Happy New Year! I take the view that the Winter Solstice is the true turning of the year and time for celebration but Christmas and New Year's Day seem to have become quite popular so I don't mind joining in. As someone remarked to me recently an occasion like the Solstice needs a fire and since I didn't light one that day I lit one in the garden this morning in a small brazier.
 It's hard to beat the feeling of well-being one gets from the warmth of a fire on a cold, damp day. Partly it was a symbolic gesture but also I had some willow charcoal left over from the summer and the thought occurred to me to conduct an experiment in home made biochar.
 There is interest among ecologists and horticulturalists in 'biochar' as a soil improver. The porous nature of charcoal retains nutrients and provides an environment for mycorrhizal fungi to develop. The concept derives from the existence of 'terra pretta' in the Amazon basin- the agricultural practices of the indigenous peoples circa 450-950 BC involved a slash and char approach which created a rich black soil of weathered charcoal infused with decaying plant and animal matter.
 It's a big topic for a short post but there's a lot of information out there on the subject and on methods that are being developed to utilise the possibilities in our day and age.
 Probably my little experiment will be too rudimentary to be considered biochar or terra pretta in the true sense. I am going to add some very well rotted farm manure to the charcoal to provide the biology. If nothing else it should make a decent compost if covered or bagged and left to sit till spring.
 So begins 2018...