Thank you. It is an interesting journey.

My biggest concern is the sand and low biomass content. More plants is the solution to that and once it warms up again we can improve that for the next round. I wish we had more storage for all that water ;-)

This is my 3rd time watching it, binging it :)

Haha place looks awesome

It does. It does.

You should see how the neighbors are bleeding water. Not nice. The general issue that we have with these two creeks passing through is that they are crossing our land on the short side - to call it that way - and always at a low point. But these place are good for ponds. Ponds to put a pump in and use the water when there is no more rain. So that it what we are going to do as we prepare more areas for planting and seed.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito I didn’t mean to complain, sorry. I know the neighbors aren’t doing even the minimum while we at Granja Caimito are doing as much as we can but looks like there’s an opportunity at the creek up at alti plano. Which, of course, you already know. I just typed my enthusiasm, didn’t mean to critique or correct you.

@@rajbaniwal3236 Keep it coming! Much appreciated.

My thoughts exactly Raj.

Yes. I hope we manage to build more of the envisioned fencing together with these channels you speak of. Some areas should have a forest strip as well.

I can imagine that. We have special challenges here as we are in an arid climate with seasonal rainfall.

Rain is magic :-)

There are many more videos and a lot more recent. Keep watching!

They distinguish between private and public creeks

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito ...so the creek in the Altiplano is Private (on your land), & the Reservoir outflow where the fence was removed is the Public domain where the "Legal Problem" came up?

@@steverapisura5418 That's correct

Yes... the spillway is missing and it could be a major problem. Unfortunately can't do it now so we need to hope for the best at the moment. There are few other things that I wanted to do during summer to these swales but we missed the opportunity.

You're today's fridge winner 🥰

You announcing or congratulating? 🕺🏼 Refilled with beer, some snacks and some natural water. There’s just so much of water that it needs all the space we can find :)

Fridge!

The tires are pretty worn out ;-) First set and I'm at 31.000 km ...

Keep watching. Thanks

Thank you for mentioning that.

Grazing works in a counter-intuitive way :-)

That creek... a big dam would be great but is expensive. How about placing (old) strawbales across the little stream at close intervals and fixing them with stakes into the ground? Leaky weirs would be even better, but then again you're a small crew and it would mean a LOT of work, so I guess fencing would come first. Impressed with your results so far!

@@09conrado It would be interesting to see how that would work Conrado. I haven't seen anyone do that before... You left your commen on my post, so I'm not sure if Stefan would see the suggestion. If he doesn't reply, please post it under the video as well, I'd love to hear his take on this

@@09conrado Thankfully getting a C320 excavator here for a few days isn't that much. It is important to dig deep enough in order to connect the pond to the water in the ground. Remember: there is a huge water reservoir nearby which provides a lot of semi-groundwater. The other pond filled up 1,5m on its own because of that in the middle of summer.

Thanks so much!

Thanks. Yes, flowers for spring time. I have a few seeds for the wannabe food forest as a start. Besides that we do get flowers all over depending on the area. But with everything, could be more.

Right. It's a worry. I am happy to see that these structures are leaking which takes off pressure. The pond in the CT01 swale had been overflowing one time and held. So ... we might be good. I wish the Vetiver planting would have succeeded but there were issues ... When spring comes around we'll put a lot there to strengthen the structure.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito usually such a dam would have an overflow ent the end of a swale, with a long, broad level low point (spillway) so the energy of the overflow is dispersed away from the dam itself and spread out over a large area so as not to carve out a channel. Geoff Lawton has many good video on this

@@09conrado Right. The big pond has it but the swales need one too. Work in progress ...

Let it walk away

Well... That would be nice. It would be all people from afar though. Local culture isn't up for such things. But you guys are welcome to visit! ;-)

I guess you mean those tires: www.stephan-schwab.com/2010/02/15/crossing-the-brazo-de-chuluganti-river.html

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito something like that yes... the more knobby ones are more noisy on tarmack roads but do wonders on dirt roads and offroad mud-

Thank you so much and welcome aboard.

It it were a real creek and enough of it on our land with a different topography all that would be 100% right. Unfortunately it's just a temporary thing for a few days. After heavy rainfall that's where the water runs off and as our land is long and narrow we only have a few meters on our piece. To keep the water for longer the neighbor would need to make these beaver analog dams but they don't know about any of that. However, as stated in the video, we want to store a lot of water in that place the same way we already do in the other one. We need to store water for the summer to irrigate new plantings.

As the plan is to build a pond in the location where the creek is, we should not make the area more wet. Digging is best done in summer when everything is dry and the excavator will not do a lot of damage. It also safer. The purpose of the pond is to store water for irrigation during summer when there is no more rain for about 6 months.

"Farmers Association" - I wish there were such a thing. Thankfully Juan knows quite a bit. There is Thyme, Rosemary, Hierba Buena (for mochito) and Sage. Maybe more.

There are great plant identification apps for your phone

That's a nice idea. Plan is to build the animal lane in CT01 first and then these additional features can be put in. That animal lanes goes into one of the existing gates and out the outer so that there is a loop that gives access to the sectors of this 4 ha piece.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito if you have anthills, they can be made to innoculate the landscape with any mushroom of your chosing. You simply throw a bucket of fully innoculated rice grains in the middle of the anthill and cover it up as fast as you can. They get really upset with you, but after that all the pathways are filled with your favourite strain of fungi.

@@FinnBearOfficial Cool thing

We are about to build a forest now to get to a closed canopy quick. We've learned a lot and recently pivoted to a different approach. Continue watching. Enjoy!

There has been actually to many animals eating everything to the ground. It's their numbers but their management. Too long in the same place. All done by previous owners of this place. Check out the latest videos also www.caimito.eu for more details

Go to kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gN2VnqRirtbTeJs.html and you will see the existing pond with holds about 1000 m3 of water. It has filled up on its own days after it was dug in summer.

The idea is to collect a lot of water (thinking about 2000 m3) in a huge pond there. The creek is at the bottom of a valley and there is no way to help the soil on the slopes or at the altiplano (which is easily 30m higher) with BDAs or similar. So we are going to dig some 3,5m deep and dam a little bit (as mentioned in the video not too high to avoid flooding the neighbor) and then use a solar pump to move the water to new plantings where we improve the soil and its water retention ability by more and more biomass.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Oh, I get it. I'm just saying that the BDA/Weir option would make a big difference in the mean time, and for very little cost to you. Compared to bringing in heavy equipment and building a large dam to back up the water, you could make a very big difference for no real cost by making a series of smaller obstructions. What you've got now is an "incised stream bed". Decades of run-off has allowed the water to erode deeper and deeper, lowering the water table significantly. The upside to that is that you're left with a deep channel that's fairly easy to turn into a staircase of small collection ponds with the use of BDA's or weirs. Not only would this raise the water table and make it available to plants that can't currently reach it (hence why I mentioned the Riparian Zone), but it would hold water longer by giving it time to sink into the ground just like your swales have done elsewhere. We've done the same thing in the arid Southwest, turning seasonal streams into perennial streams. The results are always the same - better soil health, better plant growth, and more water later in the hot season. When I first mentioned the idea some few videos back, it was with the idea of getting ready for the rains that were to come. Working while the bed's dry is pretty easy, and small dams or weirs are fairly quick to make. As we can see now, that channel is literally acting like a gutter to get the rain out of the land as fast as possible. Without anything to slow it, forcing the water to pond, all the rain does is carry sediment away, making the channel even deeper. Thousands of gallons could have been stored on-site, boosting the surrounding land while you plan for the bigger dam that will submerge the whole valley. No worries, though. It's something I'm passionate about, but I understand how it's not for everybody.

@@threeriversforge1997 I see what you mean. However, the plan is NOT to submerge the whole valley. The elevation difference between the neighbor's land and the lowest point is maybe 1,5m and so that would be the maximum height of that dam. The channel the water has dug is maybe 30cm deep. The idea is that the creek can continue to flow (we need a valid excuse) but slow it down and keep a portion stored. So we dig deep (3,5m), connect to the water below and have a huge reservoir to help the land elsewhere. I also want to plant a lot of fast growing things around the pond - thinking of bamboo - for various reasons. Also some water plants with huge leaves to reduce evaporation would be nice. The question is how they will react when we pump a lot of water out?

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Lots of ideas, sure. How about putting in one small BDA/Weir near the top of the run and just watching to see what happens. It'll pond water behind it, saturating the soil and helping the surrounding land to blossom with life. You won't see a ton of change from one small BDA/Weir, but it'll still give you an idea what to expect. As you slow the water, catching sediment and raising he creek bed, you can add length and height to the BDA/Weir to make it more substantial, or just go on with your original plan of the big dam at the bottom of the property. For the time and expense, I think you'll be very happy with how a stair-step series of small BDA/Weir constructions will do for you. It's precisely because you can add them as you see the need, with no great investment on your part, that they really shine. Here's a good video on the Susie Creek and Maggie Creek restoration using BDA/Weir construction. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jdiaftt8yJjDn58.html As you can see, the land started a lot like yours, high and dry. While you have more of a slope to your valley walls and not much of a flood plain, that also means you have the opportunity to form deeper ponds that will saturate the ground faster. If your incised bed is as shallow as you say, you could easily make a blockade wall that forces the water to spread laterally 10' even if it's only 1' deep. And that means you're giving all that water plenty of time to rejuvenate the soil over a wide area and percolate down through the strata where it'll be available for the root structures during the dry season. What I liked particularly in this video is how quickly you can see the native plants responding to the raised water table. Sure, your stream is only seasonal, but every bit of water someone can hold on their land only makes the land better. With all the small rocks you have on hand, it'd be relatively short work to use the to form low barriers that force the water to spread out, pond up, and sink into the ground. All the best. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito ...there is an Ethiopian Species of Bamboo suited for drier, highland climates...search online for "Ethiopian Bamboo" if you haven't already. :)

Yes. Now we see in the forecast a stretch with no or little rain but sunshine. On the neighbors land there is a small pond. Might be that the sediment gets deposited there before the water comes to us. For seeding it also needs to get a bit warmer. We are headed towards the really cold part of the year now. Top item on the list is infrastructure (fencing) for CT01 to have it prepared for seeding by the end of February.

Keep in mind that this creek rarely carries water. It does so when there is a lot of rain and the water comes from the surrounding area. Since 2018 we have seen it carry water once. The pond allows us to store a lot of water and because of the depth will connect to the water source in the ground - just like the other one.

Thanks for joining and leaving a comment. The topic has been discussed quite a bit and many people have said the same thing. However, the shape of our land and the topography and also the fact that rain is seasonal does not allow these things. Also our "soil" in some areas is mostly sand and stones. It gets wet, becomes quicksand and then dries out and becomes like concrete. So these seemingly simple and effective ideas will not work here the same way as elsewhere. We have recently decided to pivot from ranching to building a forest in a more focused way and are currently preparing for that new start. Look for the video "We are removing our cattle" for more details.

As we want to plant a lot going forward we do need water storage. The easiest way is to dig a pond in a place that lends itself to it. The alternative would be to spend 20.000 EUR on a tank that will store 100m3 which is a LOT less than what a pond can hold and a LOT more expensive.

Over time there will be more of that. The general idea is to make a few mistakes first, then figure it out and set fencing, irrigation, swales, etc. to create small manageable areas where abundance can develop. In a nutshell ;-)

Yes, there are huge local differences. It just depends on where the shower comes down. Regular rain like elsewhere is pretty rare here. It's all provided by showers out of thunderstorms or towering cumulus clouds.

This plantation is called "Dehesa" and a widespread landscape in Spain. It's been used for livestock over centuries. Unfortunately in the more recent decades things have been overdone by using "set stocking". In the past transhumance was common and so the plants had time to recover.

There will be more of that but digging is a summer time activity. We've learned our lessons and other operators will not come while the ground is soft. It makes sense. Too much damage anyway. What I need to repeat is that: as long as the "soil" in those areas is mostly sand a lot of the good things won't work well. No reason to not plan ahead but let's not expect a huge effect early on. So plants to add biomass is the #1 step and the fencing to protect them. Then digging follows once the structures have been defined. Sounds a bit weird but makes sense in this context here.

Almost nothing and the few things the guys use to heat the cortijo so that can have their "bocadillo" at 10 AM which is kind of their breakfast. But I have thought about shiitake :-)

What's a "nalabun"? This summer we shall get the backhoe in there and fix the issue by making it more level.

There is a LOT more to it than what you can see in this single video. To start, there is no topsoil left and these rocks are everywhere in this region

That and others. So is the plan.

Great. Too spicy? We use two, finely chopped, in a pasta sauce for 3. The plan was/is to try two of the 14 and try another two a year later and so on in order to figure out how old they can be while the meat is still tasty. Most people here wait until they have 160/170 kg and then send them off for slaughter. That translates to an age of 15 months. But in the past people had them around for 2 acorn seasons instead of just one. Probably because they grew slower. I am working on new features for caimito.eu and the shop there so that we can also offer fresh meat. I'll talk more about it once I have something to show.

As we are in a region with seasonal rainfall we do not have a stream that is flowing for long. The idea of leaky weirs has been discussed several times and it is not practical in our situation for several reasons including the shape of the land. It is narrow and long. We only control about 200m - 300m of any "creek". The vast part of these seasonal creeks is on the neighboring property.

Around 65 hectares

We have 45 hectares that we own. We might be able to extend to another 130 ha next door in the near future - if the owner likes what we do.

No worries. Every comment is food for thought.

Interesting idea

Unfortunately most of our soil isn't really soil. It is sand and stones with almost no organic matter. The Yeoman plow is great when you have compacted soil but will not help when it's just sand that dries out and becomes similar to concrete. This is not farmland. It is a forest that has been stripped over time from a lot of valuable things.

Once acorn season starts in November pigs feed on that alone until March. Currently we don't have any though.

Right. We have recently pivoted towards a different approach to build a forest.

No worms have been sighted in that area. It's pretty sandy and unless we increase the biomass content it will be dry and like concrete after a few weeks of sunshine. You have a good point about the soil now being too wet. But then I think it's a temporary thing and not really an issue. Right now it is too cold (night 5-7C and day below 15C) and by the time it gets wormer it will not be flooded anymore. Then plants should grow, turn into biomass and next time the soil can absorb more and so on.

Thanks for your answer.

It would be, if we had any. But there is an existing pond of some 30x10x3,5m = 1050 m3 and I hope to make a 2000 m3 pond as well which might then fill up next autumn/winter. As I said in another reply, that water is to be used for irrigation to bring things like Sunn Hemp & friends over the summer.

There are ponds and ponds I think. People here have been sealing ponds with the help of pigs for a long time but most of these ponds are not deep. We know from the other pond and other places that about a depth of 2 m we will find moisture. The other pond filled up by itself in August to 1,5m being 3,5m deep. So the thinking is that the same might happen there in back. There is water in the ground but it's not accessible by most plants because there is this "dead layer" of 2m. That is why the oaks have not died.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito dont forget to incorporate a spillway

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Please explain this "dead layer". That sounds like a compaction layer where water stagnates, turns anerobic and acidic which kills roots. What do you know about the dead layer?

@@dougayers7517 None of that. It simply is a layer of almost pure sand with very little organic material. We've had the backhoe sink in as it were quicksand a few times. Gets wet, dries out and then it is like concrete.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito So why is it called the dead zone?

The guys drilled a hole and it was all wet 50cm deep BUT keep in mind that it is all sand sand stones with very little organic material. Now the sun is out and it drains and drains ... The compaction is here is not the same as elsewhere. ;-) That's also why I was explaining that a subsoiler or Yeoman's plow would not help. Sand dries and turns into concrete. We need a LOT more biomass.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Thanks. It's good to know the condition.

:-) Might be but it is a rare sight and happens only during the cold part of the year

Unfortunately these seasonal creeks are all at the lowest point of the terrain or at the bottom of a valley. Pond is the way to go here. In the case of the creek there in zone D the altiplano is roughly 30m higher than the elevation of the creek. We are in the mountains after all. This is Sierra Morena and "sierra" refers to mountains :-)

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito So you will have a fertile wetland on the low ground. Isn't that better than what it is now? It will give you a source of fertility that can be moved to the high ground. Win - win.

@@rogerdubarry8505 We need water for the 6 months without rain and we need it in a form that we can bring it to the plants that we want to establish to cover the soil so that rain can be stored in the ground later on. Any form of BDA/weir down there will only benefit that tiny area and not help our land at large. Over the fence at the neighbor that would be totally different. The land there is wide and these ideas would 100% apply there.

@@rogerdubarry8505 If that were several hectares then yes. But it's very small. A 10m x 40m pond that's 3,5m deep provides a lot more benefit. Keep in mind we have to endure 6 months without rain - every year.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito I totally get your point. Peter Andrews would harvest the fertility that a low wetland produces and move it to the Altiplano's highest ground, where it would leach its goodness downhill through gravity. :)

It's about making ONE big pond to have water for irrigation during summer. The location is free of tree roots and has already a well from the past. Elsewhere smaller ponds or depressions can be useful too.

Hemp (Cáñamo) needs a permit and also a fence that keeps humans out.

No. No problem at all

Currently it flows away into the sandy ground much quicker than it evaporates.

I think I have. However, we have since switched the approach and are just planting 28.000 trees and shrubs as I write this.

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito It is basically the practice of planting trees that provide both crop and shade for pasture animals, spaced out more to allow sun to grow the grass

You mean high up in the trees?

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito maybe 2,5 meters high, max. Or on a bush branch. It doesn't take long for the cap to dry up.

That actually happened today on a repair job. The water came out of the hole. :-)

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito you are sitting on a sponge that dries out in the summer. Biomass needed by the truck load.

@@Greengate777 Exactly. Sunn Hemp & friends should help with that. Rinse and repeat ...

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito If finances allow, it would be a good thing to hire two guys for a week to dig 500 holes with that auger of yours. Now before the soil is frozen solid. The soil soft and in places half liquified now. No wasting time with fence setting, that can happen in the summer. The holes will still be there then. If you contract the digging out now, you'll smile in the summer and cut down on the hard work for the guys. Speed things up.

@@Greengate777 I wish it worked that way ;-) But there is a plan! Let's hope it works out. CT01 will be the next target.

This here in Andalusia is an arid climate and the soil has been destroyed by past owners and users of the place. This project is about restoring the land by different means. We also have 6 months every year without a single drop of rain.

Sheep are a management hassle in our current setup. This area has a lot of Merino sheep.

...see previous videos they posted on sheep...they don't follow "the rules"...

@@steverapisura5418 They don't and without proper protection I also don't feel comfortable having a larger flock around. BUT in the future I do see some breed of sheep here.

That is precisely what we are doing but it does not show in every video. Keep watching and you'll see. Enjoy! Check out this as well: www.caimito.eu/projects/overview

Right. That's why I want us to run through a cycle going forward: fence an area, seed, irrigate over summer, forage and then rinse and repeat.

Pond and swale are different things. A swale is supposed to lose water to infiltrate the soil below it. But yes, we did have plans to put pigs in there but never got around to actually do it.

Adaptation might be the name of the game

We are not grazing down to nothing. We are in an arid climate and have no rain for 6 months while it gets up to 45C hot. The grass will die if not grazed and then oxidize. It is better to put the dry grass through the cow's stomachs and let them put the manure onto the soil. That helps the biology go on for a bit longer until it also stops due to lack of moisture. We know from digging that our "soil" is bone dry down to more than 3.5 m depth.