The Terra Preta Experiments Continue

Yesterday, Rachel and I filmed a video sharing our tera preta compost pile experiment:

Last year I wrote about some of the ingredients in terra preta that we already know about, as well as some interesting recent discoveries.

Our main lack at this point is pottery shards. We need a source for them that isn’t an hour away.

If clay was easier to find, we might make our own, but we’re nowhere near a good deposit – at least that we’ve found.

The next step will be to test this material in a garden bed, then monitor results over several years.

This batch of terra preta compost also contains shredded pine chips, which is not something that would have existed in the Amazon, so it may throw off our results. If I could instead use tropical tree material it would be better.

We’ll keep experimenting.