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!!

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.

See how far these videos and editing has come. How inspiring

Cute, joyous music

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.

Seed, then immediately cover with old straw and hay. It worked for me the first season.

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.

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.

Jeff lawson has great ideas for swales ..you could maybe dig a dip dam in swap area if you have clay down deep

Excellent video thank you for taking the time to make it

Thanks! looks good!

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.

I see what you meant about needing the laser level! Great video mate :)

They will have a great time ,once they get in it they will not want to get out or leave it.great job

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.

You can buy rolls of cloth that is impregnated with clay to line a pond with, once it is wet it holds water.

Now that some time has passed....how did the marsh do through the spring/summer/fall?

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!

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?

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?

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!

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.

how did you work out your spacing for the swales

check out ABC acres and the pond they made. using ground water and making a natural pond

Dig a swale that is not on contour to direct water away from your marsh. LMK if this helps

Are you planning on selling the trees?

Where did you you get permaculture idea?

😇 😇 😇 😇 😇

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.

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.

Swales don't need to be so large and intrusive.