Hügelkultur or Mound Culture
Hügelkultur: A permaculture farming technique from Germany.
Here is the progression from Silver Maple to mound, which began in late spring and took much of the summer, off and on. Rather than let all the carbon stored in the wood of the tree rot and escape back into the atmosphere, I decided to bury as much as possible in a pit and pile up the wood into a hugelkultur (mound), which I would cover with soil and grow on. The rotting logs become like sponges and help water the plants and trees growing on and around the mound, and help build up a rich ecosystem of mycelia.
* If you have a bad back or you don't want to spend weeks digging the pit, rent a bobcat or backhoe. Actually, you only need to dig down a little bit so you have soil to pile on top of the mound.
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| The 90 or 100-year-old Silver (or Water) Maple and the back of our house. |
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| This beautiful tree was losing its vitality; the outer canopy was mostly without foliage. |
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| We just installed 14 solar PV panels to generate most or all of our electricity. |
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| We read tree poems, quotes, and surrounded the tree with a garland. During the ritual I toasted its long life with a shot of tequila and we drank in gratitude. |
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| Haeja is a good squatter. With Ada, Julia, Pablo and Daniela |
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| Blessing and honoring the tree. |
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| Small hugelkultur with tomatoes and basil in front of tree. |
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| As part of the ritual, the participants began digging the hugelkultur pit into which we would bury the logs where they would begin a new journey as soil in service to feeding people. Son Elias and his dog Miles with Daniela and Julia |
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| Haeja digging |
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| Son Julian, Miles, Haeja and Ada. Miles the Dog would become an excellent assistant to Andrew in digging the pit and breaking up and moving soil. |
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| Alfonzo, his relatives and an expert climber came to skillfully fell the tree. Hugelkultur pit in foreground. |
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| A single pole remained |
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| Only logs and wood chips remained. I had them leave about 12 feet of trunk so I can carve a totem or sculpture of some sort. |
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| The pit deepens with some night digging. |
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| All was done by hand. Nephew Pablo put in a few hours and the rest was done by Andrew, with some enthusiastic help from Miles! |
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| Getting there... |
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| The pit finished, now I just piled with logs, going from large to small, with branches on top. |
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| Then I filled in and covered it with clay and many wheelbarrows of wood chips. |
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| Higher and higher... More recent ones to come. I've just planted a cover crop on it - crimson clover, winter rye and hairy vetch. |
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