I recently bought 25 acres of cow pasture in SW Missouri. It is near where I live so won't be a homestead, but I would like to apply some
permaculture principles as appropriate. My goals are non-economic, and include:
- Some reforestation
- Some "food forest" type of setup, fruit and nut
trees,
native berries, etc.
- Some 'prairie' restoration with wildflowers and native grasses
I've not taken a
PDC course but have read a decent bit on the subject, and have two primary questions.
First, in general, would it be advisable to invest in detailed maps, designs, and expert assistance? I've looked at services from
Geoff Lawton and others.
Second, if I choose a "diy" method, what are the steps to take, primarily around
water usage? The property has relatively dry slopes from the East and West down to a floodplain that stays fairly wet but not soggy, and is bisected by a (usually) dry creek. There is an existing
pond that holds a small amount of water, although I'm not sure if it will continue to do so now that the cows have been removed. I'd like to make the best use of water, and get the existing
pond to be consistently full, or use the existing contours to get an additional pond (or ponds).
I'm fairly sold of the "swales on contour" concept but not sure if it would be appropriate for my purposes or overkill.
I've attached a few images here to show the property. Existing trees are mostly native - sycamore, black walnut, oak, and a lot of
honey locust.
The high point of the property is in the upper left, the blue lines are existing small ravines where the water flow has dug channels. The yellow line represents a sort of bowl - the area inside of that yellow line to the creek is fairly flat. There are rental houses on the right edge that will remain in place.
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