John Suavecito

Sounds interesting!
John S
PDX OR

Here is an example of cutting my handlebars to fit what I need.  On the first bike with the really big handlebars, I found that they were too long. Both bikes are shown in this thread and the first bike is a Magna and it's light brown colored.   It was hard to put my bike into the car.  It was also hard to bring it into the doors inside the house or in buildings. When I was getting on the bike, the handlebars would poke me in the stomach.  I measured the handlebars compared to my old bike, which has smaller handlebars in this thread and is colored blue green.  The handlebars on the old bike, which I cut maybe 20 years ago, were perfect.  I just cut the same amount off of my new bike handlebars.  The amount that I cut was 3 inches.  I just rode the new bike and the handlebars are much better!

John S
PDX OR

Here's a link to the blog itself: https://biocharprepper.substack.com/

You might have to subscribe.
John S
PDX OR

No more rats this month. I think he was just a hiding straggler. I think it's fixed now.
John S
PDX OR

Portland metro has great public transportation. We have light rail, buses, commuter rail, uber, lyft, and lots of cabs. You can bring your bike on any bus, light rail, or train.
John s
Pdx or

This is an excerpt from Kelpie Wilson, who writes a blog called the Biochar Prepper. I like how she is measuring some points and gathering some data to back up some of her ideas.  It's not a double blind, placebo controlled laboratory experiment, but it is interesting data:
John S
PDX OR

Biochar is an outstanding way to add carbon to soil and the highly porous biochar carbon is especially good at holding on to water.

Part of vegetation management for fire in Los Angeles and elsewhere should be converting those fuels to biochar in conservation burn piles or in simple kilns like the Ring of Fire Kiln. The impact of biochar goes beyond the fuel removal and the soil benefits. It also contributes to long term fire resilience by increasing soil moisture.

I have been monitoring a site near me where we turned about 50 burn piles into biochar two years ago. The site is an oak savannah that is now scattered with biochar patches of different sizes.

We had lots of rain here in December and very little rain so far in January and the ground is drying out quickly. I went out with my soil moisture meter a couple of days ago to see if there was any difference between the soil under the biochar patches and soil with no biochar. Here are some pictures that show the places where I measured, followed by the meter reading at that spot. I tried to measure patches with biochar next to some adjacent spots with no biochar and either bare soil or soil with vegetation. This was not a super accurate sampling method, but the results are consistent.
Moisture measurements in soil with biochar, soil with vegetation but no biochar, and bare soil.

Here is a table of all of the measurements. They consistently show that soil with biochar has more moisture.



These results are encouraging me to do more measurements to see if the biochar soil patches continue to hold more moisture throughout the seasons. The biochar research literature shows that biochar generally holds moisture in soil, and I have noticed that potted plants with biochar don’t dry out as fast (this is an experiment that anyone can try).

We humans have messed up nature’s infrastructure that has provided us with water and vegetation for livable climate. We broke it and we need to put it back. But we have allies to help. We can bring back the beavers and we can bring back good fire and put it to work across the landscape to make biochar on site and leave it there to hold water in the soil. We can learn and do better. Let’s do this.

Please, if you want to learn more about practical biochar tips and tricks for growing your own food, or you are interested in stewardship biochar for restoring natural ecosystems and biodiversity, check out some of my links below:

The Biochar Handbook by Kelpie Wilson

My Practical Biochar Course on Regenerative Living

Order your Ring of Fire Biochar Kiln: RingofFire.earth

Check out my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@KelpieWilson

The Biochar Prepper is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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© 2025 Kelpie Wilson
PO Box 1444, Cave Junction, OR 97523
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I like how the sheep are an attraction in themselves.  People seem to improve their mental health by hanging out with the sheep.  Maybe there is something we don't quite understand yet about the overall benefits of cuteness, sustainability, regenerative agriculture, and holistic solutions.  

John S
PDX OR

Maybe cuteness can improve our mental health, while regenerating soil.  

John S
PDX OR
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-surprising-benefits-of-switching-to-lamb-mowers

The tube above is black and chrome colored.  In this one below, it's just black.  I have done this to all of my bikes, because I became uncomfortable on the regular racing 10 speed style many decades ago, but I still wanted to ride. These are the things that the bike pros recommended.
John S
PDX OR

This is sort of about comfort while bicycling, but also about handlebars, so I'll put it in both.   These straight riser posts make the bike more upright, so you have less stress on your back and on your forearms.  It's just a tube that you buy at a bike shop, inserted in between the frame where the hexagon nut is and the handlebars.  When I look at a place where many people ride bikes, like Denmark or the Netherlands, most of the bikes are upright like this:
John S
PDX OR