Our site for sustainability has two areas. One is a forest and the other is a stony wasteland. I did a soil jar test of the wasteland. This test is easy to practice and know the character of the soil. You can use the manual and calculator below;

Soil jar test simple manual by Oregon state university

Soil texture calculator by USDA

The soil itself is loam. It is good for agriculture. However, I realized that there are not organic matters in the soil.

The topsoil has been removed. Therefore, I decided the first activity is soil preparation. We cut some weeds on the land and using them to make mini hugelkultur beds. Hugelkultur is a horticultural technique implemented in Germany and other eastern Europe. Making beds with compostable materials such as woods or weeds on the soil. Some permaculturists also use this method. To make the beds, first, we put cardboard on the soil and add weeds on them. After that, we poured EM (effective microorganisms) and purple bacteria to accelerate decomposition.

Regarding purple bacteria, it has a lot of positive effects on agriculture. I will explain it in another article.

I plan to continue this work this season.