Hugelkultur

[Amigas del Señor]

From Sister Confianza

What is hugelkultur? many of you wondered when I mentioned it in a previous update.  The word is German, and "hugel" means "mound".  This is how we did it, following instructions from my permaculture teacher.  In early December, I marked the edges, about 1 meter wide and three meters long.  It is at an angle in the yard west of the house, which lines it up closer to the actual east-west movement of the sun.  Next, we hoed up the grass inside the marked area.

Then we began digging.  I was able to help with much of the digging before I crashed on the bike December 13.  In these photos, though, you will mostly see Deilin, Lorany's daughter who turned 14 on Jan 1. 

The next step is to fill the hole with logs and other wood that has begun to rot.  Putting down each layer of wood was like a jigsaw puzzle. 

We covered each layer of wood with a couple of inches of the dirt (sand) that we had removed from the hole.  Lorany's 11-year-old son Alexi began helping later in December. (You can also see stacks of drying firewood all around the yard.)

As we reached ground level, we made two layers of coconut husks (leftover and dried out after drinking the coconut water) and then a layer of rotting leaves and twigs.

With a final layer of compost covered with dirt, the hugelkultur is ready for planting!  It's about 1 1/2 feet tall.   This week, we will plant several different vegetables in the mound and see how they do.

The idea is that all of that wood and other organic material will hold water so the things we grow are at less risk of drying out -- which is a significant problem in this sandy soil that drains like a sieve.  We expect, little by little, to convert most of the garden beds into hugelkultur beds due to the improved water retention.  The wood will rot with time -- I'm told it's only 1-2 years in the tropics -- so that the beds will no longer be so tall.  At that point, they will have excellent soil that can continue to be used in place, or moved to other critical locations as desired.  

Our permaculture adventure continues!

Bendiciones,

Sister Confianza

Amigas del Señor Monastery

Limón, Colón

Honduras

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