january 2019 found me doing the ultimate do-it-yourself project: making my own buckwheat hull mattress! now, seven months on, i'm hear to tell you what i think of it thus far.

• a buckwheat hull mattress, i’ve found, is comparable to sleeping on a waterbed but without the sloppy, sloshing water. the buckwheat hulls, within their individual pods, mush to contour to your body. unlike a waterbed, the buckwheat hulls do not readily shift when you move in bed, so you can end up with lumps in places you didn't intend.

• if you've slept on a futon mattress and liked it, you’ll probably enjoy a buckwheat hull mattress. both are very heavy, dense, and in certain ways, unforgiving. if you are looking for a softer bed, i'd advise you to look elsewhere.

• i do have to push and pull the pods around a bit before i get into bed the next night as they remain in shape from how i'd slept the night before. this nightly adjustment lets them naturally re-conform to my body when i get into the bed again, so they can distribute the hulls more evenly and comfortably.

• for whatever reason, i find i nap better on my buckwheat mattress then i do with overnight sleeping. i can’t explain why.

• my youngest, josephine dearie, absolutely adores sleeping in my bed. she finds it extremely cozy!

• my body consists of bony bits: bony hips, bony arms, bony elbows. i notice pressure on those areas in the buckwheat hulls when i sleep at night, and because of all my bony bits (especially, my hips!) the resulting indentations in the pods, particularly those that support the trunk of my body, are deep and absolutely have to be re-adjusted for the next nights sleep.

• one of my preferred ways to sleep at night is to lay on my stomach and curve the top of my foot around the last row of pods across the foot of my bed. i have long legs, and fortunately, there is a wonderful gap between the last row of pods and the foot board. i use my foot to "pull" the pods up towards the rest of the pods and fully enjoy the unencumbered space at the foot of my bed. resting and hanging my foot over the last row of pods at the edge is very comforting for me, like a favorite blanket or toy brings comfort and contentment for a child.

• i'm naturally a side-sleeper, sometimes a stomach sleeper, and think this style of mattress is more agreeable to a regular back sleeper. it's also recommended to use a very thin pillow on a buckwheat hull mattress, but i have difficulty with sleeping on thin pillows, too.

• when i change out my bedding to be cleaned, i use a vacuum cleaner attachment to suck up all the fine dirt that has collect under and to the sides of the pods, which are laying on a flat sheet atop my box spring. i don't worry about inhaling this fine dust because it settles at the bottom of the pods and i have two fitted sheets on top. if the pods or certain pods seem to need additional buckwheat hulls to fill them out, i have several pounds in storage that i can do that with.

• there is something to be said for being able to say "i made my own mattress..." as a humble brag!

• making my buckwheat mattress was very economical compared to buying any type of new retail mattress, even if if that mattress was organic.

• i'm not 100% convinced a buckwheat hull mattress is right for me in the long run. however, i'm content to keep sleeping on my unique diy project for the time being, and will see what the future brings.

do you have a question about buckwheat hull mattresses that i didn’t speak to above? send me a note with your question and i shall respond tout-suite and update this post accordingly!