Tuesday 20th September 11

Up surprisingly early, thought I'd had a lie-in and came down at 8.30.  Weird. Maybe something to do wih my cold?

However, I made reasonable use of the time, today doing loads of apples for drying, making up my muesli, dealing with correspondence and phone calls, washing up, writing.

One thing which was quite exciting was I made a charcoal retort, and successfully made several batches of 'biochar', and next year I'm going to experiment with adding this to my potting mixes to see if it increases productivity.  The retort is a metal container or tin made of steel, with a close fitting lid which slides on and off.  In this I've punctured a pin-hole.  When any organic material (in the chemistry sense, ie anything which has come from living things, and is composed mainly of carbon) is subjected to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, the water is driven off, then the volatile materials are driven off (and burn in a jet coming out of the hole) and that leaves a matrix of almost pure carbon, or charcoal, or biochar, which has a variety of uses.  I'm interested in its use to add carbon to soil, and its supposed ability to increase soil fertility and crop productivity.  I made a batch of willow twigs, which made really good drawing sticks, like are used at the Steiner School.  I will probably make a big batch of willow stick charcoal to give to the school later this year.

At 4pm I got ready to go to work at David's.

Thursday 28th July 11, Charcoal Dave at St Nicks!

Woke at 10 and within minutes of coming down stairs, I got a phone call which made me very happy.... the email I've been composing for ages to try to explain something had landed and been taken positively, thank goodness.  It felt like a risk.  But sometimes you have to follow your heart and go for it.  Thank you to somebody for a sensible attitude.

The rest of the day felt emotional.  But positive. I got two more invoices written and sent off.  I'm not sure what else I did today except it was nice and warm and I did a bit in the garden once the paperwork was emailed off.

However, I was looking forward to the evening meeting at St Nicks, the AGM preceeded by a demonstration and talk by Dave 'Charcoal' Hutchinson, a 'Master Charcoal Maker'.  I tried to get assorted family members to come down to the talk, but no joy.

I got there at 7pm and Dave was setting up a charcoal burner and getting ready to demonstrate how charcoal is made. He lives and works near Scarborough, in the Wykeham Forest and runs the Yorkshire Charcoal Company.
(tbc)