posted 3 years ago
I've built a long narrow one along the edge of the road with dead oaks a few years back [They have the wilt and should not be sold, even for firewood.]
I got it on the top of the ground, piled up between 2 lines of poles. Long story short, it was about 4ft wide and 6 to 7 ft. high. Oak does not deteriorate very fast, even when it has the wilt. It is down to 4 ft. now but it still gives us a little break against the wind that howls in the winter. It started as a great snow trap. In our sandbox, that is important It gives shelter to a lot of wild life. Squirrels, partridges and smaller birds.
It was not a waste: Deer don't like to jump if they don't have to, so they go to the one end to get deeper into our little forest. During the hunting season, we can usually bag a deer. [they always come around the north side of that... whatever I built there.. I would have to pile dirt on it to make it a real hügelkultur mound but I'm loath to import soil and that is pretty much what we'd have to do. My sandbox has less than 2" of top soil. Stealing it from some place else on our property does not give me any advantage as that little bit of top soil would then be missing from there! not to mention the additional work.
The oaks are still dying, they still have the wilt, so we still can't sell them. I walk in the woods foraging for mushrooms [and now we grow a few. The barrier prevents the deer from eating them all.] The branches broke from their weight and the snow and rain, It is now pretty solid wood and you can't see through it, so it will eventually be a hügelkultur. I think the squirrels are planting it for me. Some young oaks are coming through, [I have no hope that they won't get sick though. Perhaps some will survive the wilt and acquire a resistance, who knows?] and wild cherries. On the leeward side, we installed a stump with maitake and we are starting to get this hen of the woods. I hope we get many more.
It was work piling all that wood on about 100 ft. but not as much as a real hügelkultur mound would be. We still get many rewards from it, plus we are effectively dealing with dead oaks that were not going to give us acorns anyway, making room for other trees [sugar maple is a favorite of mine]. All in all, I'm happy with the results, even if it is not a hügelkultur mound in the strict sense of the term. I could make it more of a hügelkultur mound by dropping all green refuse on top... but my chickens enjoy my green "waste".
$10.00 is a donation. $1,000 is an investment, $1,000,000 is a purchase.