What are good permaculture strategies in dry climates?

Most permaculture courses teach food forests. That is all well and good if the top successional biome for the climate you are practicing permaculture in is forest. But it is a fallacy to think the whole world healthy is forests. Fully 1/2 the land surface is native grasslands. read more

mulch is your best friend in that climate, mulch EVERYTHING. either with living mulch (plants) or decomposing mulch. also with mulch is proper land layout to catch and hold as much water as possible. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. read more

For example in Sintra, Portugal in Terra Alta we get nearly a meter of rain a year, hardly a drylands. But it is a brittle climate with the summer drought lasting 5-7 months on average. Thus summer time growing in earthworks strategies like sunken beds are vastly important. read more