- This event has passed.
NATURE Lab Workshop: Sculpting a Water Retentive Landscape
May 6, 2017 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT
Create several garden beds on contour using a simple A-frame level. The resulting swales stop, spread, and sink water, maintaining optimal hydration in the landscape…
A NATURE Lab workshop with Collard City Growers gardener and coordinator Christian Grigoraskos
As environmental stewards in our community, water security is at the forefront of our consciousness. We are constantly looking for ways to preserve and respect water as a precious resource (BECAUSE IT IS!). Utilizing rainwater barrels and closed-loop aquaponic systems are a couple of ways that we plan to manage our water supply in the garden, but there are techniques for building efficient irrigation systems directly into the landscape.
Join us to learn how to build the most open-source, democratic, and FREE irrigation system out there: SWALE & BERMS.
The resulting garden beds will become our community cooking greens patch: collards, kale, and chard — here we come! Participants of this workshop will leave with plans for building their own A-frame level and muscle memory to dig swales and berms in their own backyards.
A “swale” is a level trench dug on the contour line that acts as a bowl of water for a thirsty landscape. A “berm” is a mound, or garden bed, on the downhill side of the swale that prevents collecting water from escaping. Together, the swale and berm are a perfect duo that function to stop, sink, and spread rainwater. This system is, as one article puts it, “as old as the hills,” and is an incredibly simple, multi-purpose solution for hydrating surrounding plantings, mitigating stormwater run-off, reducing erosion, and replenishing and filtering water as it percolates back down to the water table.
We are committed to lowering the barriers to access for events at The Sanctuary for Independent Media. For people who are hard of hearing or deaf, blind or low-vision, or whose physical limitations can interfere with a satisfying experience, let us know two weeks in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.
Google Calendar 