Which whitch is which ?
Some people think whitches are largely 'armless.
But not this one.
Time flies when you are Spiderman
Last batch of clay i got from the wasteland has been unusual.
Lots of dark coloured silty clay in it. Not very plastic or very much green strength even after levigation, filtration and elutration. Lignin and cellulose content is probably high? I milled it with stones in a bottle (like a ball mill) at which point it stayed suspended much longer, and mixed it with some bentonite/smectite, paper pulp, nitrates and other clay. After a little time in wet storage it becomes delightfully plastic, almost rubbery, i wonder if it will improve even further with more storage time to allow completion of breakdown of ligno-celloulosics into humus / lignite and then to CO2. Next time i will leave out the paper pulp until the clay is ready for use since it increases organic matter but is added to add tensile (stretching) strength to the clay during forming.
Found these interesting facts which help explain how fermentation time contrfibutes to the plasticity of clay.
Much of the humus in most soils has persisted for more than 100 years, rather than having been decomposed into CO2, and can be regarded as stable; this organic matter has been protected from decomposition by microbial or enzyme action because it is hidden (occluded) inside small aggregates of soil particles, or tightly sorbed or complexed to clays). Most humus that is not protected in this way is decomposed within 10 years and can be regarded as less stable or more labile.
During humification, microbes secrete sticky, gum-like mucilages and these contribute to the crumby structure (tilth) of the soil by adhering particles together.
Decomposition of dead plant material causes complex organic compounds to be slowly oxidized (lignin-like humus) or to decompose into simpler forms such as sugars and amino sugars, and aliphatic and phenolic organic acids, which are further transformed into microbial biomass (microbial humus) or reorganized, and further oxidized, into humic assemblages (fulvic_acids and humic acids) which bind to clay minerals and metal hydroxides.
Truly, the internet, and particularly Wikipedia, is Gods great blessing on the terminally curious.
The really interesting thing about humus is the sheer diversity and weight by volume of microbes within the the substrate. It has been suggested by many top soil microbiologists that soil itself is like a giant living organism.
It’s not just bacteria but a diverse range of fungi as well as protozoa and other single celled microorganisms that feast on this decaying matter.
The importance of humus to the carbon cycle is impressive due to its ability to sequester and slowly return carbon back into the system.
The great thing about alot of clay based soils is clays ability to lock up valuable nutrients and slowly release these back to plants.
Interesting topic!
Absolutely.
One of my favorite facts about soil is this one…
A very stable form of humus is formed from the slow oxidation of soil carbon after the incorporation of finely powdered charcoal (biochar) into the topsoil. This process is speculated to have been important in the formation of the very fertile Amazonian terra preta do Indio.
Adding powdered charcoal to compost mixtures fascinates me, but then again, i am easily distracted.
Well I’ll be blowed it’s a flying crocodile.
Yep, p-terror-flying!
20 chars.
With the restoration of his bilateral symetry and the regaining of his feet, Pteter felt better, even though his outer wing sections were still missing.
“I haz fingerbonez !” said Pteter emphatically.
“All i needz now is membranez and my outer wingz is flappy”
Strangely, even with incomplete outer flappys, Pteter could still catch fish.
Now Pteter felt completer !
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I phinally pheel phinished said Pteter.
Meanwhile cousin Finny-is was up the creek and unable to gain traction…
at least finny isn’t up the creek without a paddle
Its the smooshing together of things that dont belong together that fascinates me. A kayak with rowlocks and training wheels, for instance. Pteter is relatively anatomically accurate, though in retrospect, he should have had a longer neck.
Apparently, He’l drink to that !
I guess the clay im using must have been formed in the jurassic ?
perspective view
It was this long !
Jurassic sheep
The naturall prey of the black casino snake is dice, though in the abasinthe of dice they will take casino tokens and roulette marbles, which they swallow whole in typical snake fashion. Because the ability of their prey to escape attack is limited, these snakes neither constrict nor envenomate their prey, which has led to their evolvotion into an ecological niche.
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looks like you might have nailed it
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