Submitted by the SSI GARDEN CLUB
The next Salt Spring Island Garden Club speaker is Georg Janssen with a presentation called The Wonders of Biochar.
The meeting will be held at Meaden Hall on Wednesday, April 23 from 6:45 to 9 p.m.
Biochar, a long-lasting soil amendment, elevates the quality of soil by enhancing aeration and water-holding capacity. We are pleased to have Janssen share the benefits of biochar at our April meeting. In this presentation, you can learn how to use biochar to take your soil health to new heights.
The potential importance of biochar was recognized when anthropologists discovered dark, highly-fertile soils scattered throughout the Amazon rain forest. It is speculated that over 2500 years ago, Indigenous peoples living in the Amazon produced the fertile soils referred to as the Amazonian Dark Earths by adding charcoal, a form of biochar, along with other organic residues to the soil. Today, biochar is being created in backyard pits and in biochar kilns, where organic material is heated in an environment that is devoid of oxygen.
Janssen started to think about biochar when he learned how much carbon was released into the atmosphere from slash pile burning in BC’s logging industry. With a background in Physics, Janssen knew that pyrolysis created a carbon-rich material from wood residues.
Janssen launched Preterra BioCarbon Solutions after moving to Salt Spring in 2021. Using a biochar kiln, Janssen is transforming Salt Spring wood residues into a valuable resource.
You can visit his website at preterra.ca.
Newcomers are welcome to attend the April 23 event. An annual membership is $25. Non-members pay $5 at the door.