denise ra

Cristo Balete, Our climates are very different, I'm semi-arid, presumably, something that is good in one climate may be bad in another. Every property owner ought to have some invasive species bookmarks for their area. On the surface, Elaeagnus sounds great but it is on my Invasive Species watchlist for my area. That in itself isn't the be-all-and-end-all, I can ask the local conservation district, the extension agent, and thoughtful neighbors what they have found in regards to Russian Olive and Autumn Olive which were the Elaeagnus species planted in this area in the past.
Autumn Olive: Good Intentions Gone Bad

An upcoming event in Oklahoma for owners/managers of larger properties-  July 21, 2020, Understanding the Impacts of Fire on Your Property about using prescribed burns. This is a presentation by Noble Research Institute. Understanding the impacts of fire on your property.

Cristo Balete, I'm on my phone and so it doesn't show where you're located. What climate are you in, and was this tree you're speaking of a fast-growing tree?

OP, perhaps you can take a leaf and you're a good photos to your extension agent and they can tell you what tree it is.

And I was worried about storing food in plastic. ☹️😬🤔

Sam Dodson, What a useful thread for me as I too need very large and long hugels. Sharing your experience has helped me begin to think through my process. It would be great if you can post recent photos and tell us how your hugel system has worked for you and if you would do anything differently. Thanks!!

Kristin Bennett, From the thread it sounds like cedar on the bottom of the bed is fine with other woods above that. Also as far as grass is concerned I watched a youtube from Oklahoma Gardening channel that cut the grass out and put it upside down on the hugel as one of the layers. Depending on the type of grass you might want to bury it deeply in the hugel. Where are you located?

Scott Foster, how's it going with the Kazahkstan apple seeds?

Milk of Magnesia. I buy the dollar store kind which has no preservatives or flavors. It's cheap and goes on easy.

Baking soda, all by itself. It's so easy!!  I am sensitive to SLS (Sodium Laurel Sulfate) which is in many personal care items and which many people are sensitive to.

Mark Dube wrote

this spring everyday has a wind of over 70 km/h. It whips trees around and dries out the ground unforgivingly. I have planted many coniferous trees because once bigger they help greatly with the wind but found that if planted anywhere the wind can get to them while young they dry out and die but if kept under shade of another tree they do much better.

Good info, thanks.
Anne Miller, good links. Especially Deb Rebel's post in this thread: One piece of Advice. Winter Gardening sounds like a good idea and Bryant RedHawk's reply in this thread Fall Garden was helpful about knowing what to plant. Also some talk of Elliot Coleman's books; I used to have one around here somewhere. Winter gardening could really be the ticket as it's 95-100F in June, July and August. I tried to find info on autumn wind speed and direction but too much tornado info comes up and that is making me anxious.
Douglas Alpenstock, yes, observation is key, I hope to live there this fall and winter. Shelterbelts, I don't see many now but I will ask the Extension agent about them. Water in summer would be an issue if I'm not here.
Eric Hanson, When they do controlled/prescribed burns here for pasture regeneration they often plow a strip for a firebreak. I'm thinking about putting in a narrow loop road around my tiny homestead for this reason. It will need to be somewhat vegetated otherwise the winds will cause me to eat a lot of dirt. The wind commonly blows 20mph just about daily.

I worry about the water quality in the shallow ephemeral creeks and gullies because I have seen what looks like oil in the water. It probably is oil as I am in the gas fields of Western Oklahoma. I don't think there is any getting around it, though possibly I can plant some remediation plants upstream of my food forests. Projects within projects!! :0(

To summarize:
I will look for a likely spot in the gullies or creeks to plant a food forest guild and fence it off. I can plant some in July or September when I'm there. I'd like to get gallons of local seeds/fruit pits and poke them in the ground willy-nilly too. I haven't seen squirrels, I wonder what else would bury the fruit pits if I just dump them in the gullies? If I could get discarded local fruits I'm sure the coyotes would eat them and 'plant' them.
I will research "winter gardening". I don't know if I will have water this fall as I've gotten in bed with FSA, NRCS, and the local Conservation District and am waiting to see if they want to help me $$ with water infrastructure for livestock.
Observe...luckily I like to wander the place.