Sit down for an hour and watch this. I guarantee it will be worth your time.
I have some ideas I’ll share soon. Watch the documentary, then share your thoughts in the comment section. I have a million thoughts running through my head – I think it will do the same for you.
7 comments
Dave
I’m about 2/3’s of the way throu(have to get ready for work tomorrow and will finish it tomorrow nite). It is quite interesting that you post this and I’m reading two of Charles Mann’s books, 1491, about what the Americas were like before Columbus, and 1493, about the new world that Columbus helped to create. These two books between them show the civilizations that were all over the Americas in pre-Columbian times and the wrenching effect of the domesticated diseases the Europeans and Africans unknowingly introduced into a virgin population that had no immunity to these diseases. All the misery that diseases like measles, smallpox, chicken pox, and many others had caused for thousands of years in the Old World got compressed into a matter of decades to a hundred years in the New World with a mortality rate that probably exceeded 90%.
On a better note the discussion of the terra preta makes me realize i need to look into biochar and how to incorporate it into the sandy soils where I live(Keystone Heights, Florida
The spread of disease and almost instant collapse of civilizations in the New World is incredible. I have wondered why the diseases of Amazonian cities (which would have been foreign to Europeans) didn’t return with the same voracity to the Old World and cause similar effects.
I added small amounts of biochar to my yard and gardens in Florida but never did any good trials. A lot of the beds had cinders in them and were productive, but it’s hard to say. I think the potential is very good, though.
Well, about time David, that you caught onto ‘biochar’. Steven Edholm at ‘SkillCult’ presents his fascinating research on how ‘char’ was valued by American farmers in past centruries:
http://skillcult.com/charcoal-video-gallery/2016/11/2/biochar-in-19th-century-america-and-europe-historical-accounts
And check further on his site for results of growing leeks with and without biochar (not to mention how he makes it … he lives in No. Calif., btw ;)
You’ve got a real treat in store for you! (Me, too, as I have sandy loam in the rainy PNW : ) (BTW, ‘bentonite’ is something else awaiting your discovery!)
Oh yes, I have known about Steven’s experiments:
http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/does-biochar-really-work/
And I have posted on biochar as far back as 2012:
http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/more-on-biochar-natural-wonder-working/
Bentonite I don’t have access to – or azomite – but I do mix seawater into my anaerobic compost tea.
Have you found success with biochar, Nancy?
My heart is saddened by all the freedom-trashing phony man-caused GW, proven false ‘science’ spouted here and elsewhere by mere mimes and shills. Our planet is deficient in CO2 and plant life already under duress for this lack. CO2 buildup follows GW by 200-400 years in geologic records.
This false calculation pales alongside that one of pyrolosis which destroys most of the soil nutrients captured by vegetation. It also impedes the same mass’ production of soil microbes and teaming enzymes that eventually and naturally produce beautiful, nutrient-dense black, carbon-rich organic material.
I should know. Been producing these soils 40+ years to reform natural mineral soils into verdant gardens for customers and community gardeners. Folks, dig behind the vested interests that fomment these politically-correct diatribes on us then go wirh facts, not freedom and health-destroying deceptions.
For those who disagree, have you used natural decomposition of biomass and proven by 40 years’ practice they are inferior to biochar? If not, why not?
At leasr, hold your tongue untl your many years’ prothatve undeniable proof that nutrient conservatiin beats wasting this invaluable nutrition for plant, soul and food consumer.
Claude,
I am not on the global warming bandwagon either; however, it’s obvious something created these excellent terra preta soils and pyrolosis seems to be the key. I have improved plenty of soil via the breakdown of organic matter but if there’s potential for charcoal to help, I will add it too. It’s not the nutrition in it – it’s the potential for providing living space for microorganisms and a bank that absorbs and holds minerals in the soil against leaching, increasing the retention of whatever good stuff is falling on the surface.
The jury is still out, but I have seen good results already in other gardener’s plots.
Read 1491 by charles c. Mann, his follow up book 1493 is also very interesting.