I watched a video on YouTube from Amy Smith of MIT about making charcoal. Biochar is a great thing to add to garden soil and/or compost. I just tried it this morning and it took an hour to make charcoal. I put this into my compost to absorb nutrients. By this summer it will have become infused with nutrients and will release them slowly when I add the compost to the garden. Easy to do, not very dirty and you can use virtually any material that is made of carbon. Actually straw, twigs, branches, etc.
My farm facebook page is Old Fart-a-muit where I describe it in more detail and will post a video.
