Making Terraces From Logs - In Depth

Blue Forest Plants is a small permaculture nursery located in northern Minnesota near Lake Superior. We aim to offer edible, medicinal, and useful plants and to share our experiences for the benefit of all.
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[@HoneysuckleCreekWallangra]

I am using the same technique on the land I am working with. Many slopes, rocks, timber with sand and silt. I am trying not to dig and just securing the logs by using old stumps where possible. Great work, thanks for sharing.

[@DylanStJohn]

Super helpful, thanks for putting this together.

[@peterellis4262]

Nurse logs are sources of major benefits in and of themselves. Incorporating them into terrace building is great function stacking. I've been doing something similar with my swales on contour. Rather than inlayiing them as you have done, I've used stakes to lock ours in place and they've naturally been enveloped a bit.

[@john4820]

We have done the same with staking, but have found over time that keying the logs into the slope with a trench really helps with moisture retention and overall solidity. We ended up redoing a lot of our staked logs terraces with the in ground method after 3-5 years to increase moisture retention. I think it depends on your context and what you have time for. Either way, you are introducing more organic matter to your system and helping to slow down slope erosion, while encouraging debris deposition up slope. 😁

[@coinoccamy1074]

Thanks, you answered questions I had on a project ✌

[@john4820]

💚