Carbon Negative Agriculture

Carbon Negative Agriculture/Forestry is using macro fungi, the keystone organisms in the rhizosphere, the brains of the operation, to take the carbon dioxide plants absorb each year and trap it in the soil to create abundant ecosystems, simple biomimicry. By creating mutualistic relationships between human beings and macro fungi, humans can harness *natures farmers and have them grow your plants and trees for you. I call this concept “Personal Carbon”. How an individual can reverse climate change by creating nutrient dense food and healthy forests as nature intended.   See the bottom of the page for current **local applications of Mycotechnology in Colorado.

 

 1.  Mycelium and the Biochar Solution  “The Biochar Solution; Carbon Farming and climate change” by Albert Bates – How mycelium plays a role in this equation?

2.  The history of biochar, Terra Preta.

3.  Recalcitrant carbon is inorganic carbon – biochar- life is not made from this form of carbon

4.  Labile carbon is active/bioavailable – life is made from this form of carbon

5.  cold water pasteurization – the fermentation of substrate (mushroom food) to achieve pasteurization at room temperature.

6.  the electrograph -a microscopic real-time video that showed nuclei being streamed to the growing tips of the hyphae in the millions. In essence it was exploring and learning about the environment that it was in. But how was it processing the information with no brain?

 

7.  Biomimicry  –   A book/concept called Biomimicry by Jenine Benyus – the most important book I have ever had the pleasure to pick through. Take away; the future is not learning about nature but learning from it.

8.  Forest Floor Cultivation Technique. How this works is based on how a forest naturally operates with no help (interference really) from man.

9.  Benevolent neglect vs agricultural labor– you drop the raw materials you want your mushrooms to turn into plants for you on the top of the ground and you leave it alone.

10.  Composting verse solid-state fermentation – They utilize solid state fermentation to sequester carbon versus aqueous fermentation (composting) which releases much of the carbon as well as other valuable nutrients as air pollution.

11.  Mushroom Facts:

I have learned a number of things that I consider to be facts;

Mushrooms are nature’s expert farmers.

Mushrooms are nature’s expert chemists.

Mushrooms are nature’s expert pharmacists.

Mushrooms are nature’s expert 3D spatial engineers.

Mushrooms and more intelligent, proficient and way more sustainable than human beings at the 4 enterprises above. Their ROI puts us to shame. We have a lot to learn from mycelium. Our future literally depends on it.

12.  Mycelium is a programmable, intelligent and autonomous agent that can be taught to execute specific behaviors and then be released into an environment to accomplish the tasks it has been assigned to do.

13.  My initial hypothesis was that the mycelium would not waste a valuable resource like carbon and it would capture it somehow for use by the plants/microbiota.

 

14.   Jim Bell, my research partner, has been running Practical Mycology out of Flagstaff for the last 30 years.

15 The smoking guns.  Right at the same time the universe weighed in

16 What about the saprobes?? When I am out in the forest, if I move a stick out here there is mycelium under it eating it from below.

 17.   my initial hypothesis was that the mycelium would not waste a valuable resource like carbon and it would sequester it somehow for use by the plants/microbiota to improve the carbon footprint which equals fertility which equals biodiversity which is the ultimate measure of the health of a particular environment.

18. mycelium’s intelligence and chemistry skills. According to Jims research………..

19.  Carbon Negative Agriculture as related to mycelium.

20.  Post-Colombian reforestation of the amazon-and the little ice age in Europe – the relationship between & a leading cause

21.   how long would it take to reverse climate change  if 20 is true?

The formula-(163,696mi² ÷ 280ppm CO² ÷ 150 yrs) ÷ (5,332,860mi² ÷ 400ppm CO²)= X yrs

22.   Answer:   6.58 years

23.   Paleontological “bone” problems  – As I am delving into this topic with Jim, we are finding that this problem is reminding us of how they are solved

24.  In laymen’s terms, “mycelium is the keystone organism in the rhizosphere” (Jim bell quote). It intelligently manipulates and regulates the environment for the benefit of itself and the other organisms in the ecosystem.

25.  How quickly this can be accomplished.

26.  the concept of Personal Carbon and the training of mycelium for use as a tool

 

 

James Wieser- the back story

 

27.   I have been involved in agriculture for a good 40+ years of my 50+ year existence. B The epiphany- I was hooked on mycology instantly.

28.   I signed up for Paul Stamets classes on general cultivation and Mycoremediation

29.  I moved from the grow facility that I had been at into a small bachelor pad house in 2011. I put my portable laminar flow hood right in the middle of the living room and went to town on indoor lab work.

30.  I started to get into the “mind” of the mushrooms. More like the mycelium invaded my brain and gave me Mushroom Goggles.

 

*Colordado Gardener Article; “Mushrooms Are Natures Farmers“ by James Wieser, Harvest issue, August 2015, pages 10 & 11