Lauren Ritz

I have a little over three acres in rural Kansas. The soil is primarily clay loam, with a heavier clay layer about six inches to a foot down.

I had a second garden tilled this spring which gets runoff from the neighbor. During this last set of storms I was watching the runoff. As expected, the water is carrying the soil with it. The top (south) side of the garden seemed to pool the most, but it's also drying out first. Maybe a higher clay content?

Eventually this will be structured so no culinary water is needed, but each person I have spoken to has said increase drainage, get the excess water off the property.

I want to use that water, sink and hold it for use during the summer. While it might solve the existing mud problem, getting rid of it would not advance me toward my goals.

The space is, I think, about 80x80? 40 paces along one edge, and it's approximately square. This spring I split it into eight wedges, the borders of which are planned as an eventual fedge. Currently the plan is to leave the center open so I can get in to mow cover crops.

I have several ideas for the water, but I'm sure there are more out there.

1) Create a berm and swale along the southern edge to catch the runoff from the neighbor. That's right along the property line so it might become an issue if he objects. Probably easiest to use a log berm so there's no pit to catch his mower.

2) Log berm on contour along the edge of each spoke to catch any runoff sediment. Grasses, plant debris, etc, would catch on the logs rather than running down slope.

3) Small, shallow ponds at the bottom where the water leaves the garden. Maybe a foot deep, to catch and hopefully sink the water that makes it to this point. I would have no objection :) to a running spring downslope.

Other ideas? Problems?

The arrows are the direction of water flow. Circles are the position of small ponds. Horizontal lines would be small sections of log placed on the spoke boundaries but angled to contour.

This will use up the last of my 12 foot panels.

My garden is on the way. It is divided into 8 sections, with a 10x10 square at each corner and one in the middle.

Each spoke boundary has a different type of fruit/nut/berry bush. This is expected to be a permanent food production area, not a standard garden.

It rained last night and I was able to see water flows. As expected, the most water was collected as runoff from the neighbor's yard. I can't rely on that continuing forever, so I am considering rock pits to collect rain water.

I've only done this in sandy soil, so I'll try one, fill it up with the hose and evaluate from that point. Like these, which I did at my old house.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aMS-g4TuEwQ&pp=ygUkZm9vZCBmb3Jlc3QgZm9sZGVyb2wgd2F0ZXIgY2F0Y2htZW50

And yet, the father of my current cockerels was very protective even at just a few days old. One of the boys I have now was the same, protecting his upset sister when they were only two days old.

The protective behavior does not seem to be a tell--just the lack of respect for space and authority.

A nasty rooster often prefers human company as a chick, possibly because humans feed them and pet them and don't discipline them for behavior that would get them a sharp rap on the head if they did it to another chicken.

If it were me I would space the various types of trees so they're not all clustered. That way if one gets a pest or disease it's not guaranteed that all will get it. Preferably not in the line of the prevailing winds.

You have I believe put in the expected spread of some of the trees, maybe put in height as well? Where will shadows fall when the trees are mature?

It should work. I have also done this with grapes. Another possibility is layering, mounding soil up at the base so roots grow on each stem.

Water does flow in that general direction. I'm just not sure how to use it. Spreader dam? Wood chips? Rock? Below grade or above? Below on the slope, or above? Etc. They were placed in exactly the wrong spot for earthworks, but that's also a possibility.

I had a Bielefelder roo, hatchery. He was great with the hens but we had a running feud.

His replacements were two brothers, incubated, raised in a brothers-only bachelor pad. They were Biel x Dominique. Horrible with the hens, no problems with me.

Then two young cockerels, half brothers, each raised by a different broody. The older is Biel x Jersey Giant. The younger was Biel x Black Australorp. Their father was the first Biel. I tried setting eggs from the Biel x Dom set, but both were shooting blanks.

The younger of the two brothers was the only surviving chick and his mother doted on him. Wouldn't allow the other hens to discipline him, wouldn't do it herself. He was harrassing the hens, trying to mate with my foot, wouldn't make any effort to court the girls and wouldn't take no for an snswer. He died, probably of liver failure, at 16 weeks.

The older of the two brothers is still around and learning manners. He's currently in the bachelor pad to give him some time to mellow out and grow up. He nearly scalped one of the hens. He was also raised by a (different) broody.

They both spent time being chased by the hens, and the Biel x JG at least was disciplined by them. Didn't seem to make any difference.

On the other hand, my sister's JG was hand raised and became a perfect roo after a teenage jerk period. His son, incubator, got hus father's intelligence and ramped up the good behavior. I have his sons, also incubated, in the coop for evaluation.

I now have two population groups, each in their own coop. Biel x JG cockerel (22 weeks old) with JG and BA hens, 5 Buckeye chicks in the brooder. I got 5 rangers as well, but it looks like all of them are cockerels.

Group two, JG x RIR back-cross, 3 8 week old cockerels being evaluated for behavior before I decide who to keep. Ten chicks in the brooder, currently 4 weeks old. Chicks are Marans and Speckled Sussex.

Eventual goal is 10 hens and 2 roos in each group. Once the genes are well mixed (3 generations?) I'll open the gates and let the chickens work it out, culling or rehoming those that don't fit my criteria.

Progress update, in a sense.

Of the original chickens I still have 3. I have a different rooster, Biel x Jersey Giant, who is currently 24 weeks old and in the bachelor pad because he nearly scalped one of the girls. That coop has 3 BAs, a Jersey Giant (mother of the cockerel) and 5 Buckeye chicks.

The second coop is finished. In there I have 3 JG x RIR back-cross cockerels and 10 new chicks; Marans, Speckled Sussex, and two that I think are colored egg layers. The boys are gen 2 of an attempt to breed well behaved roosters.

All of the purchased fruit trees that survived the summer also survived the winter. That means no plums. Of the seedlings, survivors are 4 apricots, 5 peaches, 1 cherry. More apricot, cherry, almond, peach, plum, pear and apple seeds are in the ground.

No grape seedlings survived the chickens, but the first set of fences is almost finished.

Several of the flowers I seeded a year ago have reseeded themselves in the septic field, so the pollinator garden is on its way.