I get the idea of using the skid, which is probably the only machine at hand. A tractor with a plough to furrow the soil would accomplish the same thing in a single pass.
Don’t worry about the paper wasps Corey, they are great for collecting spiders and they are pollinators. Some of our species can only be pollinated by them, not bees.
Great on contour trench. With a trench that long you’ll want one or two spillways so you control where the overflowing water runs out downhill, instead of leaving it to chance, and possibly having the downhill side of the trench blow out to make its own narrow uncontrolled spillway.
Great job Corey 👏👏👏 According to you tube it only took 15 mins for Trent the trencha to make a swale, so you're onto a sure fire winner. Now make a few more for Amanda's food forest. Worth getting some acacias in as early support plants. They'll make great chop and drop too to build a fungi dominant soil. Looking forward to seeing these in action?. 😊
Very cool - did this with a few acres a few years ago. I’m now more excited to do a few more, particularly on the hIgher slopes and then get ( maybe ) a solar pump to start pumping 80m uphill to drain down the hills into the races ( swales ) to keep more water on the property. Well done my friend - nice explanation.
I don’t wish to nitpick the idea. You’ve made a great tool! If there were a way to have it dump the material on the downward side of the swale it’d be near perfect. If it could dig the ditch and build the berm all in one motion.
Looks like you are on a winner with "Tommy Titan the Trencha". It certainly does the job Corey and I can see min-swales popping up all over the property especially for that water that runs through your house yard (where the chicken house is) imagine it all green and shaded with native trees...
As long as we are talking "what goes on in the workshop... I suppose you have the bed and the cylinder from the "firetruck" Hilux? I'm thinking you might like to build a heavy duty dump trailer for moving large rocks around the property to drop into all of the gullies as single rock dams. What do you think about that idea? The aim is to get the water out of the gully and onto the surrounding grasses. Shop around the junkyards for a heavy pickup truck frame in good condition and cutoff what you need for the trailer. If you found a dually tire axle that would be super. I'm certain you have all the ideas necessary to mount the bed and power the hydraulic pump off a switch in the cab - well front seat of the Hilux. What do you think of that idea, mate? Make for good content, it would be fun (take us along) to shop the local junkyards (junque) and you would wind up with another very useful piece of kit. Duallys would make it a lot easier to pull with the Hilux you'd have less compaction and they'd hold up better on your rockpile. Heck you might reinstate the rear axle and mount tractor tires on the back of the Hilux! Now there is a look😄 KILLER! 👍
28º wow! That would knock me flat. Trenchy McContour is my suggestion for the gizmo name. That was fun, thank you for showing us how it's done. Invent a thingey, make a thingey use a thingey.
Great idea and well executed. I Love the shallow trenches. The best videos are watching the water flow in for the first time, and fill up the entire channel or trench. That is the most satisfying part of it when you are at this end of the screen. The micro organisms are going to like all that water, and they will help to make the soil less hydrophobic. In terms of biodiversity the wetlands are the most biodiverse, and that is basically what you are creating if you can create enough of those trenches. And wetland species are used to having rotating wet and dryer conditions. So that works out great. I hope that you can find the motivation to do a few more, that piece of the land seems perfect for it 👍
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead Herbs like parsley, coriander, dille, basil, chive are all species that do well in wet and dryer conditions. The same with the yellow or white flagged iris of which you can eat the roots, and they will produce flowers and shade since they can grow about a meter high. Monks cress will do great and you can eat the flowers, which are delicious. You can plant all of those species directly inside the trenches, and none of them would have any problems with the water if you would for example flood the trenches once a day or a once a week, depending on what you observe what their minimal needs are. And native annual flower species are very important as well. I do not know much about native Australian flower species. But you can't get enough biodiversity. That's for sure.
Another great video. Loving the swales. We have a very long swale in our yard to save the house getting flooded when it rains heavy. I have been slowly getting the grass to grow healthier in the 2 &1/2 months we have been in the new rental. So the swale definitely is helping with that also. ❤❤ Good luck with the food forest now it has some swales to help give it water on a more regular and slow basis
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead All's well on this end of the world. Winter weather, cold and rain aplenty, so I'm spending time cleaning up all the yard and trying to get the shop organized. Lots of work ahead before I can light the forge again. Hope you and yours are doing well.
Hi Corey! That a great attachment you’ve fabricated. I reckon that after you’ve watched the video of it in action a couple of times (as well as using it!!) you could create Version 2.0 of the Swaler (as named by someone else who commented) that can create the down side bank. It might even be as easy as mounting the attachment offset from centre of the bucket and/or adding some backboards to make the dirt flow in the desired direction. Cheers!
"The Swailer" Adding the "I" makes it more likely the name can be trademarked. "Sail right through your next swale building project with the Swailer" May I suggest scaling it up for a bigger swale as another model? Also, doing a demo bolted to the excavator bucket for less soil disruption and compaction and the ability to use the spoils to build a berm in one pass ? I suspect if you bolted it to the excavator bucket, building the berm with the spoils may be a possible. And it can all be done in one pass - an important benefit I believe. A great idea indeed. 😊 Great job explaining the hydrophobic phenomenon of the sun baked soil when the first rain comes. One additional point is all of the organic matter on the ground is swept downstream along with any topsoil. It would be great if both your swales ran through (past) your tree planting to the other side. That is the kind of irrigation those trees need to take off. Here's another use of the Swailer; join the end of one swale with the beginning of the next swale in a Z pattern. With the Z pattern, when one swale fills, it flows down the diagonal to the next swale. If the slope is a little too steep, put a few small rock dams across the Z swale periodically. I'd really like to see you try the Swailer on the excavator so you could use the spoils as a loose berm. With a loose berm you can sow perennial native grasses that will make your swale much more effective (roots opening up the subsoil) and provide shade for the earth. A fellow with your skills could rig a grass cutter that would cut at about 8 inches or 20 cm. This machine would top the grasses for green manure but leave enough stalk/leaves that the soil still has shade. Then, when the first rain comes the vegetation can spring to life. Here is a tow behind mower that's a good place to start; Google DR Tow-Behind Models Cut range would be 6 inches to 10 inches. Also a viable means to miss many rocks. It's the ones you can't see that kill a mower. At 10 inches, you can see them. Some ideas for the workshop! 😊 It's great to have you back👍
@@deborahlee8135 Thanks! Building a berm is a good way to get some organic matter into the dirt and you have a pile of fluffy dirt to plant. Plant the entire berm with green manure, or food to be harvested for pigs and chickens or just native pasture plants. The moisture from the swale blooms/plumes downhill, so if what you plant on the berm makes seeds - it is going to migrate downhill with the moisture, More green material, more water...and so it goes 😊
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead Ironically, that is how I made my living. As an old man all the "pay" I need is the opportunity to show "I still got it!" ♥ Seriously, if you have any question or want to bounce some ideas around I'm available.
Just add water and The Garden of Amanda + Corey becomes real. The landscape will be change and down 'stream' the properties will benefit over time. Rehydrating the landscape.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the mini swale attachment. Hubby gave me a welding lesson voucher for Xmas so I’ll be creating a version of this for our compact Kubota split bucket which I’m getting pretty good at using now. Did you cut yr 16mm with an angle grinder??
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead you could make money on it. Someone in that country that makes everything will possibly do a rip off version of it anyways. Such a fantastic tool you made. Dad was a farmer and great at mcgivering things to.
Love this video, swales are the best idea EVER
Thanks Mel!!
I get the idea of using the skid, which is probably the only machine at hand. A tractor with a plough to furrow the soil would accomplish the same thing in a single pass.
I reckon call it, Dale the swale cutter or Trent the trencher haha. Love ya work guys and yes workshop vids would be the cherry on top. Seeya Rob
Rippa ideas… we’re liking Trent the trencher 👍👍
Don’t worry about the paper wasps Corey, they are great for collecting spiders and they are pollinators. Some of our species can only be pollinated by them, not bees.
Yes!!! Wait till you see our latest vid 😁😁
Great on contour trench. With a trench that long you’ll want one or two spillways so you control where the overflowing water runs out downhill, instead of leaving it to chance, and possibly having the downhill side of the trench blow out to make its own narrow uncontrolled spillway.
Great job Corey 👏👏👏 According to you tube it only took 15 mins for Trent the trencha to make a swale, so you're onto a sure fire winner. Now make a few more for Amanda's food forest. Worth getting some acacias in as early support plants. They'll make great chop and drop too to build a fungi dominant soil. Looking forward to seeing these in action?. 😊
Yes please keep us updated...learning so much from you guys...things that we can implement here on Pig Creek Homestead...
I'd love to see some follow ups to this. Well, all of your projects really. Keen to see how these things work out, or not, over time.
For sure 👍 will take you guys along with our Aussie native food forest
Very cool - did this with a few acres a few years ago. I’m now more excited to do a few more, particularly on the hIgher slopes and then get ( maybe ) a solar pump to start pumping 80m uphill to drain down the hills into the races ( swales ) to keep more water on the property. Well done my friend - nice explanation.
Cheers mate!
Massively excellent... better get a patent on that one! 💜💙💚💫
Thankyou 👍
I don’t wish to nitpick the idea. You’ve made a great tool! If there were a way to have it dump the material on the downward side of the swale it’d be near perfect. If it could dig the ditch and build the berm all in one motion.
Arr yes . I have many designs of this exact thing you mention.
Maybe it will come to life .
@@cadwithcorey cool, hope they come to fruition
Looks like you are on a winner with "Tommy Titan the Trencha". It certainly does the job Corey and I can see min-swales popping up all over the property especially for that water that runs through your house yard (where the chicken house is) imagine it all green and shaded with native trees...
Bloody love the new tool!! I could do with one of those and a skid steer and an excavator and I’d be one happy guy!
As long as we are talking "what goes on in the workshop... I suppose you have the bed and the cylinder from the "firetruck" Hilux?
I'm thinking you might like to build a heavy duty dump trailer for moving large rocks around the property to drop into all of the gullies as single rock dams. What do you think about that idea? The aim is to get the water out of the gully and onto the surrounding grasses.
Shop around the junkyards for a heavy pickup truck frame in good condition and cutoff what you need for the trailer. If you found a dually tire axle that would be super.
I'm certain you have all the ideas necessary to mount the bed and power the hydraulic pump off a switch in the cab - well front seat of the Hilux.
What do you think of that idea, mate? Make for good content, it would be fun (take us along) to shop the local junkyards (junque) and you would wind up with another very useful piece of kit.
Duallys would make it a lot easier to pull with the Hilux you'd have less compaction and they'd hold up better on your rockpile. Heck you might reinstate the rear axle and mount tractor tires on the back of the Hilux! Now there is a look😄 KILLER! 👍
As an original 100 subscribers member, I would love a new morning fruit tree walk about!!
Not much going on in the orchard this summer but we’ll put a tour on the cards 👍👍
28º wow! That would knock me flat.
Trenchy McContour is my suggestion for the gizmo name.
That was fun, thank you for showing us how it's done.
Invent a thingey, make a thingey use a thingey.
Great idea and well executed. I Love the shallow trenches. The best videos are watching the water flow in for the first time, and fill up the entire channel or trench. That is the most satisfying part of it when you are at this end of the screen. The micro organisms are going to like all that water, and they will help to make the soil less hydrophobic. In terms of biodiversity the wetlands are the most biodiverse, and that is basically what you are creating if you can create enough of those trenches. And wetland species are used to having rotating wet and dryer conditions. So that works out great. I hope that you can find the motivation to do a few more, that piece of the land seems perfect for it 👍
We’re hoping this will be the start of our bush food forest. Amanda’s researching plants atm 👍 any suggestions welcome
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead Herbs like parsley, coriander, dille, basil, chive are all species that do well in wet and dryer conditions. The same with the yellow or white flagged iris of which you can eat the roots, and they will produce flowers and shade since they can grow about a meter high. Monks cress will do great and you can eat the flowers, which are delicious.
You can plant all of those species directly inside the trenches, and none of them would have any problems with the water if you would for example flood the trenches once a day or a once a week, depending on what you observe what their minimal needs are.
And native annual flower species are very important as well. I do not know much about native Australian flower species. But you can't get enough biodiversity. That's for sure.
Call it a cone-trench thingy me Bob.
Nice invention.
Corey the solutions man has done it again! Very cool bit of kit.
.... but not sure about orange paint on orange dirt 😂😂😂
@@Bush_Edge_Homesteading_Aus 😂😂
Another great video.
Loving the swales.
We have a very long swale in our yard to save the house getting flooded when it rains heavy.
I have been slowly getting the grass to grow healthier in the 2 &1/2 months we have been in the new rental.
So the swale definitely is helping with that also.
❤❤
Good luck with the food forest now it has some swales to help give it water on a more regular and slow basis
Thankyou!
Very nice idea. I'll look forward to seeing the rains fill those trenches full!
Hey mate… how you been?
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead All's well on this end of the world. Winter weather, cold and rain aplenty, so I'm spending time cleaning up all the yard and trying to get the shop organized. Lots of work ahead before I can light the forge again. Hope you and yours are doing well.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing 🦋
Love it.
Great invention! Call it Doug? Love watching your channel! (No pun intended)👍
Hi Corey! That a great attachment you’ve fabricated. I reckon that after you’ve watched the video of it in action a couple of times (as well as using it!!) you could create Version 2.0 of the Swaler (as named by someone else who commented) that can create the down side bank. It might even be as easy as mounting the attachment offset from centre of the bucket and/or adding some backboards to make the dirt flow in the desired direction. Cheers!
Definitely a good idea… do have some 2.0+ versions drawn up to try 👍👍
1 st 🙃 Perhaps you could sell them, very clever invention. 😉
Aw thanks for that 👍
Good stuff mate. The attachment looks like a tongue on the front of the machine. A tiny tongue trencher. The triple T.
Cheers mate 👍
Love ya work mate. Keep up the awesome work.
Cheers mate 👍
"The Swailer" Adding the "I" makes it more likely the name can be trademarked. "Sail right through your next swale building project with the Swailer"
May I suggest scaling it up for a bigger swale as another model? Also, doing a demo bolted to the excavator bucket for less soil disruption and compaction and the ability to use the spoils to build a berm in one pass ?
I suspect if you bolted it to the excavator bucket, building the berm with the spoils may be a possible. And it can all be done in one pass - an important benefit I believe.
A great idea indeed. 😊
Great job explaining the hydrophobic phenomenon of the sun baked soil when the first rain comes. One additional point is all of the organic matter on the ground is swept downstream along with any topsoil.
It would be great if both your swales ran through (past) your tree planting to the other side. That is the kind of irrigation those trees need to take off.
Here's another use of the Swailer; join the end of one swale with the beginning of the next swale in a Z pattern. With the Z pattern, when one swale fills, it flows down the diagonal to the next swale. If the slope is a little too steep, put a few small rock dams across the Z swale periodically.
I'd really like to see you try the Swailer on the excavator so you could use the spoils as a loose berm. With a loose berm you can sow perennial native grasses that will make your swale much more effective (roots opening up the subsoil) and provide shade for the earth.
A fellow with your skills could rig a grass cutter that would cut at about 8 inches or 20 cm. This machine would top the grasses for green manure but leave enough stalk/leaves that the soil still has shade. Then, when the first rain comes the vegetation can spring to life. Here is a tow behind mower that's a good place to start; Google DR Tow-Behind Models Cut range would be 6 inches to 10 inches. Also a viable means to miss many rocks. It's the ones you can't see that kill a mower. At 10 inches, you can see them.
Some ideas for the workshop! 😊
It's great to have you back👍
I like your thinking, esp about trees and berms. Planting them on a berm was a missed opportunity.
Ok you’re hired… Rockpile product development and marketing manager 👍👍
@@deborahlee8135 Thanks! Building a berm is a good way to get some organic matter into the dirt and you have a pile of fluffy dirt to plant. Plant the entire berm with green manure, or food to be harvested for pigs and chickens or just native pasture plants. The moisture from the swale blooms/plumes downhill, so if what you plant on the berm makes seeds - it is going to migrate downhill with the moisture, More green material, more water...and so it goes 😊
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead Ironically, that is how I made my living. As an old man all the "pay" I need is the opportunity to show "I still got it!" ♥ Seriously, if you have any question or want to bounce some ideas around I'm available.
@@stevejohnstonbaugh9171 yup, you’ve still got it! Appreciate your thoughts, Thankyou 🙌
Always up for a good swale vid. Awesome work Rockpile team, nice one. I reckon you should go with The Swalerator by Rockpile 👍🤓
Swales are always sure to lure you in 😂😂
Very cool invention you created. You could sell the plans for that for sure.
That’s what I keep telling him!!
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead You're right. Being able to create smaller swales like that efficiently would be great.
Awesome job mate very impressive ... now where is @GunnaonedayHomesteads one huh ? 😂
Shipping’s gonna be painful 😂
My son has worked for Reece Plumbing for 20 years and he still hasnt got me one of those shirts.
Everyone in towns got one except me 🤣🤣🤣🤣😀😀😀
Just add water and The Garden of Amanda + Corey becomes real. The landscape will be change and down 'stream' the properties will benefit over time. Rehydrating the landscape.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the mini swale attachment. Hubby gave me a welding lesson voucher for Xmas so I’ll be creating a version of this for our compact Kubota split bucket which I’m getting pretty good at using now. Did you cut yr 16mm with an angle grinder??
Got them laser cut 👍
Funny how aussies use metric and imperial together
Because we are of the generation it switched over from imperial to metric here so we can often ‘think’ in both 👍
A thingymajig, or a wigwam for a gooses bridal???
😂😂
Did you patten it?
No! Should I? I just figure heaps of people can do this stuff
@@ROCKPILEOffgridHomestead you could make money on it. Someone in that country that makes everything will possibly do a rip off version of it anyways. Such a fantastic tool you made. Dad was a farmer and great at mcgivering things to.