Finding Contour for Permaculture Berms and Swales

In this video we will show you the easiest way to find contour on your land to create permaculture berms and swales so that you can use your water more efficiently…critical for a desert homestead!

Hi - We are Douglas and Keri! In May of 2022 we quit our jobs and sold our home in Denver, Colorado to move to our off grid homestead property in Cochise County, Arizona. Follow along with us as we build our homestead from the ground up!

One of the most important free tools that you can use to harvest water in a desert climate are berms and swales. A “swale” is essentially a ditch that you dig and the “berm” is the hill that is naturally made with the dirt you dig out. The swale will capture and direct water to where you need it to go (or not go) and the berm is where you can plant things that will benefit from that swale. The goal is to redirect water that naturally sheds down your property on the contour lines. Contour lines are level areas of the property that you will want to build your swales and berms on. Some contour lines will be very steep and your swales and berms will be closer together and some contour lines will be gently sloping or maybe even close to flat, so the contour lines will be further apart.

We learned a lot of these techniques from John Kaisner, The Natural Farmer. Brad Lancaster also has excellent information on rainwater harvesting. You can check their channels out for more detailed info on these topics:

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheNaturalFarmer/featured

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarvestingRainwater

Stay tuned for our next video where we will be showing you all about filing the Cochise County Owner-Builder Opt Out Permit!

Once again, thanks for following along with us and we hope to inspire you to live your best life, whatever that might mean for you!

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/tworebelsoffgrid
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tworebelsoffgrid
Patreon: www.patreon.com/tworebelsoffgrid
YouTube: www.youtube.com/tworebelsoffgrid

Music by: Tunepocket
Video Editing by: iMovie for Windows
All the artwork for this channel are original creations by Douglas because he is an incredible artist!