Hi. Pleased to meet everyone involved in this wonderful website.
I live in Springfield, MO, and am working on a proposal with two friends to get a few abandoned lots from the city to use as food forest space. We are trying to find information on how burying wood can increase the carbon sequestration and/or tie up carbon in the soil. Basically, we need someone to help us with explaining the science behind how hugelkulturs within a perennial food forest system can be a benefit to the environment, and specifically how burying wood can help. The reason we are focusing on (sunken) hugelkultur beds is that we are currently taking tree waste from local trimmers and using it in gardens instead of allowing it to sit in compost piles or be burned. We want to take more and put more tree waste, as much as possible into the soil, on a bigger scale, and we want to convince the city that it's a good idea to have these perennial polycultures instead of the alternatives of burning and composting. If anyone can help, we don't need a lot of ongoing support. Just enlighten us uneducated yet impassioned people!
Also, with the idea of a food forest in mind, and with 10,000 square feet per lot to work with for planting, while using sunken hugelkulturs, with access to unlimited wood and chips and brush, a backhoe, and a bobcat, where would you look in order to make the best decisions for design? Thank you so much for the help.
Ven