A day in the suburbs, A day in the garden

This weekend will be told in a story involving two parts: Saturday (Part the first) and Sunday (Part the second).

Saturday morning, Nathan and I woke up and took a trip out to the suburbs. Our mission was to take ham radio licensing tests. He was upgrading to the second level, and I was getting my first license. I'm happy to say I passed with flying colors. I got 32 out of 35 correct. Then we had burgers and saw a movie. Not content with just that, we went shopping to get me some running clothes (I've taken up running as a hobby!) and went to Uwajimaya. It was a big day of shopping like suburbanites, minus a trip to Costco.

Sunday was much more interesting. I spent my day in the garden. I weeded, planted grass seed where the chicken coop used to be, and planted zucchini, cucumber and tomatoes. I already have collards, turnip greens, onions, carrots and peas going. But the really interesting thing I did was a garden science experiment. I'm trying to make biochar, using this method. I'm not doing this for any carbon sequestration possibilities, which I find dubious, or to make any biofuel, which I find ridiculous. I don't think I can save the environment doing this. But I'm doing it as an attempt to make the best approximation we can make to Terra Preta. The science experiment possibilities this affords me are going to be awesome, if I can just get it to work. My first attempt at making biochar was a failure because I didn't have enough time and fuel to charcoal-ize what I had put in my terracotta pot. So with my next attempt, I'm going to use things that will burn much more easily, like dried grass clippings and weeds.

The next step is what really interests me. I will have a carbon-rich substance that by itself will make a good soil additive, but I feel like that's only the beginning step. What I want to do next is augment that with something nitrogen rich. What's nitrogen-rich, you ask? Why, chicken poop is! Oh look, I happen to have a bunch of that. But why stop there? I think once I mix that together, it will take a while to compost, of course, but red worms could help speed that process. That combination could possibly make the best soil I've ever seen in my life. I don't personally have any type of soil testing kit to test my finished product, so I think what I'll do is put my Terra Preta in a pot and set up another control pot. I'll plant the same type of plant in both pots (I have some pepper plant starts that might be perfect for this), and measure the quantity and quality of the vegetables I get off each plant. There may be more to setting up a truly scientific experiment than this (mostly getting a bigger sample size), but for my backyard science purposes, this should be fun and easy enough to learn something without undue burden. If I have any luck making the biochar, I will keep you guys updated on how this goes.

Biochar is exciting to me because my house and yard have lots of organic waste that I can't compost through normal means. Namely, dog and chicken poop. I also have a cat. You can't compost their poop in case they have any diseases; you don't want that getting into your food. But if you burn it down into charcoal, you'd kill any bacteria that could be in there, and ease your psyche about it because it won't really be poop anymore. I also prune my trees, and the branches take years to compost through normal methods. With pyrolysis, this matter could be broken down in hours and turned into excellent quality dirt.

You might have read in the wikipedia article that no one knows how the native peoples in South America made Terra Preta. They didn't leave us a recipe. But scientists have found evidence that they used all types of organic matter, including bones to make this soil. To me, the possibilities for biochar in the garden are really exciting.