Biochar Burn at Daisy Hill Farm

Daisy Hill Farm owner Meadow Martell was happy that we made a big dent in a multi-year accumulation of old grape vines, blackberries and other woody waste. Meadow covered the piles back in the fall with used truck tarps from Sharp's Tarps in Grants Pass (a great resource, people!). As a result, the wood was stayed dry - mostly between 15% and 25% moisture and was suitable for biochar production. A small crew of neighbors showed up to help and share in the biochar bounty. Meadow will use the biochar in compost and in the chicken yard.

It was a misty morning down by the Illinois River in Cave Junction

We load the kilns heaping full with loose packed grapevines and light the top 

Once the initial charge burns down to a heap of glowing coals, we add more, in layers

We lit these at 9:30 in the morning. By 1:00 pm we have added the last layer 

At 2 pm the last layer has burned down and we are ready to quench

Meadow hoses down the char

Total harvest is more than 2 cubic yards of biochar

The Rabbitry Challenge

Biochar made in the WigWam has already been applied to a section of the rabbitry. Don and Judy Atchison raise these beautiful show rabbits in a well-designed facility, however, one problem is a lack of drainage for the manure pits and resulting ammonia levels are a bit high. John Livingston is working with Don to alleviate the problem using biochar and inoculation of EM-1, a culture of microbes that includes lactic acid bacteria and soil microbes. EM-1 adds acidity to the manure bed, which helps to inhibit ammonia formation.

Don with a prize-winning rabbit

The rabbit manure piles up

Manure pits with bedding to help absorb odors. Soon biochar and EM-1 will be added

Pot Trial Using Pasture Soil

UBET has several ongoing projects looking at the use of biochar for pasture. Here's a quote from a recent Roseburg News Review article:

“Agriculture has a large economical impact in Douglas County,” said Shelby Filley, regional livestock and forage specialist for the Oregon State University Extension Service. According to the latest report, the 2012 census data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were 1,927 farms in the county, covering 382,386 acres. The total value of agricultural products sold in the county was $64,803,000, and Filley said most of that value comes from livestock, which is almost double the value of crops. 

UBET started a biochar plot trial at the Duchess Horse Sanctuary that is ongoing. Several of the farmers participating in the UBET Conservation Innovation Grant are cattle ranchers. And most of our farmers have at least some livestock: pigs, sheep, goats or poultry.

In the interest of learning more about the response of pasture soils to biochar and liming, UBET member Don Morrison is conducting a pot trial using soil from his pasture that compares three different kinds of biochar with each other and also with a lime only treatment. Half of the treatments have added nitrogen in the form of urea. OSU researchers are helping to guide the experiment.

Don carefully adds pre-measured soil to pots that will grow one ryegrass plant each

Urea added at a rate of 100 lbs/ac looks like this much when added to 25 small pots

Wonderful WigWam - WOW

Scott McKain and John Livingston made this WigWam Kiln out of 16 gauge steel with an ingenious method of clamping it that uses angle iron to stabilize the seams. It was a little challenging to put it together for the first time because the flat sheets had to be bent to fit. However, after the heat of firing the kiln, the sections retained the curves and will be easier to put together next time.

Once again, our wood was fairly wet - much of it was more than 30% moisture, so we did not get the yield we would have liked, however the kiln got plenty hot - more than 700 degrees C at times. And we made a lovely batch of biochar, destined for the rabbitry manure pits and ultimately, John's worm bins.

John and Scott assemble the WigWam

OK, now how do we get him out of there?

All loaded up

We have ignition!

Color shows how the burn advances. Thermocouples let us know what's going on inside. The lid was added to try to cool it down a bit as temperature rose above 700 degrees C

Quenched with water, time to unload

Nice looking biochar

Frog Farm Gets Forest Biochar

Frog Farm helpers came out to the woods where we made biochar back in December and scooped up about a cubic yard of biochar for use on the farm.

loading biochar from a forest burn into some used pellet bags

We filled the truck

Some went into the compost pile

Some was used in the duck pen

Barbara Long found this poem that Jim had kept. She would like to share it with you:

Taken from Dr. Ian Lowe’s’s address to the 1^st Asia-Pacific Biochar Conference, on the Gold Coast, Australia, May, 2009

Here’s a summary of my talk

In case you slept or took a walk

We know your civilization’s through

If we don’t cut back on CO2.

It won’t matter how we toil

If we don’t put carbon in our soil

And so the future’s shining star

Yes, you’ve guessed it, Biochar!

I’ll just remind you, climate changes

Threaten clear and present dangers

We know we have no future here

 Unless we fix the atmosphere.

Clean energy will have a role

But fixing carbon is our goal

No matter who or where you are

Let’s raise a glass to Biochar!

Submitted to IBI by Thayer Tomlinson, 07-15-09

Kon Tiki Biochar Production System in Australia

This is worth checking for very detailed information on all stages of this small scale biochar production system: http://www.thebiocharrevolution.com/blog/biochar-production-in-kon-tiki-australia-1