My Farm Turned Into a SWAMP! (Can we Drain it?) 

You know you gotta give these guys a lot of respect. To work a full time job and then do this work for our entertainment. Not to mention taking the time to edit the videos. Takes a lot of time I imagine. Thank you sir, very much appreciated!

When you said because you do excavation and grading, you've neglected your own property, it reminded me of something we say in here in Jamaica; 'the mechanic never has a good car.' 👍👍❤💛💚

I’ve been watching for a while now and have seen how your subscriber numbers have climbed. I think your unique sense of humor and a get it done attitude has served you well. We all look forward to your next video. Keep it coming, we’re with you.

Hey Matt I sure like your choices of music nice good old-fashioned rock and roll and you know what they say about rock and roll it will never ever die rock on Matt

The old saying from literature: “THE HURRIER I GO THE BEHINDER I GET” seems to fit when there are so many projects to do. Excellent video. I am not sure why I didn’t see this when it was uploaded, but it makes excellent entertainment on this December evening in 2021.

That chunk of pipe worked so much better than I was expecting

I have never heard of nor seen a 'mop pipe', in action or not. Very effective attachment. Thanks for sharing!

Good job Matt, maybe put in some culverts under the driveway to keep the water going to where you want it. I had property that had a low spot so put in the sump pump in a pump barrel underground. Had a 2" drain pipe out to to end of the property which by that point went downhill. Had a 1" electric pvc pipe to the barn with power. The ground within a couple weeks was good for our horses

I installed what looks like the same Reolink system a couple months ago. One of the cameras crapped out and, after a few emails, they sent out a new one. Wow! Can't be any happier with the system or the support.

If you ever get in a situation where you can't figure out where unwanted water is coming from, you can get some bright colored liquid concrete/mortar dye and spot dye several places then let it sit for a while then come back and see what direction the dye has bled from and you'll know for sure how to make accurate corrections.

Can’t beat a good ditch to take water. Nothing worse then putting in a solid road and then gets destroyed by water.

Here in England we have another saying..." A good plumber has a dripping tap at home..

Hello; Here's an idea for you. When the area is dry enough find a area you will never have plans for and dig a big hole, fill it with big rocks then smaller ones to make a space for all that water to drain into. Put in at least one culvert to cross the road and your problems will be a lot less. Find some FREE "rocky" fill to put in the low spots then come in with top soil. Sounds easy anyway. It's just a idea. Good luck and keep us posted. Be safe and well.

Dude, you have a SPRING!! And a very productive one! Do you know how lucky you are? Tap that sucker!

Once you get your swamp drained, you need to head down to Washington, D.C. and drain theirs! You do good work, so Washington should be a cinch!

Cool bucket attachment! I have a similar situation in a portion of my own property. Difficult to drain, but you've given me some ideas. Thanks!

Looks good for grading mud!!. One of your other videos made me think of my boys. If you gave the older one a shovel and asked him to clean out the paths in my free form raised garden beds, I soon had a hole about halfway to China. Younger brother, same shovel and instructions, he was soon doing better than I did! He worked for several years for a local excavator. Boss was frequently impressed with how he could carry a grade. First time on a dozer, he started sliding on a pile of loose dirt, and the boss was sure he was going to roll it. He turned up the pile and climbed up to the top and came down straight. No problem. No rolled dozer. No squashed kid. Enough bragging about my brat. You say you're not good enough to eliminate all the puddles without a lazer, but you still remind me of my younger boy.

With that spring would be nice to put a pond in, all around a good upgrade.

Looks good. No need to apologize for your work. 99.8 percent of the people watching these videos wouldn't know the difference and the other .2 percent like myself don't care anyway. Just keep doing what your doing and we will keep watching.

Around here (SC) the lowlands are crossed with a system of ditches that all connect to drain. Even some swamps can be dried like this and then often turned into timber farms. Until you have actual drainage, your gonna chase water around.

I am definitely going to use that pipe idea. I have lots of muddy areas that need that type of grading. Thanks for sharing that. Love your videos. We are a kindred spirit my friend.

I'm tempted to suggest running the water through long sections of buried pipe, with open concrete lined channels between pipe sections for the cows to drink from.

Gotta get Christine up and running, mate!

Balancing ponds (aka retention/attenuation ponds) to collect stormwater and some culverts under your gravel road to move water to streams on lower land could help.

The forests i work are usually quite flat and wet. So we have ditches along all the main roads, that makes a low spot for the water to go - big job making them and some maintenece. But you get a drier forest and better quailty. Our ditch digger, have this riangle bucket for digger ditches - works wonders. Nice video, keep it up.

You might watch a channel named "letsdig18" to see how he handles this intense amount of rain we have been having. Unfortunately he does not have playlists but he does a very good job of naming each video. A month or so ago he did another one and it dried out fast. Just a suggestion.

Ive been doing drainage for 10 years now and i can say if you experience a lot of rain water flooding your property it would be wise to slope the sides of the open drain to negate the water from eroding the sides as much over the years. it also lets the grass grow which also acts as a bit of a filter as well as soaks up a lot of the rain.

Those mude poles are a slick trick! They sure do the job

In Scotland the same saying is rendered: " A cobbler's bairns are aye the worst shod"

Brings back the time my father worked for his brother WC{William Clark I believe} in the Carolinas, we lived in Rock Hill SC at the time. I miss working in construction, I got out of it and into retail work.

Always enjoy your content, I can tell that machine becomes an extension of your arms when you're using it. Can't wait to see more Christine video.

Matt playing in the mud,doesn't get any better

Looking better all the time bud keep up the good work , cant wait to see the church again

You need to build what we called a Spoon drain,which is Vee shaped . Cattle can walk up to the edge an not wreck the banking. You will need to make a vee bucket though. Also,did you know you can train those hedge plants to grow thicker? look up some of the very old films posted up here on YT showing them being trained in England in the 1940's. Cheaper than a fence.

Great video,, I like how your floor came out from all the crushed cinderblocks and crushed stone. Nice job smoothing all the soil along the driveway too. Thanks for sharing!

I gotta say Matt, I've never seen nor heard tell of squeejying with an excavator. Man, that was awesome. Worked great, whoever taught you was definitely a professional. That was some soupy mud. Kinda like trying to shovel up a fresh cowturd with a three prong pitchfork.

A decent substitute for a grading bucket, I like it.👏

Drain the swamp good saying. I saw Chris using a log to grade with couple times good idea Thank you Matt.

Ingenious use of the pipe along the sides Matt👍

Matt, you have the drag bucket pick where you want the Pond, run the spring into it. That should lower the water table. A friend had the same problem till he put in two ponds took care of it.

It doesn’t matter where a person lives, there is always something about the property that the owner has too battle with. Nature seems to win 99% of the time.

Hi Matt...as a retired road construction worker might I suggest about your problem [ to get rid of slop ] is to dig a pit with a ditch leading to it, push the slop into the ditch and let it flow there, and it will dry out the whole area given a few days. We did this when preparing a firm base for pipes [ 6 ft diam.] through creek beds...just a thought and I hope it helps...Gazza..final is to fill in the pit.

Missing the vids man. No doubt you are a trooper hard working legit American 🇺🇸 love the positive attitude !!!! 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻let's keep them coming

Watching you I can smell that muck! As a kid I watched the town Gradall clean the ditches along the road.

I have never seen that mop pipe before but it looks like something to fab up heading to the shop

I cabt get enough of watching you properly operate your machines you've taught me alot on what to look for and how to work it you're a pretty great guy

When I was logging, I spent more time n money on the ditches than I did on the surface, except for stone. The boss was always on me about it until it got wet, and the other site couldnt get a truck out with a D8, then I was the golden boy. As soon as it got dry, right back on sh@@ list

Learned something new. Piece of pipe for a squeegee. Neat!

As much as I love Matt's work here, I just don't feel right watching these videos without having a shovel to lean on.

Maybe you could get the land surveyed and then dig a lil retention pond in wherever the ideal spot is. Then u could dig ditches that drain into it. And maybe a small culvert or 2 under that nice driveway you laid down that leads to the ditches . Awesome work dude. I learn a lot on here✌

The mosquitoes are going to hate this video!

real nice work!! that material is very hard to work with and the pipe idea is genius !!

Matt it looks like you are getting ahead of the situation. With the lumber prices so high have you considered steel framing for your church project? Cheap, quick to install, straight, fire and insect and rot proof. Good luck.

Loved this one! And the music is killer! S.S. Villains rock!

Best way to start the day! Diesel Creek and a cup of coffee. The 2 most destructive forces in nature: Water and COWS!!!!

You are incredibly skilled and you did a great job! Well done, Matt!

I had a old man once tell me "your land is only as good as your ditch" makes perfect since to me now!

Thanks again Matt. Have a great day.

Might want to look into a topographic map and see which way things naturally drain.

I have seen track foundations cut with a v shaped crown draining to ditches each side. You then put the ground fabric down and roll a sausage of shingle in each ditch before putting down the base foundation. You get a pair of drains that don’t clog with sediment each side and you have occasional soak away drains leading off to discharge the run off. Seen it working on the west coast of Scotland and if it works there, it works anywhere!🌧🌧🌧⛈🌨🤣

I laughed at myself after I watched this. The whole video I'm sitting here thinking "didn't he just make a custom 'V' bucket for this exact thing in a different video?" Then I realized I'm thinking of Andrew Camarata.

I also have a lot of ditches and I maintain mine way faster. You have to plan your attack for when the dirt is just about dried but not dry. Then just run the tractor tire up the ditch. Done in five minutes. I like using the backhoe because you cannot get a backhoe stuck.

I like the 12 string guitar music you've been using lately.

I have watched you fight the drainage issues on your property several times. A good portion of the work is creating more future problems, so I thought I might pass on some advice. Roads are built with two types of drainage. The most common is a crown where the center is high and the edges are lower so rain sheds off both sides of the road. Level roads will not drain and always get worse with time. The second drainage method is for when the road is on a hillside and the road slopes entirely to the downhill side. You are trying to manage road drainage with a grader or skid steer when the road is already lower than the land on each side. Can’t be done! You must either raise the road (which can’t be done with a grader) or lower both sides. You just cleaned out a drainage ditch with the excavator and put the slop you dug out between the ditch and your driveway as a dam to keep the water from the driveway. This is wrong. You must get the ditch low enough the rain falling in the driveway flows sideways to the ditch continuously along the driveway. A swale should also be much wider than your bucket wide ditch. A 3 or 4 foot wide swale which is grass covered will hold a lot of water until it seeps into the ground. Right now you have a 10 or 12 foot wide swale for a driveway and it holds all the water for days. Adding more stone is a very expensive way of raising the driveway. You may need to raise it by scraping off the stone, adding 5 or 6 inches of good base material, and then respreading the stone so there is a crown. All this assumes you can first manage all the flowing water and get it away from your driveway. That may take some drainage pipes which is another big job. Good luck. Steve Scully, retired Civil Engineer

I'm gonna have to watch more of these. After surveying for years, I'm sure you have a plan and idea of what you're doing but I'm not quite following yet.

These lands seem like a sponge, they are always flooded, they will always give you a lot of work, the idea of making a water passage next to the driveway, I think it is the best you have been able to do. In your community it rains or snows a lot, so you have guaranteed water without cuts or restrictions. Greetings from Barcelona-Spain

Definitely want to see a follow up to this one

Nice Honeysuckle by your stream there. Here in Northeast Louisiana we have been getting the same rain. We grow sweet potato's and other things commercially and it's put us behind schedule. Rivers and Bayou's are at flood stage nearly. You know you have a "Swamp" problem when alligators start coming onto your fields!

Maybe you could install a second fence to keep the cows away.

Andrew Canada's made a "Swale Digger". Basically a narrow bucket with+/-30 degree sides from vertical. Specifically for drainage ditches.

Where I live that ditch would require a full on environmental survey so you do not hurt any wild life. :) Mosquito haven at 16:29 and no it is gone. Nice job.

Omg that hook 🪝 on the bucket would drive me crazy on a quiet day digging thru soft mud… Engine noise you learn to tune out… especially living and growing up somewhere in nyc like me

I know someone with a nice grader ..... just needs a little TLC. Ran when parked.

We use the triangular -shaped buckets to make ditches and they will last much longer than the ordinary straight edged ones.

probably need a culvert pipe under the road there

Why don't you lay pipes to control the spring stream? You could use the spring water for your house (whenever you get around to building it, with all the jobs you do renovating equipment, machinery, church buildings, etc.) and it could also provide water for your workshop. Cheers Michael (from Scotland)

This summer you should have a week where you invite skilled subscribers to come to PA and help you with a bunch of projects.

here in the North GA mountains the old-timers used hollowed logs and put the spring back in the ground I still have some on my property

How to drain the old way, make a trench, fill it up with rocks, cover It up

Once it dries out, you may be able to install some drain pipe leading off in certain areas. Just by having a pipe in the ground gives the water someplace to go. Good luck!

6.3k views in 29 minutes, well done bud 👏

Watching from BERMUDA. Limestone cap on top of extinct volcano. NO muddy soil or clay here. Very satisfying to see the improvements you make . Thumbs up to you

"A cow is nothing more than a whole lot of trouble tied up in a leather bag"

That pipe on the bucket is a first for me. I will be building one in the future. Thanks Matt.

Hey man how's the church coming along?

Hi Matt, Perhaps you can consider buying a V bucket at one of the auctions. Seems just a bit more convenient to me. You do deliver a good job with the normal excavator bucket! The advantage of the V bucket is that the sides of the canal do not recede as quickly. Greetings from Belgium and I will continue to follow you !.

I love your chanel and your content keep it coming 👍also loving the intro music I've tried searching for it but can't find it 😒 have you got a link to it? Cheers Pete from Wales UK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Looks like a good time to get Christine up and running!

Being a meteorologist is the only job you can keep and get promotions while being wrong 70% of the time 😂🤣

As a mechanic of 40-plus years but now retired. I can see that being reality except when you get retired you can make the cars you have work really well and keep them up. All the best from Canada

OMG for a moment there i thought i was watching the opening scene of the space series "firefly "as that sounds like there opening tune lol

Maybe you should dig a pond to kinda control the spring and have fresh drinking water for the cows! You have an excavator and a dozer to do the job! Just a suggestion for the spring! 👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Drain The Swamp you say!

You should definitely make a drainage pond.

"It's not a 'wetland', it's just land that's wet" I know all about that problem...

Water always wins, and DEP is always watching!

Grade out the woods?! How about a couple of well placed ditches to pull the water away?

Please move your content to Rumble I've had enough and I am deleting my RU-vid account due to RU-vid silencing those who do not support leftist, anarchists’ and Biden voters. Please put your great channel on Rumble where the 1st Amendment is honoured and I can still watch your excellent content.

Hey Matt, Food for thought here. When I am cutting a ditch to correct a lack of drainage like what you have there I just cheat. I let gravity tell me how to cut the grade. Start at your highest known point where standing water is, and cut just barely enough to make the water flow. Keep repeating this the length of your ditch. Secondly, we both know you need some drainage culverts cut under that road to allow drainage without asking the roadbed become that compromised.

A good job Matt, nice film editing too!