Permaculture, it’s hardly rocket science; or is it? Kristen, a good friend of our ours is, by trade, an engineer. A very special type of engineer, in fact. He spends his days in the exosphere (spatially, perhaps even space-ially and certainly intellectually) modelling the mathematics that keeps things like satellites in the right place and pointing in the right direction. Clever chap. He also has a young family and is passionate about permaculture.
Part 1 and then Part 2 of our experience digging a perma-culture swale got his grey cells tingling. Specifically, it was my question: “In all the information I read through in books and on the Internet, I couldn’t find any calculation or other guidance to size our single swale.” This is his clear, helpful and precise response:
For a full explanation, have a look at his own blog on the subject of swales. It’s in French but, if maths isn’t your strong subject, it might as well be in Double Dutch!
So now you know how to dimension a swale and, in answer to the question, “is permaculture rocket science”, the answer is “sometimes, yes”.
