This brings us around to Hügelkultur. Basically, this is a permaculture practice of gardening on mounds, or hills: Hügel means hill or mound, and kultur is culture, meaning management practices.
In a visit to Loganberry Farm, Organic Rose mentioned Hugelkultur as being ideal for berries. So the wheels started turning. We weren't in a position to go all out, meaning waiting seasons in order for nature to have worked to build a nice mound over a pile of decaying wood. We knew we needed to modify the practice a bit to fit our time, space, planting needs, and equipment. What follows is a photolog of our breaking in a new field.
For the most part, the mounds were built within a month of planting. Fortunately, we have a couple of rows/mounds to cure before planting them next year. This should help with the manure being more fully composted and all the layers settling in together, much like lasagna improving with slow cooking.
The photos below will give you a sense of how we adapted Hugelkultur to fit the needs at Bramberi Farm for a new planting of Blackberry and Northern Highbush Blueberry.