Woodchips

Woods chips are a great resource for creating a permacuture food forest. They provide multiple benefits, most notably they decompose into fertile soil. For my situation, wood chips were also very useful for erosion control. When I first moved in, most of my growing area was so sloped that during a heavy rain, water would flow rapidly along much of the property.That was easily corrected by laying down woodchips in such a way as to reduce the incline of the land in some locations, and soak up water like a sponge. I also use woodchips to create a ring of mulch around fig trees; this insulates the roots during the winter, as well as generating heat as they decompose.

Wood chips

More woodchips

And more woodchips

Happy to receive yet another truckload of woodchips..

And another truckload.

Before the woodchips, this area used to be a gully, hollowed out by years of erosion.

Steaming pile of decomposing woodchips.

Ring of woodchips around young tree.