Mulching the Medicinal Garden with Juniper | Off-Grid Homestead Water Retention in the High Desert In this video, we’re teaming up with our local friends @bear_swipe_excavating to mulch and protect the planted beds in our medicinal garden at JDK Ranchette. Bear Swipe operates the excavator to collect downed juniper trees that have been scattered across the land for years — likely the result of earlier range management practices common in northeastern Arizona, where ranchers cleared juniper to increase forage for cattle in open graze country. These downed trees are now getting a second life. After loading the juniper into Dan’s dump trailer and delivering it to the garden area, Dano and Mick fire up the gas-powered woodchipper. We process the branches under 4″ in diameter into mulch, while larger pieces are set aside for stacking and seasoning as future winter firewood. Once chipped, I (Robin) spread the mulch around all our planted areas. The video walks through the freshly mulched beds and shows how much better they’re now retaining water. In the high desert, mulching is critical — not only to preserve moisture in our dry soils but also to protect against erosion caused by intense summer monsoon rains. Every bit of this project is about stewardship — reusing what the land provides, preparing for the seasons ahead, and working as a family to build something sustainable.