gabion of mulch

Some one has probably done this before, but I have not seen it.
I am making small (around 3' diameter and less than knee high) gabions and filling them with mulch.  These are being built in my incipient food forest. This one is filled with sweet gum, pine, oak, elm, some grasses and one snack skin for good measure. When full, I chop the mulch into finer material with a machete, and the top it up again. It settles quite a lot. Expect it to be topped up several times. The hornets had to check my work and made sure everything was up to snuff.

@Michael Holtman - I have done similar things, but what do you plan to do with it after it had decomposed and re-filled a number of times?
Some ideas if you haven't thought that far:
1. Plant a seedling beside it and keep filling it to feed the seedling.
2. Plant potatoes in the partially decomposed mulch. That's something I've actually done. The first year it was too dry and not decomposed enough so I didn't get a crop, but the roots would have still helped decompose the mulch, and this year it looked quite happy, but I had added a layer of veggie scraps near the top in the fall to encourage worms to visit.
3. I've done similar but digging into the dirt to try and attract worms and improve the soil a little deeper in areas of my property where there's barely 1/2 an inch of soil over mineral soil. The plan will be to plant a tree seed or seedling in the spot eventually. These are usually smaller than 3 ft diameter, but I could make the top wider than the hole now that you've given me the idea!
Good luck with your food forest.

Please let me know how this works for you.

I have, in the past, made 3' diameter heap containments but they were 5' tall.
I am interested in finding out how well the short stacks work.

Redhawk

Jay Angler wrote: what do you plan to do with it after it had decomposed and re-filled a number of times?

What I mean is that when the material is chopped up with the machete, the smaller pieces take up less space. I keep filling it until it is full with fresh mulch.
I will be planting my trees directly in the mulch. I have been collecting seeds all year, and still have some from previous years. I finally got my my hands on some paw paws, so I will be putting some of these in low shady areas. As my seedlings grow, I will do quite a bit of chop and drop to clear the canopy for them. This is especially important for the paw paws since they tend to struggle in full sun when they are young, but don't put on fruit later without sun. This is just step one of the transition.

I am doing this at my yarden.
I have gourds planted in them this year, along with the usual Jerusalem artichokes.
Your materials are much nicer than the pallets I use.
The mulch/wood/etc will be much needed soil by the time the beds fall apart.
At that point I start anew with whatever hasn't broken down yet and new stuff as well.
I like to add urine to these carbon heavy beds.