Tommy Kilpatrick

Looked normal to me and both links worked fine. Was able to purchase Hügelkultur book for $1 and download (I already own it, but hey, have an extra buck)..

Ok, got part 1 at 3:08pm yesterday (reported above), and finally got part 2 at 5:50am this morning. Yahoo on Chrome.

Tommy

I also only got part 1, also Yahoo.

Tommy

R Scott - I'm planning hugel-type-thingies, but there is virtually no soil there. As much as we don't want to import everything, I'm thinking it would be in our best interest to truck in some soil/dirt/compost/whatever to get hugels started that can then build a much larger growing space than the soil itself would make. Thanks for the ideas!

Tommy

William Hendershot - That explanation was perfect, and the link worked fine. Detailed information is never too long winded. Thanks for taking the time, I understand much better now.

S Bengi - I definitely plan to start fruit trees from seed and figured not many, if any, would live so I'll plant a ton of them and keep my fingers crossed. I like the idea of letting them survive on their own before putting effort into grafting and then watching them die. Thanks for the doc link, I'll check it out.

Wow, great information, thanks folks!

Tate Smith - Thanks for the wood and brush pile on contour idea. That sounds like a great plan for catching stuff that normally just washes away and creating some soil. Lots of detail, too. Just what I need!

William Hendershot - I was hoping to hear from folks in the area! Yeah, the aspen seems to have the best growth under it, which leads me to believe that the soil there is a little better and that it retains more moisture. Good thoughts on the dappled light. The sun can definitely get harsh up there.

I've thought about using some of my cut trees (we've taken down about a dozen so far to have a place to park), a trailer load or two of wood chips, and whatever other organic matter we can come up with and making a big composty thing. I'd like to not have to import everything, but a few loads of stuff to get things kickstarted shouldn't be a big deal, I think. I'm driving up there anyway, might as well put the truck to work, right?

Thank you SO MUCH for the list of plants that are working for you. That is definitely one of the things I was hoping to get out of this thread.

I'm still confused about grafting cultivars. I just really don't know what that means. I understand grafting, but am lost at cultivar. Lots to learn still...


Thanks again for the information, we can't wait to get started on some of these great ideas!
Tommy

Thanks for the thoughts!

Cj Verde - I've read and watched a lot about Sepp Holzer's work and I think trying to terrace may not be successful because it's just a big chunk of rock mountainside. The trees are primarily douglas fir with a couple of other kinds of evergreens and aspen. According to the permaculture standards you listed, I have an area, maybe an acre or two, that is flat enough to garden/farm if I build more soil. Probably a couple more acres where I could plant trees, and the rest would be too steep to do anything with. That's what I'm mainly looking to figure something out for.

Joseph Lofthouse - Thanks, that's very helpful. Once these areas collect matter for a while, are you able to plant in them or do they just help with erosion?

Matu Collins - We would definitely like to have animals, and I think goats would be perfect if we could grow a decent bit of food for them. The water thing is also problematic, but not insurmountable.

We don't have any particular expectations for what to grow. I'll be looking here for more advice on that, as well as doing research locally. I think our primary goal would be to grow as much of our food as possible, and as much variety as we can get. I can't imagine that this will be our permanent location for a homestead, but if we can make stuff grow here we should be able to make a more usable piece of land really sing for us!

I really appreciate everyone's time giving some advice!

I have some fairly steep (+/- 30% grade) Colorado property that is pretty much solid rock with a token amount of organic material on it and a bunch of trees. In my dream world, I would build terraces and everything would be amazing. In reality, I don't know how much the neighbors would appreciate me blasting 1/3 of my mountainside away, and I don't have any soil to put there anyway. I can just walk down the hill and drop seeds, but there's got to be a better way of improving the land here. There's more description and pictures of the land here https://permies.com/t/45591/introductions/Denver and I've started a thread about building soil here https://permies.com/t/45665/soil/Rock-Mountainside-top so hopefully I can start to get some ideas to form a plan of action. The land is off-grid and completely unimproved, so clean slate, but the county thinks we're in the middle of Denver as far as zoning goes so either stuff that can fly under the radar or that will be completely agreeable to the powers that be.

Thanks so much for your thoughts on my situation, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!
Tommy