are in a landscape so dry that residents are not permitted to have a fire and yet we completely disregard the value of the water that falls from the sky.  The aim should be to slow down, spread out, and sink this water into the earth.
  Two approaches to managing this rainfall include the use of earthworks & plants.

(Parkinsonia Spp., 34.193685, -118.903704)
 Pictured above are the seeds of PaloVerde, a species in the genus Parkinsonia.  PaloVerde is a very drought tolerant plant that should do well with a little assistance in getting established.  Hopefully I can get these seeds to germinate! On the top of my wish list is either Prosopis glandulosa torreyana or Prosopis pubescens. These are California native "mesquite" trees and can survive with only a few inches of rain a year. Prosopis glandulosa can send it's roots down at least 50' to access water (Reference).