David Good

"I personally think from my reading that it's important to build the "Terra Preta Clone" in the environment it will be supporting. There is no reason to believe that micro-organisms are the same over the world, so I think that encouraging and supporting the locals is important."

Yes. I added rotten wood from the forest for that reason. No telling what the differences are, but I want to encourage the fungi from my area to move in.

I like the SEA-90 idea, too. And yes - not all pottery is created equal. I have had a hard time finding data on traditional methods. A local pottery studio is saving me shards now, though, and it's bisque-fired unglazed stuff. Hoping it's close.

For a long time I have been fascinated with terra preta - the endlessly fertile anthropogenic soil of the Amazon. I have been collecting data on it for a long time and am now attempting to recreate it in my own garden.

If this kind of land-hacking appeals to you, you will love my new video showing the creation of a terra preta bed:



Will it work? The centuries will tell!

I added everything I knew about that was in the original terra preta, including yellow clay, food scraps, bones, seaweed, biochar and even pottery shards... what a lot of work! But I'll bet it's worth it.

What do you guys think?

Fear no pruning.



Cutting back trees at this time of year gives them incredible vigor.

I planted the all the tips of my thornless blacberry canes for a while and made a big patch of them.

It seems to be a variety getting passed around the Caribbean, not the states. We need an islander to send some in. Trying to get cassava inside the US is really a pain. I wish I could get some of the fast-growing red-leafed type I had, as they would give us roots in only 4-6 months, meaning you could grow them in zone 7.

Yes, John! The transformation in flavor is very exciting. I really love to grow tree crops, but having just moved most of my experiments right now have been with annual vegetables. The radishes we ate from the biochar bed tasted amazing.

I am planting some Mysore raspberries this spring. In my old garden, they had a bland flavor. I am wondering if they will be transformed when they get into the biochar beds I'm making.

I did a test with charged biochar in our fall gardens and it made a big difference. I'm not sure how much was the char and how much was related to the release of minerals from it, but I think it's a combination of both.

This is what we're doing right now with the char:



It's a combination of many things together - getting the micros in there, plus encouraging fungally dominated soil.

And John - thank you for the link to your results!

After cobbling together compost containment systems for years, I finally decided to build a full-on cinderblock and concrete 3-bin system for our new homestead:



Yeah, I built my compost bins before I finished building my house. #priorities

Today I'm going back to working on framing our laundry room - just had to finish the compost bins first.

William Bronson wrote:What is the weather like in Bali?
How hot does the water get?

Water temps were into the 30s, Centigrade, and it was overcast.

The weather in this location was cool rain forest. Very pleasant but humid. Overcast the whole time I was there. Not sure about all year, though.