Swale filled by surprise storm + swale chat

[@adammac4381]

Smaller interuptions is what keyline plowing is about,, but another swale 15-20 meters up the hill you do you well. Little boomerang swales around your fruit trees will do you well. The bottom of your swale will fill with silt and washed in grass seeds naturally, in time the swale will fill and the forest will stay behind. Lots more trees on the swale mould, a lot more. Nice video.

[@philliperskine4986]

think like this the more trees you have will collect the dew in the A.M. plus protect the moisture you have. When they strip land of trees it takes that protection away. Keep in mind also trees bring water up. Most forget this.

[@lesboucher542]

What a great day seeing your swale filling up.... Yahoo! The problem with your crossover running water, and possibly causing erosion, could be easily fixed by offsetting your next swale - uphill - so that it blocks the direct flow of water. In other words, I am suggesting that you stagger your swales and paths, while keeping both on contour, to help spread the water between your swales as it moves slowly downhill. I remember hearing from Geoff Lawton, that most people forget that their paths, and tracks/roads, should also be placed on contour to allow water to run off them rather than down them... just a thought... Oh! one other thing that you might like to look into, is a woodchipper. With the amount of deadwood on your property it would be a valuable asset for helping to fill the bottom of your swales...

[@3PMedia]

Poly culture farms on KZbin is a great resource.

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

Agree with the orchard comments. Build a swale just to serve the orchard. You hve great sheeting runoff. Just the ticket for a swale. You can also add, fruit and nut trees and berry bushes to the low side of your existing swales. That land can be used as a food forest. 😊

[@ariadnepyanfar1048]

I’m so pumped too! I am sure Peter Andrews would be happy for you to steal “slow the flow”.

[@franziskabertram3286]

Wonderful suggestions of everyone. You can slowly try out and change and watch what happens. (and we will watch with you).

[@deborahlee8135]

GLORIOUS! Where its running down the crossover, to prevent erosion later is it worth putting a small mound to push it sideways into the swale. Snap, Corey just said that as i typed 😂 the swales will improve over time too. Any thought to what you can put down to cover soil until things settle? So so glorious 👏👏👏 do you have access to a yeomans plow? That may help over time to prevent surface flow. Tagasaste is good chop and drop, but you need to do it before flowering and seeding to prevent them. Watch bentonite .... i lost plants because it ended up making a basin and they became water logged. Kaolin is another clay source, which i prefer, but read up on both to see what works. There is a whole thing about "clay wars". Vetiver is a south african grass and def has its use as you will be aware by now, i just realised its an old video 😂😂😂 growing along several swales ... dont forget to make sure there is enough room between swales to get trucks through (agricultural or fire) once those trees have grown. You may want to run livestock between rows too. Sweet spuds on flat land rather than on berms, if they grew too well they may break berm.

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Excellent advice Thankyou!

[@ozsimflyer]

Hah, we got about 1 mm out of that system here in the city. Loving the swale action. Nice one. Definitely a small mound on the upside of the crossover.

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Hey mate thanks! Do you think maybe the entire crossover should be mounded or just the small one?

[@ozsimflyer]

@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead just a small one I reckon. Even easier would be a small 50 - 100 mm depression 500 mm wide on the upper margin of the crossover.

[@robyntodd2284]

Can hear the excitement in your voices. Love this so much. Can’t wait to see green pics soon. One suggestion for the driveway, could you put in a concrete pipe cut in half lengthways with a grid over the top? Water can run into it, and then be directed to either side of the swales?

[@philliperskine4986]

if you put nut trees such as hazel nuts beside the berms. fruit trees will work too. using the swale system. This may be your first but several swales throughout your land they will catch your rain which is great for you and your community. Great bartering power and selling power for ya.

[@fayebird1808]

So glad to see your rain event !

[@Justin-bl6wv]

Wooohoooo it’s an amazing feeling seeing the swale system fill up doing what it’s designed for

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

It’s that shocked moment like “huh, it actually worked’ 😂😂

[@absolootely2571]

A Yeoman's keyline plough is worth researching. Some even throw on a single-tooth pipeline digger & go for it along the contours. `

[@robyntodd2284]

Wonder if it’s too late to put in mini swales in front of each of your fruit trees to get the most out of that water running down the slope?

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

There is a technique for that I can’t remember the name of but Jess from roots and refuge used it in her orchard… after seeing that water I’ve been thinking if I could retro fit something similar

[@franziskabertram3286]

@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead I thought the same as Robyn and you did. Was reminded immedately of Jess`fruit trees.

[@georgecromar4094]

Great video. Congrats! I'm not sure of the layout of your property. But the water running over the driveway/cross over should run into a second swale that sits below your large swale. Your large swale spillway could overflow into that lower swale.

[@gypsyheartsouls]

Hooray! Glad to see your swale doing it's thing! Excellent chat of all the suggestions. Great idea, Corey, to dig long ruts with the Bobcat... many tiny swales uphill of your main swale... and through your back yard as well, for that matter. So glad you got some rain.💙💜💚💥

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Thankyou! Yes that backyard was fair sheeting with rain run off 😳 def opportunity there

[@ukana5315]

You could make them into character pattern the small swales just to interump the flow and let it sink in as soon as it hits the ground

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

I think that’d work well in our arid landscape tbh 👍👍

[@rwfoxtrot]

Watched this video with interest after seeing your earlier video when you were sitting tin the dry swale earlier in the year. I’m late to the party but what are your aims for the swales? The big one at the bottom is for water harvesting into a dam yes? What you could do next is start at the top of the slope (or near the top) and map out contour lines so that you’ve got say 10-15m ground distance between contours (this will give you access as well as good protection from those WA winds). Then as time allows, grab your tractor and using a single tyne ripper rip along each contour line. It’s not a swale or even keyline pattern but it will begin to slow the water down as it runs down the slope. Rip depth doesn’t need to be too much, just enough that the tractor doesn’t work too hard. If you are interested in Keyline/Yeomans pattern ploughing the book his son has published is very useful. It even has a technique for creating swales/keyline channels using a small disc plough and low horsepower tractor like a Fergie. Cheers from SE QLD

[@theadventuresofzoomandbettie]

That's awesome guys! Swales do amazing things! So much rain! Much better to give it a chance to soak in!

[@cheryesido364]

It was incredible amount of rain that we had.

[@RunningAmukOffGrid]

Looks like the Swale is working well, so glad you guys are getting some water!

[@kentlane8269]

raise road bed ad a slight curve to top and gutter sides leading to swales. the over flow should catch up to another swale farther down, and didn't see a catchment basin/ Dry pond holding,

[@SimonTyler-ji5gz]

Your swale seems to be working well... Another option to putting in multiple smaller swales is see if you can borrow a yeomans/keyline plow and rip on contour. Its great for decompacting soils and a place where you can put compost or compost extracts into the soil under the compaction layer.... it appears your soils are compacted to me, although video is not best way to tell. The plow will slow the flow by putting a subsurface like swale in. depending on your slope one pass every 10m is good and prevents evaporation much better than swale. I would also slow the flow around what looked like a fruit tree area where the water was really sheeting off. Keep up the good work!

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Great suggestions Thankyou!

[@callieward8362]

I think I will try many tiny rivers into one very large swale...

[@RealGoldRealWealth]

Have you guys done a PDC? Daren Doherty (Regrarians). Another Australian Story on ABC is Charles Massey's work. Following along... just got our small property to experiment all things Permaculture etc.Cheers from Grace Hollow!

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Cheers mate. No PDC but it’s on the wish list! Howdy Grace Hollow 😁🙌

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Oh yes DARREN Dougherty (not Andrew Duh 🙄) Thankyou!

[@alanvaleandthelazyfarmer1930]

Yes, lucky you. I only got 4.5mm and my dam has been dry for 5 months as well. It seems Perth and Albany get the rain and in between misses out.

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

This year has been terrible for rainfall fall here, our dam was overflowing this time last year… but now it’s still empty

[@alanvaleandthelazyfarmer1930]

I have rainfall here from 1885 and this year is the lowest so far. I might mention that your swale seems to be the right size. Build another uphill if it ever overflows. Tagasaste (tree lucerne) is good stock fodder if you have a drought and a wind break. Sheep will underprune it and you can cut branches from higher up. @@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead

[@alanvaleandthelazyfarmer1930]

I got a couple of feet in the dam this week but at 230mm, its still the lowest on record.@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead

[@RealGoldRealWealth]

Ah Rockpilers ! Good discussion guys. So how many mils did you actually get in the rain event?

[@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead]

Hey thanks! Looks like around 35mm but most within that short storm period 👍

[@threeriversforge1997]

Still blows my mind to see what all you've accomplished in so short a time. On the subject of vetiver grass, while I'm a native plant enthusiast, I have to admit that vetiver has a lot of potential - especially in the early stages of land recovery. I found this video which I thought did a very good illustration of exactly how beneficial the grass can be. As you can see, they were able to stabilize an exceptionally steep slop with vetiver, and got about a bazillion tons of mulch.... in must 15 months. Granted, you can't expect that kind of growth if you don't have an irrigation system feeding the plants, but it still shows you what's possible. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV7Hg59jqdSHea8 I also liked how they demonstrate using the vetiver to benefit the trees they've planted. Overall, I think it beats Lomandra by a wide margin in terms of bang for your buck. Now that you have pigs, having a ready source of fodder and bedding would be a real boon. The worst case scenario is that you end up with a pretty hedge row that helps you form natural terraces, infiltrate rainfall, and stop erosion. If that's the worst that could happen, it seems like a no-brainer. While I'd like to see the use of native grasses to serve the same purpose, I don't know of any that compete with the speed and efficiency that Vetiver brings to the table.

[@philliperskine4986]

Barley straw clears your pond just look up Koi ponds you will understand.

[@threeriversforge1997]

Very neat to see the swale filling up like that! Have you ever done an infiltration test on your soil? kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3y2lYd8faaSe5Y Aside from just being a fun science experiment, knowing how fast water drains into your ground can help with planning. We know your soil drains fast, obviously, but it never hurts to put a number to it. It can be really encouraging to see how much of a difference there is between the bare ground, like in your swale, and a patch where you've already added a bunch of soil amendments, like in your veggie patch. 😀 As for the Vetiver hedge/contour, I would point you to this Aussie gent who made a very long hedge in just two years, and look at how much soil he's stopped from running off his property!!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZ_FZJuLhKaYftE As you can see, he's been able to build up something of a terrace behind the Vetiver "wall". Now, to be fair, there are Australian native clumping grasses that have decent root structures. They might not get as deep as the Vetiver, but they should at least be considered. Lomandra longifolia is a Down Under native that's very pretty and could be ideal for your circumstance. I particularly like that it's good for both eating and weaving! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomandra_longifolia I'm all in favor of using native plants wherever possible; they need the help and we have a duty to preserve the heritage and culture. On the flip side, though, there's a balance to be struck because you have specific needs and goals. The Vetiver grows fast and roots very very deep, especially in sandy soils. Okay, so like the first video shows, you could have a very solid hedge of Vetiver grass in just 2 years, for very little initial cost to you. What else does Vetiver do? How can it help you with your future plans? According to everything I've heard, it's a great fodder for livestock, so if goats or cattle are definitely in your future, a hedge of Vetiver planted today means you have a ready supply of forage tomorrow when you need it. Because it grows so fast, you get a ton of biomass for mulching around the home, building up the soil with nutrient-rich leaves. Do the native clump grasses also work for livestock fodder? Do they grow as fast? Are they economical at the outset? The Lomandra longifolia could be a fantastic alternative to Vetiver if it's something livestock will eat. You could buy two 2-gallon plants, separate them into smaller slips, and plant a hedge that's a goodly length, just like with the Vetiver. The fact that people can eat it and make neat things from it, puts the plant very high on my list of preferred hedge plants! If cows and goats will also eat it... And if that wasn't enough to ponder on, you can think about how you might use a variety of clumping grasses. For example a nice crescent planting of Dianella caerulea on the downhill side of your fruit trees would act like a berm that traps water and forces it to sink into the ground. Because it doesn't grow large in poor soils, you get a nice foot-high semi-circular "wall" that helps your fruit trees grow, and you always have a source of mulch right there ready for you to 'chop and drop'. The deep, fibrous root mass helps build the soil up, preventing erosion, and the wonderful leaf structure helps to cool the soil so the microbes are happy. Not only does that help your long-term goals, but in the short-term you get a pretty yard with cute little flowering grasses, and the insects attracted to the grass will make good eating for your chickens. It's a question of how many birds can you kill with one stone. Maybe Lomandra longifolia would be the better option for your long contour hedge just because it's a native and that's what tickles your fancy. Natives should always be given pride of place - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6fZmKyfqdGhnrc

[@PANTTERA1959]

Plant things you can eat.

[@philliperskine4986]

a pond may be helpful too I don't know how much land you have.

[@missyharwood5654]

Instead of more swales I would be looking at directional bunds which will slow the flow of sheeting water off the ground surface, allowing for more water retention in your soil. Plant on them, check out hugelkultur. Vetiver is a great idea, we have used them on steep slopes (1 : 2 ) to hold the soil/ mulch in place. It's green all year, copes well with whippersnippering at 15cm. Can be dug up and divided, to extend your growth line. Plant if you can 15cm apart (tube stock - ask your local Landcare) along the curvature of your land. Directional bunds shouldn't start or end at the same point as the one higher or lower, you are wanting to capture the water and then slow the flow. They should be slightly curved around the curvature of the land, but still allowing the water to flow to the next bund. You will find by doing this your land will retain more moisture throughout the dry season. If you're still experiencing high flow through your main swale, dig out stilling pools and riffles lined with rocks (can be bedded into concrete if you experience very high flow in step sections of the swale), which will help with the loss of your top soil (which is where most of your soil nutrients will be). If your planting ground covers on your existing swale try to lightly scarify the surface so the seeds/roots has something to grow into. Just my 2 cents worth, good luck!