Ditch Farming?

[fantasymaker]

Has anyone here found a productive use for water filled ditches? Im thinking of planting Christmass trees on both sides. and putting sand in the bottom to raise fresh water mussels. Im sure it would fill with minnows and atrract Frogs and crawfish.
Id rather have freshwater prawns but I dont see away to keep the crawfish out and from what Ive heard just a few will entirely eat up any prawns.
Any body here doing anything productive with yours?

[fishhead]

The Mayans used to farm ditches and the land they made when the dug the ditches.

Where is the water coming from that is in the ditch? Where does it go?

I would expect that if it's coming from farm fields that there will be pulses of pesticides in the water. If not freshwater mussels might be an option. Unless you are raising them for personal consumption you will probably need some kind of license. That's because mussels are the most endangered group of animals in the US.

In the bizarre state of MN where I live no live mussels can be possessed without a license and only 24 empty shells can be possessed.

A species that should do well in your area is the Giant Floater Mussel. Mine got to 5-6" in 3 years but yours should grow faster. In the Dominican Republic they reach 11" and the people like to eat them.

[fantasymaker]

The water comes from hillside springs and goes to the creek . If I could make a tidy profit on something I could bring the water down the hilside in terraces and have miles of ditch,if needed I could suplement with water from the same creek.
There are fresh water mussles located in that same creek.

[Sparkey]

Might be a possibility of growing water cress as a marketable crop. Depending on the site & conditions there may be possibility to sell to restaurants, etc. depending on quantity harvested.

Charlie

[fishhead]

Who owns the ditches? Could you dam them to get some depth?

[fantasymaker]

Curently the water just keeps my field wet. Im looking at ditching to keep the water away from it. I suppose I could create them any way I want them.

[Dexter]

-Wasabi could be a valuable crop if you could find fancy sushi joints willing to carry fresh instead of prepared.
-Water chestnuts.

There was a great diagram in a book called (I think) Introduction to Permaculture, or similar name. Written by I believe the guy that coined the name permaculture. It showed a method of making a water source incredibly productive by adding shoreline (basically a bunch of ditching.) Hard for me to explain but you'd benefit from looking into this book.

[Forlane]

I believe you are referring to "swales", in regards to Permaculture. Terracing and mini ponds would be my suggestions. Look into what Sepp Holzer is doing on his farm to get some ideas on what I am referring to.

[Freeholder]

No, swales have a different purpose -- they are meant to catch water and hold it so it soaks in, not to drain a wet field. I know what Dexter is talking about in the book (my ex kept our copy of the Permaculture Manual, so I don't have it here to look at). Rather than having a one-acre round pond with smooth edges, for example, it would be better to make the shoreline convoluted so there was a longer edge between the water and land. Edges are usually the most productive part of an eco-system. There was some mention of a location or locations where long networks of ditches had been created, I think about six feet deep and ten feet wide, with all kinds of food plants on the excavated earth that had been heaped up between ditches, and fish, etc., in the ditches. A person could actually use a canoe to go up and down the ditches, pick overhanging berries, collect wild rice, catch fish....I thought it sounded like a neat system, but it would take heavy equipment (or a LOT of manpower) to build.

Kathleen

[susieM]

Watercress, rice, frogs for legs, crawdads, willowtrees, just off the top of my head.

[geo in mi]

Flatland Indiana and Illinois interstate interchanges have ponds dug for the soil to construct the crossovers and ramps. Since they are dug, they have slopes on one or two sides only, with the other sides straight. Crappie nests on the slopes, rip rap to keep the nearly vertical sides from caving. Bushlike vegetation would be impossible on the vertical sides because of root erosion, and vegetation on the flatter slopes would eliminate the fish nesting. Can have one or the other, but not both. Is your land the same? Maybe you could farm catfish? They don't have nesting sites like sunfish.....

[fishhead]

Here's an excellent guide to identifying mussels.

http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/animals...ual/index.html

Edges are productive but they also provide access to predators like coons and herons.

[fantasymaker]

Im working with a creek bottom Field that is kept wet by the bluff springs on one side and drained by a creek along the other.
I own from top of thebluff to the middle of the creek.

[Wisconsin Ann]

It sounds like your plan would work. You have drainage from the pond, and fresh water flowing into it...solving the largest problem with growing water critters: water exchange. The watercress idea, perhaps on the way IN to the ditch, would be a plus, too. We used to have a spring/stream that gave us enough watercress to sell to the local restaurant.

One thing that's done around this area is digging a ditch on a hillside to plant items that 1)hold the soil, and 2)can be harvested for something. Like willow for weaving. Willow needs wet feet, and it's a good way to create a sustainable harvest. (except that in your case willow would invade badly, I suspect)

We have a pasture on top of a bluff. But it has a natural dip so it creates a wet runoff area...like a seam going down the hill. (makes traveling in the tractor a bit exciting when it rains). We're using that to create a pond at the place where pasture turns into steeper hillside and forest. Digging out the "seam" a little, and then shoring up the lower end of our "pond". That pond will be for the ducks, or possibly for fish (rather depends on how large we make it).

[fantasymaker]

Anybody know where you would go for a flow verses slope chart for ditches?

[edcopp]

Originally Posted by fantasymaker

Anybody know where you would go for a flow verses slope chart for ditches?

You might google "Permaculture" and come up with some interesting information.