This is pinked till I can finish...
I am going to attempt to compile many of the "cross links" and other references I have share thus far into one post. Now folks can come here, read, and ask questions or make their own specific post that may cover one of the aspects of this vast subject. I will add new information as it becomes available...I hope all enjoy...:D
Vernacular Forms:
Building Methods:
Termites:
If you have more specific questions about termites, I will do my best to answer those. In general as a "permes" type, I see termites are a crucial part of most biomes. As far as "inoculating" an area or near by structure with "more termites" than normal...well...that is more of a "sales tactic" with pest control companies than actual truth or any research has ever suggested. Termites exist for a reason, and in some areas can be a real issue in architectural design...yet that is more to do with current building trends and the cultural dependence on "living through better chemistry," that industry has gotten society to buy into. Build architecture that is germane to a region, do proper maintenance, and monitoring, and you won't have too much of an issue with termites or any other ills that plague current architecture.
I don't "garden" as much as I did in the past...but what I did in the past was extensive, and now realize many of the methods we used (and my family taught me) are now coming back into vogue under many different names. I helped design and build gardens in three very different environments. Southwestern Arizona, panhandle region of Florida and South Central Illinois. This was all between 1968 and 1983. This was all done from "poking around behind" the wisdom of a Grandmother and her friends that ranged in birth dates from the 1870's to the 1890's...
Bikooh and Walipini:
Germane to the other aspects of this discussion, and your "arid plains" location, I could not think of a better place to have a "mound garden" and possibly place it even deeper into a "Bikooh Garden" (pit garden or what is now called "walipini.") We did not know about "hugelkultur" (what we call mound garden when I was younger)...yet, all the elements are almost exactly the same, with some subtle changes depending on where they are built. "Walipini" (which is an Aymara word for "warm place") and similar things that fell out of the late 70's and 80's for "underground gardens" again have been practices by Native folks for a long time. The first "walipini" I saw was in a "Bikooh Clan Garden" on the Diné Reservation in Northern Arizona. Here Hopi, Diné, and I am sure Pueblo, Zuni, and their ancestors have been practicing these gardening techniques in one form or another for millenia. "Bikooh gardening" is a much loved, and passed down generationally, with each garden plot belonging to a clan or collective. They are inside a steeply walled "Bikooh" (what Spanish settlers called Arroyos) which is a small to large canyon. These can range in size from 100 meters deep and several hundred meters wide, to the most prized type among the people, which is the "dead end" type that has a spring at the end, and are only about 10 to 50 meters wide or even much less. After about 1955, when plastics started coming into more use with gardens, and glass became easier to come by, some of these smaller "bikooh gardens" had glass or plastic roofs placed on them. These grew into what is now called "Walipini."
In arid regions you have to set up a micro biome for the "composting chemistry" to start, as moisture is critical to the porcess, as you know. If the area is subjected to dehydration by convection (wind) and low humidity, it only makes since to become "fossorial" in your gardening, as my ancestors have for a very long time. Just a few meters below normal garden (and with the augmentation of a "cover") and you have an entirely different climate and growing environment. Add to this all the benefits of a well built "mound garden," principle and everything improves drastically.
I am going to attempt to compile many of the "cross links" and other references I have share thus far into one post. Now folks can come here, read, and ask questions or make their own specific post that may cover one of the aspects of this vast subject. I will add new information as it becomes available...I hope all enjoy...:D
Vernacular Forms:
Building Methods:
Termites:
If you have more specific questions about termites, I will do my best to answer those. In general as a "permes" type, I see termites are a crucial part of most biomes. As far as "inoculating" an area or near by structure with "more termites" than normal...well...that is more of a "sales tactic" with pest control companies than actual truth or any research has ever suggested. Termites exist for a reason, and in some areas can be a real issue in architectural design...yet that is more to do with current building trends and the cultural dependence on "living through better chemistry," that industry has gotten society to buy into. Build architecture that is germane to a region, do proper maintenance, and monitoring, and you won't have too much of an issue with termites or any other ills that plague current architecture.
I don't "garden" as much as I did in the past...but what I did in the past was extensive, and now realize many of the methods we used (and my family taught me) are now coming back into vogue under many different names. I helped design and build gardens in three very different environments. Southwestern Arizona, panhandle region of Florida and South Central Illinois. This was all between 1968 and 1983. This was all done from "poking around behind" the wisdom of a Grandmother and her friends that ranged in birth dates from the 1870's to the 1890's...
Bikooh and Walipini:
Germane to the other aspects of this discussion, and your "arid plains" location, I could not think of a better place to have a "mound garden" and possibly place it even deeper into a "Bikooh Garden" (pit garden or what is now called "walipini.") We did not know about "hugelkultur" (what we call mound garden when I was younger)...yet, all the elements are almost exactly the same, with some subtle changes depending on where they are built. "Walipini" (which is an Aymara word for "warm place") and similar things that fell out of the late 70's and 80's for "underground gardens" again have been practices by Native folks for a long time. The first "walipini" I saw was in a "Bikooh Clan Garden" on the Diné Reservation in Northern Arizona. Here Hopi, Diné, and I am sure Pueblo, Zuni, and their ancestors have been practicing these gardening techniques in one form or another for millenia. "Bikooh gardening" is a much loved, and passed down generationally, with each garden plot belonging to a clan or collective. They are inside a steeply walled "Bikooh" (what Spanish settlers called Arroyos) which is a small to large canyon. These can range in size from 100 meters deep and several hundred meters wide, to the most prized type among the people, which is the "dead end" type that has a spring at the end, and are only about 10 to 50 meters wide or even much less. After about 1955, when plastics started coming into more use with gardens, and glass became easier to come by, some of these smaller "bikooh gardens" had glass or plastic roofs placed on them. These grew into what is now called "Walipini."
In arid regions you have to set up a micro biome for the "composting chemistry" to start, as moisture is critical to the porcess, as you know. If the area is subjected to dehydration by convection (wind) and low humidity, it only makes since to become "fossorial" in your gardening, as my ancestors have for a very long time. Just a few meters below normal garden (and with the augmentation of a "cover") and you have an entirely different climate and growing environment. Add to this all the benefits of a well built "mound garden," principle and everything improves drastically.