Angela MacLeod's Blog – June 2013 Archive (8)

First we'd like to thank those who participated last weekend in our swale making event. Thanks to Brian Kerkvliet who taught us and led us every step of the way. He did so with an easy going attitude and a passion for this work that he loves to do as well as a fantastic amount of knowledge.

Thanks to Larry Williams who operated the excavator. Janaki Kilgore and Kevin Finnigan participate from beginning to end, learning and working on every aspect of the project. Special thanks to…

More preparations for our swale making event....

Excavator: We decide which excavator would be the smallest that will still do the job. The smaller the machine the less weight and so the less compacting of the soil. We actually did the research weeks ago. Brian decided which one he'd like to use and I called around to compare prices for renting one. He decided on a Kabota KX 41:…

Using the map of the elevation lines on the property to roughly gauge where the contours are, David used the A frame to plot the course of contour lines across the property where we plan to carve the swales.

Using this map with elevation contour lines:

2010_AP_wContourLinesFeet.pdf

Using a level and a plumb line to find the level spots at this contour…

David built this A frame with a plumb line:

OK I thought it was going to be easy to describe how you use the A frame to mark the contour lines of the land....but it's actually difficult to put into words. So I'm including a couple videos that do a decent job of showing and explaining it.

Check out these videos on how to use an A…

We are getting ready to shape the earth in a wet part of our property. See previous posts to follow the process. (Part 1 and Part 2)

Now for the existing garden beds.....In a shadier location, but with much dryer soil. This would be a…

The next step for getting ready to create swales was to find an aerial map of our property. We found the most current one taken just before we bought the place in 2010. The photo shows where buildings and trees are located. And also a map with the elevation contour lines. And finally sketch on the map where the swales will be located. If you only look at one of the following links try the 3rd one. It has the 3 superimposed - the…

Three years ago we bought our first house on a 1/2 acre in the Birchwood Neighborhood. We chose this size of a lot in order to grow food and keep chickens. It's been so beautiful to get to know this place and we started out working in the existing garden beds and just getting to know the property for a while without doing any major changes.

During these 3 years, we have continued to notice places where water collects and does not drain…