Hugelkultur Oprah?

Recently I’ve been reconsidering the idea of hugelkultur and now every time I look around my property I feel a bit like hugelkultur Oprah…”you get a hugel! You get a hugel! Everybody gets a hugel!”
Before I start creating massive mounds everywhere I thought it best to let some cooler heads prevail and lend me some advice as I have 0 experience with hugelkultur (and really my thumb is rather yellow, I’m more of a livestock person). SW North Dakota, 15-20” of rainfall annually, mostly in May and June with a few timely rains falling outside that window usually. Zone 4ish, I tend to err on the side of zone 3. Heavy clay soil.

The first two locations I’m considering for hugel would be A and B in the diagram of my yard. A was formerly a rock garden (thanks to the previous owners) which fortunately got dug out last year in a water line leak situation. Unfortunately, while I had plans to eventually tear it out, that was a lot further down the 20 year plan for this property. Either way, I now have a space of bare dirt that is dug down about 6-8 inches below the level of the concrete sidewalk that borders the house and also runs from the house to the shop. I need to fill it in with something, why not a bunch of logs/brush and then compost/soil? I would not mound this area up significantly, just get it back to level with the concrete. I would likely cover crop it for a few years until I have the time and money to establish the native flowers/ grass garden that I want there. The goal for this bed is to have a nice aesthetic close to the house while providing native pollinators and other critters some habitat, and also to have it be semi-low maintenance, hence native plants that should naturally thrive here anyway. Pros/cons to this hugel idea for this space?

Space B would be a hugel mound running in between the trees (marked by x) in the mini orchard I’m in the process of establishing. I’d like to use the “fruit tree guild” concept here, the only real reasons for the hugel would be to use up excess brush laying around, create a bed for the guild plants that would require minimal watering, and ?possibly? create a tall spot to stand on that might help with harvesting apple trees, although if it’s too steep I feel it would only inhibit the ability to use a ladder where necessary. I’m kind of thinking this one is a no go unless somebody has strong reasons to advocate for it.

The next would be near my existing, but abandoned, vegetable garden. I could create a series of hugels near the greenhouse/winter chicken coop/multipurpose building that I want to add to the garden area. About 30 yards away I have a massive (see picture) pile of trees/brush/etc that’s been piling up since before we moved here. It’s probably 15’ tall x 15’ wide x 30’ long. We also have lots of dead and dying trees (keep in mind that when I say lots this is coming from someone who lives on a prairie, some of you forest dwellers may disagree) that need to come down. We are ranchers and I have access to nearly 200 cows worth of manure, hay, and straw, some of which has been nicely piled up and composting away for several years now, as well as smaller amounts of sheep, horse, and chicken manure. Oh, and I also have a nice big loader tractor that can move those logs and manure nice and easy. So, the question is whether to build hugels and use all that up or just amend my flat garden with wood chips and leaf mold and cover crops. Some helpful info: I don’t need to vertically garden for space reason, I have more space than I know what to do with. The advantage to hugelkultur for me would be the soil quality and, mostly, the minimal watering. Whichever way I go, I’m willing to wait for soil improvements. I have a 3 year old and a 3 month old, and between the livestock and grain crops and both of us working off the farm, I’ve committed to not doing any annual gardening for the next few years, but I could realistically toss a cover crop in there and run some bum lambs or the chickens through it to graze/ trample it down. Once we’ve hit what we call “the break even point” on the kids, meaning they may not be super useful yet but at least they’re not severely inhibiting the work I can accomplish in a day, I would like to get a lot more serious about gardening and growing our food. Thoughts on hugelkultur vs. amending the flat garden?

The last one is really just a fun thought but probably something I will never get around to. West of the calving barn there is an old shelter belt running north-south, many of the trees are dead or dying. They’re all in a nice row. How cool would it be to just start laying them down one on top of the other, such that the branches of one lay on top of the trunk of the previously felled tree, and then bury it all in the manure/straw/hay mixture we have located so conveniently close. Grow a U-pick strawberry farm or something like that on it. What would you plant?

Will you easily be able to get water to either of those locations?

The first year, you do need to water a hugelkultur.

Even though the buried logs act like a sponge, but this effect takes time to develop as the wood decomposes.

Water frequently during the first year, keeping the bed as moist as a wrung-out sponge, then reduce watering as the hugelkultur matures.

My suggestion would be to pick a place which is easy to get water to.

It sounds like hugels are defintitely in your future Linda! You seem to have all the materials for a hugely successful garden
I'm not experienced myself - I only build minihugel, like raised beds, mostly for improved drainage in the short term and hopefully improved soil longer term...
I like the idea of the hugel-bed near the house (A) - that coud be a future permaculture 'zone one' for you, so improving that with a view to productivity makes sense what ever you decide to do with it. I think you're probably right that making and using a berm in the orchard would be more trouble that it is worth. I beleive that covering tree roots can affect their ability to breathe which may make future problems too.
I guess laying the windbreak trees down would make a big berm that could form a microclimate in the same way the tress were intended to as a shelterbelt. I would look at how wind, sun and water flow might be affected though, and see whether this is still the most beneficial to your plot. With the materials you have you could make a really big berm like Paul has at 'Whaton labs' for screening for example. It would make an awesome play structure for the kids though (function stacking perhaps?)
You may also find this thread about homesteading with kids useful to think about for the future.

The water situation by the house is easy. There is a spigot right next to zone A, and there’s also a downspout that happens to dump right into that area, which I plan to incorporate by creating a sort of ephemeral creek bed for it to flow through without washing all the soil, while creating a small space for those plants that love all that extra water.
The orchard area is easily reached by a hose and I also plan to add a rainwater catchment off the house which can gravity flow down to the trees for a long term solution.
The garden has well water.
The super large shelterbelt is not easily watered, but there again, I’ll probably never actually do that one.

I haven’t got all the way through the thread on kids yet. My kids do come and help out on everything around the farm and ranch. My daughter at 3 is very good help. But still, by the time I’ve breastfed and changed diapers and washed diapers and gotten snacks and helped the toddler go potty and gotten everybody into and out of coats, hats, boots, done naps times, etc etc etc it really cuts into the amount of time I can actually do things, and then also add in the large amount of time it takes the toddler to actually accomplish whatever she’s trying to do…you get the point. It’s not that my kids can’t be helpful on the ranch, it’s just that they’re so dependent right now for every single thing that I don’t get as much done. It’s ok. Someday that will change. Right now I’m just stepping back from trying to garden and preserve lots of food and focusing my time elsewhere.

Linda Johansson wrote:Before I start creating massive mounds everywhere I thought it best to let some cooler heads prevail and lend me some advice as I have 0 experience with hugelkultur (and really my thumb is rather yellow, I’m more of a livestock person)..

I'll just tell you a few things I have done in the past regarding hugelkultur, as well as some mistakes I have made.

1.) I ran 1" poly pipe down to the bottom of my hugel trenches, with a threaded cap on top to remove and replace so that debris doesn't get into the pipe after I am done watering. It's convenient to use 1" because a lot of 3/4" garden hoses can fit into it for easy watering. I wrapped the outlet with cheese cloth or a paint straining screen, again to prevent debris from clogging the pipe. This will speed up decomposition of the larger logs at the bottom of the berm but is entirely unnecessary. They are also easy to remove, you can just yank em out after the first year or so if you don't want to use them anymore.

2.)  Don't plant shrubs or trees on the top/middle of berms, as they may experience root damage as the berm decomposes and falls. Plant them near the shelf so they can grab on to native soil.

3.) If you plan to use a drip system, use 1/2" dripper line or Netafim (w/ 6" or 12" spacing). Avoid microsprayers because they are inefficient on berms and can spread powdery mildew.

4.) Be aware of the biomass you are adding into your berm. If you are planning on using it right away, make sure you use dead wood, especially for the larger woody pieces. Fresh wood will leech nutrients (especially nitrogen) from the soil.

5.) Don't ever mix cedar mulch into your soil to amend it. It will take half a decade to break down. I made that mistake starting out...

Just some subjective opinions mixed with my own observations. Enjoy your berm building experience!

If it were me, I would build area A up with a mini-hugel of 2 feet above grade or so, and plant any herbs that will grow in your ecosystem. I have "Allen Blocks" beside my driveway and front walk and I grow in or behind them: Oregano, chives, sage, parsley rosemary, and another mint derivative, walking onions and some garlic I use the greens from. I had Thyme, but it's short lived and didn't come back this year and I haven't had time to try transplanting a new piece into that spot. Of course, I've also got crocus bulbs and some daylilies, because flowers are lovely too. With you having young children, I'd seasonally add spring edible pod peas and mini tomatoes.

You can add a nutritional boost, colour and flavour to meals without going far - even picking as you get back from work and still have outdoor clothes on. I toss parsley, walking onion, dandelion leaf and sage in, if I'm making bone broth as an example. If the herbs were farther away, I would not do so as reliably!

Jay, I will definitely consider taking your suggestion. I had planned to put herbs in the orchard as so many herbs are listed as also being beneficial to the fruit trees, besides just being something I also want to grow. Sadly most culinary herbs that I’m familiar with are not hardy or only borderline hardy in my zone, but maybe close to the house and on the south side like you suggested, I might get a bit of a microclimate and some of those borderline herbs might survive?

I definitely like the idea of a few peas or something that we can just grab and snack on as we walk by, especially with the kids being so little right now. I don’t have the budget for the perennials that I want to plant in there long term anyway. For now, I could just cover crop and incorporate some of those snack plants. Who knows, with the cattle operation growing so much my current garden location might get sequestered for use by the farm. I wouldn’t mind the garden being closer to the house.

Thinking back to the annual garden plot, pros and cons of using a series of hugelbeets vs just trying to improve my soil?
What I can think of so far:
Hugelpros: long term, little to no irrigating (I love this idea, as I love designing systems that require fewer daily chores from me and allow me to do more varied things)
Good use for all the wood I have laying around rotting, as well as all the manure/ compost piling up in the corrals.
Does not require an expensive wood chipper and lots of time running the wood chipper, to create the amendments to the traditional garden beds
Probably a quicker route to good soil than amending my clay soil
Creates microclimates that, if I learn how to use them to my advantage, can improve my garden even further

Flat bed pros: easier to fence adaptively year to year, allowing chickens access to whichever part of the garden I want them to have access to
With hugelkultur, animal integration is likely limited to chickens or possibly bum lambs, whereas with a traditional garden I could allow ewes or even a milk cow or horse in to graze/trample/fertilize a cover crop
Traditional gardening may facilitate better crop rotation on my part, as I won’t be also managing the north/south or east/west side as well as top/sides/bottom of the mound dynamics
Long term, easier access in case tractors would be needed for bringing in compost, cleaning out chicken coop, etc
Having lovely perfect soil right away isn’t really a big deal to me anyway, I am willing to wait a few years