Soil Analysis

Sampling Your Soil

Determining your soil composition is the most important part of making strong bricks.

Gather the Samples

Go to at least two sites around available soil sources.

Fill a glass lidded container with one sample per jar. Fill the jar half with soil, half with water.

Label your jars according to their source!

After adding water, shake the jar for a while, then let them sit. Notice which particles fall to the bottom first. Which take the longest to fall and why?

Sand, gravel, and stones will fall first because of their high density.

Silt falls next, and clay last, because it has the smallest particles.

Let your jars sit for at least a few hours. Some clays can take half a day to fully hydrate, so maybe wait 8 hours and then shake it again to make sure the clay is fully suspended.

Document your observations!

FeF Analysis

This section is only intended to gather and document information on FeF soils before determining needed admixtures, if any.

Below is a spreadsheet with data points from four sites around FeF.

The main block we are encountering as far as producing CEBs from all onsite resources is sharp sand. As I walked the property taking samples, I wondered if it could be somewhere on site. We have a main creek running through the forest, so I figured all the sand would be at the very bottom of the slope where it meets the street. I found only clay and silt, but very dark and nutrient rich soil. I assume the nutrients are washing fast down the slope due to the extreme erosion at FeF.

My next idea was that it would be found in the upper slopes where there are keylines (places where the slope graduates into wider contour lines). There, I found very pure sand; all the clay and silt had washed down slope and left very sharp sand mixed with organic matter.

So I am wondering now, how far down does the sand go in these spots? Are there other places where we can harvest without cutting down trees? There are many ruts around that must be collecting sand. If not, where would be a good site in the forested creek belt where a pond would be appropriate and non destructive? Then we could take the sand for CEBs and use clay to seal the bottom.