Sy Moen

@BethWilder thanks... very cool additional perspective!

The way I found this thread was by searching how to grow grains in the high desert. I realize that most of the anecdotes in this thread are not high desert, but it is still the best info I have seen... not to mention that Zuni, Hopi and Apache all lived in high desert. Also my soil is very much clay. heh.

I am digging a series of trenches right now to test this. I have seed for wheat in some and corn in others. I also have some spelt and will try to get some barley. I intend to plant those alone in their respective trenches, but will drop 3 to 5 seeds in each hole. In multi-seeding (eg: Gabe Brown and others), the theory is that plants with different root systems cooperate to balance water supply access from above and from below. I assume that multi-seeding all the same seed (as opposed to a variety in the same hole), will still give some of the root-system advantage as regular multi-seeding(?).

Then I am going to try another with corn, peas and pumpkins. Hopefully not too much of a bastardization of the Three Sisters idea. Time will tell.

I am indebted to the other posters in this thread. I hope I am able to repay

Just read through this topic with interest. Amazing material, thanks all, esp Jeff!


@BonnieKuhlman Jeff posted his email addy earlier in the thread --> techjeff@hotmail.com

Also found this interesting diagram and comments about three sisters method --> http://www.southwestgardenguide.com/2012/05/how-to-grow-corn.html

C. Letellier wrote:

If I understood it right the nitrates for the algae were coming from aquaponics.  The heat and the CO2 were coming off the burner burning biomatter.  Now it may be that all the biomatter was going into a methane digester and this would leave the out flow from that producing the nitrogen too along with nutrients for a huge green house. The burn was heating a pyrolisis unit to make biochar and in the process providing part of the fuel to run this part.  And you could leach the ash from the direct burn, burner for other micro nutrients if needed.

Hmmm. thanks for the input. I need to think some more...

For those that missed the free screening, here is some of what it was about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuGGBLuF7yY
https://www.youtube.com/user/algaeaqua/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp0f4zP67Lw_mONU_sCs9CA

And, this talk is not directly related, but the science crossover is useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA4prxE8CVs

I too found the film interesting. And... of course tried to reverse engineer the ideas.

I assume the wood chips / mass in the water provides the nitrates for the algae, and at one point they mention running co2 emission from an industrial source into the water for the necessary carbon.

I am also interested in the process of algal biochar and quick search of permies.com did not turn up any hits on "algal biochar" or "algae biochar".

Anyway, very interesting concept. The methane harvesting was kind of awesome.  

Thanks! Yes, I have an enormous amount of grounds... and I live in the desert, so carbon sources are few and desperately needed.

I use clay (we have a lot of clay), coffee grounds, sand and compost mix to make soil. Then I add it to my "field" which just has grass at the moment. In a year or two I will till it to get rid of the grass, and hope to add bio-char at that time. After the (single) till, I intend to plant a lot of different things to see how they do in the high altitude.

Thanks a million for all the input!

@Dyllian I am very interested in the mushroom thing. I certainly have all the "tools". From what I understand, trees and woody shrubs like a more fungal soil. I am working on a largish bank of black currants with the thought of selling jam at the farmer's market. It would be a novelty here and I think I could make decent money at it. So, right now I am planting my currant starts in little row / mounds covered with cardboard boxes that are inoculated with mushrooms. I didn't really try to be picky... I just throw all my mushrooms between the flattened boxes. Not sure if its a good idea or bad.

@Michael Thanks for the links. I had seen this guy before, but not these particular videos. I have some experience with low-oxygen burns. I actually like the simplicity of the "kontiki" setup... and there was some guy that made a similar setup (if less efficient) with a 55 gallon drum laid on its side and a "scallop" cut out of it.  That is what I am going to try with some of my coffee grounds. We'll see how it goes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOSDwp20EKM

Cool, thanks. I actually collect a lot of grocery compost as well, and get mushrooms of every variety in fairly good shape on a regular basis.

So, I think you are saying to contain the coffee grounds in something (like one of the boxes). Then to introduce the mushrooms (I get lots of portobella). Then to wait till the mushrooms completely break "compost" the grounds.

Does that sound right?

Its a good idea, and I already sortof do the mushroom thing with the cardboard boxes.

In any case I might try a batch or two of biochar and see how it works. I'll post my results if they are any good.

I have just learned about biochar, just so you know.

I collect about 25 gallons of used coffee grounds daily (from coffee houses, etc). I use them as an ingredient in a composting mix I make. I also collect a lot of cardboard boxes which I use for layering and soil building.

So... I was thinking that I could certainly use some of the boxes for fuel and some / all of the coffee grounds for biochar creation.

Anyone have any experience?

Thanks!