TO BE UPDATED SHORTLY
2016: Our main current project is shaping the land to suit our needs, we are doing this earthworks using a skid steer loader which a mate has lent us. We hope to create a desired result which is the directing and holding of water in the landscape.
On our land, we have flood issues so we are working on swales, levy banks, long mounded hills and sediment retention infrastructure to help our situation during the wet season. We are hoping to achieve a system that allows the flood water to flow smoothly across our property and to allow for a speedy recovery from a flood event. We also hope to hold back some of this water for a short while as our soil is very well drained. These areas will also have rainfall directed to them to allow us to have as boggy as a situation as we can.
As flooding and erosion can be a problem for us in heavy rainfall areas we a paying special attention to the establishment of our road ways and drainage systems. Our main access roads around the property will have road base placed on them and all have at least a 3 degree slope from centre on them to disperse the rainfall or flood water quickly to either side. Once the water is off the roads, we can then play around with directing it to boggy spots and slowing it down.
We will be using a trencher to carry out the burying of our phone line and our main line for our irrigation system. We will put the first trench in from our house site to the front gate. The trench will be placed just off the edge of the road which will always allow us to have access for repairs, changes and problems that may occur in our irrigation and we will know exactly where our underground pipes and cable are located. We always try to put our main irrigation lines just next to the roads for this purpose.
We are also putting in some terraces on our steep land for better access and increased planting area.