We are in a rural setting in NE Texas. I have 4 post oak trunks (8' long, 2' diameter) that were cut about 7 years ago and left to rot. I also have 2 post oak trunks about the same size and some smaller chunks that was cut last year, so have been "rotting" for about 1 year, but really there is no visible change in the trunks.
The 7yo trunks are just under the power line connection where the electricity comes off a pole and to our house. The trunks are not near the house, but they are under this serious looking electricity thing. (sorry! not my area of expertise!) I do not think these trunks could be moved easily without falling apart. We had our chickens around them for about a month and the chickens really worked on breaking them down. They are still big trunks of wood though - not thoroughly rotten. This area gets direct sunlight about 2 hours a day, and otherwise sunlight filtered through tree leaves. I have considered making these hugels. It's not a great location, but could be workable.
The 1yo trunks are in a place where they need to be moved.
My husband's plan was to buy chains to drag these pieces of 1yo trunk to our "burn pile" and burn them. He has also considered burning the 7yo trunks just where they are (that concerns me for the electrical thingy above).
Our house sits at the top elevation of our 3.5 acre property. The main water flow out of our property is through our driveway (which is native soil - white sand!) There are other "streams" of water when it rains when toward the back of the property (which is forest) and toward the front (which has many trees, but is mostly barely covered with grass).
I was wondering if we could drag these trunks to the front and make some way to keep more of the water (and sand that it erodes) on our property. Interrupting the large yard area will make it more of an issue for my husband to mow (which he does maybe twice a year - the grass does not grow that well). Because of the very sandy soil, we usually have no standing water 5 minutes after a heavy rain ends. The soil just soaks it up.
Any suggestions on how to use these tree trunks rather than just burning them?
