Making your own charcoal and terra preta.
Before I found lump charcoal from Lowe's, ( I now buy Cowboy Charcoal, see
:
Cowboy Charcoal Co. )
I made my own.
I suggest everyone do it at least once or twice as it is very safe IF YOU DO NOT MAKE IT IN YOUR HOUSE!
YOU MUST MAKE IT OUTDOORS. YES YOU WILL POLLUTE THE NEIGHBORHOOD WITH YOUR SMOKE, SO BEWARE, BUT NO MORESO THAN IF YOU WERE BARBECUING. The smoke just won't have the aroma of a barbecue. It will smell like smoke.
The principle is very simple. You are going to roast the wood just like you would roast a chicken. You do not want the wood to catch on fire anymore than you would want your chicken to catch on fire.
Roasting the wood drives off three things, in order of lowest temperature: water, gases, oils. The water, gases, and oils are what we call smoke.
When the water is burning off at the beginning of the process, the smoke will look gray or white. When the gases burn off near the middle of the process, the smoke begins to yellow. When the oils burn off towards the end of the process, the smoke turns blue. When it quits smoking altogether, you have charcoal!
Here is the most efficient method I found for urban use. I started with a small popcorn can about 2 and 1/2 gallons. It must have a lid. A galvanized trash can with a lid would be great, but I could not find one to buy. So would a 55 gallon drum with a lid.
In the bottom of the can start a small raging fire. Once the fire is going good, put in just enough lump sized pieces of wood to extinguish the flames but still leave the wood smoldering. From here on out you will be roasting the wood, not burning it. Branches 1 to 2 inches in diameter and cut to 3 inches or so in length are perfect to make "lump" charcoal. Slowly fill up the can with the "lumps" of wood keeping the wood smoldering at all times. Once the can is filled up, loosely put on the lid, leaving a crack between the lid and the sides of the can (usually about 1/2 to 1 inch) to let the smoke out. DO NOT LET THE WOOD IGNITE. The lid is necessary to keep the wood oxygen starved so that it smokes not ignites. REMEMBER YOU WANT TO ROAST THE WOOD, NOT BURN IT!
When you are done, if the lump charcoal tinkles like a wind chime, you have made it right. If not, you probably didn't cook it long enough, or overcooked it.
The process, which seems to waste the least amount of stock, takes a coupe of hours depending upon how much stock you begin with. When the process quits smoking, you have charcoal. Put on the lid tightly and extinguish the fire. About 1/3 of the stock you started with will be charcoal.
Once the process is complete and the charcoal lumps are completly extinguished, pulverize the lumps (I use a pair of pliers) and put the charcoal particles in your garden. Mix thoroughly with the soil.
The first year, you must kick start the terra preta process with fertilizers, because the charcoal has not yet had the ability to filter out of the air or rain water, any nutrients for the plants and bacteria. The bacteria which thrive in the charcoal have a symbiotic relationship with the root hairs of plants and they are constantly taking the nutrients captured by the charcoal to the plant roots.
You are done. Welcome to the new world of terra preta.
Now feel very good about yourself!
Oh, and feel free to make a claim for some of Al Gore's and Richard Branson's prize money. You have earned it.
