Jane Mackey

Hello, I just built my first 2 hugelbeets, each in the shape of a semi-circle, about 3' high and 8-10' around. I'd like to say they're going well since I was super excited to build them, but I'm having a horrible gopher problem (and rabbits, but I think I can get a handle on them). I did not build a trench, but built the hugels on top of the ground and put 1/2" hardware cloth down before piling on the wood. The gophers are climbing right up the side of the beds and making tunnels all over the place. I really do not want to go back and build raised beds, but I also want some vegetables after all my hard work! Was wondering if putting a rock edging may deter them?  Thoughts/ideas??

2nd question: How can you tell how often to water the beds? I know this depends greatly on location (I'm in Northern CA), but I'm not sure how to gauge it since the soil doesn't ever seem particularly dry or wet. I have not had a veggie garden in over 10 years but I recall I watered about 3x/week with regular raised beds.

Apologize if these questions seem silly...have missed gardening greatly and, while I enjoy experimenting, I also want to have a fairly productive adventure! I have 4 more hugels that are ready for the compost/soil addition but waiting to see the yield on the first two before putting in all that work.

We actually lived on the property for about 6 years, then have been off for the last 2. Prior to that, the previous owners had horses on there for 30 years. Since we did not, the land became an overgrown mess. No time or energy to take care of the property before - our huge mistake. Now, however, we are excited to turn it into a wonderful sustaining habitat. There are many places that offer courses, but I need a bit of a jumpstart to at least get the basic design in place.

yes, I'm looking for a professional design. What's especially challenging is finding someone with experience incorporating all the livestock. I don't have the resources to implement everything right away, but I want to start prepping and seeding the land before the rains (crossing fingers!).

matt - I love your eggmobile!! I don't understand why the nest boxes don't work though?? And do you possibly have design plans? My chickens are stuck in a fixed coop surrounded by dirt and I'd love to build them something to go out and enjoy nature. Also, do you put up electrical fencing when you move them? Or do you just have to make sure you're there every evening to lock them in? Then I'm wondering what happens in bad weather...

I would like to build my own chickshaw so that I can move my chickens around the property and then put up electric netting/fencing as needed. I saw one in Paul Wheaton's post on the the different ways to keep chickens and how pastured poultry paddocks was a great way to go. Any tips on where I can find some design plans? Our property is a bit hilly so it can't be very heavy (will be manually moved).

I have 23 acres in the hills due west of Stanford University in Northern California. I thought that only a small portion was usable until I read Sepp Holzer's book. Now I'm convinced I can use practically every square foot of it (and there's even a 20 foot waterfall on one edge of the property)! I'm so excited to get started but I find it tough to find a permaculture designer with livestock experience (cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, etc) to help with an overall site plan. The property is in such disrepair that I almost want to bull-doze and start from scratch, but I sense that a great permaculture design would be far better! Any ideas? I'd like to get started on renovating the land in early October in time for the big rains expected this winter.