2023 Vermont Flood and Mass Hydration Event

[@nigellablossom]

Good to see this in action! I put in a number of swales and berms on our property about 7-8 years ago, after experiencing a lot of flooding here and seeing your design solutions explained in your book and on KZbin. Honestly, it felt a little crazy at the time, but it has saved us over and over again. Definitely worth the effort I invested back then. We are on a couple acres in DE.. we have some slope but nothing like what you have! It's also good that you guys had a heads up that storm was coming. Our local weather service told us to expect about 1".. what we got was 4.5" of rain in 3 hours. This was just a couple days before it hit you guys up there. However, we had zero flooding, and everything soaked in that same evening. The outcome would have been so much worse just 10 years ago.. swales work!

[@wholesystems]

Thanks for the feedback and report!

[@ajg942]

always learn so much from these - thanks

[@RichardFalkner]

What a boon! Never been to your area, but that looks like its loving the moisture. Loved your book, and this might be your coolest video so far I think. A great online example of a resilient system in practice. All the best to the land and people affected in the plain.

[@carolewarner101]

Ben your son is such a delight to see and listen to as he's growing up. It's obvious he admires you greatly and listens carefully to all that you're saying! 🤗 If our children learn such things at his age there's hope for humanity. Your systems are performing beautifully. Such an amazing learning experience for you to be able to see how they respond in these extreme weather events like that. Really helps you to be able to tweek your systems, remember to mow your overflows, etc. to be ready for the next event. Thanks for sharing and bring all of us along!

[@wholesystems]

thanks Carole!

[@nonewherelistens1906]

You are a very wise steward of the land, and the floodplain issue, you are spot on.

[@BrianCooper901]

Incredible! Great to see all your systems performing as planned. Thanks for sharing.

[@helenbunch9065]

Thank you for this important work, showing the potential of good planning. I noticed that your water runs clear too....not carrying off sediment/ soil. Hoping the best for Vermont.

[@DS-nv8bi]

wow dude!! nice hockey pond this winter!

[@barnabyvonrudal1]

Cool to see those overflow systems working well

[@freedomruss]

What a beautiful blessing to have the rain and the foresight to hold onto it when it happens! Your ESG score is super high Ben. 😉 Totally love your son's input on the videos too, he's already got more wisdom than many! Great parenting ✌

[@drewlikesmusic]

Really enjoyed this. I’ve implemented some systems here in Central Arkansas on our 3.5 acre plot and I love getting out in the big rain events and watching everything work. We received as much in the spring as we should’ve for the entire year. Cool to see a plan working and finding ways to improve. Never stop observing.

[@geonote1789]

I just listened to our Canadian premiers rattle on today about carbon emissions from "this and that", meanwhile on the Prairies the governments are cheering on the destruction of brush, swamps, sloughs and treed-areas for large-scale canola and soya bean production. Flash flooding is now an annual problem to the regions as ditches fill with valuable topsoil and rain and melt water has absolutely nothing to hold it in place. The provincial government officials are all very concerned when roads wash out and people suffer, but they 'scratch their heads' for a "solution" to the flooding.

[@freedomruss]

More carbon tax will fix it! 🤪

[@euphioquestion420]

how the heck did you get ponds in? were you able to find enough clay and settle it enough to seal or did you do liners?

[@erric288]

Adaptation over mitigation

[@subliminal_donkey]

Also r.e. floodplains you would think in these kinds of places it would be cheaper (and bring obviously many other benefits) to just build a fuck load of ponds in the hills than to move all the developed area somewhere new...

[@TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

Good engineering Ben!

[@lkhfun6575]

So true about CC. Great work. Inspirational!!!

[@jonathanadams6673]

So I live on a flood plain and have been racking my brain trying to come up with a way to flood proof my property if it's even possible I think it is. Is there any way to contact you I would sincerely appreciate some advice on this

[@wholesystems]

There’s many “it depends” but moving is the first and last best option.

[@daniellecaron3025]

Very useful video. On the opposite, is there a way to stop water from escaping from a pond (a whole on the berm, somewhere through a root system - must not be that big though, approx 2 feet below the usual level) my pond has been emptying dry for the last 2 summers. Gravel? Sand? Any special stuff you know of? Wouldn't want to install a liner. And with this torrential rain (I live not very far from where you are on the other side of the border), the pond has grown to an appreciable size. Would be great to keep it that way. All suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[@tcoxor52]

I’ve had good success sealing smaller holes in ponds with bentonite clay. You can buy industrial use, 50 lb bags and just dump into the pond and over the period of a few days to weeks, the hole will get naturally plugged and sealed by the clay. Depending on the size and location of your hole, it might end up requiring a couple hundred pounds or more, but start small and see if 1-2 50 lb bags can do the job.

[@daniellecaron3025]

@@tcoxor52 Wonderful. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I've followed you on and off for several years. You are such a great source of inspiration.

[@apalaghieilucian3052]

heard about the floods on the news and immediatly thought- i wonder how ben is doing on his farm?

[@TheKlink]

funny thing is, 4 meters down and its probably all dry.

[@subliminal_donkey]

What is the value of dropping the water level in your ponds just before the rain? Does the couple of hours of lag actually help in stormwater management because otherwise why not just let them overflow at the levels you already had them set at, less work and seems like same result?

[@wholesystems]

The value is flood reduction for those down stream in the floodplain. It's not the same result. Every one of those gallons is not in the flood. It's a day before not a few hours. Flood stages in these events usually last hours, a few or less - rarely approaching 6 hours. Look at the river CFS gauges and you can see why having this storage holding water, not releasing, it during the flooding period is so valuable.

[@catto-m]

Ok

[@heavymetalpermaculture]

Deforestation/logging erosion, and climate change.

[@wholesystems]

Vermont has been 80% reforested in the past 150 years.

[@heavymetalpermaculture]

@@wholesystems The land I'm on was illegally logged right up to the brook, and I saw them clearcut up to the property line on the other ridge the first year I moved here.

[@srantoniomatos]

Most of northen hemisphere, specially on richer countries (north america and western europe) is "greener" now then in the centuries before. Specially more forest. Not only wild regrow, but also comercial plantations. There s lot less pasture land and animals grazing. Maybe climate change (hotter?? More co2??) Is helping too.

[@wholesystems]

that sucks for sure@@heavymetalpermaculture