FIRST-RATE AMENDMENT: Burned waste wood becomes an excellent soil amendment when nutrients and beneficial microbes are added. Photo courtesy of Living Web Farms Many sustainability-minded growers are ...

Biochar is often overlooked as a soil amendment, but it’s incredibly beneficial for plants and gardens, and it’s easy to make ...

Biochar is a high-carbon, fine-grained residue that is produced via pyrolysis. Image by K.salo.85 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 Biochar is a high-carbon, fine-grained residue that is produced via pyrolysis ...

From the citrus fields of Japan to the willow forests of Wales and the cropland of the Amazon Basin, farmers have used biochar—the practice of burying charcoal in soil to improve fertility—for ...

In a forested area near the tiny town of Riddle on Oregon’s west side, Ken Carloni kneels to examine a native orchid. His white ponytail juts out from under a newsboy cap. To the south, a mosaic of ...

In the late 1990s, soil scientist Johannes Lehmann was working in the central Amazon to help restore degraded soils. Other researchers had discovered that the region’s fertile terra preta, meaning ...

It’s one of the world’s biggest killers, leading to lung cancer, heart disease, and COPD, not to mention child pneumonia and low birth-weight babies. It affects billions of people. And if you think it ...

You may know that gardeners and farmers use charcoal in their gardens, but it’s likely not the kind you’re thinking of. The type of charcoal used for grilling, known as grilling briquettes, is made ...

Recycling rates have stagnated in the United States despite the positive benefits recycling offers local economies. It reduces pollution and production of virgin plastics, while creating jobs and ...

In midsummer, fires were burning on both sides of the Methow River. Air quality was bad enough to make national news. In better times, Central Washington’s Methow Valley is a destination for ...