For the third year running, Susan Nolan and I bring our little Biochar Road Show to the Arcata Seed & Scion Exchange at the Community Center.

Susan will ignite a small fire pit with kindling and make biochar before your eyes while I describe the process and its purpose, all in the space of half an hour, on March 15 at noon.

The Seed & Scion Exchange is a 24-year-old tradition, hosted by the Humboldt Permaculture Guild at the Arcata Community Center, 321 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. It’s a free event (donations requested) with tables for seed and scion wood brought in by those who attend, as well as booths for vendors of related merchandise. See you there!

All-Day Hands-On Biochar Workshop CANCELLED

due to low enrollment and rain

Stay tuned for possible new date!

April 13, 2024

A Black Ripple Event

Led by Gray Shaw of the Institute for Sustainable Forestry

Following the success of an ISF-sponsored pole harvesting/building workshop with Colin Gillespie in February at our Seely/Salmon Creek venue, we’re offering a full day of instruction on making and using biochar on April 13.

Place-based biochar-making adds value to excess fuel from the forest. Making biochar on steep off-grid land with limited access to water resulted in an original toolset that includes specialized kilns, custom charcoal grinder and powered wheelbarrow, described here. The principles of making and using biochar are the same in all circumstances, and Gray has been presenting them in workshops for ISF since 2020.

At this workshop you will learn:

• The benefits of biochar

• Hands-on demonstration of two different types of kilns, along with simple pile methods—pros and cons

• What types of fuel to use

• How to utilize the biochar in your garden

As a bonus, you will receive 10 lbs. of biochar!

Gray is a permaculture-trained forest health practitioner and an early adopter of place-paced biochar. We will be practicing different methods of making biochar from forest waste, primarily with kilns that Gray has been using since 2015. The workshop also includes classroom-style instruction and a delicious vegetarian lunch.

When: April 13, 2024

Where: 4681 Seely Creek Rd (5 miles from Briceland Rd)

Time: 9am-4:30  Vegetarian Lunch provided, please RSVP

RSVP & Cost: $75. Please register here to RSVP. Camping is free and available the night before and after event.  Questions?gray@blackripple.com

Gray Shaw and Susan Nolan rolled out their biochar dog and pony show for the crowd at Humboldt Permaculture Guild’s annual Seed and Scion Exchange on March 9 at the Arcata Community Center. About 15 folks attended and showed great interest in their questions and their conversations with us afterward.

At these events, Susan manages the fire in a small “educational” crucible that flies under the radar of the air quality board while Gray presents information and engages the crowd. Questions will range from best fuels to proper temperature to biochar’s use in the soil, often leading in unexpected directions; this time it was retorts. Almost all of them stood for the whole thing.

Our gratitude goes out to Levon Durr and company from the Guild for hosting this show within a splendid community sharing economy event.