Permaculture landscape design for Coastal rainy properties

Hi permies!

I will soon be moving on to a 5 acre chunk of land on Vancouver Island. It is currently cleared pasture (housing 2 horses and 4 goats). There is a small amount of non-food landscaping around the house. The land is slightly sloped to the south. There is a large year round pond. I plan to live there for a year before undertaking any major changes to the landscape, taking time to observe and learn (both about the site and Permaculture design). Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to attend any PDCs in the foreseeable future (combination of timing, location and responsibilities). I am happy to learn as best I can from books, videos, forums, etc...

I've been watching Geoff Lawton's recent videos, and really enjoying them, but they leave me wondering about the whole aspect of water. Here on Van Isle, we have plenty of water falling from the sky, almost all year round. In fact the property I currently live on gets swampy from October to May, so unlike Queensland or Arizona, we almost need to get rid of water, not retain more of it (ok... not really...). In any case I'm wondering how the swale/water course ideas appropriate for drier, sub tropical locations translate to damp, temperate locations.

Can any one point me towards resources that discuss issues and ideas around permaculture landscape design in respect to swales and water for rainy temperate locations?

Thanks!

Sure,

Appendix A would be especially helpful for you.

West Coast Food Forestry, the book

It's free!

Thanks for the info Cliff. I'd actually grabbed that pdf a couple of days ago. What part of the appendix do you think would help? I was looking through it and it seemed to be a distillation of permaculture principles, but nothing specific regarding landscape design for water management in our kind of climate.

That being said, the pdf is amazing! I'm looking forward to digging into the huge list of plants. I also love how the plants are organized into lists by qualities.