Soil Rehydration

Soil Rehydration. Without water, there can be no life as we know it.  If the water or hydration requirements of a property are met, the work for the farmer and nature  becomes so much easier.  Trees recover from the summer heat or produce larger fruit, grass stays greener for longer and grows thicker.  Water retention within a landscape can be approached in many different ways, although there is one that I wanted to share as I don't think it is as commonly considered as a swale for example.

Pigs love to dig wallows to keep themselves cool in; if there is no rain, I bring water to to my pigs and fill the wallows up for them.  It is lovely to see how excited they get when they have mud to play in.  They run around in circles and then SPLASH!

Once the pigs move on and the land starts to regenerate, the wallows continue to work.

The photo above was taken after a solid period of rain.  As can be seen, the wallows are full of water and over a few days, this water seeeped into the ground and increased the level of hydration within the soil - anytime there is rain, this form of recharge will occur.  There are also old trees nearby and their deep roots will now also have access to this water - wonderful!

Our current thoughts are to bring in more pigs to start a farm wide forrest regeneration program.  This also means we will have a new product to provide to customers as well.  It's a very exciting thought to know we can eat well and heal the planet at the same time.