Permaculture in Action

Monday, November 18, 2013

Catch and Store Rainfall

Remember this...


It actually got a lot drier than this, but look at it now....


This pond is filled from the overflow from the house tank ...


The overflow from the pond travels along a v-drain past the nut trees...


and under the driveway.....
to a swale...

 
A swale is a water harvesting ditch on contour. The water from the slope above it, runs down the slope into the swale along with the overflow from the pond and a larger dam on the opposite side. Here the water will sit until it soaks into the soil,thus preventing runoff to outside the property, but also increasing fertility as the swales also catch leaf drop from trees planted along the top edge. (our tree planting is still in the early stages) The water soaks into the paddock below the swales thereby enriching the pasture.

This is just one of the ways that we ensure that water falling on the property remains on the property.
There is a beautiful glow about the farm this evening from all the green. It's amazing how quickly everything greens up with even just a little rain, and we have had around 130mls since yesterday. Such a beautiful thing. Deserves a little celebration me thinks. A glass of red will do the trick.

6 comments:

  1. I bet you have some happy geese now with all that extra water.

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  2. Enjoy your red!

    Bush fire threats one week to floods the next, nature can not be tamed into conservative man made boxes!
    Nice to see how you are working with her!!!

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  3. We woke up yesterday to full dams and a flowing creek. It was such a surprise because the creek had really dried up so much. It is so nice to walk around the paddocks and see green and not hear the crunching of dry grass under foot. Your water system is great, keeping and using it rather than letting it flow away.

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  4. Yes, worth celebrating, after being so dry for so long.

    Isn't the green-ness lovely?

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  5. Oh how wonderful to see a swale in action - love the ducklings.

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  6. Isn;t this rain wonderful! I went out in it and planted corn because I knew it would come up for sure with this weather. I always wish we knew more about swales etc with regards to permaculture when we first established our garden...I now know that putting my garden at the very top of a hill was not so clever!

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