Desert civilizations solved these problems thousands of years ago. Their solutions survived because they work.
Water Harvesting
(5)Passive Cooling
(3)Passive Solar
(3)Food Production
(3)Earth Building
(2)Seeds and plants
Open-pollinated and heirloom seed can be saved and replanted, which is the point of most of the techniques in the almanac. Buy for your zone and your water, not the catalog photo.
- Botanical InterestsOver 600 untreated seed varieties, many organic and heirloom, with growing instructions printed inside each packet.The packet instructions match how the almanac teaches: sow, thin, harvest, save.
- Park SeedAn American seed house since 1868: heirloom and organic vegetables, seed-starting kits and plugs.Seed-starting gear for gardeners who start indoors before the last frost.
- True Leaf MarketSeeds in bulk as well as packets: vegetables, cover crops, sprouting and microgreen seed.Bulk and cover-crop seed for larger plots, swales and food forests.
- Jackson & PerkinsRoses, perennials and other live plants, sold since 1872.Perennials for the courtyard and food-forest layers, where starting from seed is slow.
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All gear, including backup powerThese techniques are not historical curiosities. They are engineering solutions that survived millennia because they work.