Comments for eggs & tea blog

Comment on Biochar kiln progress by Peter

Peter — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:37:51 +0000

Thanks for making this info. available. I also have a lot where I’m living on the Big Island and this inspires me to want to try it. I remember seeing charcoal pits before, now I regret not have studied harder how they were doing it, if I recall it took about 3-5 days to do it in a 10′x20′ pit.

Comment on Farm update, and the state of the world by ben

ben — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 08:16:13 +0000

Hi Peak, I wouldn’t be too sure about the mainstream waking up. As you know, the US peaked in 1970 but the mainstream has no knowledge of this – 40 years later! Don’t underestimate how thick the blinders are.
Good to hear you are preparing. May not be a crash so much as a long slow downhill grind. Either way, most of the same steps to mitigate.

Comment on Farm update, and the state of the world by Hubberts Peak

Hubberts Peak — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:26:36 +0000

I understand that Hubberts peak is true and that we are now past the point of peak oil. I understand many of the current events have to do with this understanding and it won’t be long before the main stream media and population wake up and understand what is going on. For me and my family, we are preparing for the life after the crash.

Comment on ‘Transition Town’ Ahualoa? by rob campbell

rob campbell — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:04:35 +0000

We live in a similar area. The small town 10 miles away is pleasantly gridlike and has some centers, but our valley is very linear and like you said, hard to get off the road-strip without trespassing.

On the one hand its an excellent place for practicing farming and other sustainability-oriented pursuits, but as for implementing these things when they are needed, the situation is not without worry. I’ve gone so far as to wonder about animal-powered transportation for the trek to town (and even then, there is not a whole lot there) but the expenses and impact of horses also bother me. Its certainly a walkable/bikeable distance, but I suspect people will vacate long before that becomes commonplace.

Nonetheless, I don’t ever want to move again and I’m trying to carve a life here that is flexible and robust enough to make it worth establishing long-term projects and roots.

Comment on Yacon! by eggs & tea blog » Blog Archive » “Lil’ Buff,” my Buff Orpington Hen

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:07:23 +0000

[...] Her favorite treats are organic sunflower seeds with shells, coconut meat and yacon. [...]

Comment on Biochar kiln progress by ben

ben — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:03:25 +0000

Melissa, I don’t recommend the double metal barrel approach. 1. It requires finding or manufacturing barrels of different sizes, 2. It limits you to output size of the smaller barrel and 3. you want the outer layer to insulate, to hold in heat, and a metal barrel is very poor for that. I recommend instead an approach like you see here in my blog, with a single barrel (or other metal chamber open at the bottom), surrounded by any kind of insulated chamber you can build – earthen, concrete blocks, bricks, it does not matter, anything is better than a thin metal barrel. Consult my notes at http://ahualoa.net/ag/notes_biochar.html and feel free to give a phone call (for contact info click ‘Directions’ in the right.)

Comment on Biochar kiln progress by Melissa Green

Melissa Green — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:29:38 +0000

Hi Ben! I’m looking for some design schematics for a double barrel oven design for a community demonstration project in Hampton VA. Have you run across anything besides some pictures and instruction like “Put some holes in the bottom”? This is a bunch of engineers so winging it means everyone will write and run complicated thermodynamic modeling program so we can argue about it in a meeting. I’m really trying to avoid that whole thing.

Thanks!

Melissa

Comment on Biochar kiln progress by ben

ben — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:46:01 +0000

For a lot more information, see the excellent Gardening with Biochar FAQ!

Comment on Biochar kiln progress by Julie

Julie — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:35:32 +0000

Thanks deb and ben!

Comment on Biochar kiln progress by ben

ben — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:08:50 +0000

Yes Julie, there are advantages to “pre-charging” the char with nutrients. Plain char will have long-term benefits of retaining nutrients and boosting microbes, but if you want immediate results, charged char is better. Popular methods are:
1. Mixing the char into warm, live compost and letting it sit. Char will absorb nutrients.
2. Soaking the char in a nutrient solution, for example fish emulsion fertilizer, or urine. Urine actually has astonishing levels of N-P-K, if the yuck factor doesn’t bother you, it’s an excellent free source.
You could pour water into a bucket of that fresh horse manure i see on your blog, and use that aqueous solution to charge char.