Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Keyline intro

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
  • To: ibiblio list <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Keyline intro
  • Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 10:09:25 -0700

On 5/9/07 7:07 PM, "Lawrence F. London, Jr." wrote:

> Marks on a storey pole on an opposing ridge could be aligned with the
> levelling stick and a stake
> put in the ground to establish all points along a countour.

Darren's point is that keyline systems are not laid out along contour lines.
They are usually laid out parallel to a single contour line: the one that
exists at the key point. This line's layout is then duplicated in a series
of lines parallel to the key line up and down slope from the key point,
which means that those other lines are not following the contour line that
exists at their elevation, but falling slightly away from it in one
direction or another. This makes water flow, generally, toward the ridge and
not toward the valley, keeping water on the land longer. It's really hard to
visualize except via dirt-pile modeling or seeing it done, but Yeomans'
books and web site help a little (and the soilandhealth.com website is a
treasure of ag lore far beyond keyline). Darren's verbal description was the
best I've seen so far.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page