Dry Farming
Greetings,
I am considering beginning my farming journey on a very small plot of land I own in Fresno California. My go to cash crops are herbs. The land has no irrigation so my intention is “dry farming.”
I absolutely love KNF practices and thought building soil and prepping the land for either Rosemary or Garlic would be ideal. I have experience working on a Lavender farm so I am NOT going in entirely green.
How can I make this work? What be the disadvantages and advantages you can forsee?
Best Regards,
Top answer
KNF works really good in this format being that its a foliar feeding system and no need for irrigation ...i myself use a kinda "dry farming" method i have ruffle a 20x20ft(6x6m) garden and a few other small beds for flowers and such i use 20-30gal (75-113L) of soil prep formula at the start of the season and only use 5-10gal (18-36L) of water a week, i do fertigation through a hose end sprayer to spray my KNF formulas in my gardens that is when i water ...there is a couple weeks out of the year we see high 90F (32C) and i will give the garden a lil extra water on really hot days ....the key is in the starting soil prep we want to add lots of organic material to the soil for water retention by adding compost, biochar, coco coir and/or peat moss into the soil also by using hügelkultur and/or core gardening and deep mulch methods we hold onto a whole lot of moisture then adding IMOs and creating a healthy thriving soil biome we reduce the need to water, using these methods we are recreating the way nature makes the forest floor (who waters the forest?) ...the only disadvantage i could see might be the time or money spent in the setup depending on what all is done but in my opinion the return on investment we would get by reducing water usage and cost of nutrients by using KNF methods will greatly outweigh the setup in the end
Happy Experimenting - May The Force Be With You
From the KNF library
From the KNF library
Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books
·
Sep 2026
·
5 sources
The library covers soil building and dry ground. It does not cover rosemary, garlic, or Fresno.
- Leave the fallow land alone at first. Drake's materials call the early weeds strong healers and say to let them begin healing the land. (KNF Demystified, p. 14)
- Do not till. Tilling resets the microbes' progress each season. (KNF Demystified, p. 14)
- In poor soil, give plants a nutrient boost. Gather those nutrients from your own land, cheaply. (KNF Demystified, p. 14)
- Drake told a dry-climate orchard grower to start by adding IMO1 from local forest to the current program, not to convert everything at once. (Office Hours Ep. 6, 54:08)
- Cho's orchard method sprays a fermented fertilizer made with native microbes, then covers the soil with leaves or straw. (Cho, Theory, p. 111)
Dry growing has a trade-off. Drake says of trees, not herbs, that those in dry mountain areas stay smaller but bear better fruit than trees in wet areas. (Office Hours Ep. 157, 57:00)
Natural farming has worked in arid ground. Gobi Desert trees grew 15 to 20 feet in three years, though that project also drilled wells. (Office Hours Ep. 76, 1:03:01)
Sources
- 54:08 Office Hours Ep. 6 (Nov 2021) — IMO4 Degreaser, Pig Pen Biochar, Maltose Growth Stimulant · “Start by adding IMO1 from local forest into your existing spray or compost program rather than converting everything at once.”
- 57:00 Office Hours Ep. 157 (Jan 2025) — Root Nutrient Columns, IMO Box Ratios, Tillage and Soil Carbon · “trees in dry mountain areas stay smaller but produce better fruit than ones grown in wet areas”
- 1:03:01 Office Hours Ep. 76 (May 2023) — Mold on knfFood Pour-Off, Electroculture Myths, Spader vs Tiller · “Trees planted in the desert based on natural farming methodology grew 15 to 20 feet high in three years with an astonishing 97% survival rate.”
- p. 14 KNF Demystified · “Let the weeds begin to heal the land. The things that come back at first may be nasty, but they are strong healers.”
- p. 111 Cho, Theory · “covers with fallen leaves or rice straw sheaves after spraying speedy effective fermented mixed fertilizer utilizing native microbes”
1 more answer
dagoofman…Thank you for the advice. The initial prep will definitely be a focus, then the IMO. The land has been fallow for some time so I figured It would need some work. I appreciate your response.
