Making Biochar for the Garden in 2019

We have live oaks, water oaks, and pecan trees in our yard and pasture.  They are forever dropping limbs.  We have to pick up sticks in the whole yard before we mow the grass.  There is rarely a time that we don't have at least two 'burn piles' stacked up.  I'm so glad that we live in the country and can burn things when we need to.  We like to sit around the fire pit in the fall and winter and just gaze into the fire.  It's so relaxing.

Time to get rid of this burn pile by the tree.

If you've followed us for any time at all, you know that we are steadfast and focused about improving soil health.  We compost everything that will decompose.  Benjamin caught a fat possum in a trap last night and finished him off with his .22.  He's digging a deep hole in the garden now to "plant" Mr. Possum - Kind of like the Indians buried a fish with their corn planting...

Well, we're in year 3 of making bio char, and that's what we'll be doing in the post today.  Bio Char is also called Terra Preta or "black earth."  Long ago in the Amazon basin, people used terra preta as a soil amendment.  They buried smoldering sticks and organic materials into the soil.  The benefits include the boosting of soil fertility, improving yields, increasing the soil's capacity of water retention, and housing beneficial soil organisms.

Well, let's make some of that!  How do you make it?  Let's get started.  First start a fire.

Come on baby, light my fire

After the fire has burned a little while - enough to burn into coals, but not long enough to turn to ash, stop the process by quickly soaking down with a water hose.  Spray until it no longer smolders.  You can take a shovel and chop into charcoal-sized pieces.

Charcoal

If you looked very closely at the pieces of burned wood, you'd see microscopic, porous holes.  When incorporated into the soil, these become little condominiums for beneficial soil microbes.  I just keep burning and spraying, making batch after batch of bio char until my burn pile is gone.  It is replaced with a mineral bucket full of bio char.

My old trench shovel works perfectly for this.

Now you might think we're done, but if you amended this into your soil now, you'd have problems.  Bio char acts as a sponge and soaks in all soil nutrients and holds them.  If you'd plant into soil with un-inoculated bio char, your plants would be stunted and sickly.  It is best to pre-charge your biochar.  Here's how we do it.  We mix in cow poop.  It is full of bacteria that will inhabit the porous spaces in the bio char.  I mix it all together real good.

Stirring the Poop

I add a layer of bio char and then a layer of poop.  A layer of bio char and then a layer of poop.  Repeat until you fill up the bucket.

When I've exhausted the cow poop supply, I fill the poop bucket with water and shake and scrub the sides down.  Then I pour the poop/water slurry on top of each of my buckets of pre-charged bio char and let the 'poop soup' filter through the layers.

I'll let the buckets sit for a few weeks and fester.  You don't want to rush things.  When the time is right, I'll work this into the garden soil.

Bio char is stable and rich in carbon and can stay in the soil for thousands of years.  I am hoping the Lord returns soon, but if He tarries, we'll continue building healthy soil and will continue being good stewards of His Creation.  Making bio char is just one more way to accomplish that.  God Bless!

Burn, Baby, Burn

John 15:6 King James Version (KJV)

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Having trees on the property is certainly a blessing.  In the summer, we enjoy the shade.  We are always picking up sticks and limbs that fall from our trees.  In the winter, we like to burn campfires to keep warm or just to sit and relax watching the flames devour the wood.  This weekend we set fire to a wood pile that is in the eastern side of the pasture in front of the barn.  I got a bench for us to sit on as the sun went down.

The hens are going to miss the woodpile.  Some of them roost on it at night.  They'll have to find a new spot.  Some of them lay eggs beneath it, too.  We find them and are unsure if they are still good, so our dogs end up being recipients of the eggs found in the woodpile.

Sitting in front of the fire would have been really peaceful, but an unpleasant aroma kept wafting over.  It took a minute for us to figure out what it was.  When we moved the chicks out of the brooder in the garage and into the chicken tractor, we collected all the pine shavings mixed with poop that was on the bottom of the brooder.  Our intent was to trench compost it in the garden, but we haven't gotten around to it yet. 

As the fire grew, we had to move the bench.  Although it was a cool evening, the roaring fire was putting out some awesome heat.

When the wood pile is gone, it will be one less obstacle to walk around when going to the barn.  When trying to catch the calf, sometimes he plays a game of running away from you and running round and round the woodpile.

As the fire burned, I circled it and kicked errant sticks into the center of the fire so they would burn completely. 

We marveled at the tongues of flame dancing in the fire and talked about how only God could create something like that.

The fire was consuming all of the wood that was in the pile and the flames grew higher and higher.  We moved our bench again and again to get away from the incredible heat.

In the morning, there was nothing left to the pile but some smoldering ashes.