Paul Wheaton Kickstarter for Hugelkultur and Earthworks
Check Out Paul Wheaton’s New Kickstarter
Expert council member Paul Wheaton has an awesome new kickstarter running for a three DVD collection on Earthworks and Hugulkultur. There are three videos in the series. They are
DVD 1: Sealing a Pond Without a Liner
At the high point of the property, water is rushing in whenever it rains. This water is cutting a deep channel through the property. The idea is that we would like to capture this water and use it to create an oasis! Of course, water coming off of a road will probably contain some heavy metals and petroleum residue. So we need to clean the water first. A pond is dug so that the heavy metals will sink to the bottom of the pond, and gross stuff that floats (like oil) will be caught by the vegetation. We then do some minor re-shaping to the road so the water will enter the pond.
DVD 2: Ditches and Swales
Several ideas are mapped out about where to put in some swales. The land owner would eventually like a natural swimming pool, so we decide to put a finger on the pond to route the water to the natural swimming pool. And just in case we get an exceptionally heavy rain event, we extend the finger to a swale. The swale is designed to soak the excess water into the land. We demonstrate the use of laser levels to make sure our finger runs downhill and the swale is level.
DVD 3: Hugelkultur and Terracing
Now we talk about food production. This location gets frost in the winter and can be really hot in the summer. A lot of the surrounding area looks very desert like. We decide to make a hugelkultur bed shaped into a sun scoop. And the angle of the slope is optimized to the level of the sun in winter. We also talk about how swales are excellent at creating frost pockets which works to your advantage in the summer. What type of wood and different variations for hugelkultur are covered. A terrace is constructed to hold the hugelkultur bed.
The kickstarter is already fully funded but Paul will certainly be selling the videos for MORE then you can get them for during the kickstarter. So you can still help and get the videos at a discount. I did the 60 dollar level and will get the videos in a streaming format. Paul makes a good point that streaming means no DVDs and that means less waste.
Done.
In for the DVD’s.
Not sure which method Paul used to seal his pond and since his pond looks rather large from the pictures I am sure he didn’t seal it using the Gley or Glei technique.
Those who are building small ponds in a urban settings should look up the Gley technique and how to do it without using plastic or petroleum products. Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton and others talk about this method in some of their PCD courses.
Probably used bentonite clay. Something I want to try out on my property.
With Paul I doubt it, he probably did it with the bucket shake and a good keyway.
The pond was sealed using the natural clay in the soil. It was compacted with the excavator tracks and the bucket. I was there. 🙂
Did they do a keyway?
Isn’t a keyway more likely used if you need to actually build one or more of the main retaining walls of a pond? With minimal or no wall construction, if you were just excavating a hole, for example, in an area of level or gently sloped ground composed of soil with a natural clay content (or adding clay, if there’s not enough natural clay content), and compacting with the excavator, you wouldn’t necessarily need a keyway?
Paul, many of us live in areas with limited internet availability and can not stream large videos. Actual DVD’s are our only option. I download TSP every two weeks and burn to a CD to listen in my car, but this is not done from home.
There is an option at $75.00 to get DVDs.
It is funded at $60K+, so Paul is going to replicate at his site, 2 excavators, building a 15′ berm, and building the foundation to grow lemons outside in Montana.
If he gets 3000 backers to contribute he will give the micro-documentary to the world for free. He has 1300+ backers right now. You can donate as little as $1 and you get the micro-documentary.