So, here we are.
Q&A session 21 and we are in a different location
with them by the creek.
It's a tuna farm.
It's a lovely sight.
So, first question and it comes from Lloyd.
"I recently watched a YouTube video from Richard Perkins,
who does some great work
of Ridgedale Permaculture in Sweden.
He does not use swales on the property
but instead uses keyline design techniques
to even out water distribution.
I'll be developing a food forest
at 42 degrees latitude two hours north of New York City.
The closest location for rainfall data
is an average of 46.5 inches per year, 1182 millimeters.
Rainfall has been about 30% less over the last three years.
Is there a point to where annual rainfall
is sufficient to not use swales?
Or is there a risk of focusing
on annual rainfall average?
Higher organic matter levels
should increase water holding capacity, correct?"
Yeah, that's correct.
"Is there evidence from science trials
that keyline methods can meet Yeoman's claims?"
Well, yeah, I mean Yeomans is a great system.
It's a wonderful system.
We use it all the time.
It's wonderful.
It's decompaction system over landscape before you forest,
if you're going to forest broad areas,
or in grazing regimes.
Every time you think it's a little bit compacted
or you need to rejuvenate the soil,
you run through and you...
P.A. Yeomans have the Yeoman's plow
and go through and deep rip and relieve the compaction
and today you can seed with a seed box on there
and you can also drip compost tea in there as well.
And it's all great stuff.
Swales are slightly different
because they're permanent features of earthworks
and they harvest water on mass to tree lines.
So swales are tree grown systems themselves.
They are not grazing systems
while Yeomans can be a grazing system
or once implemented can then be trade
but that's the last time you're going to get through
'cause you can't get through with the trees.
Yeomans also goes right across the broad landscape
while swales come through on contour
and they produce permanent tree lines
And those trees go down and put deep roots into the soil
and they bring up minerals from deep down
and interact with fungi.
And that fungi then interact With the interswale
which can be crops
or it can be pasture with keyline applied
in between the swales and the interswale,
also harvest water like this water
and that then enhances ponds and aquaculture.
It actually creates spring lines.
So swales are more likely to accumulate bulk water
and make it easier to apply aquaculture.
Now, aquaculture is the next chapter in the course.
And we are going to talk about
how aquaponic type effects happen with nutrient flows
and how water can be used
to clean up quite organically soiled water
and turn it into nutrient flow in solution,
how it can be productive in itself,
how it can be central to our systems.
So if you don't have swales,
you are depriving yourself a little bit
of the ability to have.
Has a little bit more water,
has that little bit more incredibly productive aquaculture.
That's your choice.
If you want to do that, that's fine.
I love aquaculture systems.
I love having efficient
and probably I love having those nutrients in solution,
but you can do it without swales if you want,
if you want to not have swales and just have Yeomans.
Yeomans works fine
and it will work with rails too.
They both work.
They are fantastic systems.
They are different in how they apply.
You can graze over Yeomans decompaction,
you can't graze over swales.
But you grow trees continuously on swales
and you harvest more water,
the back floods to charge dams
and you soak nutrient in solution through swales
where Yeomans is an absorption system
over the broader area.