Building a Dryland Oasis...Blood, Sweat, and Fruit Trees

Stony Oasis Update: The Cost of Building a Food Forest

Sometimes the cost of building an off grid food forest miles up in the mountains is more then just money. Nature can have her way, a well could dry up, your off grid solar can take a crap...or you can get hurt...bringing your projects to an end till you are able to heal up. The latter raised it's ugly head just the other day.....

Close Calls...My Chainsaw Mishap

When one is living off grid, and actively building that off grid paradise one envisions. Things can go south, and it can happen in a split second.

I was working getting my new 50 or so fruit trees planted so I could get back on my solar and get moved up there. I took a break from the solar because $10 rooted fruit trees are just such a good deal, I wanted to get them in the ground.

So I broke out the excavator to dig the planting holes. The reason is the soil there become ROCK hard nearly in the summer when it gets sun baked. I dug all the holes which become as big as my one foot bucket, and I dug them deep enough to throw in some amendments. One of which I decided would be some of the cut up pine trees I have everywhere. The trees will love it, and it gets rid of some of the cut pine trees I have in abundance.

Now, I have run a chainsaw my whole life, I have cut thousands of cords of wood, felled hundreds of trees...some 3 or 4 feet through. I have only cut myself just two times in all those years, and neither was more then a nick. Until the other day!

I was using an Echo one hander chainsaw, and trimming small limbs off of pieces of wood I have already cut. One handers leave your other hand free...and this can be a bad thing! It certainly was for me that day. I was holding a 2 foot chunk of wood from a pine tree and going to trim a small branch off of it so it would fit down in one of my planting holes. I revved up the chainsaw...and as I began to cut that small bone dry, very hard limb...i knew just a slit second before it happened...I was making a mistake.

Then sure enough...the chainsaw bucked up from that hard little limb...and simply 'bumped' my left index finger. That is all it takes when a chain saw is up to speed...just a little bump.

If you want to see it without the dressing...[WARNING: Graphic Image]...click here...this image is just two days later...no infection and healing nicely. Will I be much more careful when running a chainsaw? Yes, yes I will...you cannot afford mishaps like this when you are living off grid, and a long way from any kind of help....but sadly, these kind of mishaps WILL happen. I think it just makes sense to be prepared...have a good medical kit on hand at all times. Be knowledgeable about infection, and how to treat cuts and scrapes...be prepared for the worst.

Building the Food Forest at Stony Oasis...Adding 50 More Fruit Trees

I have taken a break from finishing my solar install to plant about 100 trees and plants I was able to pick up for cheap. I got them all for only 10 bucks apiece...some of these $10 trees have fruit on them now...it was just a no brainer!

I am taking another week off of getting it done because of my injury, and even though I could likley power through the planting of the rest of the trees, I might be flirting with an infection in my chainsaw cut. Infection is something one needs to be constantly aware of in this kind of situation...and avoid it at all costs.

I thought about building more hugelkultur planting beds for these trees...but need to just get them done fairly quickly and get back on my solar install. So I will compromise...I will add some amendments in each planting hole, as well as some oak, and pine wood. I have a ton of small cut trees I have surrounded my thronless blackberry plantings with that I can utilize for this. I will be surrounding it all with a newly installed hot fence to keep the deer from browsing.

When I am planting a bunch of things like this I like to just dump all my amendments in a pile and mix thoroughly. Then take it in 5 gallon bucket to each planting hole...just a simple way to get it done. That potting soil that you can see in the image is actually pretty good for cheap stuff found at my local HomeDepot.

Some of you may wonder about me using Uria 46-0-0 fertilizer...I use it as the nitrogen in the mix. That is all the soil in those parts is lacking (I have had the soil tested) and this is a simply...and nearly organic way to add some.

The other bag you see they is a fast acting lime...mountain soils tend to be acidic, and mine is no exception...especially where there was pine trees. I also have several 5 gallon buckets of natural compost in the mix...all gotten from under the oak trees that grow there.

So every tree gets several chunks of wood at the bottom of their planting hole, and then half of a 5 gal bucket of that mix added right around the root ball. I think they will like it!

Cannabis Growing in the Dryland Hugelkultur Beds at Stony Oasis

I figured these plants would go nuts when the weather finally turned into summer up there....and they will not disappoint! I only topped these plants once, and am surprised at the bushes they are becoming! A result of the super soil they are planted in I assume. You can see how green they are....EVERYWHERE...from top to bottom. Not the hint of a yellow leaf...just what I want when making the highest quality seeds you will find anywhere.

The 3rd plant down that row is a male BadAss BB's plant that is going to make one hell of a father...look how he is wanting to tower over the ladies! I actually have 3 different males of the same strain, and am going to let them all do the deed...will make some awesome F1's!

The limbs, and small logs you see are a waddle fence I built to keep those strong mountain wind gusts from hitting the entire cannabis plant...there will be less breakage of the big heavy lower limbs.

Water is a Game Changer in the Semi Arid Environment of Stony Oasis Farms

Water means everything in those dog days of summer. And, it is in short supply up there near the Simcoe Mountains of central WA state. So one of the first things I did when I began work up there is have a well drilled. My well is about 360 ft deep...wells in the area range from 90 ft to over 900 ft to find water. The water in that area is streams of water well above the actual aquifer....which is at that 900 ft depth.

My well was drilled about 10 years ago, cost about 50 grand, is drilled mostly through solid basalt, with those streams of water found in the occasional layers of gravel.

I have a high dollar Grundfos pump installed...this pump will run on varying voltages anything from 30-300 volts ac or dc. I have it set up solar direct, and it pumps about 2500 gals daily. I am contemplating....and will be implementing an upgrade to this schedule. I will be installing a battery bank, complete with a charge controller and inverter to run the pump 24/7! This will pump about 10,000 gals in a 24 hour period. I can then water things all night long...will be able to grow many time what I now have growing.

This will be a game changer for sure...and i have decided this next summer to grow a huge vegetable garden...maybe 100 ft square. I have grown these kind of gardens for most of my life...going to be fun...I love growing plants....all kinds of plants.

The pond you see in the above image is kept full by ground water the I have the pump pump out on the ground at the top of the hill to the right. Not only will that water trickle down on top of the 4 feet deep bedrock on that hill...watering any plants on the hill, that can reach it...but it also keep that little pond full for all the animals. the next nearest water is another pond I have that is filled with run off...but it dries up most summers.

I have so many plans for this property! I plan on a 40 ft long geo-thermal Walipini, a root cellar complete with an extra room down in the ground, I would love to have say a 30,000 gal cistern on top of the hill, and many more projects...we will see what my old ass can accomplish...and you can read about it all here on Stony Oasis.

JustCannabisSeed.com is what pays for every thing I am doing at Stony...and if you are into cannabis please take advantage of the great deals you will find there on cannabis seeds. I am also open to contributions...if you would like to lower your carbon footprint through my efforts while building a food forest of literally thousands of trees...please contact me ( will take you to my contact page on Just Cannabis Seed, and open in a new tab) and we can discuss that.

I have huge plans for Stony, and money is a limiting factor unfortunately.