Then I created earth

At the beginning of this summer, I had the idea of making my own earth. Apparently scientists in the Amazon have discovered 6,000-year-old gardens with soil that is still rich and moist. This in a region where everything else at ground level is either starved of sunlight due to the canopy overhead, or parched because of land clearing.

The natives called the stuff terra preta, meaning ”black earth”. It has been manufactured for thousands of years using charcoal, animal bones, manure, pot shards and other assorted refuse which has given off nutrients and kept terra preta fresh to our days.

Anyway, I found a web site that showed how to make it yourself, but lacking an oil drum, a car, easy access to firewood, chicken bones (I’m a vegetarian), and accomplices, I was overpowered by the project’s complexity. Next summer, though, I aim to have a go. So, who has an oil drum for sale?