The Trillium Center is hosting a free workshop called The Bio-Char Impact on April 6, noon to 3 PM, at the Trillium Center. Please send us an email if you’d like to sign up at trilliumctr@gmail.com.
What is bio char?
It’s organic matter that is burned slowly, with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the material reaches the charcoal stage
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/making-biochar-improve-soil-zmaz09fmzraw.aspx#ixzz2wdSzEE6Z
From a more scientific standpoint:
Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonisation of biomass. Biochar may be added to soils with the intention to improve soil functions and to reduce emissions from biomass that would otherwise naturally degrade to greenhouse gases. Biochar also has appreciable carbon sequestration value. These properties are measurable and verifiable in a characterisation scheme, or in a carbon emission offset protocol. Read more: http://www.biochar-international.org/biochar
The goal of the workshop is for participants to walk away with the basic knowledge needed to make bio-char! The workshop participants will learn the multifaceted benefits of bio char. Participants will make a bio char stove for the Trillium Center, produce a batch of bio char, and learn about charging the bio char prior to gardening. Workshop facilitator, Josh Lee, from the Lake Erie Bio Char Initiative, will also briefly go over wood gas production and its future as an alternative fuel. All participants will go home with a share of the bio char produced and can also make a small batch bio char retort that works in home wood stoves.
By empowering individuals with carbon sequestering technology we expose a concrete step that can be taken to create a sustainable reality. Many feel disempowered and overwhelmed by the weight of our worlds ecological degradation, bio char is one of the tools needed to make the paradigm shift to sustainability. Along with carbon sequestration, bio char has been proven to greatly increase crop yields, especially in previously poor soils. There is nothing more important right now than a vibrant local food web available to all people; bio char can help make this happen!
Visit the Lake Erie Bio-Char Initiative on Facebook for resources:
https://www.facebook.com/lakeeriebiochar.initiative
Trillium Center 