Swales were once a miraculous mystery to me.
I first heard about these 'on-contour' passive irrigation 'trenches' from Jo Pearsall and Bryan Innes on their 2009 permaculture design course in Rotorua, New Zealand. I was awed by the idea that digging some ditches could 'slow down' water and give it a chance to soak into the soil. They showed videos of Australian heavy machinery building massive swales, or talked about doing it by hand. It all seemed confusing and a huge undertaking - either machine or labour wise. In my consciousness at least, swales barely registered as 'doable' on a practical scale.

However, they ARE doable! While at another permaculture course in Minnessotta, USA with Mark Shepard last October, we actually dug a swale.  I realised they are hand friendly, and also easy to dig with a single or double bottom plow. I got back from Minessota that October biting at the bit ! We got out and dug one 350 foot swale by HAND, just before freeze up!!! ( It took maybe 5 full days of labour for one person).

Come winter, with snow, melt & freeze conditions, we soon discovered our swale wasn't level. I"m not sure why - perhaps the A Frame I made wasn't up to scratch. So, come spring, we have leveled it out by hand (using the eye). 

With not enough time to dig all the swales necessary for our Food Forest Project,  we used our neighbour's single bottom plow.  We dug another 7 swales, 30 feet apart.

Its hard to tell for sure whether the swales are making a difference yet- however the grass where they are located is EXTREMELY lush, and we haven't had the same water flooding problems down slope from the swaled area - so far so good! 

Do you have any experience with Swales? We'd love to hear about it in the comment section below!  I've also included an excellent youtube video below about how swales work, by Australia's Geoff Lawton.