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Farm Scale Permaculture Water Harvesting
Slow it down
Spread it out
Store it
Save it
How Much Water On Your Farm?
How Many Inches of Rainfall?
How Much Water?
How Many Inches of Rainfall?How Much Volume?
How Much Water?
How Many Inches of Rainfall?How Much Volume?
To Estimate --4” = ~100,000 gallons/acre
40” = ~1,000,000 gallons/acre3 acre ft = ~1,000,000 gal.
How Much Water?How Many Inches of Rainfall?
How Much Volume?
Rain Falls On Farm? Enters From Off Farm?
How Much Water?
How Many Inches of Rainfall?How Much Volume?
On Farm? / From Off Farm? Drainage?Ponding? Porosity/Infiltration? Runoff?
Flow Rates? Ground Water? Needs?
Rock Dams -- Trincheras, and Gabions
Credit: g-a-l.info
Circle Ranch -- Chris Gill
Erosion Damage Wide Irrigation Channels
Credit: Chris Gill, circleranchtx.com
P A Yeomans
Credit: D. Doherty
Broadscale Permaculture
Keyline Design
Credit: D. Doherty
Water Flows From Valley To RidgesKeyline Does The Opposite
Keypoints
Credit: D. Doherty
Draw Keyline through Keypoint.Harvest water Parallel to Keyline.
Keyline Design
Credit: D. Doherty
Water Flows From Valley To RidgesKeyline Does The Opposite
Savanna Lamb Ranch
Credit: D. Doherty
Credit: D. Doherty
Credit: D. Doherty
Filling the Pond that Wouldn't Fill
Yeomans Keyline Plow For Pasture
Designed to “till” subsoil with minimal surface disturbance. Plow rips deep into soil.
Channeling slightly downward causes water flow from valley to ridges.
Plow PatternAfter each grazing pass
or hay cutting
Credit: D. Doherty
Circle Ranch -- Chris Gill
Credit: Chris Gill, circleranchtx.com
32,000 Acres, West Texas, 12” Seasonal Rainfall
Keyline AgroforestrySingle bottom plow or other equipment can create swales to capture water.Trees are often planted near swales, which help provide sufficient water.“Alleys” between rows can be cropped or grazed while trees grow.
Credit: Mark Shepard, New Forest Farm
Digging a Swail The Easy Way
Credit: Mark Shepard, New Forest Farm
Credit: Mark Shepard, New Forest Farm
New Forest Farm – Neighboring Runoff
NO runoff from NFF due to Swails, Berms, and Keyline
Plowing
Versaland -- Grant Schultz
145 Acres in NE Iowa --
Government $ for: Tree Seedlings Tubes Pasture/Hay Seed Equipment Shelter
Tamera
Diverse Cover Crops
Diverse, multi-species cover crops allow for massive photosynthesis which can generate new topsoil. Gabe Brown in N.D.with only 16” rain per year has developed over five feet of topsoil at 6% organic matter. It infiltrates water at 8” per hour and does not pond, even with 13” rainfall in a day.
8 weeks with only 0.38” rainfall
Gabe Brown Peter Byck, Soil Carbon Cowboys
Holistic Managed Grazing
Pasture is dense perennial cover. Photosynthesis creates sugars which are sent to roots to feed microbes which help plants to grow and also leave carbon rich humus. This is much of the basis for topsoil. Planned grazing which avoids overgrazing and allows for sufficient rest keeps grasses healthy and grows topsoil.
Gabe Brown’s Tall Grass Pasture
Credit: Gabe Brown
Africa Center For Holistic Management
Neighboring River Bed Dimbangombe
Credits: ACHM
Dimbangombe -- New Pond
Credit: Seth Itzkan
Which Tool To Use?
Which Tool To Use?
Farm Scale Permaculture Water Harvesting
Permaculture Ethics
Care of the Earth
Care of People
Fair Distribution
Farm Scale Permaculture Water Harvesting
Slow it down
Spread it out
Store it
Save it
Farmscale Permaculture Water Harvesting Resources
P. A. Yeomans, Water for Every Farm
Darren Doherty and Abe Collins, Keyline Design Mark IV
Mark Shepard, Restoration Agriculture
Chris Gill, www.circleranchtx.com
Films: Cows and Keyline
Drought Busting
Sepp Holzer, Desert or Paradise
Peter Byck, Film: Soil Carbon Cowboys
Allan Savory, Holistic Management
