@@edibleacres absolutely, it was great to see so many of the area you've built over the years for water capacity and distribution tied together and shown real time while the distribution is happening.
Regarding the mosquitos, if you can get a deeper, permanent water storage area on each property (probably have to use a pond liner, or a ton of clay, to construct a "cylinder" of 4-6 foot deep water) that is attached to the flood areas you have, you could consider small cyprinids and other minnows like the white cloud mountain minnow. Or just catch some in some small bodies of water near you. Just enough water so that they can retreat when the rain is lacking, and then eat larvae when the property is being flooded. Or just let the frogs go crazy.
I was just thinking as I watched , if someone who didn’t know plants and trees saw all this they would just think it was a managed wooded are, they would have now idea of the wealth of abundance you’ve created . Love you philosophy 🙏
What a fantastic piece of permaculture content. You can really well explain what you read in the landscape. Can't wait to design a larger piece of nature
Thanks again for the video. I posted a few videos over the weekend in Eastern Connecticut during Hurricane Henri. Was a blast! Huray for earthen water works!
We're having a night along those lines right now. I won't guess at 6 inches, but certainly it's been a significant rate of precipitation at times and is due to continue intermittently into the morning. When I went out to close up our poultry I could see water sitting in our swales. It is always interesting to play detective and examine how it moves ;)
Im happy to hear that frogs help with mosquitoes. I have a stream at the back of my property that is stagnant between rains. I had been considering keeping fish somehow but was concerned that most would get washed away. I hadn’t considered frogs!
toads (they might be content with a wet corner if ponds dry up seasonally) but they need water when they lay the eggs and the larvae live a time in it, then they leave the pond and wander off. Since ponds usually dry out later in the season (if at all) that should work.
Not to forget dragon flies. If you offer them reed grasses on which they can glue their eggs they will settle on your property - they are ferocious predators. Also the larvae - in that stage they need water (and eat larvae). I guess they would react faster than a frog population, if food is abudant more thousands of them make it (at least for a while). Their size is closer to the larvae so they can follow the boom / bust cycles better.
Very good info for sure, I remember back first when you were working on some of those areas and some of them had water flowing very freely, but look at them now and holding a lot of water for sure with very little damage. The very find silt in the water will only help seal the ponds when it settles. Was wondering how did the big pond do on the other property with all this rain? Cheers
Excellent video as always! I especially loved the ingenuity of the diversion ditch with a cinderblock switch. That was super neat! Gave me the biggest smile while I watched. 😁 Be good!
Last summer was coping with the drought & illustrated how much water was retained keeping plants alive. This event being the reverse, showing the ability of small scale observational management of flows in a landscape, absorbing & redirecting energy with water into the land. Proof is in the pudding. Subtle 'washouts' & the water leaving your managed property is cleaner downstream, than the runoff from a commercial orchard. Who would you rather live next to?
I wonder if you cut your grass too short in the areas where there's erosion, or maybe you need a shade mix sown there, with clover around the edges of the borders where you lost your mulch. Certainly it needs addressing, or movement of soil and silt will fill those water features. I don't cut grass at all and do not see erosion on my seriously steeply sloping garden, no matter how much rain we get (Scotland. We get a lot).
Enjoyed watching this. Do you have a suggestion for a good plant to grow in small patch of lawn (years ago) that is mostly in the shade, some filtered sun, and gets a flood of water pouring over it in heavy rains, mostly Nov-Apr? I've been burying straw and other things there, the soil was compacted clay and had no roots or worms after the first inch of black soil layer on top. Weeds weren't even growing there, though it was wet a lot of the time. I'm going to plant it when the temps start going down.
Do you try to control mosquito larvae in the big open tanks? I'd like to get started transforming an abandoned tilled garden into a permaculture set up and there's an opportunity to collect water for hand watering (kinda like you did in your coop/ nursery). But I'm worried about how annoying the mosquitos would be.
THey haven't been an issue in the tanks, you can always use door screen as your filter on top and that will keep them fully out of the tanks. With good healthy bird populations etc., it seems to balance out generally
Is the upper pond sealed, for use as an irrigation pond? Or is it used for an underground hydrology style pond that slowly seeps in to the landscape? Or something else entirely?
It isn't sealed, we may dig futher in some areas so we didn't want to commit in that way... Probably will remain 'leaky' so it can contribute to overall deep hydrology recharge.
I love watching your video, just a small thing I feel like I need to correct: plants of the genus Cercis aka Redbuds, are not known fo sure to be nitrogen fixers. They some of a few plants in the fabaceae family that are up for debate.
@@edibleacres so I read some more into Redbuds(and othet and it turns out that I was kind of wrong. The content of my comment is up to academic debate. I changed it to reflect that.
Ibc tote on ground any ideas on a funnel to help me keep it top off with water looking at a trans mission drain pan new trying to find something a little bigger thanks
Can you encourage watercress where the water is clean? Have you tried putting up martins nest boxes or gourds to help with mosquitoes? Are you seeing ducks or duck nests? Some state DNRs give away snake-proof duck nest boxes. I really admire the work you do.
Great ideas for sure. We are growing birdhouse gourds this year so maybe we'll have enough for next year. Watercress in a lot of these waterways would be lovely.
That ditch between your property and your neighbor's orchard will be enough to get a first flush of any rain, usually that would be the first inch. Thankfully with a big event any sprays would likely be in that flush, sediment would be a worry but it looks like you keep it slow enough it runs pretty clear. Don't lose too much sleep over that.
I used to teach with Ben Falk and a great crew up at Whole Systems Design back in the day and that PDC was pretty robust and deep, if you have the time and money to go that route. I also strongly encourage people with limited budgets to think about what you can learn on your own and in the community around you by just deep diving right into it where you are!
Dragon flies need reeds to lay their eggs on. And they do not only eat mosquitoes, so they could be "on duty" throughout the year (well, during the growing season). Their larvae also eat mosquito (and other) larvae, but they need to have some water at the time, they move from the reeds into the water, so ponds that dry out completely will not do. But a few bodies of water that are permanent are good enough they fly a distance and will also serve the ponds that are not permanent in their adult form. They could support you to combat exploding mosquito populations. Reeds grow in shallow water. Usually one has a shallow area in a pond and then a steep drop in water depth (so they will not take over the pond and fill it up ;)
It is not a miracle that the soil could take back so much water into itself. It is your careful observation of what needs doing (and doing it) that let it do so. It is also clear evidence of what needs doing on a much bigger scale to restore the land.
Could this scaled up on a place like Gabe Brown's in North Dakota or Greg Judy's in Missouri? This is wonderful stewardship and conservation...something they would appreciate. I have shared...you never know...Blessings Abound
I've been wondering for a while now, are you self taught or did you go to agriculture school or something similar? You seem to have an amazingly broad understanding of how nature works.
I've been exploring these ideas for 18 years now, in really informal and experimental ways. No formal education necessary for this kind of work, plants and landscapes are super happy to share all the info if you ask constantly.
It's a pity that other people use toxins you have to deal with.That's the reason why I don't grow food at the boarders of my garden to one neighbor. 🤔 Here it's actually not allowed to use toxins in a private garden but some people ignore it.
Just for some horrifying comparison: 93liter/m² of rain "made" the flooding in western Germany in July 2021. If I calculate that the right way, "your" 6 inces would equal round about 150 l/m² It's not entirely fair to compare that, because the terrain is a very steep, very narrow valley that is densly populated and where there are neither houses nor streets, the land is used intensivly as vinyards and for other industrialised ag. But that makes it even more shocking because the resistance against necessary changes is rediculously stong...
Herrman Andrä -> since the 60s (commercial ag is too tied to industrial efficient fertilizers & herbicides) Reverting to silvopasture & rethinking water flow management is not cost effective, until your town washes away. Prayers & surcease for your losses 🙏
Ya see what you see. In this space, in about 1.5 acres is actually a massive amount of food production and 10s of thousands of dollars in nursery stock :)
Can you imagine a world where everyone treated their land like this? Or even half the population? Of course then we wouldn’t be in the pickle we are in with massive rain events, heat domes, and catastrophic insect decline. This is the answer right here. Will people listen and learn? ☹️
You are the Mr Rogers of Gardens (and chickens)!
I just love watching you all grow things. Your care and thoughtfulness amaze me. An inspiration.
Your earthworks designs on this property are some of the best inspiration in all of permaculture content. I just adore this property.
These waterworks "read the landscape" videos are my favorite.
So glad, because I really enjoy filming them :)
Time to write a children's book about water flow. It's just magical.
Absolutely 🙏🌈😎
Thanks for the great tour and walk and talk. You hit a lot of spots, that was an action packed 16 minutes! 😊 Very nice.
Glad you thought so
@@edibleacres absolutely, it was great to see so many of the area you've built over the years for water capacity and distribution tied together and shown real time while the distribution is happening.
Regarding the mosquitos, if you can get a deeper, permanent water storage area on each property (probably have to use a pond liner, or a ton of clay, to construct a "cylinder" of 4-6 foot deep water) that is attached to the flood areas you have, you could consider small cyprinids and other minnows like the white cloud mountain minnow. Or just catch some in some small bodies of water near you. Just enough water so that they can retreat when the rain is lacking, and then eat larvae when the property is being flooded. Or just let the frogs go crazy.
Hoping the frog life just explodes here and they take care of it!
Thanks for spending your time with us.
I was just thinking as I watched , if someone who didn’t know plants and trees saw all this they would just think it was a managed wooded are, they would have now idea of the wealth of abundance you’ve created . Love you philosophy 🙏
Thank you for the excellent teaching on what you have done in that property and the reason behind it.
What a fantastic piece of permaculture content.
You can really well explain what you read in the landscape.
Can't wait to design a larger piece of nature
Great permaculture lesson on retaining water and nutrient in the landscape...
insect life is HEALTHY ... the sounds oh my goodness
Thanks again for the video. I posted a few videos over the weekend in Eastern Connecticut during Hurricane Henri. Was a blast! Huray for earthen water works!
We're having a night along those lines right now. I won't guess at 6 inches, but certainly it's been a significant rate of precipitation at times and is due to continue intermittently into the morning. When I went out to close up our poultry I could see water sitting in our swales. It is always interesting to play detective and examine how it moves ;)
So super rewarding to try to 'read' how the water is moving in a landscape
Doing the "a bun dance"? :D :D :D (Brad Lancaster, TED Talk ;) )
Im happy to hear that frogs help with mosquitoes. I have a stream at the back of my property that is stagnant between rains. I had been considering keeping fish somehow but was concerned that most would get washed away. I hadn’t considered frogs!
I think we can all have improved landscapes with lots of happy frogs. Now to understand how to best support them!
toads (they might be content with a wet corner if ponds dry up seasonally) but they need water when they lay the eggs and the larvae live a time in it, then they leave the pond and wander off. Since ponds usually dry out later in the season (if at all) that should work.
Not to forget dragon flies. If you offer them reed grasses on which they can glue their eggs they will settle on your property - they are ferocious predators. Also the larvae - in that stage they need water (and eat larvae). I guess they would react faster than a frog population, if food is abudant more thousands of them make it (at least for a while). Their size is closer to the larvae so they can follow the boom / bust cycles better.
I'm glad to see the 'toxin' stream is working! I was wondering how that was getting on. I hope you and your family are keeping safe.
Thanks kindly!
@@edibleacres You need to invite the dragon flies in with a nursery (reeds) for their eggs, see my other comment.
You need to make a small mountain spot next to spots that don't get enough water
Very good info for sure, I remember back first when you were working on some of those areas and some of them had water flowing very freely, but look at them now and holding a lot of water for sure with very little damage. The very find silt in the water will only help seal the ponds when it settles. Was wondering how did the big pond do on the other property with all this rain? Cheers
I think this was a local event and the six acre site is some miles from the other site.
Love this.
I live in Saskatchewan, Canada and appreciate that we have a lot of the same big storms
This system you've built is amazing.
Thanks!
Absolutely beautiful to see your hard work in action.
that's wonderful ! i like all of your videos
Excellent video as always! I especially loved the ingenuity of the diversion ditch with a cinderblock switch. That was super neat! Gave me the biggest smile while I watched. 😁 Be good!
It is nice to have an easy and free 'on/off' switch
Your place is so beautiful
Thank you for the content. New to gardening. Can you tell me what the large leaf plant is at 1:57 on the right side of the screen?
Fuki!
Last summer was coping with the drought & illustrated how much water was retained keeping plants alive. This event being the reverse, showing the ability of small scale observational management of flows in a landscape, absorbing & redirecting energy with water into the land. Proof is in the pudding. Subtle 'washouts' & the water leaving your managed property is cleaner downstream, than the runoff from a commercial orchard. Who would you rather live next to?
nicely done my dude
I wonder if you cut your grass too short in the areas where there's erosion, or maybe you need a shade mix sown there, with clover around the edges of the borders where you lost your mulch. Certainly it needs addressing, or movement of soil and silt will fill those water features.
I don't cut grass at all and do not see erosion on my seriously steeply sloping garden, no matter how much rain we get (Scotland. We get a lot).
Good notes here. thank you
9:50 is that Senna?
Wow, good eye! River Locust there, Amorpha Fruticosa
Enjoyed watching this. Do you have a suggestion for a good plant to grow in small patch of lawn (years ago) that is mostly in the shade, some filtered sun, and gets a flood of water pouring over it in heavy rains, mostly Nov-Apr? I've been burying straw and other things there, the soil was compacted clay and had no roots or worms after the first inch of black soil layer on top. Weeds weren't even growing there, though it was wet a lot of the time. I'm going to plant it when the temps start going down.
I could imagine black currants being super happy with what you've describedd
@@edibleacres Okay, thanks very much.
Do you try to control mosquito larvae in the big open tanks? I'd like to get started transforming an abandoned tilled garden into a permaculture set up and there's an opportunity to collect water for hand watering (kinda like you did in your coop/ nursery). But I'm worried about how annoying the mosquitos would be.
THey haven't been an issue in the tanks, you can always use door screen as your filter on top and that will keep them fully out of the tanks. With good healthy bird populations etc., it seems to balance out generally
Is the upper pond sealed, for use as an irrigation pond? Or is it used for an underground hydrology style pond that slowly seeps in to the landscape? Or something else entirely?
It isn't sealed, we may dig futher in some areas so we didn't want to commit in that way... Probably will remain 'leaky' so it can contribute to overall deep hydrology recharge.
The best water management possible, this video should be showed to every decision-maker of this world.
Wow!
I love watching your video, just a small thing I feel like I need to correct: plants of the genus Cercis aka Redbuds, are not known fo sure to be nitrogen fixers. They some of a few plants in the fabaceae family that are up for debate.
Thanks for the note of clarification here!
@@edibleacres so I read some more into Redbuds(and othet and it turns out that I was kind of wrong. The content of my comment is up to academic debate. I changed it to reflect that.
Ibc tote on ground any ideas on a funnel to help me keep it top off with water looking at a trans mission drain pan new trying to find something a little bigger thanks
Very nice 👍
Muscovy ducks could also be a great way to keep mosquitos down!
Can you encourage watercress where the water is clean? Have you tried putting up martins nest boxes or gourds to help with mosquitoes? Are you seeing ducks or duck nests? Some state DNRs give away snake-proof duck nest boxes. I really admire the work you do.
Great ideas for sure. We are growing birdhouse gourds this year so maybe we'll have enough for next year. Watercress in a lot of these waterways would be lovely.
That ditch between your property and your neighbor's orchard will be enough to get a first flush of any rain, usually that would be the first inch. Thankfully with a big event any sprays would likely be in that flush, sediment would be a worry but it looks like you keep it slow enough it runs pretty clear. Don't lose too much sleep over that.
That is the hope, considering it a 'first flush diverter' at the broad acre scale :)
How are y'all managing this week after Ida?
We didn't get hit by it at all, luckily.
So, what's the deal with that cob building?
Been a kind of abandoned project but something we hope to bring up again
Do you have any good recommendations for a PDC?
I used to teach with Ben Falk and a great crew up at Whole Systems Design back in the day and that PDC was pretty robust and deep, if you have the time and money to go that route.
I also strongly encourage people with limited budgets to think about what you can learn on your own and in the community around you by just deep diving right into it where you are!
Dragon flies need reeds to lay their eggs on. And they do not only eat mosquitoes, so they could be "on duty" throughout the year (well, during the growing season). Their larvae also eat mosquito (and other) larvae, but they need to have some water at the time, they move from the reeds into the water, so ponds that dry out completely will not do. But a few bodies of water that are permanent are good enough they fly a distance and will also serve the ponds that are not permanent in their adult form.
They could support you to combat exploding mosquito populations. Reeds grow in shallow water. Usually one has a shallow area in a pond and then a steep drop in water depth (so they will not take over the pond and fill it up ;)
Really great notes, I think I'm seeing this in our larger ponds, so now to support it in the smaller ones!
It is not a miracle that the soil could take back so much water into itself. It is your careful observation of what needs doing (and doing it) that let it do so. It is also clear evidence of what needs doing on a much bigger scale to restore the land.
Could this scaled up on a place like Gabe Brown's in North Dakota or Greg Judy's in Missouri? This is wonderful stewardship and conservation...something they would appreciate. I have shared...you never know...Blessings Abound
I think this could absolutely be scaled up. Would probably need to be a bit more planned and done with machines but doable at scale for sure.
Hah, YT had actually just recommended me your similar video from 4 years ago or so. It's interesting to compare between the two some
Can you link it here? So many of his videos to go thru to find it
I've been wondering for a while now, are you self taught or did you go to agriculture school or something similar? You seem to have an amazingly broad understanding of how nature works.
I've been exploring these ideas for 18 years now, in really informal and experimental ways. No formal education necessary for this kind of work, plants and landscapes are super happy to share all the info if you ask constantly.
It's a pity that other people use toxins you have to deal with.That's the reason why I don't grow food at the boarders of my garden to one neighbor. 🤔 Here it's actually not allowed to use toxins in a private garden but some people ignore it.
Just for some horrifying comparison: 93liter/m² of rain "made" the flooding in western Germany in July 2021. If I calculate that the right way, "your" 6 inces would equal round about 150 l/m²
It's not entirely fair to compare that, because the terrain is a very steep, very narrow valley that is densly populated and where there are neither houses nor streets, the land is used intensivly as vinyards and for other industrialised ag. But that makes it even more shocking because the resistance against necessary changes is rediculously stong...
Herrman Andrä -> since the 60s (commercial ag is too tied to industrial efficient fertilizers & herbicides) Reverting to silvopasture & rethinking water flow management is not cost effective, until your town washes away.
Prayers & surcease for your losses 🙏
Way to save water bro, most people take it for granted and think it’s infinite 🙏😎🌈
💙💙💙🌎💙💙💙
We measure in mm (millimeters), so 15 cm (centimeters) is 150 mm. And that is a lot 😮!
1mm is 1L/m2
I am sorry , looks like a great water control system, but all I see is weeds and not a garden, Just how do control weeds and over growth?
Ya see what you see. In this space, in about 1.5 acres is actually a massive amount of food production and 10s of thousands of dollars in nursery stock :)
Oh, and definitely weeds :)
Well, you got the clobbering you wanted! :)
Not complaining :)
Dragonflies eat mosquitoes as well.
Cattails are excellent at filtering toxins out of water. Just something to consider for your ditch.
For sure! Maybe not enough light for them in that context, but something to consider.
@@edibleacres lower light would mean they’d be less invasive.
Can you imagine a world where everyone treated their land like this? Or even half the population? Of course then we wouldn’t be in the pickle we are in with massive rain events, heat domes, and catastrophic insect decline.
This is the answer right here. Will people listen and learn? ☹️
I still hold out hope that systems may change, but I expect on the larger scale that isn't in the cards.
first
its a jungle, too much