One of the stumbling blocks
in creating a forest pasture from scratch is protecting
the trees while they get established.  Previously, I’d been
surrounding new trees with a cage of flexible
plastic netting,
which does keep the chickens out but also keeps the gardener out. 
The result?  Weeds grow, I don’t water, and about half the trees
die from neglect.



Although I haven’t come
up with anything better for that first critical rooting year, I’m
considering changing over to mulch boxes for years two and
beyond.  The idea is that a raised wall holds the mulch in place
around the tree’s roots, so even though the chickens scratch for bugs,
the mulch just moves around instead of dissipating into the
pasture.  We’ll also be able to mow right up to the edge of the
mulch box, so weeds should be much less of a problem.

I filled some of these
mulch boxes with leaves raked out of the woods, but I’m more confident
in my second experimental choice — summer-cut saplings.  We had
a couple of  helpers come in over the summer and cut back the
young trees (and briars and vines) in the powerline pasture, and they
left the woody debris lying in piles.  I figured the slender
trees, with leaves still hanging on, would make great mulch around my
fruit trees since the branches would make it tougher for chickens to
scratch the mulch up while the leaves would fill in the gaps and coat
the soil.  To hedge my bets, I also stacked rotting logs on top of
the brushy mulch.



Since our laying flock
is foraging in the woods at the moment and we won’t be hatching any
more broilers until late winter, I won’t have data on how these mulch
boxes work for quite a while.  I’ll be sure to post an update,
though, once I get an idea of whether they’re a success or failure.

With the
digging done for the first round of terraces, I roped Mark into the heavy
work of keeping the banks from slumping.  He tried two different
methods, both of which are very experimental (meaning — wait to hear
some results before following suit).



The first technique was
using half-rotten (but huge) timbers from the deconstructed old
house, held in place
with two fence posts.  Mark pounded the posts far into the ground
so the post tops were level with the tops of the logs, which should
provide maximum strength.

The second method was
only subtly different (due to us running out of big timbers).  Now
we moved on to the floor joists for the old house, which are two by
sixes from back when those measurements were accurate and lumber was
made out of hardwoods.  Above, I’m digging out a bit of extra bank
so the boards will fit in flush.

And here Mark’s pounding
in the fence posts to hold the boards in place.  Notice how he’s
got the posts slanted back toward the hillside to counteract pressure
from the earth, and how the boards are naturally spaced a bit apart
(due to us not pulling out nails).  The latter will allow
groundwater to seep out, which will lessen the pressure against the
boards during heavy rains.  (Yes, the gap was an accident, but our
off-site engineer’s comment makes it sound like a good idea.)



For year one, I won’t be
planting anything on the untouched ground above these terrace walls
since I think it’ll take that long to wipe out the Japanese honeysuckle
and blackberries with frequent weed-eating.  After that, though,
I’ll plant this space heavily with species yet to be determined in
order to hold the bank.  I have no illusions that these walls will
remain for more than a few years, but if they keep the bank solid until
I can get some perennials to spread their roots through that area (and
then break down into humus), I’ll be happy.  More on plants in a
later post!