Water: slow it, sink it, spread it, use it

[@jackpanella3285]

Be aware of your heat footprint, especially at the top of the hill. Place your hand on a piece of deadwood that has been in direct sunlight for hours. Try it with the mulch. Try the same with a bucket or anything artificial. Try it in the evening after a sunny day. Spreading out the debris spreads out the heat. Spreading the debris at higher elevation can change the environmental lapse rate, and if you're not careful it can form a temperature inversion, which will inhibit convection. When convection is inhibited the ground heats up, because the heat isn't moving. During summer the combination of longer days and shorter nights results in a positive energy balance and warmer surface temperatures. Warmer surface temperature entails less dew and frost, because the ground is less likely to reach the dew point. Lack of dew and frost makes it more complicated. Evaporation and melting require a tremendous amount of latent heat from the environment. Melting of frost and evaporation of dew cool the air and the ground. Lower temperatures lead to more precipitation. Humid air is less dense than dry air, giving lower pressure, which also leads to more precipitation. I'm on 43 acres in piñon-juniper forest, at 6,000 feet elevation, near Snowflake, Arizona. Since the beginning of the year, the weather station in my yard has recorded 3,201 minutes of precipitation, and that doesn't include snow from several snowstorms. We've had a lot of frost this winter, as well. Have you heard about the atmospheric rivers and snow in California? I rehabilitated several square miles in the Millet Swale watershed, despite subversive activity by a neighbor who was tampering with the environment to prevent what I was trying to accomplish. Due to topography of the area, the resulting inversion in the watershed was blocking atmospheric circulation across the Southwest, leading to drought. After years of drought, the Sierra Nevada has had historic snowfall this winter. Even Southern California had an unprecedented blizzard, in the San Bernardino mountains. California is preparing for another round of atmospheric rivers. I ended the Southwest Drought.

[@peterellis4262]

Even when it soaks in, it's still continuing to flow downhill. I'm thinking the major function of soaking it in here so near where it exits your property is to introduce a plume that will serve to slow water from higher on your property as it tries to move downhill, even underground. Looks like a couple of gabions strategically placed would be effective as well. I have similarly forested land, with the pit and mound combination that comes with trees uprooting and falling and naturally creates scores of capture and soakage sites. In our situation, most of our site is the bottom of a catchment area and the water table will occasionally, seasonally rise above ground level. We have the inverse challenge of most sites, excess water creating anaerobic conditions for portions of the year.

[@lallyluckfarm]

You nailed it! We're making efforts to create those slower moving subsoil plumes at each elevation change, looking to use each to slow the drainage rate of the soils located above. During wet years we have a similar boggy situation in our woods, with the pits-and-mounds patterns creating vernal pools as the groundwater expresses. Superb observations, awesome comment!

[@handlethehandle7]

Mulching with wood chip is a much better idea than cardboard. I've been experimenting with the latter but its pretty rubbish for letting water through to the earth below. And yes woodchip seems much kinder and healthier for the soil world.

[@lallyluckfarm]

Cardboard can certainly be tricky to deal with given certain site conditions. We've used it pretty extensively here, but always with another mulching material to prevent it from returning to a hydrophobic state. Presoaking the cardboard is one way to allow water movement more easily, but it can dry without something like hay, straw, or wood chips to protect it.

[@louisegogel7973]

Nice to see someone working permaculture principles in New England! I’ve been wondering how to work in this area with a very different ecosystem than deserts have. One suggestion, throw tons of plantain and dandelion, amaranth and lambs quarters seeds around for your food as well as for soil enrichment.

[@lallyluckfarm]

It's nice to be seen, and to make your acquaintance! Your recommendations are solid - we've actually got a large number of all of those though the amaranth is newer and not at the point where it would be considered endemic. I think dryland strategies are very appropriate for many of the uphill fields in New England, given the relative sandiness as compared to the valleys. Water and nutrient retention are key factors, but this area is lucky to have a general abundance of organic matter to incorporate.

[@louisegogel7973]

@@lallyluckfarm I guess I have always lived near water, streams, swamps etc, (bedrock a d swamp in Weston, Mass) so never needed to consider much about planting water, more diverting it from flooding the basement in VT especially since some wetlands were made into parking lots, even with water catchments built in to their design. Oh, and I make pesto cubes out of all those greens for my winter greens… mostly just blend them with olive oil and sea salt to preserve them, then they’re more versatile and easy to grab for toast, rice, scrambled eggs, soup etc etc, or just eat straight up when thawed.

[@gpayneinc]

I agree with this title.

[@gardendreameretc9534]

new subscriber here.. i'm using my phone to watch your videos..i really like your videos..just 1 issue..kinda low on the audio volume.. 😬

[@lallyluckfarm]

Hi there, welcome! We're looking into microphones to control for that and even out the audio hopefully. Still, thank you for being with us while we work it out!

[@amyblueskyirl16]

I’m going to be terracing on my sloped property to make garden beds. Should I make the terraced beds on the contours or run them parallel to the contour just above it to minimize soil and water loss?

[@lallyluckfarm]

That's a great question! If you've taken measurements already to mark out the various elevations for your terraces, I'd encourage you to build them at that particular elevation. If you haven't measured and marked the space yet, remember that "contour" is just a way to mark any given elevation across a slope, and anything we build parallel to that will also be on contour, just at a different elevation. The distance between each terrace depends on your local rainfall averages and potential for large rain events, the plants you intend for the space and their root patterns, the severity and length of the slope being terraced, and the materials you're planning to use for reinforcement. I'm sorry to leave you with more questions than answers, so I'd encourage you to reach out to your local NRCS office or closest agricultural college and ask about recommendations for terrace spacing, given your degree of slope. That should provide you with better information that acknowledges your climate and soils most accurately.

[@mikerockwood4475]

We have run off so much water for land we had forgotten how important or water is to us. How can we slow down the runoff?

[@JohnJewel]

Call your USDA and ask for technical support from the local authorities on a watershed program . Ask specifically if they can have a person who specializes in the watershed program or one of the other similar programs to come out to see the location in person to advise and provide resources to propose any future opportunities that may qualify for federal financial assistance.

[@lallyluckfarm]

John has some great advice for you, I think a USDA consultation is a good idea as well. Your local county extension office (if US based) can help you get in touch with the right people. If the timeline for the consultation visit is going to be long, I suspect it's worth going out during a rain event to see where your water is flowing and introducing some small check dams or a leaky weir to slow that flow. Be familiarized with your area's rules on rainwater or altering the course of draining, some municipalities have very strict rules about that.

[@novampires223]

Andrew Millison in Oregon has some great videos, I would think the basics are the same no matter where you are.

[@JohnJewel]

Where do you get all the wood chips ?

[@lallyluckfarm]

I spent two years calling our town DPW and several of the tree crews in our area before we started getting them with any regularity. Once we started getting them, though, it became easier to convince other crews to drop them here too.

[@shadyman6346]

Sounds like you’re expecting legal action...

[@lallyluckfarm]

I can understand, though I'm not really expecting any - the other property here is a recreation/logging spot for some folks we're pretty friendly with and drains towards a river with no infrastructure concerns. It felt important to highlight some things to consider for folks looking to do this but who don't have the same kind of context we do.