well the road was originally put in 30 years ago to develop a subdivision. It has ditches on either side which I have been filling in with wood and
compost for
hugel beds. The previous owner had the road vacated and the lots made whole, so it is basically a horseshoe shaped clearing a half mile long that is in the middle of a 20
acre woods. over the last thirty years it has remained vacant and undeveloped, so weeds and wildflowers took over. There were 30 year old white pines and cottonwoods growing in it as well which I pulled out with the
tractor and shoved into the ditches and buried. I spread tons and tons of cow manure by hand and planted oats and buck wheat followed by corn. The corn did okay but it didn't get very tall, averaged two ears per plant and they were small, but saved a few thousand on feed last year by feeding the whole plant to the cows and pigs. Hopefully it will be even better this year. The biggest obstacle was soil crusting from the small bits of gravel making it difficult for the seeds to break through. This year instead of raking dirt over the seeds, I will sprinkle
compost over the seeds in the trench to prevent the crusting. Also I will presoak the seeds for better germination. More manure and bedding. Oh, and when they made the road they scraped all the topsoil off and piled it in the woods, I have been pulling 30 year old
trees out of the piles and spreading it back into the field and onto the hugel ditches.