The following is an original production of AZPM News.

(Tom) This week on Arizona Illustrated, see the creative ways homeowners are using every drop of rain to live more efficiently.

(Emma) And if we were being a little bit more smart about our water use and where we use it from, we could be self sufficient here in the Sonoran desert.

(Tom) Neon paint, bright flowers.

The local artist expressing radical happiness.

(Lex) I'm creating something heavenly and otherworldly and joyful.

(Tom) He lost his sight, but isn't letting that stop him from getting back in the saddle.

Meet the Blind Bandit.

(Angel) And as soon as I heard that latch crack, I was like, oh, boys, we're about to make history.

(Tom) And it's a feast for your senses.

A type of lavender that can grow 10 feet tall.

(Hannah) I recommend this plant because it's beautiful, it smells great and it's extremely drought tolerant.

Hello and welcome to Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

You know that water is perhaps the most precious resource in the Sonoran desert.

And as our climate gets drier and hotter, experts with the Watershed Management Group are teaching how to save every last drop.

So, we join them now on their Desert Living Home Tour and you'll see how people are harvesting rainwater to make their homes and their lives more sustainable.

(soft music) (Charles) We're here for the Desert Living Home Tour.

So we're one of 15 sites that people can visit throughout the day.

What we hope people get from the tour is inspiration.

These homes on the tour are finding creative ways to use local water resources and local energy resources.

And what I think of is create abundance in their space.

There's so many conversations about the problems we're facing with, you know, heating cities and the record heat we saw this year.

And then we have been hearing about the Colorado River and strain that is being put on the Colorado River.

People I think are looking for answers right now and ways that they can get involved.

And these homes on the tour are showing what it looks like to be a part of the solution of these challenges.

(David) Today is the annual home tour, the Watershed Management Group puts on.

I've been on it for many years, I think about eight years.

By building basins that allows the rainwater to slow down, percolate into the ground and nourish native plants.

I've planted lots of native plants, a few native trees, and then cisterns to capture water so that I could water fruit trees.

I decided that, you know, I have enough storage here.

Would it be possible to actually live on rainwater?

If not all year, maybe part of the year.

And it looked like it was possible.

Right around the corner is a compost toilet, which is a wonderful water savings thing, flushing toilets uses an awful lot of water and it's into the water stream that then needs to be cleaned out.

So a compost toilet is wonderful and having it outside is nice.

(Emma) I have my own rainwater harvesting business in town.

I do design and install.

I work with homeowners and groups of volunteers to do the projects themselves.

And I helped install this landscape that we're gonna look at here in 2020.

I provide all the tools and materials and expertise and the homeowner helps recruit friends, family, neighbors.

You can read about this stuff all you want, but until you've gotten your hands dirty and seen it in 3D, it's not gonna sink in or really be applicable.

So we have a lot of earthworks, a lot of passive water harvesting, but we also put in a gray water system off our laundry and an active system rain tank off of half of our roof.

(David) There's also solar here on the home.

Solar is very effective in reducing your bill, but also offsetting climate change.

So offsets water.

The reason being that most utilities generate energy by burning something, whether it be coal or natural gas, to boil water that makes steam that drives the turbines.

That's consuming a lot of water.

So the solar avoids that water consumption as well.

Beyond solar, there are some batteries out here in the laundry room.

Those batteries do two things.

I can store excess energy during the day and then put it into the house in the grid in the afternoon during peak times.

I can also store energy for use when times get tough.

Sometimes in monsoon season, the power's out.

Sometimes for a day or two, I can utilize that energy during those times too.

There's an electric car in the garage.

That car is charged only with solar energy from the solar system.

So no fossil fuel powers that car and there are no emissions.

- Well, I've been interested in rainwater harvesting, growing my own food, gardening.

So I was interested to come and see people who have actually put it into practice in their yards and because I wanted to get some ideas for my yard.

- This tour today, it's just a great opportunity for us to go out and see all the different things.

Like she said, put it in practice.

So it's cool, this house is great.

(Eli) The rain store was designed to be a DIY resource center for people looking to do rainwater harvesting.

So we want to sell everything from the rainwater tanks to the collection, how you get that water into your tanks and then how you use that water once you've collected it.

So anybody from an amateur that's just wanting to learn how to do this themselves or somebody that's already done these systems and wants to come and expand it, we want to have all the resources available to them for not only rainwater, but for graywater.

And then again, like I said, once you have that water, we want to be an instrument for how you use that water in your landscape.

So if you want to do vegetable gardening, if you want to grow native plants, if you want to attract pollinators, we want to kind of connect all those pieces and have all that stuff here under one roof.

(Emma) We get enough rain in Tucson every year to support our city, but we don't use that rain.

Most of our urban municipal water supply is coming from the Colorado.

That's taking a lot of energy.

That's taking water out of the Colorado, which is denuding that ecosystem.

And if we were being a little bit more smart about our water use and where we use it from, we could be self-sufficient here in the Sonoran desert, but our infrastructure isn't set up for that.

And so I'm really interested in helping individuals at least create landscapes that don't need imported water.

And in some cases, put in tanks and other things that help provide their indoor water use as well.

The other thing we're doing is we're putting water back in the ground.

Our rivers, our Rillito River, our Santa Cruz River used to flow year round.

They no longer do because of groundwater pumping.

As this work spreads throughout the city, we could actually start to see flow return to our rivers, which is something that inspires me.

And like, I hope to see in my lifetime, I live two blocks from the Santa Cruz, so it's an extra near and dear to my heart.

Artist, Lex Gjurasic, traded the gray skies of the Pacific Northwest for the sunshine of Tucson and found a colorful way to express what it means to be alive.

Next, we talk with her about her process and how she uses neon colors and nature to create her visceral art.

[MUSIC] (Lex) Radical happiness is the subversive act of choosing happiness and joy in life in the face of challenges and oppression.

Whatever that means to you in your culture, in your personal life, it's choosing to not allow oppression to ruin your life because that's intention.

So it's not toxic positivity.

It's not a facade.

It's a enjoyment and a delight.

(soft music) I'm originally from Seattle, Washington, and I was sick all the time because of lung issues.

I always drew and always knew I wanted to be an artist.

And so that definitely was encouraged.

I was given supplies and told, do whatever you want.

I've always used art and made art my whole life.

Recently my daughter was reading a book about cowboys in the Southwest.

The author said, "What defines a cowboy isn't the clothes, it's doing the work."

I said, "That's the same as an artist."

Anyone could say, like, "I love art.

My life is art."

But if you're not doing the work, then you're not really an artist.

If someone out there feels that they can't make art and they're not creative, they probably aren't.

(Laughing) And that they should find joy and support artists that are doing it because we're doing it from a place of sickness and toil.

And yeah, and if you fancy yourself an artist, then do the work.

Don't just wear the cowboy hat and cowboy boots.

Like, buck a bronco.

(Kathleen) I met Lex because our kids were going to the same school and I was new here and I didn't know any of the other parents and I saw this person across the courtyard and I thought, I need to be friends with that person.

And I fell in love with Lex as a person and an artist very quickly.

I'm a storyteller and I feel like each painting of Lex's tells a story.

(Lex) Okay, colors.

I like pink.

I like neon colors.

My favorite color is toothpaste.

I like a minty feel.

Usually I just work from memory.

Flowers are just a circle with some more shapes sticking to it.

So for me, it's like I just want to get lost in that.

I start with a bit of inspiration, and then I quickly let that go.

When I'm making decisions and making choices in the moment, I just tell myself I can do whatever I want.

And doing whatever I want is what keeps me moving forward on a piece.

(Laura) One of the things that really stands out to me about Lex's work is this profusion that happens, this sort of abundance of flowers, of forms of natural materials.

Floridness, they're so happy and effusive.

They really convey such a beautiful energy, because we love looking at flowers.

We're humans, we're animals.

So I think she really taps into some things that are pretty primordial in that sense.

But also it's because I think of the energy that she puts into the work when she's making it.

(gentle music) (Lex) No, I'm a self-taught artist.

I draw more inspiration from the lives of other artists than I do the work of other artists.

I like to read about how they lived and feel some sort of validation for the struggle of like, what am I doing?

Like, why am I doing?

And when I'm working, I really feel like people talk about blind faith.

That's how I feel about the idea of creating and making art.

This is truly an act of blind faith.

I don't know why I'm doing this.

It has no function.

It's good for nothing.

And I don't even wanna sell it.

Like, I wanna hoard it.

It's not part of the capitalist system.

My way of funneling the experience of being alive.

(Kathleen) When I look at Lex's paintings, what I feel first is a sense of whimsy.

They're bright and they're colorful and they draw you in because they're so adorably pretty.

And the second thing I love about Lex's paintings when I'm looking at her work is that they tell a story, each one.

Each one tells the story of travel and transformation and beauty and the transformative power of color.

If you look at her work, the colors enrapture you.

I have a lot of Lex's paintings in my house because I like waking up and looking at a field of beautiful flowers where not every flower is the same.

They're all individual and distinct.

And I feel like each painting is a map to a different emotion.

And for me, art is something that I like to feel deeply and her work makes me feel that way.

Like I could sit and sink into one of her paintings for days.

(Lex) When the pandemic started, I started a series of like small landscapes on panel, and I would have to say the first one that I painted.

And I said, "I'm just going to paint this for myself."

"Oh, it's the pandemic.

You should be making work that's like pull, yeah, like the essence of death."

And I just went, "Oh, I'm creating something heavenly and otherworldly and joyful, and I might be sick because of that."

For me, making art like is a very humanist thing.

Like I want thumbprints.

I want, like I'm thinking about the ancients and the cave people, and I'm the vessel for that tradition.

Radical happiness is the philosophy.

It's also kind of a form of vengeance.

You have to practice it.

It's something that you have to build like a muscle.

So if you're listening to this and saying, okay, that's a choice I'm gonna make.

I would start small and I would start in nature and finding small sprouts between the pieces of cement and how things feel, subtle feelings of like the air and the sun and just being quiet.

And then laughter, making fun of all those things.

(laughs) All right, now to the rodeo.

Angel Garcia Nuñez lost his sight, but he's not letting that stop him from chasing his dream of becoming the first blind professional saddle bronc rider.

So, let's saddle up and meet the Blind Bandit.

[Classical Guitar Music Plays] My name's Angel Garcia Nunez.

I'm 100% blind, but I'm trying to be the first PRCA saddle bronc rider.

I grew up here in Tucson, Arizona.

Didn't have a real stable household growing up.

Uh, it's always just been me and my mom never met my dad, so my mom was always kind of just bouncing around.

So.

The first time I got on the horse, I was, uh, with my mom, just, like, sitting on her lap.

I began riding horses when I was eight.

I lived on the reservation.

My grandpa put me on one of this horses bareback and taught me how to ride.

And for the next few years.

I, you know, went out and went hunting with my uncles and killed whatever we did and tied them on to the back of the saddle.

And, you know, that's how I rode.

I am nervous and worried, but, you know, I am praying for Angel because I know he's following his heart and dream.

And so that's important.

And, you know, I love him and I'll support him.

Come on, Peanut.

What's up, buddy?

You ready to have some fun?

Went to high school, graduated in 2015.

I had this buddy.

He was one of my one of my best friends.

He frickin I guess he was just ready to check out.

And he climbed up a crane and on his way up he slipped because it was raining and yeah, he died.

But yeah, he was he was going up there to jump off the crane to commit suicide.

It it really just, like, ripped me apart.

Went a while kind of just hiding everything and faking like everything was okay.

I started having these dreams and I would follow him outside.

He would point and I would look and it would just be bodies of like, people that I knew.

And they were just like, they'd just be dead, just laying there.

And I'd be like, shaken up and I'd look back for him and he'd be gone.

And so, like, I had, I had dreams like that.

And more gnarly ones too.

But May fifth comes and I get up.

It's like any other day I go to work.

The second I got in my truck to drive home, I wasn't feeling myself.

And so I started drinking.

Just like every other day.

I ended up blacking out.

I FaceTime... She was my ex, but we are still kind of like, you know, talking like we still had a relationship.

I was like, bawling my eyes out and just telling her, like I'm I'm sick of feeling this way.

Like, I don't want to do this no more.

And I was playing with a gun, I guess I put the gun to my head and I pulled the trigger and then she heard the gun go off.

Yeah, it was kind of just nothing after that for about four weeks.

And I remember I was like, in heaven, like I could see the gates and I remember them opening.

And he he pointed like something pointed at me and said, Go back.

And I remember like, I like turn my head.

And then that's when I like and started like, trying to rip out the IVs and stuff.

There's two choices you got.

You're either going to accept this for what it is and grow, grow from it, or you could use this as an excuse to be nothing and get more depressed all over again.

And so as soon as they told me, like, Yeah, you're blind, I was like, all right, I might as well just start adjusting to this life that I got to live.

So I came out of the hospital.

I had days where I was like, Am I going to be anything in my life?

Like like, what am I going to do?

And so my friend Allie, she got in contact with my mom and she was she just kind of told her, like, when Angels ready, I would like him to come over to the horses because I feel like it would be super beneficial and therapeutic for him.

And so my mom ran, ran the idea of buying me.

And I was like, heck yeah, like, get me out there!

Shoot.

Like, let's go.

Even just like the smallest things of just brushing the horse, you know, just help me gain confidence in like, my hand eye coordination of getting back into, you know, doing things regularly and like knowing, yeah, I can still do this even though I can't see With, say, a person with sight.

You can see when a horse is starting to act weird just by just looking at them like you'll know.

But for me, I got to really feel that horse and get in tune with that horse and connect with it.

My progress just Oh, it just blossomed, man.

Like I went from not knowing what I was going to do to as soon as I got on the horse, I was like, like this.

This is this is this is what I'm going to do.

Like, this is why I'm still here.

You ready?

It was just like all over from when I was little.

It was just like, I'm on the horse.

I, I know this feeling I can't see, but I got to trust this horse that is going to take care of me.

Whoa!

Yeah, I can ride a horse.

I can ride anything.

Run it under me, I'll saddle it.

Heck, yeah.

He got that one.

I've always loved the rodeo.

My mom always used to take me to it.

I wanted to be the first blind PRCA saddle bronc rider, and my goal was to get to a school and I did that.

Like, I'm gonna drive 15 hours just to learn.

Name?

Angel Nunez.

Yeah.

Let me get your receipt.

I'm gonna apply for my PRCA permit.

When I get my permit, I'll be in a circuit which is Arizona and New Mexico.

So once you have a certain amount of points that qualifies you for like the big rodeos.

I got a very strong support system.

You know, they all want to help me out with whatever it is any time, even if it's just talking to them, saying I had a bad day.

It's time to prove everyone that's been doubting me that I can freaking do this.

This is what it's like to be on the back of the chutes.

Like this is something I've always dreamed of doing.

It was like, and as soon as I heard that latch crack, I was like, Oh, boys about to make history.

No one's perfect.

No one's ever going to be perfect.

We all got issues and don't feel like you're weak for asking for help because you're not.

And that's that's one thing I will I wish I would have done more is, you know, reached out and talked about how I really felt and what I was going through because if I it probably would have helped me.

There's been a lot of people that I've came across are telling me like, Oh, you're crazy.

Why are you doing that?

Like, like, that's not a good idea.

And I'm like, it helps me like, these horses saved my life.

It was like the best feeling I've ever felt.

This is just the beginning.

Question, are you looking for a new plant that won't be a thorn in your side?

Well, next we talk with a local expert about a unique plant that has many benefits and would be a wonderful addition to any desert garden.

Hi, I'm Hanna Blood and I'm the nursery manager and propagation manager here at Tohono Chul Gardens.

Today we're looking at Desert Lavender.

This is Condea emoryi, formerly Hyptis emoryi.

It is a really amazing shrub of the mint family.

You can see that it has this gray foliage to protect it from the heat.

So it's stellar for planting in hot reflective heat areas.

It has clusters of tiny purple flowers that attract a lot of the smaller pollinators like little bees and butterflies.

It is a host plant for the Gray Streak butterfly, which is a smaller butterfly.

Many small butterflies love the nectar of this plant.

It has a fantastic fragrance.

I don't think it really smells like lavender, but it's really a nice soapy kind of smell.

And it is in the mint family.

So it has been used by people historically.

The seeds are edible.

The fragrance is supposed to be an insect repellent.

And it's found on gravelly slopes in arroyos here in the Sonoran Desert.

It's also found in Sonora, Mexico, Nevada, California, down into Baja, California.

It can get nipped by the frost, but as you see, it's a very vertical shrub that can take a little pruning.

It can grow up to 10 feet tall and be about five feet wide.

I recommend this plant because it's beautiful.

It smells great and it's extremely drought tolerant.

It's a really great addition to any garden.

You want to increase your species diversity of pollinators.

And it's just lovely.

The Sonoran Desert is so rich in diversity and it's an amazing magical place.

Just start with planting a tree for shade.

Start planting anything.

And you immediately increased your yard diversity.

And just think of it as an experiment.

Plants like certain places.

Don't be afraid to try it.

You might be successful.

Thank you for joining us here on Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara and we'll see you again next week.