Category: Water

  • Erosion Prevention & Repair Elements

    Introduction Soil erosion is a serious problem in most contexts. Stopping active soil erosion is a prerequisite for rebuilding soil, and the elements detailed here are tools to help us do just that in a wide variety of landscapes. However, no treatment is a panacea, and each must be evaluated based on the unique parameters…

  • 040 – All About Amazing Vetiver Grass

    Homestead Super Plant Showcase – All About Amazing Vetiver Grass If you haven’t heard of vetiver grass and are homesteading in USDA zone 7b or higher, this is a must listen! Vetiver Grass – Chrysopogon zizanioides – is a perennail, tufted, clump-forming grass that grows up to 9′ tall in the tropics, and typically 6′ tall…

  • 027 – The Basics Of Whole-Site Water Systems Design

    Today we go over the four basic questions that guide all holistic water patterning design. Whether you’re an experienced  designer or homesteader, or a complete novice that is just getting introduced to optimizing water patterning on your land, this show is for you. That’s because, no matter what level you’re at, the process is always…

  • 024 – Water Storage Elements for Broadacre Water Patterning

    Join me this week as we look at the basic types of water storage elements used in designing a functional broadacre water system. Nearly all broadacre water systems include some form of water storage, either as groundwater (aquifer storage), retained soil moisture (accessible by living plant roots), or bulk water (ponds, lakes, tanks, cisterns). Water…

  • Water Infiltration Elements For Broadacre Water Patterning ~Epi-023

    Check out this episode!

  • Water Storage Elements

    Nearly all broadacre water systems include some form of water storage, either as groundwater (aquifer storage), retained soil moisture (accessible by living plant roots), or bulk water (ponds, lakes, tanks, cisterns). Water storage elements function to:

  • Water Drainage Elements For Broadacre Water Systems Design ~Epi-022

    Any time water encounters anything but a perfectly level surface, it will move. This movement is called drainage. Water will always move at right angle to contour in response to gravity on a non-level surface – i.e it will move straight down slope. Water will continue to move straight down slope until its course is…

  • Water Infiltration Elements

    Infiltration elements are utilized to increase the effectiveness of the precipitation a landscape receives. Effective precipitation is that water which manages to percolate into the soil where it can be utilized by soil biota and plant life to grow more biomass. The infiltration elements detailed here function to reduce run-off and evaporation losses when properly…

  • Water Drainage Elements

    Any time water encounters anything but a perfectly level surface, it will move. This movement is called drainage. Water will always move at right angle to contour in response to gravity on a non-level surface – i.e it will move straight down slope. Water will continue to move straight down slope until its course is…

  • To Swale Or Not To Swale ~Epi-018

    Join me today for a critical-thinking dive into swales – we cover what they are, the functions they perform and how they perform them, and then go into all of the context-specific factors that inform the decision of “To Swale Or Not To Swale”. More than being a referendum on swales, today’s show is meant…