Few things are as exciting or exhausting as a new puppy.   In my life I can only think of two: raising children and being on the ground floor of the nascent biochar industry.  Not satisfied with only two of these in my life, I’ve decided that three exciting, exhausting outlets is really what I need to make my life complete(ly crazy).

Enter a 2.5 lb Pugzu puppy who has yet to be named (I’m a pushing for Preta but my daughter is not yet convinced).  In an effort to housebreak (interesting word for it) the puplette I’ve been researching all sorts of ridiculous inventions such as the elegantly named ‘wee wee pads’.  It’s bad enough that we send zillions of tons of baby diapers to landfills but the thought of adding doggie diapers to garbage mountains was keeping me up at night (of course that could have just been the puppy).

Then this morning at 3am, the solution hit me.  I really need to make a reusable or recyclable version of a wee wee pad with biochar inside.  I’ve dubbed this world-changing idea the ‘Terra Pee’ Pad.  While you might think this is a tad crazy, there are already variations on this theme.  The CH’artist has a biochar pillow and he tells me it brings quite the peaceful slumber.  And the notion of using charcoal inserts in diapers is apparently gaining steam and hiding odors! Although the current inserts use an actual fabric made out of charcoal, I figure why not try loose char in some kind of pillowcase?  Once a certain amount of ‘business’ has been conducted on the Terra Pee pads, I can just empty the nitrogen filled char into the compost bin or the garden (which is under a foot of snow at the moment).  I am sure I will sleep much better tonight after having figured out how to combine two of the three exciting yet exhausting things in my life.  The hunt for washable, biodegradable fabric is on! (Recommendations welcome.)