OBG, if your wife wants to check out Terra Preta, suggest she go to the Permaculture Institute of Australia site. This link will take her to one of the threads on the subject there, but there are others, too, if she does a Search.
http://forums.permaculture.org.au/ftopic1775.php&sid=a8b9f1a2539e2fc4a7972d619bc93f17I just peeked in over there, and there were 103 responses on the thread, plus a lot of links, too, so tell her to settle down and be prepared to spend some time.
Sue