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ABC Rural Talks to Matt Kilby About Farm Restoration Through Installing Trees and Swales (Podcast)


Consultant Matt Kilby stands before one of the swales he has
put in at Gippsland farm, Nambrok.
Photographer: Kath Sullivan

Matt Kilby, the ‘man of a thousand trees‘, shares thoughts with ABC Rural on his work (with Nick Huggins alongside) over the last 18 months at Nambrock, a property in Gippsland, southern Victoria, Australia.

"The first thing we did was put in a swale. A swale is a ditch which runs dead level to contour. The idea of the swale is more of a tree planting system." he said.

"We plant all our trees on the top side of the swale. We plant fertility building trees and all the leaf mulch falls into the swale or ditch, and turns into humic acid when it fills up with water. So all the nutrients are then spread back onto the surface and spread completely around the landscape." he said, describing the swale as a natural way to irrigate. — ABC Rural

Click play to hear the talk!

Matt Kilby talks about restoring Nambrok

2 Comments

  1. wow nice work Matt,
    looking forward to hearing about how quickly the farmers in the area come around to our way of thinking exelent podcast

    thanks
    steve

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