Kalaina Nielson

Helium Extraction in Arizona

This page gives an overview of helium fracking in Arizona. It is a controversial issue with folks on the Coconino Aquifer.

I believe what attracts them is smell of the yeast from the potato water (old school bread makers used potato starter). You can also use a little flour like you are making a sourdough starter, but it takes a bit for the yeast to build up, so I prefer the potato.

Thanks Diane,
Its been a slow process. This is the same spot as the food forest when we first moved onto our bare land.

The outdoor solar shower we use all summer long. Just uses drip fittings, garden hoses, split valves and sprinkler. Reheats in about 15 min. Hot water gets scalding hot!

NE Arizona food forest we are working on. We have buried and above ground hugelkultures. Drip irrigation (only 10 psi). Hard clay and sand with PH of 8+ Zone 6B

We reuse the tops from the bag style fly traps on old canning jars and we have tried many fillers to attract flies. By far the most effective has been thin slices of potato in water. It can develop a healthy smell if not changed often but I can feed the contents to my chickens without worrying about making them sick!

Linda I highly recommend you mulch with wood chips. They will help soak the water into the dirt rather than running off. You can also ditch and divert. Check out Brad Lancaster videos on YouTube and his website https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/
He's out of Tucson.

A few pictures of drains into a buried hugelkulture on our land. The black rock catches debris before it flows into the beds. You may also consider a ground cover of mint, it will hold soil well and need little to no care.

Definitely the Witch Hazel, I love their fragrant flowers, you can smell them from a mile away on the breeze. Since they bloom at odd times they are often he only flowers around. Their seed ejection system is crazy cool, shooting seeds up to 30 feet. They are medicinal as well.

Here on the Colorado plateau of AZ we have the large gopher snake (often called a bull snake by locals but actually in the same family as corn snakes) It's a very nice snake, I have seen many people pick up wild ones without upsetting the snake. They do a very convincing rattler impression pulling the corners of their mouth back hissing, and shaking their tail in the dead leaves. I have seen these guys eat eggs before, because sometimes after eating they get stuck in the chicken wire, and I have to cut them loose. They tend to keep the mice down so I figure a few eggs are no big deal.

Misery loves company, and I feel like I have good company in this thread, so thank you for starting it.
The cutworms and the sow bugs have eaten a dozen tomato starts, a few beets and a half dozen of my squash. I already spotted a squash beetle which doesn't bode well for my season. Only lost a couple plants this year to the mice and rabbits, the terrier has done a good job keeping them out.