I moved the flame bushes that were cut down yesterday. It wasn’t has hard as I thought. All I had to do was move one limb at a time. Who knew there were soooooooo many? What did I do with them? I made a dam up by the orchard. I say a water dam, more precisely, I’m building a hugelkultur mound.

Hugelkutur mounds are no-dig raised beds made of wood, covered with compost, and soil (basically the same ingredients of compost piles). The mounds slowly delay causing the ingredients to conconuously add nutrients and support the soil.

My reason for building the huglekutur mound here is to stop the rain flow from raging downhill. The highest part of our property is at the front gate. It’s a gentle slope but a slope none the less. Fortunately, the front pasture and gardens do slow down some of the water. But with so much rock and clay, water rages down our driveway straight to the horse barn – the lowest part. Our horses are in the lowest pasture so their feet are constantly exposed to moisture. Horse folks know that’s not good.

By building a huglekultur mound on grade up by the orchard, my intention is to not only slow down the water but to save it for the fruit trees instead of the back pasture. The permaculture concept supporting water conservation is to harvest water wherever and whenever it falls. This is step one in this process. Next, I’ll layer it with manure so the horses can do their part in degrading the bushes faster. Followed by layering the dam with soil, it will eventually be firm enough to conserve water.