What has worked for me is cutting Eastern Red Cedar Juniperus Virginiana and Osage Orange and having the mill cut the Cedar 1 inch and Osage 1/2 inch.
The oldest of the beds are 5 year old and holding up well.
I make them 4'wx8' to 12'L x 30"D filled from bottom with 8"leaves and chipped tree pruning,10"60%partialy finished compost+20%cow manure+20%top soil then 12" 50 50 top soil and well finished compost.
I break with conventional wisdom by Standing a 8" preforated cylinder centered in bed every aprox 3 feet. These cylinders are jerry rigged using what I have lying around,example is thin 8" pvc pipe with several 1&1/2" and 2" holes drilled with hole saw. I extend life of pvc top that is exposed uv sunlight by using special pvc primer then top coating with house paint. These cylinders are kept filled with vegetables and weeds pulled from beds,vegetable tops & roots removed while hearvesting,cow manure,kitchen scrapes and other compostabe material. The majority of water gos in these cylinders. I do this to alow airation of the beds. I have a small worm raising set up to give me a supply of casting for pot plants,seed starting and selling a little surplus to keep me in beverage money. I strive to have worms working in the beds yearround. This arrangement replenishes volume lost as the bedding rots.
The soil level drops as plants get taller and season becomes warmer nessitating mulching with wood chips from pruned trees.
I now construct the beds so the lower 6 to 8 inches of one wall can be removed to alow transfering some of lower soil to top once every 2 years more or less as I have time and inclination. It was much easier done when I owned my little trenching hoe but it's a good work out with a shovel now. I grow cereal grains during off seasons not to eat but for benifit to soil and keep bed warmer for the worms. I prefer flipping the soil when time comes to turn the grain under but often till it instead.
Which finaly brings us to my answer about changing soil periodicly. No I don't. I believe the soil would go down hill and might benifit from changing if I did nothing more than top dress. It sounds like more work than it is because the preperations are spread over time rather than thrashing mode 2 times per year.
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Today's Featured Article - Chores - by Frank Young. The ceaseless passing of time! It is at once our friend and our enemy. It measures our progress and it makes us old. Like most features of our life, few things are all good or all bad, and most such judgments depend on our own perspective or viewpoint. In our particular hobby, we enjoy the nostalgic return to the days of our youth as we recreate many of the scenes that took place on the family farm that served as the stage for the first few acts of the play that is our live
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