Creating a Lifetime of ‘Black Magic’ for your Soil

Biochar has been improving soil for thousands of years. 

In 1541, Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana, led a famous expedition down the Amazon river.  He returned boasting tales of a massive golden empire and areas of rich, black earth.  

Check out those lush banks!

Expedition after expedition hunted for evidence of these Mayan civilizations, but each came up empty handed.  This ‘Legend of El Dorado'  was thought to be a myth, until recently.

Soil science has proven that de Orellana was not hallucinating. By burning woody biomass, creating a char-like substance, and burying it in the soil, these Indian farmers created extremely fertile soil.  Today, this char-like substance is called biochar.

In a recent article in GOOD, Sarah Laskow writes that "biochar can capture carbon and improve soil."

She goes on to explain, "Biochar doesn’t feed plants directly, but it makes soil a friendly environment for biological life. It helps soil retain water and communities of microbes that benefit plants. It keeps nitrogen—necessary for plant growth—from leaching into ground water. Overall, it’s been shown to raise crop yields. This isn’t a secret: Amazonian farmers used this techniques thousands of years ago to prepare thin soils for planting."

Leading the US industry in producing biochar for consumer use, Soil Reef™ is using proprietary technology to create a superior product for the garden. 

Soil Reef™ creates biochar with an age-old process called pyrolysis that bakes uncontaminated wood by cooking it at high temperatures with no oxygen in a controlled container. This process sequesters about half the carbon in the biomass and reduces it to pure biochar, one of the key ingredients in rich soil.

According to biochar pioneer Lopa Brunjes, Director for The Biochar Company, LLC and TEDx speaker, “Soil Reef ultimately increases crop yields, grows healthier plants that are more resistant to disease, and reduces annual dependency on fertilizers.

Soil Reef™ is now available at www.soilreef.com.

AND- if you're in Seattle and want to meet other biochar aficionados, make sure you check out this upcoming biochar stove workshop on March 31. 

-Katie
Garden Media Group