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  • From: kevin s <k.skvorak@verizon.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] making charcoal cheaply at home?
  • Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:04:34 -0400

hey folks,

we are also very interested in creating some charcoal beds. we have a couple of acres that we are growing for a csa, primarily using mulch and no-till. for a lot of reasons we would love to create some 'black gold'. one of them is we have to deal with a rodent boom, so we are going to limit and think carefully about the types of mulch, and quantities we put on. (much less mulch hay, alas)

we are also very interested in raising soil temperature, as we really need to compete in the local marketplace if we are to survive. most (virtually all) of the other growers in the area use black plastic (or 'organic' bio-plastic) on the soil, and we are not going to do this. of course our crops are going to come in much later because of this, seriously affecting our economic viability in the local market.

anyway, that, among other reasons leads us to the idea of a lovely charcoal mulch bed!

i want to make some charcoal, but am reluctant to do it the old fashioned way (in a big earth covered mound) because it seems so wasteful. we definitely can't afford a fancy processor, so that leaves out that option. so what i am trying to imagine is simple system using an adapted wood stove for instance, so that we can also use the heat for ourselves. maybe as simple as a big wood stove with a secondary burning chamber to burn the gases so as not to creosote up the chimney. if the stove was really airtight enough, maybe we could fire it up with a big fire, and then shut it down completely after it is all glowing red. it wouldn't be a perfect burn, but it would probably provide something useful. as we shut down the air to the main stove, it would be nice to be able to fire up a small secondary burn capturing the gases emitting up the flue. i was thinking about adapting the smallest wood stove i could find for this, and then just stacking it on top of the big one and doing a little creative plumbing.

does this sound workable?

thanks,
kevin




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