Last week I visited a small slice of heaven; The Farm in Summertown, TN.  The Farm is the oldest intentional community in the country and has been home to Albert Bates, author of The Biochar Solution amongst other books, for decades.  Biochar experimentation at The Farm spans the gamut from soil amendment to building material to humanure additive which then moves over to worm bins for some final processing.  Just walking around the various natural buildings and permaculture filled ambiance was enough to inspire, but actually getting my hands dirty making biochar plasters, cement mixes, bricks, filtration devices with other like-minded folks was soul boosting.

We visited a nearby farmer that feeds his livestock (pigs, goats, poultry) an earthy blend of biochar mixed with lightly fermented whey and grains which they gobbled up greedily. We used rather grand outhouses that mitigated odors and reduced nutrient leaching with a blend of biochar and sawdust. And we shared stories of our mutual journeys, lessons learned and best practices along the biochar continuum.  What I really enjoyed about this experience, especially compared to attending biochar and other related conferences which tend to pack an enormous amount of information into back to back 15 – 20 minute sessions all day long for 3 days, was the more relaxed pace, the ability to get to know everyone there and hear about their own particular biochar experiences. The other fun part was leveraging everyone’s tools and backgrounds to take certain ideas further – such as the chardboard paper which I wrote about nearly 3 years ago.  Albert had a contraption that was able to measure the electromagnetic shielding of the chardboard which was pretty substantial, roughly 90% reduction! 

For those of you that have the time and desire to experience truly sustainable living, I highly recommend a visit to The Farm.  Staying in the Fairy House, a cozy earth bag building with a living roof provides the quietest sleep you could ever dream of…