This is very interesting. I've not seen hugelkulture done with tree stumps and trunks before (only smaller wood). What happened next? Was the soil covered? How is moisture monitored? What's the climate in that particular place?
I doubt that the moisture will be monitored.
Climate: it gets mighty cold in the winter. We're not far from canada - up high in the rocky mountains. So this is "mountain desert" with temps usually getting to 10 below (F) in the winter and sometimes as low as 30 below.
A friend saw the video from two days ago and emailed me to say that he
made something like that ten years ago. And here is a video of his
ten year old hugelkultur bed:
http://www.youtube.com/paulwheaton12#p/u/0/lWaEEdB6GZM