Thanks to everyone who made this a success! From the prep party to this first workshop.

We sing in the morning, and we speak from our hearts
We share in the work, and balance 'plans' to 'just start'
What language is common? 
What purpose is ours?
No matter uncertainty, we can find work for hours.
Find work in appreciating the texture of wood
and work in no more idea of what 'should'.
We make home for the mushrooms and termites and ants
to let the wood decompose into humus for plants.
All we do is just gather logs and bury them into ground
As my friend Chris used to say, "Humans: We Move Stuff Around."

We didn't get to sowing any literal seeds, but we sure made a big pile of logs together. :)

We decided not to add soil for a few reasons: 
1. We consolidated our efforts into making the pile pretty much full-height, but only building half of it, so ultimately it wants to wrap into the property and therefore needs more building - and more wood than we had. 
2. It will be better for the plants we have (native donations from someone met at a seed swap, plants from the dump pile at a local nursery, and divisions from friends around town) to transplant in the fall rather than in the draught and heat of summer. 
3. "Weeds" will not grow in unplanted soil in the mean time. 
4. We haven't yet found a source of clean fill dirt.

We did have a great donation of a bit of deer fencing to protect plants in the fall. Thanks Tinker!

We adjusted our plans for the weekend's goals when everyone who signed up for the workshop canceled. 

An astrological note: I usually check before I schedule workshops, but forgot this time, and Mercury went retrograde the very day we started. Mercury is the planet of communication, when it's retrograde it's a time of reflection rather than a time of more usual "outward" thinking - often "plans" don't go as planned. It's a great time to study, reflect, organize, for new opportunities to arise... but not great for thinking things will go the way you thought they would. 

In any case, different people than expected came and helped with the pile in wonderful and timely ways. A neighbor down the street donated an additional truckload of wood when she learned what we were doing. We ran out of wood at the end of the second day, and used all the small stick piles around the property, which is what we wanted. Overall, we felt the volume of work accomplished was impressive (we still made a huge pile!) and well-paced (easy going). 

Stay tuned for 'round two' when we build the rest of the hugel pile and plant into it!

On Tuesday, I stopped by the Song House Sanctuary and we had a fun time walking around the land, talking about what we'll be up to during the June 7-8 weekend. Long-term water management with catchment, ponds, and swales are also being considered for the future. 

For the workshop, we'll be building one or two hugelkultur beds, depending on how far we get with the biggest one. 

Song House Sanctuary hosts outdoor gatherings at their fire pit regularly, and they're hoping to shield the light from their neighbor's house (behind me as I'm taking the photo below) so it doesn't interfere with the darkness at the fire. There are already young slow-growing cedar trees planted just south of where the hugel will go. The purpose of this hugel is to give us a head-start on height for blocking the light, with some quick-growing succession plants that will die off relatively quickly and make room for the more slow growing and long lasting forest trees.

The next hugel is the start of a deer fencing experiment. For some parts of the property, they're going to use regular fencing in order to protect the garden and orchard areas from deer, and for others we want to try a living fence. Again, the hugel is designed to give a little more height quickly, and in both cases we're building rich soil for these mounds to provide nutrient-rich environment for roots, worms, micro- and macro-organisms. As the logs break down inside the hugelkultur, they create a spongey humus that also eliminates the need for watering. 

This hugel will be planted with more densely growing shrubby plants - things that will get thick and tall so the deer cannot get through. We may also try a little woven willow fencing. 

Aimée Kelley poses for us to show where the hugel will go:

Below is an example of a willow fence I visited on my travels earlier this month: 

Hugelkultur Workshop Sign Up (also more info found on Hugelkultur in general on this page)

We're doing a PREP PARTY May 16, 5:45PM, Free & Dinner Provided. 
We'll be doing a lot of hauling logs and possibly digging some holes. Bring a chainsaw or handsaws if you have them.

We've enjoyed every step of the way so far, we're bound to keep having fun.