MAKING BIOCHAR: with Peter Hirst of New England Biochar

Peter Hirst brought his 70 gallon stainless steel biochar retort to Warner, NH and showed us how to burn 100 pounds of wood into 30 pounds of biochar. That's enough for a few beds in our garden after we grind it up and mix it with an equal amount of compost to innoculate the biochar with soil bacteria. But the biochar pioneers are scrambling to find economical and efficient furnaces that can produce tons of the material.
Biochar was first discovered by Amazonian Indian societies a thousand years ago (terra preta), and rediscovered a decade or so ago by modern cultures desperate for ways to improve soil fertility. The new biochar retorts, such as this one that Peter demonstrates, burn biomass with high efficiency and also produce charcoal which can be added to soils, sequestering that carbon more or less permanently. The secret is wood gasification. For more curiously local perspectives, visit http://curiouslylocal.com

Comments (3)

Josiane

25 May 2012 at 01:15 | #

You've hit the ball out the park! Increidble!

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Erica

24 May 2012 at 13:26 | #

Dear rollick,謝謝您代答關於 tuhsaerus 的問題。這本 Oxford Learner’s Thesaurus ── A Dictionary of Synonyms 我絕對會寫一篇文章介紹，依順序排列，會在 MWALD 之後。以傳統 tuhsaerus 的編輯形式來看，這本 OLT 有其獨特與過人之處，可算是近年來難得的佳作。rollick 很客氣，寫一些您的看法與大家分享，沒有什麼貽笑大方的問題吧。

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Laura

24 May 2012 at 09:51 | #

Mr. Chen,谢谢你及时的短评，我也一直在关注着这本词典。我不认为这是第一本美国版学习型词典，至少我手头上就有一本The American Heritage Dictionary for Learners of English。不过，应该承认，American Heritage 的这本学习型词典比较简单，规模和其他几本学习型词典不可同日而语。另外，我知道你写文章精益求精，但还是期望看到你更多的posts；而且，如果能更多地侧重于词典的内容，而不仅仅限于光盘的使用，那就更好了。最后，附上Amazon上对这本词典最新的，也是唯一的读者书评：Merriam-Webster’s at its best, September 27, 2008By Holger MetzgerThe list of Advanced Learner’s dictionaries is as long as my arm: Oxford, Cambridge, Collins…—and now there’s Merriam-Webster’s. I guess it was about time: the maerkt for this kind of thing is huge. It is not surprising that M-W finally wanted its share of the pie.Well, M-W did not re-invent the concept: If you know the layout of one, you know them all: headwords are in bold, pronunciations are in the International Phonetic Alphabet, definitions come next, usually followed by one or two examples (in blue) to clarify the meaning of the word in question. Usage notes and illustrations are interspersed throughout the book. Like the Oxford Advanced Learner’s, M-W highlights approx. 3000 basic English words as the most important words a learner needs to know. Also included in the book: 16 pages color art (again, most dictionaries have those), an English Grammar review, often confused words, spelling rules, a handbook of style (mostly punctuation, capitals and italics), weight and measures, e-mail and letter writing, etc.The dictionary covers both British and American English. But the focus is definitely on the latter: in spelling and pronunciation, American is the norm (which is fine by me: it is an American Learner’s, after all!). The definitions are written in a clear and simple language (as far as I can tell). Entries are up-to-date. Last but not least, a free eBook download is included (but not yet available as I’m writing this).What is mssing is an accompanying version on CD. The online edition makes up for it, though.But the nagging question remains whether there is a compelling reason to buy it… in all fairness NOT if you already have one of the latest Advanced Learner’s available out there: Oxford is still the gold standard (a bit overrated I think), and Cambridge is getting better and better with each edition.But make no mistake: M-W’s Advanced Learner’s is an excellent dictionary and a worthy addition to the Advanced Learner’s Dictionaries maerkt. It is quality throughout. If you are thinking about getting an ESL dictionary (especially if you want to focus on American English), you may want to give it a shot.

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