WHY WE CREATE 'HUGEL' MOUNDS

We provide browse to our goats on nearly a daily basis. They strip off the foliage and bark, leaving us with significant quantities of twigs and branches.

We use some of it as tinder and kindling for our wood burner in winter, but most is added to raised hügelkultur mounds we’ve created to elevate our fruit trees above the seasonally sodden soils.

Depending on the time of year, we also add excess cardboard and paper we have on hand, and in the past biodegradable takeaway containers from ‘zero waste’ truck food events.

As we dig drains and swales, the soil is placed on top of the limbs. These begin to break down, creating a slow-motion, underground compost heap.

Read more on page 16