Great to know this is useful. Thank-you. Will do!

Glad it was helpful!

Hahaha...Yes this is a possibility.

More to come but very slow upload times preventing us getting content up atm.

So nice of you

Thanks John, maybe you could photograph it one day!

Thank you! Cheers!

To have something like this is my dream

The slope is 15 degrees or less. I agree with you to some degree on the caution needed of retaining water on slopes but only in terms of size and scale. These are very small swales (holding about 4"- 6" of water then safely discharging). For example, a large terrace would potentially be able to soak more water than a small swale on the same slope. Small swales more frequently spaced on steep slopes, and larger swales spaced further apart on flater slopes, could be a general rule here. There is not a one size fits all aproach though, nor should there be in any design in my opinion. I use the Observation/Action principal (see David Holmgren's work) and Small/Slow Solutions as regular design guidelines. Furthermore, north facing slopes in the southern hemisphere in the subtopics is challenging if you don't have established moisture holding in the soil (which you dont on cleared untreed sites with this orientation) as the slope dries out very quickly with sunny days and wind. There needs to be an established succession of moisture holding taking place for those plants specific to that climate to establish (as they are generally moisture loving species). Once the moisture content is stable the swale becomes some what redundant as the tree system has moved moisture holding succession on now that is established. I could go into more technical detail and greater depth on this topic (which I may in another film) but for now look out for my next film coming up shortly that I think will demonstrate the succession taking place here....

I started with a spirit level A frame and a shovel. I dug all the swales and ponds by hand except the 3 large ones. One was dug in 6hrs with a 24tonne excavator and the other with a 5 tonne machine over 3 days, which was the one that we incorporated bentonite into and sealed it properly - its a great pond that one. If you start with small swales and observe and interact when they're functioning, you'll learn a lot! If you do this honestly you will see clearly the limitations of swales also in dry times. In most cases I believe that swales are an early part of the succession process that will ultimately reach its full potential as level terraces. Hope it goes well for you.

Thank you! Cheers!

They don't work in my opinion. I tried it twice and used different reputable companies each time. Both slowed the leak but failed to stop it. Plus you end up with a tonne of slimy goo in your pond which I had to clean out and dispose of twice by hand - not a fun experience. Bentonite I've had greater success with, as long as it's mixed heavyly into the first 300mm and compacted. I will use a bentonite impregnated geo-fabric liner under a 3"- 4" ShotCrete skin on that bottom pond, that way if the concrete cracks it will hit the bentonite and self seal. That pond has steep sides so it's hard to get a machine in there to work it easily. It's in a fiddly position too so just needs a bit of design ingenuity to get right.

Yes and no. It's like asking do houses built on steep slopes cause landslides? It's all relative to how they have been engineered. There is no one size fits all approach here. But generally not suitable for slopes greater than 15 degrees. Mine are more like small bumps on contour, hand dug with a shovel. They only hold about 200mm of water when full.

Gleying method it's callled. Sounds good in theory...it would take 100yrs - your pond will dry out before then and the ducks would leave. I've seen a highly regarded Permacultre teacher try and recommend this method, 2yrs later they bought in truck loads of clay to seal it. Compacted clay is the only way to naturally seal a pond or dam...

Zone 2 Sub tropical

Thank you for your concern - absolutely no problems with water retention in these systems though. Look out for my next film and I think you'll be pleased to see the growth rates moving along quite swiftly thanks to the systems supurb water harvesting capabilities...

Yes

Annual avg. 1600mm per year

No pond liners. Just pure bentonite clay dug in 300mm then compacted.

Sorry mate, low-tech permies here. Will see what we can do...