I have written several posts about bio-char and the benefits that it can provide for soil health, water quality and agriculture. The three ingredients that constitute biochar are the char itself, which is virtually pure carbon, water and some sort of biological inoculate, like compost. There has been a systematic poisoning of the soils worldwide. Multinational corporate welfare whores are continuing to produce TNT, which produces anhydrous ammonia as a by-product. If anyone needs any more reason to be a pacifist, the ecological destruction that is part and parcel of the military industrial complex should be reason enough. Our leaders have proven that human life is meaningless to them, but perhaps ecological destruction of the soils upon which all life is built may be the fulcrum to move public opinion and government regulation with a bit less effort. We have a long lever arm at our disposal and that is our desire to continue the species. In war there has always been the expectation that there would be a victor and a vanquished people. Facts deny that this is true but we continue to be lied to by history and those that profit from the carnage. The same is true for our agricultural practices. If the oligarchs cannot keep the money rolling into their hands, there is very little chance that people will hear about it. That is why I want to simplify the process by which we can feed twice as many people using the same amount of land that is under cultivation as we have today. Production increases will not be enough in isolation, but distributing the abundance of nature has always proven to be a difficult task for humans and that has not yet changed.
Char is best made by roasting clean and pure sawdust, wood chips or pieces small enough that they can be crushed to powder after they have been charred. Ideal-sized pieces are the size of a grain of rice or smaller. There can be no synthetic glues, laminate, plastic, or chemical biocides or "treatments" on, or in, the wood. Smashing, grinding or otherwise powdering pieces of roasted wood makes lots of dust and although I have made my char powder using several different low tech methods, the easiest one that I have found is to feed the chunks of charcoal into a meat or coffee grinder. The only reason that I have begun to use sawdust is that I have a never-ending source of the material a short bike ride from my home. This material, when created, can last for tens of thousands of years in the environment because in nature, the organisms who inhabit the micro-pores in the char are only interested in the protection that it provides. They do not eat the material. The char acts as housing, a matrix upon which life can cling but also protection from predators. If you have ever let water stand in a basin, over time you will feel a slick coating on the surface of the container. This is a thin film of bacteria clinging to the container. Imagine this same film coating fourteen acres of surface area in each handful.
As far as the water goes, the most success will be had by using distilled or rain water. Especially rain water seems to overcome the surface tension issues that make the char hydrophobic. In my early days I used a drop or two of bio-degradable soap, but since discovering the power of rain water, I probably will not go back to using any other type of water. All life seems to need clean fresh water, the soil organisms that we add to our chat to make it bio-char need at least enough moisture to remain hydrated and to begin their reproduction process. When making char, it is important to keep it aerobic (with air) and to keep it warm enough that the microbes that we add continue to multiply. Below about fifty degrees, biological activity slows and getting the culture of organisms to take hold in the char will take longer.
The nutrients in compost as well as the organisms that thrive in it are exactly the ones we seek to introduce into our char. The soil is a living community made up of millions of different bacteria, plankton, algae, fungi and viruses. The most beneficial ones are dependent on both air and water, so burying the char deeply is not as beneficial as they would be in the top six inches or so of the soil column. Over twenty years ago, my mentor turned me on to the soil building method that just "breaks" the surface. I most often do this with a potato fork. just drive it into the soil and pry a bit. This creates regions that have oxygen and the cracks and fissures that open up also allow moisture to percolate into the soil instead of just running off or sitting on the surface if the soil had been compacted. I have written about the quality of the ground upon which I garden at length and for those who know I am sorry for repeating myself.
When I took ownership of my property, two city lots in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the land had been a brickyard and dump. The heavy clay soils had been compacted and sterilized by chemical abuse, heavy equipment and callous humans unaware of the world of life that was supposed to reside beneath their feet. When I tried to dig my first garden beds, the sharpened spade just bounced off the surface. The only tool that could penetrate the surface, and in most places only a half inch or so, was the potato fork. I tried to work the surface, spread a bit of compost, and covered the whole affair with straw. (mulch is perhaps the most important single ingredient in my gardening process)sunlight kills many bacteria, so protecting the soil from the desiccating effects of direct sunlight and keeping UV rays from killing off the critters that I encourage are, and always have been crucial to my efforts at soil recovery. After the first rain, I was able to force the tines of my potato fork an inch or two down, so I pried the soil open to that depth, repeating the process and finally covering the earth with another few inches of mulch. It took several years, but the soil began to yield and recover from the horrible treatment that had lasted for decades before we got here. now, we have recovered soils to the point of being able to plant most seeds and sets with fingers as our only tools. Places where water used to pool are now able to absorb even the heaviest rains with not problem and the garden that used to need water as much as several times a day to get seeds started can be left for weeks without irrigation and the plants still do well. That is because there is a thriving community of organisms extending from just below the surface to at least several inches down. In places, the soil has developed to over a foot, but it did not happen overnight. I have been loving my property "back to life" and caring for the soil for a decade and it continues to improve.
By expanding the base of the food chain, it has effects all the way up to the top. Since staring our gardens, we have seen a steady growth in wildlife, both numbers of individual creatures and the variety of different species. When we first bought our property, the wildest things we saw were neighbor cats and oppossum. Now we have a variety of rodents, turkey, fox, deer and dozens of species of birds, all attracted to the oasis that we have created. Even the neighbors started to notice the amazing recovery that we were able to achieve and now several of them are starting gardens or expanding their interest in growing a few things for use in their kitchens. where there was nothing but baked clay a decade ago, there are fruit trees, grapes, rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, leeks, chives, and in Summer, there will be cukes, melons, squash, tomatoes peppers and kale. Swiss chard, carrots, potatoes and radishes, to name just a few. Sure, some go to critters and each year we lose a few to disease or falling tree branches, but the volume of food that we produce in the yard grows each year. Bio-char is a large part of that ever-increasing cornucopia and if you are interested in learning more about it, I am producing a video that reduces the three to five hour process into a twenty minute presentation. If you learn better in-person, I have a small enough char generator that I can take it on the road and I am willing to give presentations and explain the easiest ways to make char to anyone who is interested. I do, however, require transportation and lodging costs to get me, and me device, to your location, so consider what it is worth to you to double your agricultural production.
Inquiries welcome! My physical address is ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. 1445 Porlier street Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301 USA. If you want to contact m electronically, you can leave a comment here or use Facebook to contact us through ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. "there". blessed be and may the art and science of restoring the Earth bring you multi-fold blessings. I know it has for me!
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