In Australia, one of the biggest problems is incised creeks. The Aborigines strategically placed fallen trees and debris, called weirs, in the creeks to slow down the water. At flood stage, the water flowed over the banks gently, depositing silt on the nearby land. Over the years, this procedure lifted the landscape. When Europeans came, they cut the trees along the banks, took out the weirs, and now these creeks have cut deep incisions. The creek speed keeps the water from slowing down enough to drop silt on the adjoining land. Catching roof runoff is a great way to build resilience into your farmstead. Buried cisterns are a wonderful safety valve to make sure we have water when all systems fail. In a 30-inch rainfall area, a roof generates 20 gallons of water per year per square foot. That’s a lot of water. Before modern well-drilling technology, every barn had a cistern. Today, they’re crumpled in and the water comes from a well. Meanwhile, all that roof water runs off and is lost to the farmer. On our farm, we’ve built many ponds in valleys to hold surface runoff during snow melts and major rain events. In a 30-inch rainfall area, every acre on average generates about 300,000 gallons of surface runoff per year. In my view, trapping and
What Would You Like Joel to Write About? Joel is always looking for reader suggestions on which topics to cover. Please email all suggestions to: reachout@plainvalues.com
holding surface runoff is not hoarding because, by definition, surface runoff means the cup of the commons is full. It’s either saturated or the rain is coming too fast to soak into the soil. In either case, holding flood waters for later use blesses downstream neighbors by reducing floods. Strategic use for irrigation or livestock watering feeds the hydration cycle during droughts. The bottom line is that, individually and collectively, land managers can increase water volume and efficiency. If the time farmers spend complaining about the weather was invested in developing water abundance, we could re-create the hydration our lands enjoyed prior to modern agriculture. //
Joel's Upcoming Speaking Events June 2–3
Columbia, TN (The Homestead Festival)
June 9
Richmond, VA (Home Educators Association of Virginia)
June 21–22
Walnut Creek, OH (Food Independence Summit)
June 30–July 1
Kootenai County, ID (Pacific Northwest Homesteaders Conference)
July 17–18
Swoope, VA (Polyface Intensive Discovery Seminar)
July 21–22
Swoope, VA (Polyface Intensive Discovery Seminar)
July 28–29
Lancaster, PA (Family Farm Day)
August 4–5
Swoope, VA (Polyface Intensive Discovery Seminar)
August 17–19
Swoope, VA (Bio-Fert Seminar with Jairo)
August 25–26
Marshfield, MO (Ozarks Homesteading Expo)
September 7
Columbia, South America (Expo Agrofuturo Medellin)
September 12
Victoria, TX (Victoria College Lyceum)
Sept. 30–Oct. 1
Wheeling, WV (The Vineyard Church)
October 7
Greenville, SC (Farm Where You Live Fair)
October 13–14
Front Royal, VA (Homesteaders of America)
October 15–16
Camden, TN (The Self Reliance Festival)
October 21–22
Indianapolis, IN (Indiana Homestead Conference)
Joel co-owns, with his family, Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. When he’s not on the road speaking, he’s at home on the farm, keeping the callouses on his hands and dirt under his fingernails, mentoring young people, inspiring visitors, and promoting local, regenerative food and farming systems. 15
