permaculture

230 Facilitator’s Handbook for Permaculture Workshops

Field activity : Design productive swales (Swale Ex. 1)

Method   :  Participatory   field   activity

Tools : Pens, paper, clip board, and/or 3-D modeling materials

References : PC Book MOD 8 – Forests, Tree Crops, and Bamboo

Objective : Participants design the swale system to be implemented

Participatory site survey

Take the participants to the site for the demonstration swales to survey the land and

other resources that can be used such as rocks, water source, mulch materials, etc.

Ideally there will be two different sites used:

• One with unplanted land.


• One with established trees.

Groups design the swales systems

List on the board and/or give the students handouts which clarify the following. See

PC Book MOD 8 – Forests, Tree Crops, and Bamboo for more information. Divide the

participants into groups and ask each group to create 2 swale designs (1 for unplanted

land and 1 for the land with established trees) based on the following considerations.

Types of swales to choose from:

• Trench swales.


• Ploughed contour lines.


• Rock swales.


• A small wall that is built from rocks, branches, or other materials.

Considerations include:

• The size of the swales. • Community needs.


• Availability of water. • Access to mulching materials.


• Plant heights. • Planting patterns.


• Plant productivity. • Plant shapes.

Some planting ideas included in the PC Reference book are:

• Small swale planting systems.


• Large swale planting systems.


• Agriculture/tree crop swale systems.


• Legumes and alley crops.

Choose the design to implement

• Each group presents their design to the whole group and explains their ideas.


• Then the whole group can choose the final designs. Each participant can vote for
  their favorite design other than their own group’s design.


• The chosen design will be used as the template for the swale practical exercises.

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