K Manslon

That's a shame about the tornado damage. Clever idea using the blow down as fodder. Probably a lot of free wood chips available from tree services cleaning up in your area. One can never have too many chips.

This is excellent. Thank you for posting your progress. Wise move putting so much thought and effort into water management and irrigation. It's ideal to complete projects quickly because life is short, but there is much to be said for tackling a plan in stages. It helps to relax between stages and gather insight from past work, to inform future work. Excited to see how your hugelkultur and mushroom logs perform.

You might enjoy this video:
WOODLANDERS EP4: WOODLAND MUSHROOM CULTIVATION
https://vimeo.com/209273918

Excavators are the epitome of utility. Once you find a skilled operator, do your best to keep them. Mine does pretty much any kind of earthwork with an excavator (aka trackhoe) and dump truck. I've only seen him work 1-2 acre areas though. A larger area may change his method. When stumping, he works in sections no more than a few machine lengths. Excavated material is strategically accumulated to minimize machine travel and obstructions around the site. He uses the bucket and stabilizer blade for spreading and basic grading (instead of a dozer for example). He parks his truck conveniently close and drops the removed stumps in the truck bed to be dumped wherever (hauled away, burn pile, etc).

Rocks are underrated. Find on-site uses for the large ones. Ask the operator for ideas if you can't think of any.

Trees here are 99% conifer (spruce/pine/fir). The stumps are slow to decompose. I plugged a few with dowel spawn in an experiment 5 years ago, and they show little sign of rot today. I've cleared about one acre of woodland, half of which for a house site, and the other half for backyard permaculture. Though there hasn't been a ton of activity, it's been interesting to watch the (future) permaculture half during its 3 year neglect since cleared. The trees were felled, (most) logs stacked, branches chipped, and stumps left intact. The duff was awash in sunlight for the first time in 30 years. Burnweed emerged, followed by fern, blueberry, grass, sawyer beetles, snakes, and a variety of birds.

Coppice hasn't been a problem on the few hardwood stumps. If I were able to get to it before the deer (the voracious beasts are effectively a roving band of goats), the young growth would produce some of the finest wood chips.

A well-known member that used to be active on this forum suggested I leave the stumps and work around them for frugality. It's good advice but I'll be happy to see them go, despite the cost for removal. Burning the removed stumps would be easier than burying (depth to bedrock averages 4ft) -- thanks Travis for the tips on burning. Perhaps the best plan would have been to push the trees over with an excavator, to uproot them and deal with everything at once. But 3 years of procrastination has shown I'm probably better off having at least gotten started.

Clearing land is a rewarding chore. Cutting and chipping trees and digging in the dirt (sorry, soil) can even be fun.

Also see:
http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=79530.0


Clearing (Oct 2016)


Year 1 (Aug 2017)


Year 2 (Jun 2018)


Year 3 (May 2019)
I wonder how the land will respond to a thousand or so log hugelkultur.


3" and narrower branches processed with MacKissic chipper-shredder. Most was spread for trails but I saved plenty for mulch and soil building. Stray mushrooms go directly into the bank (err chip piles). Though loud, hot, dusty, and smelly to operate, the chipper was an excellent investment.

Fret not John. Any covering is a step in the right direction. At least something is growing. Your hugel weeds are N-rich organic matter suitable for composting or chop and drop.

That dump truck of compost might be coming my way too, but it weighs on me that it likely wasn't tested for persistent herbicides, aka killer compost. It's wise to trial before buying in bulk. We risk impurity and poisoned soil to start quickly. Given enough foresight, time, and hard work, anyone can create ideal soil and compost, but therein lies the difficulty of meeting that ideal. I have no experience with poultry but I wonder if a small flock, served intensively grown plants and a steady supply of wood chips, would offer one of the quickest natural paths to something resembling a small scale poison-free compost factory.

I made a haphazard hugelkultur bed that most would consider a hugel fail. Layers: conifer logs (pair of 4x4x4' stacks, 8' total length oriented N-S), fresh cut weeds/grass (~1 cuyd), a few handfuls of compost, soil (~0.5 cuyd), topped with conifer wood chips (~0.75 cuyd). No seed. All above ground. Wood logs and chips were 4 years old. Covering only 1-3" thick, should have been made much thicker, and the ends should be covered. I used the material and time that was available. If nothing else, the covering will shelter wildlife and speed the creation of nurse logs. I went in with no expectations and am surprised by the lush green growth, even if it's volunteer grass and weeds.

East, Jun 2018


North, Jun 2018


North, Jun 2019


South, Jun 2019