PERMACULTURE
SWALE
MAY
PERMACULTURE
MONTH
SWALES
WHAT ARE SWALES?
HOW TO DIG SWALES
PERMACULTURE SWALE
RELATED TOPICS
SWALE CONTRUCTION
BERMS AND SWALES
PERMACULTURE SWALE LINKS
PRINCIPLES OF PERMACULTURE
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SECTION 1
SWALES
Swales are shallow channels designed to SLOW water down, SPREAD
it out and allow it to SINK into the soil during low flows.
Swales
https://www.santacruz.watersavingplants.com/Garden-Resources/Swales.php
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SECTION 2
WHAT ARE
SWALES?
A 'swale' is simply a long, shallow depression in the ground, designed
to collect or redirect water. In general, permaculture swales are used
to mimic the water-collecting and -holding abilities of a thick forest
mulch.
Swale
permaculture-and-sanity.com/pcarticles/permaculture-earthworks-and-swales.php
What is a swale?
An introduction to
permaculture water
harvesting swales
https://livingpermaculturepnw.com/what-is-a-swale-an-introduction-to-permaculture-water-harvesting/
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SECTION 3
HOW TO
DIG SWALES
Swales are an excellent technique in rainwater harvesting.
They capture surface runoff and send it deep into the aquifer,
both nourishing trees and reducing erosion. The berms beneath
them make great fertile planting beds. And best of all, swales
can be dug by hand and cost you nothing.
How to Dig Swales
https://www.wikihow.com/Dig-Swales
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SECTION 4
PERMACULTURE
SWALE
RELATED
TOPICS
Create a Permaculture Garden
https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Permaculture-Garden
Build a Rainwater Collection System
https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rainwater-Collection-System
Create a Rain Garden
https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Rain-Garden
Reduce Stormwater Runoff at Your Home
https://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Stormwater-Runoff-at-Your-Home
Build a Dry Stack Retaining Rock Wall
https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Dry-Stack-Retaining-Rock-Wall
Clear Land
https://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Land
Build a Berm
https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Berm
Clear Land by Hand
https://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Land-by-Hand
Xeriscape
https://www.wikihow.com/Xeriscape
Build a Living Fence
https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Living-Fence
Landscape
https://www.wikihow.com/Landscape
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SECTION 5
SWALE
CONTRUCTION
A swale is a mainframe construct used in permaculture systems.
It is a water harvesting and tree-growing system.
It consists of 3 main parts:
A berm,
a trench
a back cut.
A swale is placed in a strategic location in the landscape to allow
it to capture as much water as possible. The way this is achieved
is by placing the swale on contour. That means the swale is level
all the way across.
Swale Contruction
https://austinpermaculture.com/tag/swale-construction/
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SECTION 6
BERMS
AND
SWALES
In the simplest terms, permaculture-style berms and swales can be defined
as a ditch, on contour. The swale is the ditch. It is designed to hold
water, sinking it down into the landscape and temporarily raising the
water table. The berm is a small hill, constructed on the downhill side
of the swale, which increases the amount of water that can be retained.
Berms and Swales
http://directoryofpermaculture.com/permaculture-concepts/berms-and-swales/
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What Is A Swale:
Learn About Swales
In The Garden
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/projects/swales-in-the-garden.htm
How To Create A
Sustainable Permaculture
Swale In Your Yard
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/design/lideas/permaculture-swale.htm
How to Build a Bio-Swale
(and Why You Should Want To!)
https://modernfarmer.com/2015/11/how-to-build-bio-swale/
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How to
Build Swales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X5YYHiyVMM
HOW TO BUILD SWALES
and harvest water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz6i5I42JmM
Simple hand dug swales catch
and divert most of the ground
water on our property
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQLs6gnWqVg
Swales in Landscape:
Permaculture Design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhHu8YFPYvg
Swale
Rain Garden
How To
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAY5jixv0Gc
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SECTION 7
PERMACULTURE
SWALES
LINKS
15 Low Maintenance
Landscaping Ideas
https://happydiyhome.com/low-maintenance-landscaping-ideas/
Building a Swale
https://southsidepermaculturepark.org/processes-techniques/building-a-swale/
Build a swale on steep hillside?
https://permies.com/t/17423/permaculture/build-swale-steep-hillside
How to Build a Bio-Swale
(and Why You Should Want To!)
https://modernfarmer.com/2015/11/how-to-build-bio-swale/
How to Build a
Grassy Drainage Swale
https://www.handymanhowto.com/making-a-grassy-drainage-swale/
How to Build a Permaculture
Swale Planting Bed
https://www.growforagecookferment.com/how-to-build-a-permaculture-swale-planting-bed/
How to build swale
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/how-to-build-swale/
How to build swale
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/how-to-build-swale/
How to Build a Swale for Drainage
https://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/do-it-yourself/how-to-build-a-swale-for-drainage-zm0z23jazawar/
How to Build a Swale in
the Residential Landscape
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/how-to-build-swale/
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How to Build a Swale on
Contour Successfully
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2015/07/24/how-to-build-a-swale-on-contour-successfully/
How to Build a Swale
to Improve Yard Drainage
https://www.hunker.com/13728022/how-to-build-a-swale-to-improve-yard-drainage
How to Build a Swale
in the Home Landscape
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/how-to-build-swale/
How To Build Vegetated Swales
https://lblawntogarden.com/vegetatedswales-danilunalima/
How to Create a Drainage Swale
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-create-drainage-swale
How to design a Food Forest
with Swales layout
https://permacultureapprentice.com/food-forest-swales-layout/
How to Dig a Swale in the Yard
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/dig-swale-yard-53088.html
Landscape Swale Guide:
How to Landscape Drainage Swales
https://www.installitdirect.com/learn/landscape-swale/
Permaculture Swales
https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-9-earth-working-and-earth-resources/permaculture-swales/
Rainwater Harvesting: Berms and Swales
http://santacruzpermaculture.com/2019/08/berms-swales/
Six steps to building a swale
https://www.regenerative.com/magazine/six-steps-building-swale
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Swale Calculator
https://www.permaculturereflections.com/swale-calculator/
Swales A Permaculture Practice
https://greatescapefarms.com/swales-a-permaculture-practice/
Swales in a Pattern Reflection
https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-9-earth-working-and-earth-resources/permaculture-swales/
Swales? Or Not to Swale?
https://worldpermacultureassociation.com/swales-or-not-to-swale/
Swales and Rain Gardens
https://modernfarmer.com/2021/01/swales-and-rain-gardens/
SWALES? OR NOT TO SWALE?
https://worldpermacultureassociation.com/swales-or-not-to-swale/
SWALE PATHWAYS
https://goodlifepermaculture.com.au/swale-pathways/
Swales: How To Build Them From a to Z
https://www.newlifeonahomestead.com/swales/
Urban Swales
https://vergepermaculture.ca/2016/06/29/urban-swales/
Water Management For Every Permaculture Farm
https://permacultureapprentice.com/permaculture-water-management/
What Are Swales?
https://blog.firsttunnels.co.uk/what-are-swales-and-how-to-make-them/
What is a Permaculture Swale:
Irrigate the Easy Way
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/permaculture-swale/
Why We Use Swales and
How to Do It Appropriately
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2017/03/31/use-swales-appropriately/
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SECTION 8
PRINCIPLES OF
PERMACULTURE?
Permaculture principles
Permaculture principles are derived from observing nature. They
are things we see happening in natural ecosystems that we want
to copy. We observe nature and try to mimic what it does. The
principles can be viewed as guidelines to follow when we apply
permaculture.
Permaculture practitioners have identified many principles, but we
are going to focus on seven basic principles which will give you
an understanding of the function and importance of permaculture
principles.
Seven principles of permaculture
1. Conservation
Use only what is needed.
For example, a family uses a hand pump, pictured right, for water
on their homestead. The hand pump encourages them to conserve water
and makes them very conscious of how much they are using so they
only use what they actually need. Another example of conserving
water is showering instead of taking a bath.
2. Stacking functions
In permaculture we speak about getting many yields (outputs) from
one element (thing) in your system.
For example, a tree might be an element in your system. A tree can
provide shade, shelter wildlife, produce mulch and building materials,
be a wind break, fertilize the soil, prevent erosion, raise the water
table, etc. A tree can do a lot of different work for us in our system,
and that's what we mean by stacking functions.
3. Repeating functions
We meet every need in multiple ways.
For example, one family meets their household need for water in two ways.
They have a spring, but in very dry years the spring dries up so they need
a backup. They also have a rooftop water catchment system so they can catch
the rainwater running off their roof for domestic purposes.
4. Reciprocity
Utilize the yields of each element to meet the needs of other elements in
the system.
This means there is a give and a take between elements. The output from
one element can be an input for another element. A good example of this
is composting. Kitchen scraps could be an output from our kitchen where
we have left over organic matter and we use that as an input to our
compost pile and when it's in the compost pile it will turn into valuable
fertilizer which we can then put on our garden. And then an output of our
garden is food which would again be an input into the kitchen. So, you can
see that the inputs and the outputs are circulating within our system.
5. Appropriate scale
What we design should be on a human scale and doable with the available
time, skills, and money that we have.
A good example of appropriate scale would be looking at a massive hydroelectric
dam which can severely disrupt the patterns of flow of a river or a stream and
also cause flooding and loss of habitat compared to a small hydroelectric
generator which could be used to generate electricity from a small stream without
diverting the flow, without causing flooding or disruption. So using a micro
hydroelectric generator is probably much more of an "appropriate scale" than
creating a large dam.
6. Diversity
We want to create resilience by utilizing many elements.
We can contrast a garden which has a variety of plants in it with a field
containing only wheat (monocropping). If you have a drought year or a wet
year or if you have a certain kind of pest, all the wheat will probably be
susceptible to the same condition or pest and you might lose your whole crop.
But if you have a system that's mixed, with a variety of crops or plants,
they might not all be susceptible. You might have some plants that are drought
tolerant, others that do better in wetter conditions - if you have a drought
year you'll just lose some of your plants, but you'll still have others that
will do well. So, the idea is that the way to create a resilient system that
can survive and get through difficulties is by having many different elements.
7. Give away the surplus
Create systems that are abundant and share the abundance rather than hoarding
it for ourselves.
An example of this is the perennial plant nursery at Port Street in Baltimore,
MD. When plant nurseries in the local area have extra stock they donate it to
this nursery and the Port Street nursery gives it away for free to community
groups that are doing improvement work in downtown neighborhoods. That's a
really nice way of sharing the abundance.
What are some principles of permaculture?
http://www.heathcote.org/PCIntro/4Principles.htm
The Permaculture
Research
Institute
https://permaculturenews.org/
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Permaculture
and
Homesteading goofballs
https://permies.com/
World
Resources
Institute
https://www.wri.org/
The Tree of Life
Web Project (ToL)
http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html
MIMI
https://en.mimi.hu/index.html
Mother Nature Network
MNN
https://www.mnn.com/
CABI
https://www.cabi.org/
APPROPEDIA
SUSTAINABILITY
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
http://www.appropedia.org/
Smart Power 4 All
http://www.smartpower4all.org/
Weird Nature
https://www.ranker.com/tags/weird-nature?ref=mainnav
The Plant Encyclopedia
http://theplantencyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
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