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Mark · Site Admin Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 1052

Making Terra Preta Soil: Ramona's Recipe for Home-Made Dirt

http://www.opednews.com/articles/...R-by-Ramona-Byron-080821-153.html

Excerpt:

I once heard a joke that went like this:

An arrogant agnostic once challenged God that he could do anything that God could do. God said "very well" and accepted the challenge. God rolled up some dirt and fashioned a human out of it, who then became alive and ran away rejoicing and praising God's name. The agnostic sniffed, and reached down for a handful of dirt so he could make his own "improved" version of a human, who would of course immediately begin praising the agnostic's name even louder. But God held up his hand to stop him before he could even get started.

"Hold on there, young man," said God sternly. "You go make your own dirt."
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Terra preta soil is formed by incorporating biochar-locally produced charcoal-into ordinary soil. This activates the soil and enables it to permanently hold far greater quantities of minerals and nutrients than would otherwise be possible. This then sets into motion a complex and still not fully understood chain of events that include microorganism growths throughout the soil, which results in the soil becoming terra preta soil within several years.
....

One Amazonian farmer has cultivated crops on terra preta soils for 40 years without ever adding any fertilizer. "That's incredible," an environmental researcher said. "We don't get that in Iowa."