I have a swale on my place from the days when it was farmed. When we bought it they were growing black-eyes, garlic, corn, and various fruits. I think digging b

I have a swale on my place from the days when it was farmed. When we bought it they were growing black-eyes, garlic, corn, and various fruits. I think digging bunds like those in photos would be painful here since the soil is very shallow. To get a transplanted tree to grow here I have to dig through two rock ledges that are each about one foot thick (1/3 meter). The rocky clay between them is also only easily dug in the wet part of the year since the clay becomes very hard when it dries so that I need to use a bullprick bar to punch through all the rock. I drill fence posts since there isn't enough dirt to hammer one of those t-posts deep enough to be stable. I wish I had the soil they have there but farming this land resulted in deflation (soil loss to high wind events) that you can measure by looking at elevation changes along the fence lines and the farmed/unfarmed areas. Like the people in the story, to start the restoration I let my place lay idle for more than a year with no mowing so that all the grasses could set seed multiple times. That helped me reestablish native grasses. I limit mowing to twice annually now because mowing tends to enable spread of invasive or non-native grasses. Even then I mow in a pattern, starting with areas that I have mostly restored and finishing on the areas that still need some work so that any seeds that drop off of the equipment tend to be native seeds redistributed into areas where I am fighting non-natives. I let the seeds piggyback. It's a process.