045 – Water Harvesting, Ponds, and Alternative energy

What this episode covers

Paul, Caleb, and Krista review Geoff Lawton’s movie, “ Water Harvesting ”. After a little initial joking about Paul’s ‘water sound effects’, the three of them introduce themselves and then discuss the dinner they had along with having watched the movie. Focusing then on the topic, Paul gives an overview of the events of the movie. This included laying out the pond, building it and a lot of meticulous action on the part of the Trackhoe operator. Paul notes that they have been looking at Caleb and Krista’s property, where it was originally a gravel pit. They talk about how deeply the original digging happened and the quality of the soil on the property. The property has a deep-running blend of sand and clay soil. In some places, water is surprisingly close to the surface despite being the dry part of the year. Paul notes that the area is considered mountain desert. They discuss how they tend to have different parts they favor and dislike, based on their own experiences. Paul feels that the two of them are on a good path and are enthusiastic enough to do great over the course of years. It turns out that Paul didn’t realize there were other permaculture podcasts until it was mentioned in an earlier conversation. Paul did some research, but the ones he found didn’t have his style at all. Paul also mentions that he has a hard time seeing the value in podcasts since he himself doesn’t actually listen to them, instead favoring videos. The topic strays briefly into podcasting and some of Paul’s former podcasts before returning to the movie. Paul felt there was a lot of useful information in the video, but also things that frustrated him. The video was focused on a key-based dam rather than a bowl based one. This means that everything depends on how you build the dam and the bowl is left to chance. He was concerned that it assumes water won’t simply filter down and out of the pond, which is not always the case. This is likely an automatic assumption due to the high levels of clay in the soil where the video was shot. One important aspect of building a dam in clay soil that the video failed to mention, according to Paul, was that they put a flat top on it. Paul feels that a crown (rounded top) is needed to ensure water doesn’t settle on the top of the dam, weakening it. Krista states that they did that to allow the trackhoe to drive over it and compact the dam. She wonders if Paul would do it the same way and then dome over the top afterward. Paul feels that while building it, he would focus heavily on the key (2ft wide vertical wall) in the dam, making sure it is as watertight as can possibly be managed. You need different strategies with different soils, but with clay he feels a new crown should be added every one foot layer. Always build it as though it is going to rain. It may need to dry with each layer. The shaping adds integrity and creates a much better water shedding shape. Paul would put a bucket on the front of the trackhoe and press down anywhere it is working to create a really tight seal. In the video, they simply drove the trackhoe over the area to be packed and the treads weren’t packing it down enough in Paul’s opinion. Caleb mentions that at the end of the DVD, they go over other methods of packing down the dam, including roller wheels (colt’s foot) that go at the end of the bucket. Another thing that bothers Paul is that water doesn’t actively enter the pond most of the year. Pie interrupts his discussion before it continues with mention that the pond in the video was harvesting rainwater mostly from a road and t...

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