755 Discussion with Dan, who grows fruit & vegetables in the Nevada desert

Discussion with Dan, who grows fruit & vegetables in the Nevada desert

Newsletter published on 17 June 2015

(1) Very few people can grow vegetables here
(2) My questions to Dan
(3) We grow apricots, peaches, pears, quince, mulberry, apples, figs,
plums and cherries
(4) More questions to Dan
(5) More replies from Dan

(1) Very few people can grow vegetables here

From: Dan Nevada <nevadadle@gmail.com> 5 June 2015 at 13:19 To: Peter
Myers <myerspeterg@gmail.com>

Peter,

I was born in a beautiful lush (green) little valley approx 60 miles out
of Las Vegas Nevada--which is generally in a very dry dusty geographical
area.

I was born when the government first began testing nuclear bombs at the
Nevada Test Site. We lived on 1200 acre farm and cattle ranch directly
downwind and our cattle began showing skin spots and also being born
with birth defects. Then I was born with a very deformed heart. My
parents were freaking out. (BTW-the heart has never been fixed and I'm
in my 60s; doctors are usually amazed)

Howard Hughes and the government basically confiscated our land for the
water located on it and which was at that time my family's property and
we moved into Las Vegas with very little but my parents knew that the
Garden of Eden era of their lives was over due to radiation and military
complex greed.

It is interesting that you should ask, but I have always grown fruits
and vegetables here. Very few people can grow vegetables here
successfully but this is the only place I've ever known. I'm a 7th
generation Southern Nevadan.

I'm eating home grown tomatoes and summer squash this evening.

Dan

(2) My questions to Dan

Dan,

How do you manage to grow vegetables there? Do you use mulch? Drip
irrigation? Night watering? Varieties adapted to low water?

What about fruits? Do you grow Prickly Pear? Dragon Fruit (Pitaya)?
Mesquite? Figs? White Mulberries?

(3) We grow apricots, peaches, pears, quince, mulberry, apples, figs,
plums and cherries

 From Dan Nevada <nevadadle@gmail.com> 12 June 2015 at 11:27
To: Peter Myers <myerspeterg@gmail.com>

Background:

The White man first came through southern Nevada (Jedidiah Smith) just
before the mid-1800s. Soon the Mormons came as pioneers (1847). Then the
gold rush people (49ers). Las Vegas, was a large natural spring in a
vast, vast desert of no water.

By 1870 the Las Vegas Springs had over 50 horseshoeing businesses
operating out of tents along the spring and river channels and many
wagon wheel repairmen.

The native American Indians (Paiutes) were described by the white people
as having the disposition of a herd of deer. Men, women and children
would creep closer and closer, then any sudden move or loud noise would
send them scurrying into the bushes again and out of sight.

The Mormons put plenty of these native Las Vegans in the water. But as
soon as the Indians dried off, the “conversion” was over. When the
natives begged for food, they knew they would be dunked in the water
again. They begged often. Some women were recorded as having been
baptized 60 times.

I bring all this up as the natives grew nothing. They were simply
foragers and they covered a massive amount of area (mountain range to
mountain range) for seasonal berries, pinyon nuts, rabbits, desert
squirrels, maggots.

Around Las Vegas, the natives had the luxury of pond scum (blue green
algae), brine flies and crawdads, which are a species of freshwater
crayfish. These tough, tough people. I grew up with many of them,
pretty—they are not. Sturdy and functional they are (if you can ween
them off the bottle).

So it was the white man that learned to grow here, no rainfall in highly
alkaline soil, using irrigation. No electricity was necessary back then
because if a farmer could somehow poke a hole in the hard-pack (known
here as caliche', about 8 to 10 feet thick) which averaged 10 to 60 feet
deep below the top of the softer clay-like soil known as “valley fill,”
water would gush up sometimes 50 or 60 feet high (or more in the early
days).

Massive amounts of water would wash away much of the alkalinity from
from the soil when a new farmer would begin to condition the soil to
grow crops. Even after the alkalinity is washed out the soil generally
registers a ph of 7.4. It is naturally clay and will pack hard without
sand and organic material. So animal manure was very important early on
(and still is if the ground hasn't been worked in a while).

The while clay soil (geologically called Valley Fill) is very
nutritious. But at a ph of 7.4, it won't break down the minerals. It is
high in phosphorus and potash (potassium) and most all trace minerals,
but not nitrogen, hence the need for manure (for nitrogen and lowering
the ph).

Generally farmers and ranchers got a long better than the movies
(Westerns) would indicate. The Indians were mostly beggars—not warriors.
My mother is one-half Apache (they were warriors because they were
pushed by the Feds until they had no place to go—as in flight or
fight—no more place to flee to), which are also a tough desert people.

A lot of minorities came to the area as cowboys, solders and farmers. I
think Hollywood has generally done them a disservice, as in reality
there were many heroic characters in this area that were minorities
coming to get away from the eastern persecution. For example, many of
our famous historic cowboys and wagon-train masters were blacks.

Another example is that no Japanese were interred here in interment
camps during world War II. Nevada (especially Las Vegas) decided it
would rather eat and just pretend to populate interment camps. No
Japanese were ever invited into a camp here, their crops were the food
supply.

As a youngster, I remember almost every Las Vegas Strip hotel kitchen
being run by Chinese Chefs and Chinese kitchen crews.

When the federal government got involved after Nevada refused to make
gambling illegal (it was legal in every western state before the 1930s),
blacks were horribly segregated at the instructions of our overseers.

The first race riot (actually a turf war) that I was in was when I was 7
years old. My section of town, did not allow the black kids to come and
swim in our springs, pick our figs, sweet pomegranates, red mulberries
nor claim our empty soda bottles (worth 3 cents apiece upon return to
the store).

The fights were vicious and I grew up in them. By the time I was in High
School the race riots here made national news almost every day. Funny,
the black warriors I fought against my whole youth are now my friends.
We can sit around, share (and perhaps embellish) a lot of old battle
stories.

The fruit bearing trees we can grow quite easily are apricots, peaches,
pears, quince, mulberry, apple (I grow 7 varieties of apple), 3 kinds of
figs (the most trouble free is the Black Mission variety), plums and
cherries; the nut trees are almonds, walnuts, filberts, pistachios.

If the trees can be protected from extreme cold (like up next to the
house and covered in very cold weather, we can grow citrus—lemons,
limes, oranges, grapefruits, pomelo. And if you grow semi-indoors (under
a sky-lighted shed), most tropical fruits like mango, avocado and
papaya, and cashew nuts.

Ground crops include watermelon, cantaloupe, casabah melon, crenshaws,
canary, etc (melons grow well here), tomatoes, sweet corn (two full
crops, the 2nd crop is started 1st of July), squash, pumpkins, beans,
peas and all garden greens. MULCH IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! (I mulch with
alfalfa).

Any system of sprinkling is done strictly at night (I don't sprinkle,
but others do). Tasty organic tomatoes can be grown in greenhouses here
with the right conditions. It is very hard to grow them to not taste
like a hothouse tomato. The tomato plants can be grown perennially and
even bark-up. But 2 year old plants is the maximum for good taste as
required by gourmet restaurants here.

Juicy vegetables and sweet juicy fruit don't seem to be low-water types.
The restaurants I've supplied don't want tasteless pithy leather. They
want memorable produce. Las Vegas can rival the best parts of France and
Italy for texture and taste, so I'm told.

But none of this grows without water. All of it is irrigated with ground
water. Water has become scarce. 1.8 million people are now here in the
Las Vegas Valley. When I graduated from high school there were 42,000
people in the same space and the government said it had to confiscate
all the water (back then). It is only recently (since 911) that
oppression has almost become unbearable.

I'm growing weary of fighting the powers that be for my water. If I
would have sold 15 years ago, I would have been a multimillionaire (I'd
then, as now, rather have the land and water than the money), but now I
only have one customer who is legally able to purchase the water and the
government doesn't pay well to us old hold-outs. We'll be lucky to walk
away (If we don't squeal too much).

My family used to be acclaimed and known around here as honorable
growers but now we are just stingy hoarders only thinking of ourselves
and not our fellow citizens (sigh*).

My dad has been dead for 20 years. When my father was told to take a
hike off his farm and ranchland in the 1950s, he was young in his 30s.
My own invitation, to pack up and scram, has almost arrived and I'm now
in my 60's—and very worried. I probably wont end up with much. We've
always relied on what we can grow but its basically over.

I'm not planning on planting here again next spring. I don't even know
where to move on to.

I've had a great life. I hope the theory of reincarnation isn't true
because I am relying on having my memories of how good I've had it, the
people I've known and the animals I've had (I'm a vegetarian by the way
and have been since childhood).

Sorry for the long rant, but I wanted to give you some background to
what was once available to a man or woman here in this place.

If you've read this far, again I would thank you for your work, If you
are a grower, let me know how it is for you.

Dan

(4) More questions to Dan

Dan,

 > No Japanese were ever invited into a camp here,
 > their crops were the food supply.

That's amazing. Yet the climate in Japan is much wetter & cooler. How
did they manage it?

 >  the black warriors I fought against
 > my whole youth are now my friends

Another amazing bit. Do blacks have land in the area these days? grow
fruits & veg?

 > grow quite easily are apricots, peaches, pears,
 > quince, mulberry, apple..., 3 kinds of figs

Most of them need water.

 > MULCH IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
 > (I mulch with alfalfa)

Is the alfalfa grown locally, or brought in? Do you have to buy it? Is
it expensive?

 > sprinkling is done strictly at night
 > (I don't sprinkle, but others do)

Do you irrigate by flood, or trickle, or drip?

 > Water has become scarce. 1.8 million people
 > are now here in the Las Vegas Valley

I guess that includes Las Vegas city. Why are people moving to the area?
Is water recycled? Is sewage recycled? Does the water supply have
separate pipelines for new water and recycled water?

 > My own invitation, to pack up and scram, has almost
 > arrived and I'm now in my 60's—and very worried

It sounds like the Mafia. Thugs. Is there a threat of force?

Can I post your email to my mailing list?

Peter

(5) More replies from Dan

{>> : Dan's earlier comments
 > : my questions to Dan}

 From Dan Nevada <nevadadle@gmail.com> 17 June 2015 at 10:20
To: Peter Myers <myerspeterg@gmail.com>

Peter,

Thanks for the questions.  I can tell you don't really know what it is
like here and I don't know what it is like there.  I've been to
Australia several times for brief visits back in the 1970s.  I'm sure it
isn't the same now.   I've been from Queensland down the coast and as
far as Port Lincoln.  I then flew from Brisbane to Perth.  But I know
nothing, really.

 > Dan,

 >> No Japanese were ever invited into a camp here,
 >> their crops were the food supply.

 > That's amazing. Yet the climate in Japan is much wetter & cooler.
 > How did they manage it?

There must be a strain of Japanese that are just darn good gardeners,
farmers and growers.  But every one I've seen uses a great deal of
water.  That kind of water use ended in the mid-1970s when the Tomiyasu
family finally sold out to urban developers.  They were the last of the
great Japanese food producers around here.

The Japanese farmers and growers gave our family a lot of good pointers
back in the mid-1960s.  Our family operation went from a giant operation
to a very small one, and several of the Japanese farmers helped us in a
lot of areas to pare down how we did things and gave us a lot of tips
and helped introduce us into the local town markets.  We had been
suppliers to the neighboring state of California when we were big--then
suppliers locally when we became small, thanks to the Feds.

 >> the black warriors I fought against
 >> my whole youth are now my friends

 > Another amazing bit. Do blacks have land in the area these days?
 > grow fruits & veg?

No, not now.  There were two black farmers that were into local food
production until around 1960.  They lost their water, hence they lost
the whole shebang.  Just like I'm about to go through.  They virtually
got nothing for their land.  A U.S. Senator and his family "inherited"
the land that escheated to the state and Mr. Senator made a fortune.
The Federal Govt segregated us in the 1930 and de-segregated us in the
mid 1960s.  We, the people, obediently and violently resisted the change
both times.

 >> grow quite easily are apricots, peaches, pears,
 >> quince, mulberry, apple..., 3 kinds of figs

 > Most of them need water.

 >> MULCH IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
 >> (I mulch with alfalfa)

 > Is the alfalfa grown locally, or brought in?
 > Do you have to buy it? Is it expensive?

My wife's family grew 800 acres of alfalfa here in the valley until
1988.  We reserved a small bit of the fields to grow for our own use
until 2002.  I quit growing my own due to govt problems with the water
and the land.  It is expensive to purchase in small bales (90 lbs) like
I prefer to use. I like it leafy because it mats into a carpet-like
material that doesn't blow away in the wind.

 >> sprinkling is done strictly at night
 >> (I don't sprinkle, but others do)

 > Do you irrigate by flood, or trickle, or drip?

All 3.  Where I flood under the alfalfa mulch, I cover the waterways
with 1 inch think boards about 11 inches wide, that I save from year to
year.  I then cover everything including the covered waterways with the
mulch.  In other words, the sun never hits the boards and I don't really
see the water flowing again that year.  I know where the boards are and
my walkways are on top of them where, also, the waterways are.  If I
have a serious flow problem where an animal has dug in and blocked the
waterway, I have to pull up about 10 feet of board, repair the flow and
recover.  That happens once about every 3 or 4 years. So I don't have
much problems under the mulch.

 >> Water has become scarce. 1.8 million people
 >> are now here in the Las Vegas Valley

 > I guess that includes Las Vegas city. Why are people
 > moving to the area?

Las Vegas is a nice place to live and an exciting city (there have been
jobs here).

Since around the mid-1990s, worldwide government wants the USA, Canada
and Mexico to become one country and non-citizen Mexicans are given very
preferential treatment and free services.  Nevada was designated as a
"gateway" state, to facilitate this influx of large populations of
Mexican flowing into the area.

 > Is water recycled? Is sewage recycled? Does the water supply
 > have separate pipelines for new water and recycled water?

The government recycles the water.  It 'treats' the water here with some
heavy-duty chemicals.  I believe it is to help support law and order.
It actually injects these same chemicals into the groundwater supply
even though the tests on our ground water show it to be the cleanest
water in the country (at least until the last 10 years of pumping
chemicals like fluoride into the ground). Otherwise nothing especially
smart is being done around here.

 >> My own invitation, to pack up and scram, has almost
 >> arrived and I'm now in my 60's—and very worried

 > It sounds like the Mafia. Thugs. Is there a threat of force?

I know you think that is a simple and innocent question but I can't
comment.  Sorry.

 > Can I post your email to my mailing list?

Yes.

Thanks again, Dan.