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  • From: Marty Kraft <martyk AT allspecies.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Sequester Carbon in Your Garden
  • Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:48:35 -0600

Here is a video showing my attempts to create and process charcoal from my wood stove for my garden beds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nfXkcsV2Y

Note: Looks like this might be a better way of grinding than i show in the video.
http://www.appropedia.org/Corn_Cob_Charcoal_Crusher

Why: A bed with six inches of topsoil soil with 1% organic matter contains more carbon than all the atmosphere above that bed. Adding charcoal that lasts for thousands of years to our garden beds is permanently storing carbon in the soil. Carbon dioxide is the major greenhouse gas that is causing global warming. Soils treated with charcoal also reduce the global warming nitrates that soils release into the atmosphere. How we treat the soil makes a significant difference in the amount of CO2 that is kept out of the atmosphere.


Biochar or Terra Prita or Charcoal (all the same, far as i know)

 

 Action: A demonstration we’re now running at Niles Home for Children is to show how terra preta effects vegetable garden production. We are adding charcoal to one half of each of our beds so we can see first hand how it works.


Terra Prita (dark earth) is found in Amazonian soils where the abundant rain washes away most nutrients. The peoples of the Amazon have laced the soils with charcoal that has persisted for thousands of years making the soil dark. Charcoal is almost all carbon and has a high cation exchange capacity or cec. Cations are the positively changed minerals that plant roots must absorb to grow. So the terra prita soils are very productive because the carbon does not break down or wash away.


If you have home made charcoal that you don't want for your soils and you're close by, we'll take it.

Thanks

Marty Kraft

 





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