DryStoneGarden

Science Daily has a vein of articles about biochar, the concept of adding charcoal to soil to improve it’s fertility. I had previously read about biochar in a National Geographic article, Our Good Earth, with the term “terra preta” (black earth). Basically, the concept comes from patches of human-made dark fertile soil in the Amazon, where fertile soil is supposedly impossible to create. Hundreds of years ago, people added tons of charcoal to the soil, in some places up to six feet deep, and the soil is still fertile today, in the same conditions where modern agriculture can’t keep the soil fertile for five years. (more…)