First hugelkultur and man am I sore

Cleared the first part of my backyard last weekend to plant fruit trees for my hopefully one day forest garden.
I figured why not take all the brush aka resources and create some hugel beds to grow annual vegetables.
Then convert them into berries and other perennials in a few years when the fruit trees start casting large shadows.

To speed things up I added a dusting of bio active compost between each layer and some rock dust.
Had enough material to make two. If they work out i'll have to build eight more next year for phase 2 of the forest garden.
Its weekends like this that make it clear I set butt for a living and my body won't let me forget it.

Pace yourself. With all the downed branched from the ice storm, there are enough branches and trunks to create miles and miles of hugelbeds. But not all in one weekend.

If anything was an example of "slow and steady wins the race", it is hugelkultur.

I'm getting ready to do a small bed by hand too. I'm thinking about putting it closer to where the materials are just to make it easier.

There is a reason you see a tractor and loader near when large hugelkultur beds are done.

Yes having a friend with a small excavator would have been nice.
But it was rewarding being able doing all the cutting and digging by hand. "we don't need no stinking oil"
I can tell you this I'll be enjoying the veggies that come out of these beds even more because of the sore back.

PS i did wish my sons were old enough to help.

This is why I'm wood chip mulching rather than hugel building - far too strenuous for the reward, at least in my situation.

I'm doing it all by hand as well, but only on a suburban backyard scale. Get any actual acreage and I'll be calling in the reinforcements

At many levels, I genuinely enjoy the feeling of honest tired and muscles sore from real work, not to mention that the whole process of cutting the wood, digging, piling, burying, etc. is quiet and meditative when done without power tools.

Will make you aware that you don't do it enough if your primary work involves a desk job.

Peter Ellis wrote:

At many levels, I genuinely enjoy the feeling of honest tired and muscles sore from real work, not to mention that the whole process of cutting the wood, digging, piling, burying, etc. is quiet and meditative when done without power tools.

This is absolutely true. That little bit of soreness is like a constant reminder of how much butt you are kicking at your place.

"Yup, you see how slow I got up just there? That's because I'm a bad-ass. Just trust me."

True, but when I get sore hauling 30 barrow loads of chips I also know I'm preparing a much bigger planting area than a single hugel... bang for your buck and all that.

Darnell Brawner wrote:

PS i did wish my sons were old enough to help.

I have a 6 year old boy and 4 yr old daughter that I'm wishing the same thing for