Digging Swales and Berms in a Permaculture Orchard
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- Last year, we dug more than 6,000 feet of swales and berms on our farm to serve as an integrated permaculture orchard and silvopasture. In this video, I walk you through our process from planning to digging to how they are doing today.
About Gold Shaw Farm: Gold Shaw Farm is more of a farm-in-progress than an honest-to-goodness farm. Our dream is that someday we are able to transform our 150+ acre parcel of land into a regenerative and productive homestead and farm
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Wow, before the ducks.... this is like a time capsule..
Your orchard is looking good! I think all the hard work installing the swales and berms will pay off in the future and really pay dividends. An orchard is a perfect place for ducks and geese, chickens too. They'll love collecting the insects and any overripe fruit that falls. Thanks for showing us around!!
Check in with videos from Gabe Brown on regenerative soil practices. I can promise you'll solve the challenge of both water retention and boggy soil at the same time. I started that way and am putting in several hundred trees this spring as a part of my permaculture orchard in Maine for the reasons you mentioned. Swales and berms are not a great approach - there are expensive and time consuming to construct, Mother Nature will work tirelessly to even it all out and you don't want to have to maintain them as time passes.
Work with nature, not against.
A couple of things you probably already know. But seed the berms then cover with old straw and hay in the Spring. Dig out the hollow then get a few pigs in there to create a wallow, then follow with ducks. Or just get a giant dozer in there to copact it after you've dug out a deeper area. Check out the work done by Sepp Holzer in Valdepajares de tajo in Spain. He made lakes in rocky sandy soils where engineers and hydrologists said it could not happen.
Any specific video you recommend?
Hi....... Thank you 🌱🏡🎥👍👍👍
It is nice to have a orchard for your 🦆,geese's and chickens .Great Work , keep it up you will become better than you already is.
Seed, then immediately cover with old straw and hay. It worked for me the first season.
Thanks for the tip!
See how far these videos and editing has come. How inspiring
Jeff lawson has great ideas for swales ..you could maybe dig a dip dam in swap area if you have clay down deep
Try adding a bunch of weeping willow trees to those swampy areas - they've been know to suck up tremendous quantities of water and dry out areas that previously have been under water.
That’s a really good idea.
Its medicinal as well and it makes great rooting water for rooting plants.
Cute, joyous music
If that area stays marshy and swampy for months.................... it probably already retains water and won't "leak" it out. The top layer of soil (sandy loam) isn't what is keeping it marshy. It's the clay BELOW it.
grape farmers do berms and swales and plant rye and vetch in the swales, or clover or rapeseed for nitrogen fixing the soil. these cover crops are planted in the swales every year, then cut and rototilled in for providing natural fertilizer. this is used in permaculture and would be especially needed now that fertilizers may be more difficult to obtain.
Excellent video thank you for taking the time to make it
They will have a great time ,once they get in it they will not want to get out or leave it.great job
For your swampy area, my thoughts would be that your earthworks would increase the amount of water and have it be there longer; as the swales will sink the water and make it move in the soil, slowly heading to that swampy area? I think it’s quite typical for swales in places that receive high rainfall?
You might want to try a subsoiler like a Yeomans plow and plow slightly off contour, downhill, from the ponding area to a drier ridge?
Fun stuff!
Yeah, a Yeomans plow is definitely on my wish list. I might end up making that soggier area a pond.
Yeah. I think that is a great plan! You might want to truck in some clay to line your pond, but dig it out first, you might find some more impermeable layer below.
I’d also think of what you could use it for? Recreation, fish, irrigation, beauty, all of the above?
I’d look at renting a plow rather than buying it...
Exciting times.
@@GoldShawFarm Yeoman's plow still on the wish list?
You can buy rolls of cloth that is impregnated with clay to line a pond with, once it is wet it holds water.
When you talk about hoping that the swales reduce the marshiness, I think they will have the opposite effect. The swales will hold water and give it more time to seep into the soil, where it slowly works its way downhill. On a large hill you can end up with natural springs forming as the stored water gradually percolates through, so in your case I think it might contribute towards keeping that area marshy for even longer. The duck pond idea sounds good (how deep is the sandy soil, does it turn into clay without going too deep?) otherwise I wonder whether you could fill it in with more soil so it ends up being a bit higher but with good water just below the surface?
2020 - I am interested in this cause we've got 20 trees on the way. Not a permaculture - just our little addition for the future!
Love the look of things in 2018 - as someone else has said, it's a time capsule!
Also, how could ANYONE give a thumbs down!!!
Thanks! looks good!
I see what you meant about needing the laser level! Great video mate :)
check out ABC acres and the pond they made. using ground water and making a natural pond
Thanks for the tip!
Make mini swales inbetween and plant berry bushes. Make some catchment ponds at the edge of the swales. Dig a little deep and you should have a nice pond instead of a swamp.
These videos are truly appreciated. Thank you. I have a similar situation, albeit steeper, with a fertile hillside I want to use for a swale and berm orchard. Looking at yours, it appears you put it 100% along the contour. Is that correct? I'm worried about the berms washing out after they fill with water after a hard rain. Do your swales have a "high water" overflow?
They are pretty much 100% on contour. At the very end on the south side, they taper down towards the woods. Just beyond the woods is a stream. My thinking is to feed run off down there in the case of a flash flood type of event. If you're thinking about doing something like this, I would say my biggest lesson learned was I didn't plan for mowing. The steep berms are really tough to maintain.
@@GoldShawFarm I have other steep mowing, but this hill is too steep for anything without tracks. I was thinking of sheep between the trees.
I appreciate your response. I'll do the same with the overflow. I'll run it down towards a ravine.
Dig a swale that is not on contour to direct water away from your marsh. LMK if this helps
Now that some time has passed....how did the marsh do through the spring/summer/fall?
how did you work out your spacing for the swales
I started each row roughly 80 feet apart, then I marked them to contour. They get roughly 20 apart at some of the steepest parts of the land. The 80 feet was somewhat arbitrary, but I knew it would give me rows that would allow animals to graze in the future.
Shouldn't swales and berms help direct the water where you want it? If so, your swales and berms might not be as well put out as you thought.
Swales don't need to be so large and intrusive.
Are you planning on selling the trees?
😇 😇 😇 😇 😇
Where did you you get permaculture idea?
Permaculture: A Designers' Manual
a book by Bill Mollison
When people mention their property being rocky, I burst out laughing. I got rocks. If you really want to see rocks, check out my videos.