PEP BB earthworks.sand.bermtrail - build a trail into a berm

It was a challenge for me to get the necessary documentation since I worked on this project out of earshot of others. I made sure to get all of the details in photos but they're in a different order. I primarily used a shovel, the pitchfork wasn't useful, and the mattock tool was just too heavy for me to use effectively. My halfway picture doesn't have me in it because I was alone so I include the tools in the measurement photos (they doubled as tape measure holders). I marked the 20ft trail using the 2 vertical peeled roundwood (small) logs. The vertical logs didn't move for the duration of the project and can be referred to again in attachment 3. This was incredibly hard work to do in 90+degsF. The boots checked it out after watering it and it needed more work so I spent a second day ensuring that the trail wasn't soft/spongy to their standards. The trail was obviously more than a foot wide (more like an excessive 3 ft wide trail) so I didn't take a photo. I do have a video that I could post but I'd first have to figure out how to edit it. I planted a clover mix and vetch.

Minimum requirements:

  - Build a 20' trail (1' wide) on a berm or hugelkultur
  - Berm/hugel must be at least 7' high so the trail provides access to the higher reaches

To get certified for this BB, post three pics  

Attachment 1  - The berm or hugelkultur without a trail
Attachment 2  - A picture about halfway through of you using handtools to make the trail
Attachment 3   - The berm or hugelkultur with a trail that is at least 20ft long and 1ft wide
Attachment 4   - Describe what seeds were planted.

I have been wearing out the side of my hugel bed as I go up and down it. The seeds I planted on it had barely begun to grow when I went to Wheaton Labs for a two week SKIP event, during the hottest part of the summer. They all died! Leaving the slope of my hugels to degrade.  So I decided to make some stairs up and pop out a trail, and plant more seeds to hold the sides in place better. The steps are made of firewood rounds. I hammered branch dowels into the ground downhill against them to hold them in place. Then I back-filled them with dirt on site.

I planted a good mix of clovers, vetch, calendula, salsify, chamomile, radish, parsley, and thyme. They will line the entire pathway, next to the rocks that define it. The rocks, ever in abundance here, are right from the property whereon the berm sits.