‘Shrooms
On prior visits, I had seen a few mushrooms here and there, scattered about the property. They must have been pretty hardy, since my prior visits were in early Spring and late Fall, judging by the number of mushrooms I … Continue reading →
Passive Solar Building
I’ve long been interested in “alternative” building and one of the primary requirements when I started looking for property in Floyd County was a southern slope to take advantage of passive solar heating. I talked to one Realtor who told … Continue reading →
The Woods in Summer
When I was looking for property, I deliberately looked during the late fall and early winter, when the leaves were off the trees and the lay of the land was visible. Prior to this trip, I had never been to … Continue reading →
The House Site
Before I closed on the purchase of my property in February, 2008, I hired Jeff Walker, a soil engineer, to verify that I would be able to obtain a septic tank permit. He did so, and specified an area where … Continue reading →
The Bull Hog
What kind of a title is that for a post?? Is he referring to a bull hog and using the wrong name (should be a boar) or is he referring to something else? Something else, indeed! After being sued in … Continue reading →
Summertime in Floyd
I haven’t disappeared – I’ve been on vacation! I left for Floyd on June 23 and stopped at the Greek restaurant just outside of Willis for a gyro before getting into Floyd around 1 p.m. I found that the owner … Continue reading →
Making Biochar
After some thought and some research, I’ve changed my mind about buying lump charcoal. It really isn’t that hard to make your own but there are some “start-up” costs involved. Humans have been making charcoal for thousands of years and … Continue reading →
Biochar: Make It or Buy It?
Biochar, as I wrote in the previous post, is identical to charcoal, at least when viewed under a microscope. What is different about biochar is that to be called that by the International Biochar Intiative, it must be used as … Continue reading →
What is Biochar?
Erich Knight, who commented on my previous post in great detail, supplied some further resources to read and study so that I could better understand this phenomenon called biochar. The first question that I had was really basic: what is … Continue reading →
BioChar and Soil Fertility
Several years ago, I read an article on something called terra preta. Intrigued, I looked for information out on the Internet and found very little, other than the fact that terra preta is Portuguese for “dark earth” and that the … Continue reading →