I feel like this should be titled "Everything I Need to Know About Water Catchment I Learned While Diverting Drainage Gutters with Rocks as a Kid." Dig a little trench, see where the water goes. Dig a little divot, see how long the water stays. Heap up some dirt, see where the water eventually overflows. Add a few folded newspaper boats and you're in business!
Great job! As much rain as you guys appear to get, that pond will be filled in no time. I like the idea of all the little channels to guide the rain flow into the pond. I'm currently playing with the idea of tapping into the road rain runoff, and directing all that free water into some swales littered on my property. Definitely a long term project. I might follow your example and add a pond connected to the swales. Thanks for the ongoing inspiration!
Good luck with your plan! If you are bringing in questionable water from a roadway it may make sense to go big on the wood chips/charcoal/woody debris in your swales to filter some of it all.
I'm thrilled to watch you take this path. And I'm grateful you're sharing the process with us. Looking forward to a follow-up once you've got some observation.
Under more normal circumstances, a pond that holds a lot of water, and slowly leaks isn't a bad thing. It keeps the water table at a steady level, and waters everything down slope slowly. In a drought, it is hard not to want an ever full pond. I just hope we both end up with ponds at all rather than, as my sweetie is calling mine, a 'crater'.
Great progress, that’s a lot of earth moving you did! Really excited to see how you plant around it, and also the pump and panel setup you decide to go with. We have a similar large rain barrel for roof runoff and one note to share is that we use a biochar basket filter on the inlet to the rain barrel. This helps prevent clogging with our gravity fed drip irrigation system. A nice unexpected side benefit is that it inoculates the fresh biochar before going in the garden mix. Thanks so much for sharing your insights, I always learn from your videos.
The pond turned out well. Was that a second big storage tank, or did you bring the one over from the big pond project? I think your willingness to tweak your plans as you go while maintaining options based on observations is the best lesson you can teach us. Thank you. I look forward to seeing the pond fill up, and hope you get some rain soon.
Best wishes for rain. After waiting 3 months for the wet stuff to fall, I've been having storms almost every day for a week. Unfortunately I have nothing set up for the surplus, but I am hoping to change all that having just invested in a good shovel. Great work on the pond; I'll do a little rain dance for you!
if you have a couple of yardsticks and a clear irrigation pipe you can use that as a level : attach the clearpipe along each yardsticks, leaving the slack of the pipe in the middle, fille the tube with water to the half way mark of the yardsitck, then by holding each yardstick vertically ,you can find the difference of hight as the water level will be at the same spot on both sides if its the same hight...
looking good. go deep while you have the chance in this drought to do so. add bluegill and minnow later for food and nutrient rich water for plants. just a thought.
I know your are good with your chickens. I've been piddling with ducks in our pond. They can seal the pond for you over time. I let mine build with silt and their waste. When it dries up in the middle of summer we go dig some pond soil and use it in the some of our raised beds.
I see such awesome potential in that " hole in the ground" (here in France, for legal purposes, we call our ponds holes and since they don't have liners, well, authorities cannot gainsay us). When we go about waterproofing our holes, we shall use pigs for the gleying action another commenter pointed out. But before we can get pigs, we need a cow in milk. Ah, the beauties of trying to get away from inputs....
@SDBS2 I want to use the skim milk, cheese flops, whey etc. to feed the pigs, thereby meeting their protein needs and hopefully cutting down or eliminating altogether the need to bring in pig feed. My plan also hinges on a more successful (I.e. more root crops) garden in order to transform garden extras into bacon. 😁 These ideas come from a book by Beth and Shawn Doughtery, The Independent Farmstrad (www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-independent-farmstead/), which I discovered through the Living Web's RUclips channel. I will edit my comment after i fibd a link to the video. Here is the first in a six-part series: ruclips.net/video/GGIQ5CZjHyc/видео.html
Sean, I know you don't have/want pigs for gleying, but thought I'd mention, since you already have one type of poultry, that ducks/geese could work too, maybe not as quickly since pigs would wallow and trample/compact the pond's soil better.
Looking at the gaps and how close to the edge, even appearing to overlap the edge where the tank rests on its platform, I have some concerns about the stability of the tank. You're going to put just short of 5,000 pounds of weight in that tank if you fill it. I just recently watched a video where a similar tank showed a crumple zone and was literally supported by a jack lifting the edge back up.
Thank you for that observation. . They are just sitting there dry right now as a place to store them. I think before any water begins going in this spring we have to shape those mounds, make them match fully plus the underside of the tanks with a huge amount of packing with some sort of heavy tamping plate.... I've had water tanks fail before so I'm hoping to avoid that again! I appreciate you lookin' out
I have the same issue with drought in Poland eventhough it's on the other side of the globe, but it's the same climate zone if that has anything to do with anything.
@@edibleacres after i sent my statement i thought well maybe he rammed earth to create a foundation... It will work for a couple years.. If you rammed stone gravel down into a pad then rammed more dirt on top then you might get ten years. All depends on the rain and snow melt off you know that though... Goodluck
I've spoken to my dam man and looking forward to inviting him to my site for consultation for the 2 dams I'm planning connected by a swale and a solar pump to push the water to the up hill dam :) check out my channel for drought lush videos :)
I hope you get the chance to film the water flow during a heavy rain.
Me too, that would be great and quite helpful for folks understanding all my hand pointing!! Ha!
Im glad you decided to play it by ear
Really appreciate your use of hands in the video as an indicator of place and placement. Does a great job with the visualization. You rock!
Glad it was helpful! Been doing the pointing game for 10 years now on the videos! Ha!
You've truly inspired me to look at my property in a different light, thank you for that!!!
I feel like this should be titled "Everything I Need to Know About Water Catchment I Learned While Diverting Drainage Gutters with Rocks as a Kid." Dig a little trench, see where the water goes. Dig a little divot, see how long the water stays. Heap up some dirt, see where the water eventually overflows. Add a few folded newspaper boats and you're in business!
You better believe it! Exactly how I spent MANY days after rains as a kid!
Deer breakout at 20 seconds
Had to go back and watch again to see it take off in the background. Good eye!
Great job! As much rain as you guys appear to get, that pond will be filled in no time. I like the idea of all the little channels to guide the rain flow into the pond. I'm currently playing with the idea of tapping into the road rain runoff, and directing all that free water into some swales littered on my property. Definitely a long term project. I might follow your example and add a pond connected to the swales. Thanks for the ongoing inspiration!
Good luck with your plan! If you are bringing in questionable water from a roadway it may make sense to go big on the wood chips/charcoal/woody debris in your swales to filter some of it all.
I'm thrilled to watch you take this path. And I'm grateful you're sharing the process with us. Looking forward to a follow-up once you've got some observation.
Under more normal circumstances, a pond that holds a lot of water, and slowly leaks isn't a bad thing. It keeps the water table at a steady level, and waters everything down slope slowly. In a drought, it is hard not to want an ever full pond.
I just hope we both end up with ponds at all rather than, as my sweetie is calling mine, a 'crater'.
They will evolve over time. Have to be patient with them and let them develop I think.
Truly stunning progress for such a short time elapsed!
You could consider to get a temporary feeder pig and use the pigs to compact the soil. Get another yield in the process.
Great progress, that’s a lot of earth moving you did! Really excited to see how you plant around it, and also the pump and panel setup you decide to go with. We have a similar large rain barrel for roof runoff and one note to share is that we use a biochar basket filter on the inlet to the rain barrel. This helps prevent clogging with our gravity fed drip irrigation system. A nice unexpected side benefit is that it inoculates the fresh biochar before going in the garden mix. Thanks so much for sharing your insights, I always learn from your videos.
Awesome idea to have coarse biochar on the intake for a container... I'll remember that one for sure!
Great idea, looking forward to watching it fill up.
That will be awesome! I love the way of Observing and Interacting!
You do such a great job with your channel my friend.
The pond turned out well. Was that a second big storage tank, or did you bring the one over from the big pond project?
I think your willingness to tweak your plans as you go while maintaining options based on observations is the best lesson you can teach us. Thank you.
I look forward to seeing the pond fill up, and hope you get some rain soon.
I agree.
2nd tank, got it from the side of the road for $50 believe it or not!
@@edibleacres- nice score!
I look forward to updates
Best wishes for rain. After waiting 3 months for the wet stuff to fall, I've been having storms almost every day for a week. Unfortunately I have nothing set up for the surplus, but I am hoping to change all that having just invested in a good shovel. Great work on the pond; I'll do a little rain dance for you!
Thanks for the rain dance :) Glad you are getting rain, and thinking about what it looks like to store the excess...
Really hope you get a good rain soon!!🙏🙏 wish we could join on your observations when it comes!!
if you have a couple of yardsticks and a clear irrigation pipe you can use that as a level : attach the clearpipe along each yardsticks, leaving the slack of the pipe in the middle, fille the tube with water to the half way mark of the yardsitck, then by holding each yardstick vertically ,you can find the difference of hight as the water level will be at the same spot on both sides if its the same hight...
Thank you for sharing so that we can learn with you.
two green thumbs up
Duck poop would seal the bottom. They get in the water and poop. Webbed feet pack the soil getting in and out.
I was going to suggest this too. Heard it in one of Geoff Lawton's videos.
looking good. go deep while you have the chance in this drought to do so. add bluegill and minnow later for food and nutrient rich water for plants. just a thought.
I know your are good with your chickens. I've been piddling with ducks in our pond. They can seal the pond for you over time. I let mine build with silt and their waste. When it dries up in the middle of summer we go dig some pond soil and use it in the some of our raised beds.
I'm routing for a good Trumansburg rain!
Thanks!
One week forecast, fingers crossed!
www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p168i.gif?1597944758
Looks Great!
need to see it working
I see such awesome potential in that " hole in the ground" (here in France, for legal purposes, we call our ponds holes and since they don't have liners, well, authorities cannot gainsay us). When we go about waterproofing our holes, we shall use pigs for the gleying action another commenter pointed out. But before we can get pigs, we need a cow in milk. Ah, the beauties of trying to get away from inputs....
Right! It gets real complex real quick! But always worth exploring :)
@SDBS2 I want to use the skim milk, cheese flops, whey etc. to feed the pigs, thereby meeting their protein needs and hopefully cutting down or eliminating altogether the need to bring in pig feed. My plan also hinges on a more successful (I.e. more root crops) garden in order to transform garden extras into bacon. 😁 These ideas come from a book by Beth and Shawn Doughtery, The Independent Farmstrad (www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-independent-farmstead/), which I discovered through the Living Web's RUclips channel. I will edit my comment after i fibd a link to the video. Here is the first in a six-part series: ruclips.net/video/GGIQ5CZjHyc/видео.html
Looks great! Fukuoka would be so pissed if you use a liner. ✌😬
Supposed to get rain tonite and in the morning ......i so very hope so.....
is it going to hold fish that you want to survive over the winter? It will need to be deeper, if so.
Bring on the rain!
How do your water tanks hold up during the winter? Do you drain them, or does the frozen water have any detrimental affect on the tank?
Absolutely want to drain them 100% before coming into freezing weather.
Awesome!
If you didn't use a liner, would the water sinking into the ground help to irrigate a planted berm?
I suspect it would help.
Sean, I know you don't have/want pigs for gleying, but thought I'd mention, since you already have one type of poultry, that ducks/geese could work too, maybe not as quickly since pigs would wallow and trample/compact the pond's soil better.
I bet pigs would be helpful in a number of ways in our system, especially here!
Looking at the gaps and how close to the edge, even appearing to overlap the edge where the tank rests on its platform, I have some concerns about the stability of the tank. You're going to put just short of 5,000 pounds of weight in that tank if you fill it. I just recently watched a video where a similar tank showed a crumple zone and was literally supported by a jack lifting the edge back up.
Thank you for that observation. . They are just sitting there dry right now as a place to store them. I think before any water begins going in this spring we have to shape those mounds, make them match fully plus the underside of the tanks with a huge amount of packing with some sort of heavy tamping plate.... I've had water tanks fail before so I'm hoping to avoid that again! I appreciate you lookin' out
Let it Rain!!
Was that a dear I saw run by near the beginning of the video?
Sure was! I didn't notice until editing.. So many deer in this landscape. They'll enjoy the pond too
I wish I had your youth and vigor!
I have the same issue with drought in Poland eventhough it's on the other side of the globe, but it's the same climate zone if that has anything to do with anything.
Wishing you the best!
How many gallons is the pond?
I can't say but maybe 50,000?
Large hay tarps / old billboard signs for cheap
🤔❤️👌✔️🌹💯
That tank needs a foundation
It's got packed soil under it, hoping that will be enough but I'll have to watch closely and adjust if needed...
@@edibleacres after i sent my statement i thought well maybe he rammed earth to create a foundation... It will work for a couple years.. If you rammed stone gravel down into a pad then rammed more dirt on top then you might get ten years. All depends on the rain and snow melt off you know that though... Goodluck
I've spoken to my dam man and looking forward to inviting him to my site for consultation for the 2 dams I'm planning connected by a swale and a solar pump to push the water to the up hill dam :) check out my channel for drought lush videos :)
I gave it a subscribe, interested to see how you help that dry landscape evolve an repair!