Another bright sunny winter day. The temperature was perfect. No wind and we were all happy to be there. Another BIG turnout.
Jill was interviewed by the local radio station, very early in the morning, about the workshop on the 29th August - Food growing in the Southern Highlands, she was already buzzing with energy. The Sunshine Lodge group came in full force, looking forward to a wonderful morning watering the garden. We also had the "setup" committee for the Colo Vale Community Garden drop in to see how this garden runs. They are in the process of getting the go ahead for a garden in their area. We wish them the best of luck and we cant wait for them to get the OK.
The Colo Vale Community Garden team discussing the garden
And their cute mascot .... :o)
The community garden had another special visitor Phil Arundell. He's passionate about the environment. Phil brought with him his TLUD - Top Lit UpDraft burner. He's been working on producing an efficient burning system. A TLUD produces hardly any smoke and the gas produced burns more readily. You light it from the top instead of the bottom. This is different from most of the ordinary cook stoves which are Bottom Lit Up Draft. There is a lot of interest in TLUD technology around the world since this saves around 75 % fuel material compared to a traditional 3 stone fire wood stove. TLUD technology can accept a lot of waste materials as fuel like twigs, coconut shells, certain husks, dry grass. Tree felling is not necessary for fuel, since residues mentioned are enough. The entire process is carbon-neutral if the resultant charcoal is also burned. In case this charcoal is taken out and used as a soil conditioner, the entire process becomes carbon-negative. ie. practically, carbon is removed from the atmosphere and deposited in the soil. Hence TLUD technology is extremely environment-friendly.
The canister is filled with the fuel material. A small quantity of starter material is put on top of this fuel bed and set on fire. Primary air for combustion comes from below through the fuel bed. The heat from the fire pyrolysis the biomass immediately below to form pyrolysis gases. These gases move up and get combusted with the pre-heated secondary air that is fed from around. Once the pyrolysis is over, a small quantity of charcoal is left behind at the bottom of the canister. This charcoal is generally transferred to a metallic or earthern closed container where the fire gets put out in the absence of air. This charcoal can be used later for various purposes. I hope this explanation is corect. (Let me know phil ...)
 
 
While phil was informing the members on the TLUD Leigh was digging into the compost heap to show one of the Colo Vale committee team what was happening in our compost heap.
Andrew was filling the wheel barrow with mulch to give the front beds a very light cover.
Kathi was cooking up a storm of chicken legs with rice for the members ... looks good :o)
Paul was out there doing his bit after lunch mulching a large branch from a Eucalypt tree and Leigh couldn't resist his inner urge to give him a hand !
The end of the day came and Jill still had alot of energy to give myself, leigh and Kathi a small workshop in grafting. Unfortunately, i ran out of battery power to take picys .... Next time ... :o)
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