Flying Disc Ranch

People

Robert Lower and his sons, Eric and Ian, Pedro and Carolina Medina, Adolfo Ramirez, and his son Jr.

Farmland

11 acres in Thermal, about 525 miles to San Francisco

About

Robert bought his property—desert land that he cleared, irrigated, and planted with over 1,200 palms—in 1979. Flying Disc Ranch has become a tropical rainforest-type ecosystem, host to a wealth of wildlife. Different varieties of date palm are interplanted with citrus, aloe vera, pomegranates, and figs. Since the Coachella Valley is part of the great Mojave Desert, and dates require moisture, Robert and company create a “green oasis,” with water, compost, mulch, and a year-round cover crop of Bermuda grass. Permaculture employs techniques from many farming traditions. Robert calls it “observation, adaptation, and accident.” He describes his ranch as “100% Permaculture.”