Homesteading Hopeful Hugel Build 1st

Hello. Long story short, after 40ish years of wandering, I have landed on a slice of 5 acre wonder. I spent my entire life on concrete and in large cities. Food knowledge came from the back of a Kid Cuisine container as a kid.
I stumbled upon Paul Wheaton’s 72 Brick’s to Build a Better World YouTube video about 5 years ago and I have been on a self-sufficient mission since. First I relearned how to eat and now I’m in the building stages of a future permaculture homestead. I am fishing for any feedback or ideas that anyone is willing to share regarding the layout and hugelkultur beds I am trying to install.
The land was logged, farmed (pine trees, all dead now), and stripped some years ago. The soil is clay. The land had several downed trees and brush piles so…I found the largest and began building a hugelkultur mound. A few notes, I do not have any kind of earth moving equipment so any suggestions would need to be achieved by hand.
This is my first post so, I’ll take any feedback on posting too. I am so excited that this community exists. Thank you for the inspiration and advice!

The mounds are looking great. I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts:

1. Are they built on contour?
2. Seeing as you have clay, pine, and some access to hay, I'm guessing your soil is probably fairly acidic. I wonder if there are plants you could broadcast that would a) loosen the clay, b) provide alkalinity, c) strengthen the mound structures, and d) fix nitrogen.
3. Which zone are you in and what's the sun and water story here?

Matthew LeVan wrote:The mounds are looking great. I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts:

1. Are they built on contour?
2. Seeing as you have clay, pine, and some access to hay, I'm guessing your soil is probably fairly acidic. I wonder if there are plants you could broadcast that would a) loosen the clay, b) provide alkalinity, c) strengthen the mound structures, and d) fix nitrogen.
3. Which zone are you in and what's the sun and water story here?

I spent the 6 months doing my best to observe, although, I’ll be honest, I’m not great at the terminology. So, hopefully this story answers all your questions… 😃
I am in Central Ohio, zone 6. I live on the top of a ridge, which in many ways is incredible. But, wind is definitely at play. I was told the area had been drought stricken the past 3 years or so, though I don’t have specifics, I know it was 30-35 inches on average. However, it seems like this year is more on track to hit the high end of 40 inches annually. The average is listed as 40-42 inches of precipitation annually.
The area in front and next to the greenhouse have traditionally flooded after any type of moderate rainfall. Thankfully, it has yet to stick around longer than 24 hours, usually not more than 12 at most. Levels have yet to exceed 3 inches standing.
The highest point of the property is the highest point of the ridge itself and it’s about 20 feet passed the (in the woods) large mound at a very low grade. Almost all of the property is sloped downhill at varying grades on all sides. So, when I do get a runoff event, it doesn’t stick around. I did identify a sort of stream passing through where I built the small mound, toward the greenhouse. So I tried to intentionally place the small mound to capture that runoff, which seems to have worked so far. (It’s been about 6 weeks)
The large mound is honestly just there and not specifically placed. It is an area where all of the cleared wooded debris was piled when they cleared the site to build the cabin, I think it was about 5 year ago. It’s a mix of downed trees, rotted firewood, rocks and lots of slayed brambles. I just started digging out rocks and piling as much dirt as I could on top every day. Without earthmoving equipment, that was the best idea I could come up with to do with the area.
I did broadcast a mix of Jerry oats, winter peas, buckwheat and radish on the small mound as soon as I finished it. That’s what’s currently growing, I’m hoping that would act as a proper living mulch prior to chopping and dropping and then planting. Those were what I had on hand but I’m open to better suggestions for broadcasting once I finish digging the large one.

Seems like you're on the right track to me. Again, I'm far from an expert, and have basically zero experience myself (as I'm building my first Hugelkultur beds as we speak). Central Ohio seems like a great area to be, maybe you can plant some wind breaks where you notice greater wind exposure. What are you wanting to plant in your beds? The mixture you mentioned seems good too, although I'm sure you could broadcast even more kinds of things you could find to see what works and what doesn't.

Welcome to Permies, Stacy!

Great start, keep it up. Learning what works and doesn't work is the core skill, but it takes time to make all the mistakes you need to learn from.

Have you considered making biochar from the dry deadwood, and brush? That would help with the clay soil, moderate soil acidity and improve drainage in your future garden beds. With just hand tools, a burn trench is a good choice. Have water on hand in case of escaping embers, choose a wet day during or after a rain, and especially not a windy day.

With all the trees around, you have a bounty of easily gathered leaves, and leaf mold on the forest floor. Use the leaf mold to mix into your garden soil and hugel surface. Use the leaves to keep soil covered and plants mulched. Bare exposed soil is dying soil, especially clay.

Have you had any deer showing interest in your growies?

Thank you both!

It just so happens I did some burning a few days ago. With so many rocks, I built a fire pit and burned one of the debris piles. I’ll be sure to collect some. Any tips for best practices for it around beds and plants?

I plan to put some summer and winter squashes, cucumbers, beans, kale and Swiss chard in the small bed. I’ll plant some chives and nasturtiums around the base. I haven’t planned the large bed yet, it will take a bit more work before it’s finished. I was thinking of cover cropping first.

Most of the acreage is blackberry, summer grape, raspberry and various bushes and trees. The deer around here have kept themselves busy with all the other vegetation. Although, I’m sure it is a matter of time before they discover mine. Any tips?

Stacy DeRemer wrote:Thank you both!

It just so happens I did some burning a few days ago. With so many rocks, I built a fire pit and burned one of the debris piles. I’ll be sure to collect some. Any tips for best practices for it around beds and plants?

I plan to put some summer and winter squashes, cucumbers, beans, kale and Swiss chard in the small bed. I’ll plant some chives and nasturtiums around the base. I haven’t planned the large bed yet, it will take a bit more work before it’s finished. I was thinking of cover cropping first.

Most of the acreage is blackberry, summer grape, raspberry and various bushes and trees. The deer around here have kept themselves busy with all the other vegetation. Although, I’m sure it is a matter of time before they discover mine. Any tips?

Sounds like an excellent piece of property. For deer, I'd say... broadcast enough for them beyond your most-prized beds and make sure there are enough "goodies" for them out there!

Stephen said something to me ...  i gotta run to a meeting, but i looked it up ...

paul wheaton wrote:Stephen said something to me ...  i gotta run to a meeting, but i looked it up ...

Yes... to clarify my original post in this thread, when I asked if OP's hugels are built on contour, I did not intend to suggest that they should be! Apologies if it came across that way.

Thank you so much for the advice. I actually watched that video just before I started the small build. My partner thought I was crazy, watching me blow dandelions all over it when I was done. I loved that idea.
For clarification, the area is just about the top of the ridge. But, I did try to shape the mound “off” contour, just slightly. At least…I think that’s what I hope I did 😃. I basically tried to mimic the shape that is in the demonstration but I inverted it on the slope.

A smudge more clarification below.

Five acres after 40 years of concrete sounds like a proper life change. The mounds look solid for a first build. Clay soil is a pain to start with but hugels actually do well in it once the wood starts breaking down and the biology gets going. Squash on the first year is a good call, they'll sprawl over the mound and help keep moisture in while everything establishes.

Joao Winckler wrote:Five acres after 40 years of concrete sounds like a proper life change. The mounds look solid for a first build. Clay soil is a pain to start with but hugels actually do well in it once the wood starts breaking down and the biology gets going. Squash on the first year is a good call, they'll sprawl over the mound and help keep moisture in while everything establishes.

Thank you! It has been the scariest, yet most fulfilling experience of my life so far. It feels human…finally. I am truly thankful every single day.
Clay is definitely a situation. Although I did find some muscles I didn’t know I had while I was digging it. I was hoping squash was a good choice because it’s so damn delicious! I established what I hope will be a living mulch of clover, buckwheat and hopefully some dandelion as well.
It’s been one big exercise of “let’s see if it works” (aka FOFA). I am in awe at nature’s strength and surprises every day, especially because it is turning my trial and error bullshit into food. It’s amazing.
I don’t know where I’d be if not for all of the resources and information from this group though…probably in a muddy ditch.

Nice job Stacy!  Snakes by us seem to love the inside of our hugel or find it a good place to curl up and hunt for the small mammals visiting.  Just don't want you to be surprised by the ecosystem you built!  I stomp and shout "coming snakes" before entering mine Hugels are great, rarely needs watering here in Upstate NY. We fenced ours in with minimal walkways around them. Deer will jump anything but they won't jump into a narrow path between a fence and a hugel so we've learned. I'm growing only perennial edible plants in ours and WOW, once it warms up a fully grown garden just appears out of nowhere.  Best thing we did on our property. New line of felled trees are stacked and ready for our next one, which won't be fenced as I am growing only deer resistant perennial edibles in that one.  Good luck!

Thank you Lynne! Great advice about the snakes, especially because I have some nice rocks that I’m sure they will love. I’m excited to learn that yours are doing so well, considering we are in near the same climates. I’m certainly going to employ the narrow path trick on the deer, fantastic idea.
I would love to know what you have planted in your bed?

Stacy DeRemer wrote:Thank you Lynne! Great advice about the snakes, especially because I have some nice rocks that I’m sure they will love. I’m excited to learn that yours are doing so well, considering we are in near the same climates. I’m certainly going to employ the narrow path trick on the deer, fantastic idea.
I would love to know what you have planted in your bed?

On our hugel we have rhubarb, horseradish, strawberries (the little wild ones), and raspberries.  A nice surprise crop of rocket mustard just showed up. Next year it will probably be all raspberry at the rate they are spreading.  Last year I planted potatoes all around the perimeter and they loved it there.  Planting sesame seeds and skirret this year on my second hugel, so excited about these 2 new additions!

That sounds incredible Lynne. As soon as I read what you had planted, I ran out and planted some potatoes at the bottom of mine. Thank you for the inspiration. I’m excited too! It’s going to be an amazing summer.