Category: Uncategorized

Remember !! The innocent-looking and very sociable-looking Hubbly, can be more dangerous than cigarettes, because of the illusion that it’s not dangerous !

· The water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke and filtering through water is almost irrelevant.

· Hookah tobacco and smoke contain toxic substances known to cause lung, bladder and mouth cancers.

· Smoke produced in a typical hookah smoking session of 45 minutes contains 36 times more tar and 8 times more carbon monoxide than smoking one cigarette.

· The mouth piece of the Hubbly can spread Herpes and TB.
Research ….
Preliminary research on patterns of smoking, the chemistry of the smoke inhaled, and health effects, support the ideas that water pipe smoking is associated with many of the same risks as cigarette smoking.

The science base support the following conclusions:
· Using the water pipe to smoke tobacco poses a serious potential health hazard to smokers & others exposed to the smoke emitted.

· Using the water pipe to smoke tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.

·A typical 1 hour long water pipe smoking session, involves inhaling 100-200 times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette.

In this week’s article I want to focus on two very important aspects of biochar that can kick you in the face if not knowing about it, because biochar is not biochar, is not biochar.

It is firstly very important to understand that different feed stocks result in different char structures and –qualities. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to know the char quality when buying a biochar product. Maybe, the best that I can recommend here is to know who you are buying from.

Over the years I received many different chars from many different people. It ranged from recycled car tyres made into char to coal dust presented as biochar. Even normal, good quality charcoal is not necessary good quality biochar that can be used as a soil amendment. I’m performing two practical tests when receiving a char sample: 1. Put the pure char in water and evaluate the reaction. If it absorbs water without shaking and stirring, it indicates a low volatile content – positive. 2. I do a lettuce germination test in the pure char. If germination is normal, it indicates the absence of toxins that can hinder normal plant growth. When these two quality tests give positive results, the next step is to analyse the carbon content of the biochar.

This brings me to the second important aspect of biochar quality, the manufacturing process. As was mentioned before, the manufacturing process of biochar is called pyrolysis and is performed in an oxygen restricted environment. In layman’s terms it means that biomass gets heated up to a temperature where combustion takes place. The biomass is kept in the environment until all volatiles are burned off. The quality of the process also determines the ash content in the final product. Low ash content normally represents a better char.
Wood is the main source for biochar production. There are however many different types of wood that all result in different carbon structures which is a topic for another day.

Enough of the technical stuff, IT IS OFFICIALLY SPRING. And spring means growing. To optimize growth and production of your plants, don’t forget to create a healthy environment in which roots can utilise all available nutrients.

Hennie du Plessis (083 787 0432)
Agriculturist

Die Hessequa Munisipaliteit se Skut personeel het Maandag oggend ʼn Great Dane teef verwyder vanaf haar eienaars en het onmiddellik uitgereik na die gemeenskap om ʼn rehabilitasie en aanneemhuis vir haar te soek. Met die wonderlike hulp van die Suid Kaap Forum, Hessequa Gemeenskap en Sosiale Media is die Skut oorval met oproep van moontlik aanneemhuise.

Die Weston gesin is een van vele diereliefhebbers wat die foto’s van Sasha op die sosiale media bladsye gesien het en onmiddellik die Skut gekontak het. Mev. S. Weston vertel sy kon nie dit oor haar hart kry om nie die hond in te neem nie. Sasha het dadelik haar hart gesteel. Die Weston gesin is woonagtig in Riversdal en bied vir Sasha ʼn wonderlike, liefdevolle huis met speelmaats.

Die Skut personeel sal gereeld opvolg op Sasha se vordering, maar foto’s spreek boekdele en is dit duidelik dat Shasha haar nuwe familie en tuiste reeds geniet.

Hessequa Munisipaliteit waardeer opreg elke belangstellende oproep en navraag en hoop om goeie huise vir alle diere in die Skut te vind.