posted 10 years ago
That is pretty awesome. I just recently watched Geoff Lawton's "Permaculture for Profit" and the owner of the farm featured did pretty much the same thing. At the nighest point of elevation on his land, he dug what I think was nine depressions. He called them ponds but they never maintained the water. When it would rain they would harvest the water and from there it would, in a controlled manner, roll down the hill and irrigate the whole farm. Very neat concept. Even though he wasn't greening the desert, I am sure it would still work in dry lands. You'll just need to provide some kind of shade to prevent evaporation, if you plan on keeping them, that is.