Permaculture Project
Excess water flowing through your property can be a good problem to have during the dry Arizona summers, if handled properly. In a brief design exercise, the Ecosa students helped a local bakery owner take control of the drainage situation through her steeply sloped backyard. After listening to the client's other wants and needs, then observing the flows of the site the group proposed an informal landscape focused around a series of check dams used to slow and collect the runoff. Personalized features included a built-in area for the owner's hot tub, a traditional outdoor earth oven, as well as many edible and native plantings.

Permaculture instructor Andy Millison, left, discussed concerns with students and owner, Nicole Marshall, right.	The steeply sloped yard dropping over 16' from front to back posed serious drainage issues.	Check dams to harvest and slow the rainwater runoff punctuate the hillside. Closer to the house these collection points offer the owner ideal spaces to grow a series of small gardens.