Over the last 10 months we have had weather records broken for wet and for dry. The heavy, compacted soils we inherited on this property don’t help either one.

Our main goals for the property are to improve soil and soil structure, and to moderate hydrological extremes. One strategy we have employed is building a hugelkultur swale along with a series of small ponds. This is what it looked like under construction on day one.

This is what it looked like a year later.

This is the day of our record floods last winter. Note the small tagasaste trees and broad beans.

Ten months later the pond harvests water off the farm roofs. The tagasaste have grown alongside Jerusalem artichoke.

One year of growth on the swale despite a very dry summer.

Slowly but surely we are using nature and muscle to build a more resilient farm for our children and for everyone downstream.

Peace, Estwing