UpComing Courses

Earth Surgery & Water Infrastructure Masterclass

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Get your water mainframe right, and everything else you build gets easier, greener, and more profitable. Get it wrong, and you’re looking at a $20,000 leaking dam disaster, blown-out swales, and topsoil washing down the creek on the first heavy rain.

I was fortunate to spend years managing Tagari Farm for Bill Mollison and Zaytuna Farm for Geoff Lawton. But paper maps and theory only take you so far. Real rehydration happens when blade hits dirt.

In this workshop, I’m showing you the exact design methodologies we use to read contours, set keypoints, and direct heavy plant machinery to cut precision water harvesting systems that hold water on the first try.

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What We’re Covering in the Dirt:

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• Design Methodologies & Map Reading: How to translate broadacre contour maps and satellite GIS into practical, logical earthworks on real terrain.

• Surveying Before & During Earthworks: Hands-on work with laser levels and bunyips—marking out sites before the machines arrive and maintaining precision survey lines while the dirt is moving.

• Micro to Macro Earthworks: Understanding how scale changes your approach, from small-scale micro-catchments right up to broadacre macro mainframes.

• Swales, Terraces & Graded Roads: Designing and cutting stable swale networks, bench terraces, and graded access roads that harvest, store, and shed water safely.

• Dam Types & Keyway Engineering: Exploring different dam types, locating keypoints, and executing the essential subsoil keyways needed so walls don't leak or blow out.

• Spillways & Overflow: Building self-maintaining level sill spillways designed to handle severe storm events without eroding your landscape.

• Revegetation & Immediate Site Stabilization: How to protect raw earthworks immediately after the dig—using targeted seed blends, pioneer species, and scatter mulching techniques to lock down topsoil and jumpstart biological succession.

 

Whether you’re a broadacre farmer, a homestead owner wanting to drought-proof your block, or someone looking to learn practical earthworks execution, I’m going to teach you how to turn raw dirt into a permanent, water-secure asset.

No fluff, just practical landscape rehydration built from a quarter-century in the machine seat.

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Please click the link below to see more information about this course or make a booking.

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