As someone from a desert, I can't help it be envious of the amount of rain you are receiving. It's interesting to see the other side of the coin. Here in Nevada rain is a luxury. I wish we could trade!
🤣 We could make an epic slip & slide down to the dam I reckon BW. Would be better once the swales go in, you'd get better air going over the berm I think. 🤣
@@RobsAquaponics We just got 87mm in 25 minutes. A cell went right over us. Filled the tanks and the dam. We are lucky not to have erosion problems. Just mechanical problems. LOL.
Many years ago , I had traveled to Florida to go to work on an industrial construction job. I had gotten a motel room for the night, before I went out to get a soda from the machine I slipped my 1911 .45 behind my back (Come om folks it's Florida gators, cotton moths.. This desert born wasn't taking a chance.) There was a light over the machine just as I walked up something moved on top, stepping back I drew sighted then realized the whole top of the machine was covered by little frogs eating the bugs the light drew in.
🤣 It can get a bit like that here on the deck under the light at times. I think we counted 6 green tree frogs & over a dozen of the small red tree frogs one night just after moving in. Cheers Charlie & have a great one mate. 👍
@@RobsAquaponics I was surprised they were on you for it as thought people have given up on it - Taskforce is no longer available as a brand and for a number of years Flurproponate wasn't available either. Sadly the government trial on this like cane toads let the cat (toad) out of the bag and its pretty much everywhere now. The council here only spray on the roadside and its half hearted if attempt if that! I am interested in a permaculture view of it was watching a few including Geoff Lawton about weeds and how they correct imbalance (compaction or drawing up nutrients from deep under) so would seem slashing is a way to get on top of it where possible and throw loads of competitive seed against it. Supposedly GRT is high in protein the roos and my dog love it, but he also likes the chicken candy!
Your trying to save the frog reminds me of the time my brother tried to save a sugar glider. The cat brought it into the house, still alive so he caught it and put it on a tree trunk and a kookaburra flew down and snatched it to its doom.
Nature can appear to be harsh at times Caroline. That's one reason we don't want a frog pond/motel here. It would be the favourite snack joint for all the local tree & red belly blacksnakes. Cheers.
Remember the times in seq when there was little to no rain ever . Especially around the kilkivan area . I mean dry for decades . Hopefully that has changed for better or worse .
Rob: "Not happy Jan!" Me: "Don't blame me!" 😂😂😂 Yes, ever since that Yellow pages ad, I get that a lot. Had to share the giggle. And yeah, I was going to say that your "lawn gurgle" sounded like a pipe or drain, rather than an erosion or nature made hole. Fingers crossed it's an easy fix. If it helps, we've been in this house coming up 19 years and STILL unearth mysterious hoses and pipes connected to the network of watering systems that came with our largish suburban block (without a map or instructions). Tried figuring it out when we first moved in, never could find all the taps and switches, gave up, got a sprinkler. 😂
🤣Thanks Jan! 😉😁 It sounded like air bubbling through water to us. I haven't investigated further as of yet but have the spot marked out. The main focus will be to dig up the pipes running from the tanks to the pump, installing a cutoff valve just before the pump then isolating the 2 tap points we use all the time. I'm thinking we may be better off ignoring what's already in the ground & starting from scratch from the pump out to the yard. Cheers & have a great one. 👍
Every 11mm is a megaliter onto my property, yours would be a lot more. I used QGIS and 1x1 meter DEM files from the council to do a watershed analysis etc. it actually corresponds pretty well with what I observed on the ground over the last year. Not sure you need/want that but contact me if you need more info. The maps showing the water flows, and the wetness index maps are a great way of explaining what is going on with the landscape. R.e. erosion, I have been playing with shaped rock piles in places where the water velocity is destructive and a V shaped mound seems to work well, ask Danial Lawton about it. As for the frogs, give them an alternative place to hang out, near a solar powered lamp and you will have happy frogs, clear rain gauges, and less flying insect pests in your area. For termites we found that you can buy live nematodes that target them and other pests, I'll be investigating biological controls more in future as we are looking at what achieving organic certification will take in our planned orchard. If you are looking at buying bulk trees in the next 6 months get in touch, we may be able to take advantage of economies of scale.
I have a QGIS map of my acreage with 1m DEM files, what sort of watershed analysis did you do on yours, was it part of QGIS or an external data source?
I have seen construction sites around that utilise some geotextiles held up with wooden stakes as a guard against erosion. That stuff is removed after construction ends, but it's in use for up to 3 years. Perhaps you can look into something like that until your finances are such that you can afford the proper job. Daniel might be able to help you come up with a temporary solution.
I have implemented gabions and vetiver grass. Still in the waiting phase for the grass to properly establish and not any serious rain yet but all is good at the moment. 100 km inland from Bundaberg in the "high" country.
It's something I chatted to Danial about while he was here & it wouldn't fix the main issue. We have some vetiver grass here that I was going to propagate for planting out. Unfortunately the irrigation failed while we were away for a week & I lost most of them. I will be using what's left for propagation & will be planting that out in some fragile spots to help hold back the erosion until we can afford a better fix. Thanks mate.
@@RobsAquaponics Don't be so sure. It takes time for the vetiver grass to establish their roots down to 2 metres. It is a waiting game and the risk is to do with for how long the flooding rains hold off. Also to do with how far you are able to spread the water to slow it down. I started this particular project in July 2024 and prior to that have also had significant failures but not with this method (yet). I will let you know after it really gets tested as I my creek drains about 500 acres 😀 and the torrent can get to over 2 metres deep!
The consultation was cheap but the fix involves 3-4 weeks of work. Basically rebuilding 3 out of the 4 dam walls down the front, new spillways on all, 3/4 swales & new drains on a new driveway built with trucked in rock. On the back dam, it needs a wall repair, new spillway, track repaired below the dam wall (not sure if culvert is required) fixing the batter (also needed down the front dams) & repairing the inflow. We priced it out & it was about the same as what other single operators quoted that didn't have permaculture training. 👍 + we get to bend his ear for a few weeks on other projects we'd like to do. 😉
I think you've mentioned it before, but I presume burying a largish pipe in the dam wall, one that sticks out a metre or more at either end, would allow the water to pass between the dams without running over the top? If it did ever reach the top it wouldn't be moving much because both dams would already be at the same level because of the pipe.
Hey mate. It was suggested we didn't as the wall has been made with sections of dispersive clay. Any digging into the remaining bank may compromise it further. We could run a section over the top of the existing grass section & hope that relieves a bit of the flow though the gutter that's been created. Cheers mate.
@RobsAquaponics I think that is a good rule. Better safe than sorry. All is well though we did have quite a bit of snow last week so I got to play with some new toys (snow blower)
Not at all. If we held out to get a property like this with a better quality home & infrastructure we'd be looking well over a million $$. That was not in the budget + we get to learn new skills along the way while fixing this place up. Cheers Nags & have a top one.
It appears to be the case here Anna. We're not going to bother fixing it straight away. Just set the tank line to the pump & shed taps up the way we want it & worry about lines to the paddocks later on. Hope all's well with you.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Watching your progress on farm is inspirational despite all this rain places looks amazing
As someone from a desert, I can't help it be envious of the amount of rain you are receiving. It's interesting to see the other side of the coin. Here in Nevada rain is a luxury. I wish we could trade!
The rain here isn't normally this bad but the last two summers have been very wet. Wetter than the old owners said it had been for a few years.
GREEN ACRES IS THE PLACE FOR ME
Greenacres is an old sitcom about farming life.
Eddie Albert and Cha Cha Gabor
We used to watch it as kids here in the 70's. 👍
@@RobsAquaponics Same here except I was in my late teens and twenties then.
200ml here over the last few days on the goldy and its still pizzing down
My daughter told us we can expect more this week & next as well Greg. I'm trying not to look at BOM anymore.
Hope all's well with you down there mate.
Like the beard , mine stop growing about 3o years ago just changing colors to grey
😅 The grey is creeping in here as well Charles.
Cheers mate.
So what you really have there is a water park. 😉
🤣 We could make an epic slip & slide down to the dam I reckon BW. Would be better once the swales go in, you'd get better air going over the berm I think. 🤣
The list never ends, just spent fixing the dam pump for the umpteenth time.
I'm hoping we can grow enough vetiver to slow some of the inflow in the worst spots of ours mate. Did you get much up there?
@@RobsAquaponics We just got 87mm in 25 minutes. A cell went right over us. Filled the tanks and the dam. We are lucky not to have erosion problems. Just mechanical problems. LOL.
Many years ago , I had traveled to Florida to go to work on an industrial construction job. I had gotten a motel room for the night, before I went out to get a soda from the machine I slipped my 1911 .45 behind my back (Come om folks it's Florida gators, cotton moths.. This desert born wasn't taking a chance.) There was a light over the machine just as I walked up something moved on top, stepping back I drew sighted then realized the whole top of the machine was covered by little frogs eating the bugs the light drew in.
🤣 It can get a bit like that here on the deck under the light at times. I think we counted 6 green tree frogs & over a dozen of the small red tree frogs one night just after moving in.
Cheers
Charlie & have a great one mate. 👍
Wallabies out amongst the Rats Tail - oh the serenity!
🤣 I'm surprised I haven't got more curry for still; having GRT. 😉
Cheers mate.
@@RobsAquaponics I was surprised they were on you for it as thought people have given up on it - Taskforce is no longer available as a brand and for a number of years Flurproponate wasn't available either. Sadly the government trial on this like cane toads let the cat (toad) out of the bag and its pretty much everywhere now. The council here only spray on the roadside and its half hearted if attempt if that! I am interested in a permaculture view of it was watching a few including Geoff Lawton about weeds and how they correct imbalance (compaction or drawing up nutrients from deep under) so would seem slashing is a way to get on top of it where possible and throw loads of competitive seed against it. Supposedly GRT is high in protein the roos and my dog love it, but he also likes the chicken candy!
Your trying to save the frog reminds me of the time my brother tried to save a sugar glider. The cat brought it into the house, still alive so he caught it and put it on a tree trunk and a kookaburra flew down and snatched it to its doom.
Nature can appear to be harsh at times Caroline. That's one reason we don't want a frog pond/motel here. It would be the favourite snack joint for all the local tree & red belly blacksnakes.
Cheers.
Remember the times in seq when there was little to no rain ever . Especially around the kilkivan area . I mean dry for decades . Hopefully that has changed for better or worse .
There has been some terrible droughts over the past few decades. I'm hoping we can regenerate the soil & water ways before the next one hits.
Rob: "Not happy Jan!" Me: "Don't blame me!" 😂😂😂 Yes, ever since that Yellow pages ad, I get that a lot. Had to share the giggle. And yeah, I was going to say that your "lawn gurgle" sounded like a pipe or drain, rather than an erosion or nature made hole. Fingers crossed it's an easy fix. If it helps, we've been in this house coming up 19 years and STILL unearth mysterious hoses and pipes connected to the network of watering systems that came with our largish suburban block (without a map or instructions). Tried figuring it out when we first moved in, never could find all the taps and switches, gave up, got a sprinkler. 😂
🤣Thanks Jan! 😉😁
It sounded like air bubbling through water to us. I haven't investigated further as of yet but have the spot marked out. The main focus will be to dig up the pipes running from the tanks to the pump, installing a cutoff valve just before the pump then isolating the 2 tap points we use all the time. I'm thinking we may be better off ignoring what's already in the ground & starting from scratch from the pump out to the yard.
Cheers & have a great one. 👍
Wowser !
Yep, a tad wet & more to come in the coming month we've been told.
Cheers mate.
You need to buy a jet ski.
😅 The neighbour does have a dam large enough that we could use it on in the dry season... 🤔
Every 11mm is a megaliter onto my property, yours would be a lot more. I used QGIS and 1x1 meter DEM files from the council to do a watershed analysis etc. it actually corresponds pretty well with what I observed on the ground over the last year. Not sure you need/want that but contact me if you need more info. The maps showing the water flows, and the wetness index maps are a great way of explaining what is going on with the landscape. R.e. erosion, I have been playing with shaped rock piles in places where the water velocity is destructive and a V shaped mound seems to work well, ask Danial Lawton about it. As for the frogs, give them an alternative place to hang out, near a solar powered lamp and you will have happy frogs, clear rain gauges, and less flying insect pests in your area. For termites we found that you can buy live nematodes that target them and other pests, I'll be investigating biological controls more in future as we are looking at what achieving organic certification will take in our planned orchard. If you are looking at buying bulk trees in the next 6 months get in touch, we may be able to take advantage of economies of scale.
I have a QGIS map of my acreage with 1m DEM files, what sort of watershed analysis did you do on yours, was it part of QGIS or an external data source?
I have seen construction sites around that utilise some geotextiles held up with wooden stakes as a guard against erosion. That stuff is removed after construction ends, but it's in use for up to 3 years. Perhaps you can look into something like that until your finances are such that you can afford the proper job. Daniel might be able to help you come up with a temporary solution.
We tried that on our place and not very successful
I have implemented gabions and vetiver grass. Still in the waiting phase for the grass to properly establish and not any serious rain yet but all is good at the moment. 100 km inland from Bundaberg in the "high" country.
It's something I chatted to Danial about while he was here & it wouldn't fix the main issue.
We have some vetiver grass here that I was going to propagate for planting out. Unfortunately the irrigation failed while we were away for a week & I lost most of them. I will be using what's left for propagation & will be planting that out in some fragile spots to help hold back the erosion until we can afford a better fix.
Thanks mate.
@@RobsAquaponics Don't be so sure. It takes time for the vetiver grass to establish their roots down to 2 metres. It is a waiting game and the risk is to do with for how long the flooding rains hold off. Also to do with how far you are able to spread the water to slow it down. I started this particular project in July 2024 and prior to that have also had significant failures but not with this method (yet). I will let you know after it really gets tested as I my creek drains about 500 acres 😀 and the torrent can get to over 2 metres deep!
"Hydroculture farm or something, I don't know I, I didn't buy Rob's guide." 👍
🤣 It's just a soggyculture at the moment.
It looks fine though really. I should be an earth works specialist and get paid the big coin advising people on what to do , seems a no brainer 😁
The consultation was cheap but the fix involves 3-4 weeks of work. Basically rebuilding 3 out of the 4 dam walls down the front, new spillways on all, 3/4 swales & new drains on a new driveway built with trucked in rock.
On the back dam, it needs a wall repair, new spillway, track repaired below the dam wall (not sure if culvert is required) fixing the batter (also needed down the front dams) & repairing the inflow. We priced it out & it was about the same as what other single operators quoted that didn't have permaculture training. 👍
+ we get to bend his ear for a few weeks on other projects we'd like to do. 😉
Tienen que sembrar manglares🎉
I think you've mentioned it before, but I presume burying a largish pipe in the dam wall, one that sticks out a metre or more at either end, would allow the water to pass between the dams without running over the top? If it did ever reach the top it wouldn't be moving much because both dams would already be at the same level because of the pipe.
Hey mate. It was suggested we didn't as the wall has been made with sections of dispersive clay. Any digging into the remaining bank may compromise it further. We could run a section over the top of the existing grass section & hope that relieves a bit of the flow though the gutter that's been created.
Cheers mate.
When it rains it pours, not just metaphorically in this case. I have to admit I worry about you guys when you get flooded in.
Thanks CV. B did suggest no risky endeavours when we're cut off so no cleaning gutters until the water goes down.
Hope all's well with you & yours.
@RobsAquaponics I think that is a good rule. Better safe than sorry. All is well though we did have quite a bit of snow last week so I got to play with some new toys (snow blower)
House seems to be a lemon . Do you ever regret buying this property. Hang in there it will all come together one day
Not at all. If we held out to get a property like this with a better quality home & infrastructure we'd be looking well over a million $$. That was not in the budget + we get to learn new skills along the way while fixing this place up.
Cheers Nags & have a top one.
Dejen de decir "maldito"
Always the way you fix one thing and another one pops up🧰🐠
It appears to be the case here Anna. We're not going to bother fixing it straight away. Just set the tank line to the pump & shed taps up the way we want it & worry about lines to the paddocks later on.
Hope all's well with you.