Food Forest Terracing & Passive Water Harvesting Earthworks

This video details a passive water harvesting and erosion control earthworks project designed and implemented by 7th Generation Design in California's Central Coast region.
The design included the formation of four terraces, a tractor access road, two swales, and a series of six media luna flow concentrators and flow spreaders to transit water down the steepest slopes in a non-erosive fashion. This design lays the groundwork for future food forest plantings going in during mid-winter of 2022.
Passive Water Harvesting Landscapes - Design & Implementation
U.S. West Coast - Wes Cooke - www.7thgenerationdesign.com/
U.S. Southeast - Casey Pfeifer - thesovereignhomestead.com/
Request your copy of Resilient Property Design Essentials - our free 40+ page e-book containing 8 critically important design principles, strategies and techniques to make your property more resilient, beautiful and productive without making expensive mistakes! www.7thgenerationdesign.com/rpde

[@culbinator]

This is awesome. Way to lead by example guys. We need projects like this X 1,000 and then we will really start making an impact on the land.

[@infiniteadam7352]

So cool, everyone that lives on hills like that needs this just to recharge the aquifers.

[@trinsit]

THANK YOU!!! 😆🤯 This gave me the perfect guidance. I'm on it

[@biodivers5294]

First BLUE (water) correct, then GREEN (plants, photosynthesis) and then BLACK (binding carbon in the ground, healthy soillife). You’re working in the right way 👌

[@Kelsdoggy]

What will your legacy be? Ooof that hit home. Need to do more in my life

[@ollievw3450]

Learned a lot. This will come in handy in South Africa. Cheers.

[@befreebuilds]

Thanks for sharing! Really appreciate seeing the plan, the work and the results

[@projectmalus]

Very nice! Thanks for showing.

[@leehacker8483]

Again wow, so good to see your journey, and I love your dog. Such a beautiful and well planned property. 😁

[@ayunahau3191]

Thanks for sharing your work and wisdom.

[@jacksonoram5053]

Wow what an impressive project. Keen for an update one day

[@7thGenerationDesign]

We'll hope to get some video this coming winter - rains have just begun out here and will be the first this installation has seen.

[@Nightowl5454]

​@7thGenerationDesign I'm curious, did you use some sort of computer software to calculate the terrace widths? I'm considering buying some land that's sloped and want to do some of what you're doing.

[@WenRolland]

This is awesome work ! Well done.

[@pshackelford3]

How did the recent storms impact this property? Would you change or update any design considerations?

[@7thGenerationDesign]

It did well this past year - lots of vegetation up and established, and fruit trees are in and growing well. The top swale hadn't yet been integrated into the hardscape drainage, so it wasn't fully "active" yet - the owners just didn't have time to get it installed, but this coming year it should be fully integrated and we will see! We shot some follow up video, just need to get it edited and uploaded.

[@atomicsmith]

@@7thGenerationDesignJust my 2 cents. The owner should probably include some sort of gated culvert so they can “switch off” the water flowing off the hardscape. On such a steep slope too much water is a huge liability.

[@kwlweapons]

Please post updates, great work!

[@xyooj96]

how far apart is each swale from the next one?

[@lawrencechan2693]

If every terrace points down toward the drainage ditch, doesn't the far side become much drier? It seems that if the first and third terraces point away from the ditch (and have the appropriate spillways), they could all be more even in saturation

[@tauniszabados6262]

What’s ML mean? I currently have water streams flowing down our drive away when it rains and it goes into our back field and even going up the and under the house. If water flows straight down the hill should we still make small left to right swales like these? Or could we follow the trails of water and steer them down hill where we want and still benefit from planting near them? Sorry I’m totally new to this and there’s a lot to understand!

[@7thGenerationDesign]

Hi Tauni, ML stands for "media luna" - these are crescent shaped structures made of hand knitted stone that either concentrate or spread out water flows based on which way the tips of the crescent are oriented. If I am understanding your question correctly, and you have water flowing downhill towards your house, you may want to have slightly off-contour (think 1% grade or less) drains that actually move any impounded water slowly away from your house or areas that will lead to flooding of your house. In this way you can "starve" what sounds like a low-lying area of inflow and protect your foundation. Hoping that answered your question?

[@SoCalTrooper]

Update video?

[@deXXXXter2]

Did you have any rain events which filled swales on your properties already?

[@7thGenerationDesign]

None yet for this one - hopefully before this winter closes out it'll get at least some rain to get the cover crop germinated. We will certainly post updates as they are available.

[@deXXXXter2]

@@7thGenerationDesign Thanks, can't wait!

[@mlauntube]

I like the design but I don't completely understand it. Sad because my land is very hilly and already has some terraces. I wish I understood better how you planned out the sections that feed the terraces. we get an average of 58 inches of rain. I found it funny that you use a Spanish nomenclature instead of saying "half moons", just makes me giggle. Loved the video all in all.

[@7thGenerationDesign]

Thanks for your comment! We'd be happy to provide some design consulting if you'd like help with your property. As far as the media lunas - we didn't come up with that name, they are commonly referred to as that in the erosion control world, not sure where it came from. Just search for "media luna erosion control" and you'll find plenty about 'em!

[@Pentagathusosaurus]

Bro you should probably call the FBI if you have that many terrorists on your land

[@benmontes7062]