Bo Bryant

I'm a huge fan of Natural Farming methods (Korean Natural Farming, KNF) for addiing specific micro-nutrients. You can find out how to make Water-Soluble Calcium (WCA) and Calcium Phosphate, Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ) from local ingredients anywhere online. I make these things, if you happen to live around Whitefish MT I have a booth at the farmers market.

Then there are Nutrient Accumulating species, such as Comfrey for Phosphorus. Toby Hemmenway lists many Nutrient accumulators in his book, which I don't have with me.

Hey Permies,

Some friends and I have the opportunity to turn an empty south facing lot with clayish soil into a permaculture garden in Whitefish Montana. Awesome.

The concern at the moment is that if the topsoil is layered too distinctly on top of the clay subsoil, water and roots will not penetrate into the subsoil. The Lot is bare and tightly compacted, and water runs off into an adjacent parking-lot. Renting a tiller to mix the clayish soil with organic matter to hold moisture and house EM has been mentioned, but I was wondering if anyone here had an opinion on the matter.

additional info: lot is roughly 51' on west and east sides, and 110' on south and north sides. There is an apartment building to the north, with wooden patio fences that catch nice heat(no gates on these,no access from apartments). Lot is nearly level, draining slightly towards the southeast and southwest, where the parking lot is draining our run-off. A swale will likely be dug along the southern side to hold moisture in the lot a while longer, and will allow us to build the soil up higher than is currently possible. We also plan on doing some Hugulkultur, if that changes your opinion.



thanks for your time! peace and much much love!

Thanks everyone,

Brenda, I meant that the logs would rise above ground level, and then be covered with at least 6 inches of topsoil, so no part protrudes visibly from the bed, sprouting could still be an issue with some trees, but these logs aren't going to sprout, that's for sure.

Paul, you may be right about it being a bit more effort, but unless you've got some 250 year old oak logs, i think it's a manageable task with a shovel alone.



Anyway, I'm back in Montana and I have another sight that looks good for a Hugulwick, so I'll keep you all posted as the seasons change.

Hey Everyone!

My father has a great deal of hardwood logs (in various stages of decomposition) on his land and a pretty open area that was leveled with cheap fill. I have been somewhat aggressively suggesting hugulkultur beds instead of the ever-so-evil lawn he seemed to think should be there.

But I noticed the leveled fill was only about 2 to 3 feet above water table , and this gave me an idea. An exciting idea, and I want to share it with you.


I imagined digging trenches for the wood to or below the water table, and aranging the logs VERTICALLY so that the tops of the logs would be above ground, but still at least 6 inches below the top of the hugul beds. the trench is then filled in and the beds raised and planted. This, I am hoping, will provide the moisture benefits of hugulkultur AND a Wick feed system, pulling water from the ground up into the beds.

I haven't seen this written about anywhere, and I've been reading every book I can and every post on the forums, though this is my first thread.


much love and happy summer everyone.