Hugelkultur!

You can get this year's piles ready for next year by adding more compostables and soil. The only problem I see is that there will be pockets of Nothing in spots that might make it too porous for some plants until the pile can settle. Giving it a year to settle and planting in it next year might give it that time.

We have an accidental hugelkutur pile in our backyard from construction/logging. It was difficult to move as it had both wood and soil, so we are planting in it and discovering and filling these pockets as best we can. I haven't done any purposefully, but I have studied it and am glad to be hearing more about it. When people burn their brush piles, all that good energy literally goes up in heat and smoke! We have had such great experiences with logs in the garden beds, wood chips transforming gardens-- we know how brilliant wood can be in the garden, but people seem to be afraid of it! The loggers who cleared about 2 acres for us were baffled as to why we weren't going to burn the piles. We had wanted them to leave the wood where it was, but they wouldn't have been able to move around, so we have large brush piles that we stomp down some and let settle. The largest one has been reduced by more than half already, and the soil it is leaving behind is beautiful and black.

Good luck!