"This old trick" is at 15:15. You're welcome.

Here we call those crossbar ditches and we use them alot when reclaiming logging roads. I have one in my driveway as well due to an oilfield road coming off the mountain at the base of my driveway. I sure could use the old Ford 3,000 here for bush hogging, mowing driveway work and gardening. Only got 5 acres but more than a simple garden tractor can handle. I will be 61 in March and i just cant get out there and do things by hand anymore. I made a living on the strength of my back and its paid the price. When i was growing up a young pup we had a gasoline Ford 3000 and they in my opinion best tractors ever built. Great video as always.

You can continue to do that several times a year. Me, personally, I would use a backhoe (borrow from friend or rent one) and dig a ditch right next to the driveway down every hill to the low spot, where it would then be directed away from the driveway. Then grade the driveway toward the ditch so the water doesn't erode the driveway ever again. You can grade it easily with the box blade to have slope toward the side with the ditch side. No more ruts in the driveway to dig. Full length driveway ditch to the low area I think is the way to go. So much less maintenance and time several times a year. Just my 2 cents. It's your property and your labor, so you do you. Good video.

I love the sound of those old Ford tractors. We had one in about 1970 or ‘71 that my brother bought new. It was a loader with a winch. That thing would pull. Loved that sound though.

Just a note to tell you how much I enjoy watching your videos. I’m a simple guy from up in Ohio, I‘ve been a country guy trapped in the city for 27 years. My wife and I are blessed to have a small 20 acre spread down in Southern Ohio (we’re tied to Cleveland for a couple more years to retire), and I get what you are about. It’s either something a person gets or they don’t. A love for the land and God’s creations. I’m planning on getting a mill soon and going to model a kiln after yours. Anyway...keep on keeping on Brother and my the Lord continue to bless you and your family!

Maybe consider placing a power pole/treated log in the same diagonal ditch you hand dug in this video, allow 1/3 to 1/2 of pole to be above the driveways elevation. As the water gathers and runs down the driveway, the pole above the driveway grade helps most of the water to be diverted along the uphill side/backside of pole. It's better having speed bumps than ditches in a driveway. Also, you may want to consider decreasing the angle of the diagonal ditch a little compared to what angle you have it in the video so the exiting water doesn't take rock with it.

Awesome video. Love the music you use while grading the drive way. Good job. Love the old tractor

Nice to see someone still working a shovel. Most people think it’s necessary to buy a $20,000 tractor these days to accomplish the same thing.

This comment will save your 18min 17sec: Dig a ditch

Nice video thanks for sharing good job done and I like your ford tractor it’s nice to see it working.

Glad to see the Ford up and working. Great video as usual.

Pretty cool cinematography! Nice shot of the creek and the forest in the background.

My solution to runoff going across my roadway was to buy 4 used railroad ties. I dug a trench like yours then I butted one tie against the other so it'd be wide enough to go the full width of the road, then I placed the other pair about 1 foot apart. To make sure they didn't move closer together I used those big 8" long nails from Home Depot that look like tent stakes and pounded several to the insides of the facing railroad ties. Any who the water runs fine and car and truck tires pass easily over the gap without ever going into the mud.

I built a culvert from treated wood. Have to clean it every so often but it drives over smoothly. I do this stuff all the time. Hard damn work.

Ha! This will help me on a problem area on our small horse farm. Nice. Thank you.

Why not throw a perforated pipe in there with a sock and bury it flat with stone, no sand.

You might rig up a large pointed shovel to attach to the 3 point hitch. In my younger years I had one on my garden tractor to plow out potato rows. Worked great. Better then that long handle shovel. lol

You have to eliminate the "walls" of dirt and leaves you have on the shoulders or edges of the driveway and lift up its center sort of the water run to each side of the driveway and once on its sides through the ditch, but even small walls will retain water and that will contribute to pot holes. That's why in any modern street the center is higher than the sides, and on the sides you'll see from time to time a register for the drain. Check any street or talk to all timers or see Andrew Camarata doing a driveway, then try what you can afford. And don't stop producing videos, we or I am learning while you do lots that I personally am trying to reach. Much respects to you and your family which somehow survived or fought for you to now continue in that land. Great job family!

This is the way my grandfather prevented water damage to his drives and it's the way I'm doing mine. In fact, at one time, my grandfather had virtually his entire farm terraced this way so that he didn't lose crop land to erosion.

Nice tips Wes! Lovely to see that Ford 3000 is still going strong!

At 6:02 i thought a My Self Reliance video had started up randomly in another tab. You got me bud!

It does not surprise me your land is 3rd generation. It shows in the caring way you take care of it. I enjoyed the video.👍🏻

One of my favorite channels lately

Dig rut a little deeper and put a pipe in, and cover over top.

Love this! Thanks

Thanks for the video. Country road water break. Best to scrape the existing road first before placing new gravel on it. Then put on new gravel and then scrape new material on top. It’s hard to find but, an old straight piece of galvanized guardrail turned upside in the water break sure works well. Pin it down with something or some spots of concrete on edges make it even better.

Nice gate! What powers it? You have a really nice piece of property. On areas that are prone to washing out, I use asphalt millings. Try to get them at least 3" thick, place them early in the season so they compact well in the heat of the summer. They hold up very well and cost less than gravel here in Minnesota. If you find a road milling project close by you can sometimes get them delivered cheap or for free.

The hill folk called these " thank you maam's ". Been grading gravel drives over 50 years, have a few neat tricks.

Love your music. Love your place. Thanks for sharing!

DUDE !!! I love your laid back - real time style. It is nice to see vids without endless fast cuts. My stone/dirt driveway was minimally affected during the 2013 Colorado flood rains. This whole place is on a low grade slope which took the water right on by the house. Your camera person and the drone operator got some great shots. This mini movie was a joy to look at and almost made me forget that I had come here for a how-to. Good show, mate ! :🦬

Thanks for the video. In addition to trenching your driveway, you can lay down an old highway guardrail in the ditch, then grade your gravel to the top of the guardrail. Super cheap and acts as a gutter to shed the water. You won’t even notice it when driving over top if you grade properly. Old timer trick.

Excellent videography!!

Great job enjoyed that thank you !!!

My driveway is short and flat, thanks for the video.

Great idea..Thank you sir!

Thanks for the hint. We will try this here @RidgeLife.

The best trick is a front loader

YES it will!!! Great vid

I gravelled my drive with a shovel and wheelbarrow, it took some time and effort but I spread 20 ton within a couple of weeks, I made the same type of ditches to run the water off, its a very effective way to stop it all washing away from the rain.

It's not necessary for "this old trick" to also be a suspension busting speed bump. Place a perforated pipe in your little ditch and cover it with coarse gravel.

Nice work.

Great use of the drone!

Vitality and blessings!

I enjoyed the video. Good job. Luckily my future driveway is flat Nevada desert land so will have different problems concerning mud and snow followed by 120 degrees heat. I have no idea how to do this stuff but will figure it out by watching nice videos like yours.

How about a concrete culvert? Dig once, fill once, walk away .

That’s a beautiful driveway. How long is it? Hopefully you don’t get a lot of snow.

Water bars are a good option but a much better option is a rolling dip, if done right once you get it done your done. Start about 15-20' on up hill side cut the road down about 3-4" deep on about a 45 to the out sloped or low of the road and feather the high side of the cut back to meet the rest of the road bed in about 10' or so. Much more driver friendly than having to stop to cross every Water bar in the road. We have used them on logging roads for years.

Have you tried to use the box blade on an angle to cut a swale on the low side of the drive? Enjoyed the vid - nice work!!

I am desperate for a solution to my downhill, steep driveway, which is washing away and starting to form ruts, just these past couple of years. Have a water problem now due to the dirt public road going past the entrance, and it began sending alot of water down the driveway over the last two years. Been thinking of what I can do. I'm a 60 yr old woman, in a rural area, with no machnery or implements, so digging a ditch like you just demonstrated will likely work well. Glad I saw this, thank you!

Great idea 👍

Just found and subscribed -thank you. What a truly charmed life you must lead.

I had the same issue with a similar fix. I cut a 6"pvc in half long ways put it in a trench like yours and put a grate over it. It pretty much stays clean and free flowing but can be cleaned out with a big bucket of water or a hose once in a while. Found the grate in scrap yard.

If you’d try putting a few very small ditches across the driveway and run them into the woods. Not real big ditches, just small enough that you can still drive across with little bumps. I did that to my drive and my sisters, and it helped slow the water flow.

Good job! Twenty years ago I worked in big timber operations in California and when they decommissioned roads they used to put what they called "rolling dips" on them with a skidder on the last trip out. Push a little dirt down the hill on an angle so the water hits the trough and runs off sideways instead of down the road. They're on an angle so you can drive straight over them with a pickup without bottoming out.

Looks like you could use a good Westendorf loader. They make front loaders for all types of tractors.

I’ve seen 1” thick rubber mats buried on edge that stick up about 3” that angle across the road and divert the water to ditches. That way you don’t have speed bumps also, they fold over when you drive over them.

It's called a water bar. The Forest Service and loggers have been doing this for decades. My driveway has one at the top on the hill. My former home had two in the driveway. Everyone around here does it. And for all those who are saying put a pipe in, the problem with that is a pipe only moves water across the road, it doesn't deal very well with the water that runs down the road itself. It's the same principle as why highways are built with a crown in the center. Trench drains work in urban areas but tend to clog withing weeks in rural settings.

What about putting coarse 'golfball' stone in the ditches to let water run and then get rid of the ditches & speed bumps?

Watching you work makes my back hurt

I have made water bar like this in past , but now I prefer to make water bars with flexible rubber. I use old conveyor belts attached to pressure treated 4x4's that are buried at angle to road with 5 inches of belt above grade diverting flow off the roadway.

You need a good back pack blower to rid the leaves out of the gravel.

So you have ditches across your driveway? Doesn't it wallow out into deep holes as you drive across it while water is in it?

From beekeeping to fixing a fouled up driveway. I love your videos.

Bigger rock. Use #2 railroad ballast and then gravel crush & run (granite) on top so it goes into the ballast and locks it in. It won't need to be fixed every year.

That is the same thing we always do for the camp road, we called my Uncle the road commissioner, 2-3 times a years ditch the road. Awesome.

I do the opposite. I make a burm at an angle or as my wife calls them, speed bumps. I’d rather drive over a bump than across a ditch. Try it, It works really well.

Nice under the tractor shot at 6:04 showing the box blade doing it's job.

Although our driveway is built on top of a marsh, the many loads of light shale have compacted themselves over the years. I don't think I could ditch by hand like you just did.

you should look for a used loader.. It could haul those beautiful leaves to the garden,, & all that sawdust // bark from the mill,, the garden will love you for it...We call those water bars going across the road,, sharper the angle less chance the water jumps over the bar.. By putting a 8//10 log in the ditch so it sticks up higher then the road 3 inches or so keep the water going more like a dam when you fill in around it.. missed seeing that little pup,, i had a beagle taller looked just like him ,, markings & face.Aloha

Could you add gravel to the ditch you made so the water filter down through that?

Great job 👍

Have you ever tried using galvanized guard rail as a ledge to put in that cross trench it will be there locked in and it will channel the water away and keep from rutting out.

Very nice camera work!

We call them Water Bars here in the Northeast. Thumbs up !!

Thank you for taking the time to pass on your experience with your drive way and your method of keep up the battle with the weather. For those haters that all they can do is gripe out your video, well , may thier out house flood out to thier wifes she shed.😆😆. Thanks again, you show off😜.

Great video

Would it be possible to put in a culvert there?

that's the same song that Shawn at My Self Reliance uses.......love the banjo

Thanks!

Guardrails work best for cross ditches lay it in your ditch you dug and fill in around it

Thank you Sir

Love running my tractor. Good times

You did what dad and I did on our farm but, we had to put a culvert in also.

First, put down gravel throughout your driveway. You have a dirt road. Then, spend seven more nickels and install proper culverts and drainage ditches as needed. You're just substituting 3 times a year of labor for a small amount of basically one time expense and insuring that you do the labor forever, but never having a good road. There's being cheap and there's being stupid.

Hey pard make some checks on the hill to slow the water down and it will help slow it down. I've been in road construction for 38 years and I've built many this way and it helps. Not trying to be a know it all thanks.

Lol. You should ask Santa for a cordless leaf blower. One of my better investments, for sure. Nice job. Thanks for posting.

Third generation on the land, sweet. I like what you do to maintain the drive, but at 72 with arthritic hips, I'd have have a tractor with a loader and backhoe to do what you do. Just how long is that drive, and what do you do to keep it clear of snow?

My neighbour used to have problems during heavy rain storms with water running off the road and causing wash-outs as it ran down their drive. When I bought the property I had a load of rock delivered, most of which I had spread down the drive, but a small amount I left in a pile close to the road, which I raked out into a slight berm. .... It's hardly noticeable but is just enough that in the past 13 years there has never been storm water run off the road and cause a wash-out.

Nice property!

That sure is one heckuva nice property. Love to have something like that.....next lifetime:)

We call them water bars in Vermont. On the ski trails they can be 5’ deep. Hang on to your wheeler!

I did a lot around my farm with a 53 Ford Jubilee and a pond scoop.

Cool video.

Love watching your videos and your calm demeanor. Thank you for your channel. Whats the name of the music you’re playing in this video?

Yeah that won't last long when all the delivery trucks and various other heavy vehicles run through it. You'll be doing this every couple of weeks.

Similar to ditches dug for hiking trails. Basically, water is shunted off to the side.

Cool video, where'd yall get the gi trailer???

That’s a beautiful place. Where ?

Do you know about geogrid systems for roads and pathways. for a DIY tires can have the shoulders removed and faces, when linked together used for the cells in a grid to hold the stones.

As someone that has been to the property. I can confirm the hill is pretty steep going up to the house