islafarm
Songster
I know a backhoe sounds like a great idea, but they do a lot of damage tearing up the earth and compacting it in places where you don't want the compaction (unless of course that's what you do want). Now a chipper
that would make your garden beds much more easily @Lacy Blues The greater the surface area, the easier it would be for microbes etc., to break it down. If you had plenty of chicken litter and a few good tarps or black plastic to throw over the top and you soaked it well before hand - or built it in the rainier time, and maybe added some whey or other good source of healthy bacteria / yeasts/ microbes, that would all help. I think we've had a maximum of 10 straight days without rain this whole year, what we need is dry right now
I can't imagine what a life without mold, damp clothes and mildew might be like.
Typically they are put on contours to slow water down, stabilize, add vertical space, create micro environments and maybe as a long term goal, establish terraces. They would make some mighty fine raised beds. Typically also they utilize tree trunks and pruned branches - are there many trees to cut down on the plains of Indiana? 
