[Terrapreta] Permaculture and Biochar Development - Qld Australia

[lou gold]

Hi Barry,

Thanks for the good storytelling (with images). This is exactly what many
people are asking for.

lou

On Dec 6, 2007 1:42 AM, Barry at Biochar <barry.batchelor at biochar.net>
wrote:

>  Hi All
>
> First I would like to introduce myself, My name is Barry Batchelor and I'm
> a Permaculture Designer living on a small scale developing sustainable farm
> 30km North of Brisbane Australia. I'm one of a handful of Permaculturists
> who are using or testing Biochar in their food systems in Australia.
>
> Permaculture - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
>
> While my talent is not the written word, I hope to show off some of the
> work I have been doing here, this is where my talent is and where my time is
> spent.
>
> Note: most of the photo's are 200-400k
>
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/food_forest.jpg
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/polyculture.jpg
>
> This area is the main focus of my permaculture development and is classed
> as Zone 1 and 2 in permaculture terms. The 2000m2 area is developed as a
> polyculture food producing environment, it contains many fruit and nut
> trees, vegi gardens and many different layers of food. This area is 100%
> organic and will produce most of our food in years to come, it was started 4
> years ago from a compacted soil horse paddock. I make about 10000-15000 lt
> of compost each year in the gardens by hand. I have been adding used
> coffee waste to this area for years, I add between 50-100lt per week which I
> get from a local organic coffee shop, while I'm not sure if the charred
> carbon elements contained in coffee grounds break down or not, it has been
> an excellent additive to my soils and it's what got me interested in
> Biochar.
>
> I now produce most of my char onsite here with a 44 gallon drum, using
> smaller chunks of dried timber, most of the larger logs are added to the
> food forest as edging or for slowing water run off. I'm always getting my
> hands on timber from local's around here, I'm also trying to setup a deal
> with out local country fire crew to let me access timber or char from
> controlled burn off's.
>
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/compost.jpg
>
> One of the most impressive things I have seen in my composts is how worms
> love the added biochar, in a 400lt bin I have noticed up to 80% of the worms
> are focused in the layers which contain the char, I feel worms play a
> massive roll in moving char about. As I also char beef bones I'm sure the
> added calcium attracts them. I have noticed this over the last 4 compost
> batches I have made.
>
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/biochar_brew1.jpg
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/biochar_brew2.jpg
>
> I have now started making liquid brew's which to an organic gardener's
> nose smells great. This batch was brewed for about two weeks with many
> different inputs including worm farm liquid waste. The char and bio mud was
> drained out and added to my vegi gardens and the remaining liquid was mixed
> 50/50 with water and added to my citrus trees, The potash from the char
> making process, plus fine amounts of char and added fresh humus which
> slipped past my filter looked like a great root feed for them.
>
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/vegi_garden2.jpg
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/vegi_garden1.jpg
>
> This is fresh biochar brew and biochar compost which is added on top of my
> vegi garden soil, the soil is already pretty good with heaps of added humus
> and a pretty balanced mineral level, I have noticed more worm and bug
> activity in the soil since adding the char, I have also noticed a better
> water holding capacity, all soil here is covered with a thick layer of mulch
> to reduce sun damage and dry out.
>
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/western_tree_block.jpg
>
> This is a new area of native trees which were planted out with a compost
> and biochar mix added into the drilled holes, growth has been out standing
> so far but at this stage I feel that is to do with the tree guard system
> from http://www.treesforearth.com.au/ I'll let the website explain the use
> of pink, but I know they have worked well here compared to other areas
> planted without the use of them. This photo shows about three months growth
> from small tube stock. I'm sure the 150mm of rain a week after planting had
> nothing to do with the amount of growth.  ;-)
>
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/biochar_swale.jpg
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/biochar_swale2.jpg
> http://www.biochar.net/image_uploads/biochar/biochar_swale3.jpg
>
> This is a two month old 250m long swale which was developed to slow and
> catch water and create a feed belt for our three horses, I added a 44 gallon
> drum of Biochar to the downward bank along the entire length and legume live
> stock fodder trees have been seeded into this, I have been impressed with
> the growth on the bank of the stabilising grasses which I also seeded. The
> swale fills and over flows with just 15mm of rain, I noted last week a
> 36mm heavy rain event increased our dam level by over 35cm because of the
> swales which makes all the work making them worth while. Please note swales
> are built on contour and do not flow they are design to fill up and soak
> into the soil, water that over flows them spills into lower swales or from
> dam to dam, Permaculture teaches swale design and P.A Yeoman uses these
> techniques in his Keyline teachings. http://www.keyline.com.au/
>
> For a more in-depth look at my swale and the construction process and
> costs goto http://www.biochar.net/swale/swale.htm (please note this
> site/link will break if you use firefox)
>
> Well that's my show and tell for 2007 and as I do enjoy most of the
> informative posts I'll keep reading and posting when I have something to add
> from my non science simple farming background  :-)
>
> Regards
>
> Barry Batchelor
> Permaculture Designer
> www.biochar.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
http://lougold.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visionshare/sets/
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