First Permaculture Swale Installed and Planted

First Permaculture Swale Installed and Planted

The first swale is finally planted for the most part. I have willow, poplar, mulberry and a lot of other trees that still have to be either started or planted in here. For the most part the swales will be planted with the same pattern. Ruminating critters don’t do so well if you suddenly change their diet. This years was mostly drought that caused a lot of plants to do poorly. However it did provide an opportunity to see how much better plants did in the swale as opposed to everyplace else. I’m sold on the idea now.

The swales weren’t as smoothed as I’d like them to be, but that’s okay. The entire berm is a short hugelkultur bed so as the woods rots, things will settle and can be top dressed. If you’re curious about what a hugelkultur bed is here’s a link.
https://insteading.com/blog/hugelkultur/

Since this project is about farming it’s a great idea to not kill your critters. Here’s a link to goats and that’s a good start beccause you might want to start with those because they’ll eat the Chinese privet, poison ivy and wisteria for you. As a side not goats are a lot tastier than a weed wacker!
https://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm

Here is where you can get teff seeds.
Amazon link to Teff
https://www.amazon.com/Yupik-Teff-Seeds-2-2-Pound/dp/B07TZX3KPQ/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Teff&qid=1656780002&rdc=1&sr=8-5

I mentioned sylvopasture, here’s a link for doing it in the south.
https://etd.auburn.edu/bitstream/handle/10415/1409/Karki_Uma_22.pdf?sequence=1