In a small settlement above the agricultural land, where the landscape is horribly degraded, some people are beginning to use permaculture techniques. Crops are up in shade houses. Wicking beds are in full production, yielding crops even at the end of summer, a miraculous event in the desert. A chicken tractor is producing a cubic meter of compost a week. And, the gardens have been cut out of two-to-three meters of solid rock, with the excavated rock then used to make retaining walls cut for terraces. Now, a kid is growing a crop of chilies, tomatoes, eggplants, and other vegetables to eat at home, with plans to sell the surplus. Vines are climbing on the fence to shade it in. The next-door neighbor is starting another system, another extension of our design work from people trained at the Greening the Desert site. The school is right next door looking down into it. Having seen results in permaculture, people are starting to garden every which way they can, carving production right out of the rock.
