I've seen this before and I do plan on trying something similar in the future. I don't have a tractor either or I would have dug some swales at this point. I dug a very small pond at the base of the natural swale on my property but it's only filled up twice in 6 years. I just keep trying stuff. I'm not allowed to utilize the aluvial water and the water table out there is around 380 feet so wells are quite expensive.