Geoff Lawton Instagram – Students on the recent Earthworks course at @zaytunafarm had the exciting opportunity to operate the excavator, gaining hands-on experience while we constructed a swale on the property.
Helpful Definitions:
✏️ Swales: Swales are long, level excavations, which can vary greatly in width and treatment from small ridges in gardens, rock piles across slopes, or deliberately excavated hollows in flatlands and low-slope landscapes. Swales are intended to store water in the underlying soils or sediments. They are, simply, cross-flow dry channels or basins intended to totally intercept overland flow, to hold it for a few hours or days, and to let it infiltrate as GROUNDWATER RECHARGE into soils and tree root systems. Trees are the essential components of swale planting systems. Ditch-like water catchment and tree-growing systems built on contour intended to stop, spread, and soak water into the landscape. While swales can be defined and used differently, in the general context of permaculture, swales are constructed on contour with the intention of hydrating the landscape, and trees are used to help maintain long-term swale stability while benefiting from the extra moisture.
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