It was chilly and building a fire sounded nice. I also had on my to do list to make some biochar for the garden. Two birds. One stone. We have a BUNCH of tree limbs from all the storms that are piled up in numerous piles. I gathered some up into a pile away from the hay bales and trees and lit it up. I kept piling the branches on the fire. The coals were glowing. The fire was kicking up some real nice heat. While the north wind blew, I huddled by the fire, The hens scratched the ground where the big pile of branches used to be.
The coals smoldered and I kicked through them and sprayed them down, saturating them with water until they were cool.
This leaves you with charcoal - just like the hardwood chunk charcoal you can buy at the grocery store for barbecuing.
Let's look just a little bit closer. If you could see this under a microscope, you would be able to see that the charcoal is very porous. There are millions of microscopic holes in the charcoal.
These little holes can be beneficial bacteria condominiums. Let me explain what must happen to get to that point. You must inoculate the biochar with bacteria. Here's how I did it. I took the charcoal I had just made, poured it into a big blue tub and chopped up the charcoal with a shovel. Then I went to the barn and got a 5 gallon bucket of cow poop. I poured the cow poop in with the charcoal and filled the tub with water. Now I had a biochar - cow poop - water sludge. I stirred up this concoction like a 5 star chef in a restaurant might do. What I'll do is allow this 'brew' to ferment for a couple of weeks. Then I'll dig a trench and bury it in the garden. The 'charged' biochar will provide tremendous benefits to the soil.
This was first discovered in the Amazon. The pre-Columbian Amazonians made this. Its effects are good for the soil and good for vegetative growth. It can reduce soil acidity and increase soil fertility. I've got more piles to burn and thus, more biochar to make, inoculate and incorporate into the garden soil.
No comments:
Post a Comment