Відео

😂 You are probably one of the few who has the attention span... Many folk these days battle to stay with instructional videos unless they are a few mins long like a reel on META. However if one really wants an education a deep dive is essential...

Thank you...

It is galvanised so it does not. It may eventually but by that stage the river should have vegetated and stabilised the area. I have seen gabions that are over 30 years old and still going strong. You can get plastic coated gabions for particularly corrosive environments, like the coast.

Thank you...

Perfect strategy for Namibia with all its seasonal river systems...

Thank you...

That sounds like the perfect context for sand dams.

Shot Bru, I am glad you enjoyed it... Keep Charged

Its a pleasure...

Thank you, there are 10 videos in this series. What is happening today with humans is the inevitable result of the collective awakening process, we have to delve into the darker aspects of our unconsciousness in order to bring light there. Nothing regenerative would be happening if we did not do this and realise that we need to temper our power with a custodial rather than totalitarian approach. Humans learn the hard way it seems, but I have no doubt that the light of consciousness will prevail...

Maybe check your speed settings on your player...

Thanks, its a pleasure...

Thank you, much appreciated...

Thank you.

That is possible, it is dependent on the scale of a river. If it is a large river system it would need a total catchment system approach, with re-vegetation, swales, sand dams across the area. Smaller brooks and streams that source on a farm can be enhanced by the same holistic total approach. Streams that have dried up and used to be perennial have done so because there is too much run-off in the catchment system and not enough infiltration. Regenerative Water Harvesting Earthworks and total land cover will restore this pattern. In most cases it will need cooperation between land owners to achieve this.

Hi yes I am aware of syntropic agriculture, however in my situation it is not really a viable option, especially the direct seeding without all the sub soil preps and hole digging, etc due to hard soils, very low rainfall, etc. Plus the simple methods I use with cover crops and chickens require far less input in labour, time, machines, than the consortium system of constant chopping and dropping, etc. Nice deep holes, subsoiled land, tree pans on contour, planting of certified disease free trees of substantial size, direct seeded native plants as a ground cover, occasional introduction of chickens, turning on and off of irrigation tap is the most effective route to take. Our permaculture systems are climate specific, planted in guilds that suit the local ecosystem, use very little water due to swales, riplines, deep mulch and have a high fertility soil environment due to well chosen ground covers, animal integration (essential in deserts) and are extremely resilient and productive. I suggest reading Mark Shepard's book RESTORATION AGRICULTURE, for more about this approach. We have no problems with grow rates or productivity and our general motto is "ask not what you need to do but rather ask what you do not need to do"...

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 im not throwing shade your agroforestry looks on point my sis lives down the road from Shepard in Wisconsin and im an agronomist familiar with all the giants Sepp, Geoff, Bill, PA Yeomans, Stephan Cho, Grotsch and i would offer that your soil preps in the lowlands look plenty viable to direct seed as many tree species as you can to select true disease and environmental stress resistance. This is the essence of what Shepard teaches imo.

@@nathanielgraham622 Sure, however none of the trees we select have any issue with environmental stress. I prefer established saplings that I know are good quality (selected by cutting by tree nurseries and grafted onto disease resistant root stock), all the trees, with very few exceptions (1 or 2 here and there) perform very well. With seed you never know what you are going to get and the lead time is too long. Digging holes and planting what I want where I want is ideal, simple and effective. The cost is low as I get my stock from wholesale nurseries locally and later down the line, if I want to sell trees, I can use the varieties and species that do best in my area to cut and graft. Getting seed for production trees in South Africa is virtually impossible, and taking from fruits purchased in the shop is never a great idea. I have no problem augering holes for trees as each hole takes about 1 min to dig using my tractor, so it is all very efficient. Putting a tree in a hole with soft soil around it certainly speeds up its growth, without any doubt and by the time the root system gets to the edge of the hole the tree is strong and going for it so charges into the harder soil around it. A tree is for a lifetime so investing a bit into its initial planting is a great practice and bears long term dividends.

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 i understand your reservations about direct seeding. in my experience, the direct seeded trees surpass the growth of the older transplanted stock after a couple years. in my situation, i gather native species for seed stock by kayaking the local rivers looking for native walnuts, pecans, hickory, cherry, pawpaw, apple, plum, mulberry, persimmon fruit/ nuts. Now i have a a robust endemic genetic pool for for rootstock that i can graft the scion wood from my limited pool of nursery stock grafted varieties to fill out the property. here we are more concerned about conservation and restoration of threatened species that are nearly extinct that humanity will lose the genetic potential for future breeding programs which btw we need more than ever in ever increasing harsh climates

Generally you should find a rock shelf across the river to build the sand dam. In this case I did not have that luxury, during the drought the reed bed that was there died off and once it started flooding again the river started to eat down, so I started responding by building a gabion wall across the river. The steps below that wall were a response to the undercutting of the river as it went over the wall. It took 4 layers of step to finally pacify the undercutting. The Spring has always been there, however the sand dams contribute huge amounts of water to the spring reserve and extend its flow further downstream and for longer. The longer the sand dams are in place, the more water is added to the reserve.

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 wonderful thank you .

Yes, before the land was overgrazed and land cover denuded by agriculture, many of these streams in the region, including this one, flowed more consistently. This can be seen by the large number of place names in the region that have the word, fountain and marsh in their names. The old folk of the area say that the rivers used flow more consistently. Exposed soil is the worst possible thing for an ecosystem and it causes dehydration of landscapes due to high run-off, evaporation and erosion.

You first have to stabilise the stream banks before you can replant. The Gabions create a micro environment that allows plant succession to begin, and it generally happens without further assistance because the river bank system is full of seed. To effectively dig the gabions in, you need to excavate an area exactly the size of the gabion, no bigger and then pack some rock behind the gabion where it is dug in. I have found that to be effective.

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 thanks for replying and keep up the good work.

Thank you...

Exactly, which is why plowing is a killer for the soil, turning the soil horizon upside down is the worst thing you can do to soil, which is a delicately structured ecosystem... This is why subsoiling is so effective.

Yes you could, however you would need a solid 4x4 tractor to deal with the extra drag caused by the harrow. My tractor is at its limit with the subsoiler, I a permanently on the diff lock when I am subsoiling and often I am lifting the unit up slightly to free it from hooking on rocks, which is why I follow up with the hand tractor... It would be better to get a crumble roller fitted, which is something I want to do.

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 ok cool. You are doing a fantastic job.

Keylining includes a specific pattern of off contour subsoiling in its system but there is much more to it. It is really a holistic farm planning system that works with the shape of the land to establish a whole catchment system of water harvesting and soil regeneration that defines the layout of the farm operation. What I am practicing is not keyline but rather I subsoil on contour between the swales on our farm, running parallel to the swales. The subsoiler that I use is based on the design developed by the founder of the Keyline System, P.A.Yeomans.

@ErikPukinskis you can look up keylining videos by Darren O'Dougherty. There's some great video/images along with his presentation.

@@beorntwit711 Yes I know Darren's work well, its very inspiring...

You are right, keyline is off contour, and swales are on contour. I do the riplines on contour, following the swale, not keyline pattern of cultivation, towards the ridge. They are too different systems, both hydrate landscapes, however I find swales with contour ripping to be more effective in steep hilly dryland systems where the country is rugged and sharp, and you seldom find land with soil deep enough to cultivate outside of valley terraces. Ridges tend to be exposed rock with virtually no soil. Keyline is better suited to deep soiled rolling country. If the spacing between swales was wide enough you could definitely sub-soil off contour towards the ridges, creating a slow drift of water towards the ridges, where it would eventually enter the downslope swale. If the spacing of swales is close together, this pattern does not run for long enough to show any benefit, therefore contour ripping to create contour spreading is more effective. Context is everything...

​@@kenttahir.cooper5282 yeah, I was toying with these ideas (thinking past the usual systems/fusing concepts) when I saw one woman use grass tufts (I forget the name, its a sterile version of Indian grass; edit: its vetiver) to slow down water in a similar pattern. It can be really as simple as putting stuff in the path of water, all the way to watershed level complex systems. So I was toying with the idea of using CCTs (basically short, intermittent swales) as a basis for alley cropping while following a full keyline pattern. I haven't worked it out in detail, but I am glad to see your example (even if you do go a different direction, with rips 'following' swales, due to your land characteristics). But I'd like to ask another question: you're probably familiar with biochar (a bit of a silver bullet if one trusts research review papers), and I was reading up on biochar as slow release fertilizer (as well as being co composted, etc, there's really a huge amount of research being done, primarily by Chinese). Yet despite its 'fame' (water retention, nutrient leaching diminishment, soil Ph, etc), I've only ever seen one person marry ripping with injecting biochar (however prepared) into the rips, right here on youtube. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this; putting down biochar into the rips as they're being made.

Thank you...

Oh yes we know this plant well, it is a major invasive species here, a huge problem, it takes over large tracts of land, nothing eats it (sheep and goats will under extreme drought duress), except birds the fruit, further spreading the problem. I have been eradicating it on our farm, where it grows in the silty river soils, and wherever the soil is good, showing no indication whatsoever of growing in capped, or duricrusted land. There are many local plants that fulfill the function of soil pioneering plants here, that are more effective and useful, especially in the succulent family. The sub-soiling process is hardly back breaking and is the fastest system I have seen in recovering ecosystem processes on damaged land, never mind healthy soils, where we follow on with high value multi-functional plants that have net positive effects on ecosystem processes. Form follows function and cultivate plants more suited to our production goals appropriate to the local biome.

Thank you and keep charging...

Yes you could definitely just sow the grass into the riplines. I would suggest tamping down the riplines with rake before and after planting and make use of a vigorous clumping grass that is indigenous. Tall Fescue Grass works very well in our area and Weeping Love Grass. Both are hardy and seem to do better than the lucerne in dry periods...

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 excellent. I'm keen to try. We may have to plan ahead in order that we can keep the sheep off of it while it establishes. We have a grass mix called "Agricol bosveld" which has 3 different buffalo grasses, smuts finger, Rhodes grass and bottle brush grass. Thanks for the info, I'll look into the grasses you recommend.

@@aidandavies7232 I suggest you look into grasses that will follow roughly the growth rate of lucerne, so they can keep up with each other. Make sure none of them are runners, stick to clumping grasses.

That is a method of fertilization I have seen done by some farmers who have a slurry injector. However the basic process of subsoiling builds the mineral cycle process without any further additives. I run cattle and chickens over the land which tends to take care of that aspect and growing a land cover that is high in legumes (lucerne and white clover in our case) provides the nitrogen component as long as it is either cut or grazed in cycles...

The seed from local species tends to come up on its own, if the conditions are right. The soil is rich in local seed, all that is needed is to add the conditions for soil life and up they come, especially if they do not wash away in heavy rains, which sub-soiling prevents. In cultivated situations I prefer to sow seed in that suits my production goals. Context is everything. If I run my cattle through land under restoration and feed them in the area they inoculate seed, dung (and so local micro-organisms) and urea into the furrows, and the system takes care of itself. Timing is critical, always at the beginning of the rainy season.

For sure, you are never done, however once you reach a stage where systems are basically self-regulating then the ration of inputs to outputs drops radically. Then you are just adding detail, Pattern to Detail, it never really stops. This is generational evolution of the land.

Thank you, keep focused on your dream, you may well be surprised.

There is so much information available on the internet and in books. I never stop studying, reading, observing and interaction. Holistic Management is a great system to study in regards to farmland regeneration, Keyline Design and of course permaculture. It is a lifelong journey.

The best is just to get on and do it, that is the best learning, either on your own land or volunteering.

Constant studying and practicing, but you can always take a break.

@@FeralEarthGardens Why, take a break from what you love? Simply observing and interaction is study and learning. Paying attention is the greatest teacher of all...

No, its the natural ecosystem, we live in a semi-desert so it is a chaparral type ecosystem. The trees are only found in valleys, where there is water.

Take a look at our sand dam video on this channel, which covers the concept you are describing.

Thank you

Thank you...Yes absolutely, you will see in the video when I was standing above the gabions in the olive system, I was discussing this very point. You would want to put in some fast growing deep rooted tree species there, or if there was a more consistent flow of water then reeds of some type would be ideal.

@@kenttahir.cooper5282 okay perfect I will fully watch the video!! My apologies for not fully watching. I definitely have saved it and will subscribe. I’m in pure sand and this is all right up my alley. I’m curious how well moringa would do as a fast growth tap root sending deep plant. I’m not an expert at all though just the idea of nutrient dense chop and drop and deep root structure with shade protection is all just nice stuff. Again thank you for your work, time and passion! Have a restful night good sir!

@@DoItYourselfGardening Moringa should be fine...

Thank you... Hard consistent work and good design...