Did you know that simply digging a slight ditch can completely change the health of a landscape?

In modern landscaping, any sort of hole or ditch is considered a “dangerous tripping hazard,” “unsightly,” or “a waste of space,” so everything is smoothed out. If you go to most cities and farms, the only non-flat places are designed to carry water away from cities, rather than hold onto it.

This thought process can not only increase overland flooding and wash away topsoil, but it also gives water no place to sit and be absorbed into the soil. Without any water capture gradually trickling into the soil and creating an underground reservoir, the landscape becomes less drought resistant and more susceptible to wildfires.

The permaculture techniques to correct this have many names and methods, including:

They might be different shapes and use slightly different methods, but they all do all work the same on a basic level. The idea is to dig or build a shape that will slowdown and/or catch some of the movement of water. This can make the soil more absorbent (dry and hardened soil does not absorb water as easily) which promotes healthy microbiome of the soil.

Even if the water dries out visibly during the dry season, underground, they could be making a huge difference.

It is not new science, but instead something many cultures around the world have a long history with, but many modern farming practices(mostly to make it farming machine friendly) and development flatten everything out. If people changed this point of view, it could change our landscapes.

In cities, they look like a slight ditch in front of a house, or a creek in a greenspace.

(Image Sources: Image 1 | Image 2)

For other landscapes, it could be just slight indents in un-farmable areas, or ditches dug around farm perimeters.

They do not have to be very deep, and often do not need any fancy equipment to dig(most just take a shovel), but they can do amazing things.

In the process of reversing landscape desertification, it is proving drastically helpful. As the underground water reserves build, so does the vegetation.

(Image Source: Just Dig It. An example of demi-lunes / half-moons)

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  • FoxyFerengi@lemm.ee
    27·
    3 months ago

    There is another reason why it’s so problematic to have hundreds of acres of flat farming land or flat cities. People fill in vernal pools, and suddenly migratory birds and other animals have no where to pause on their journeys to drink and feed. It’s another piece of the overall puzzle causing the decline of animal and insect numbers

  • Friend of DeSoto@startrek.website
    22·
    3 months ago

    I’ve been watching DustUps ranch on YouTube. Some guy bought wasteland in Texas and is doing this and other stuff to create a forest.

    Definitely not an instructional channel because there is a lot that goes wrong so far but he learns as he goes and seems to have a good plan now.

    • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
      12·
      3 months ago

      Lol I like watching it but he does screw up constantly. Which is refreshing cause at least he’s not trying to act like he knows everything.

      • Friend of DeSoto@startrek.website
        8·
        3 months ago

        Agreed. I’m just glad no one is filming me when I’m working on things. It’s not that I can’t figure things out but it takes some trial and error.

        I watch the channel with that in mind, he’s me in a sense … Trying to reforest 300 something acres. He seems like a smart guy though and making progress. It’s all cumulative work so it’ll pick up I’m sure after a year of growth.

    • palitu@aussie.zone
      1·
      3 months ago

      I have just started watching it. I like that it is the sort of thing you can watch in the background.

      Looking forward to how it goes, I’m about 15 eps in.

    • Blair@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Thanks for letting me know! I’ll absolutely check it out right away

    • palitu@aussie.zone
      17·
      3 months ago

      I think that is part of the point. This helps to buffer against poor rainfall as it builds up a resovior under the ground. One of the pictures shows how it grows over 3 years, that means it would also shrink slowly over the years.

      This will give plants a chance to survive in times of limited rain.

      Now, large-scale total rainfall changes are different as they are longer term trends, but this does help with inconsistency.

      • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
        111·
        3 months ago

        Now, large-scale total rainfall changes are different the entire whole point I was making. Sheesh.

        • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
          8·
          3 months ago

          Large scale rainfall changes may cause some formerly verdant areas to dry up. They’re not the reason currently degraded land is that way.

          And the commenter above you was highlighting that some places we think are “too dry” don’t have to be that way. By shaping the land we can bank water underground and create more resilient gatherings of plants