Learn How to Prepare Biochar

Come join us for a fun afternoon,
Prepare Biochar for use with your soil

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Hosted by: Carol & Larry Higgins
Presented by: Karl Kaufman of Michigan Ecovillage, Sheldon Smith of Eco-Mash
& Paul McCullough, Sierra Club Agriculture and Food Committee

Download Flyer: Biochar Demonstration-flyer April 8 2017_v5b

Learn:

• What biochar is
• Low-tech production to prepare biochar
• The history 
• Methods of charging  biochar with nutrients and miro-flora 

Discover biochar benefits:

• Effectiveness for carbon sequestration
• Moisture mitigation
• Promote abundant vegetative growth
• Building soil fertility & improved tilth

See first hand: Hawaiian pit pyrolysis technique &
_________  _     Top-lit updraft (TLUD) biochar gasifier.

Get a bag of biochar to take home

Handouts and associated information will be available
(visit us on FB at https://www.facebook.com/MichiganEcoVillage/)

Where:
Carol and Larry Higgins
51400 Cove Road, Mendon, MI 49072
We are on the east side of Portage Lake, south of Vicksburg
6 mile east of US-131 of Michigan Ave
Approx. 4 miles north of M-60 (between Mendon and Three Rivers in St Joseph County)

RSVP (Download the flier) Please RSVP before April 6, 2017

Biochar Demonstration-flyer April 8 2017_v5b

When:
Saturday, April 8, 2017; 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM

Admission:
FREE: (donation to Michigan Ecovillage 501c3 are welcomed, suggested $10-20)

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Prepare Biochar at this demonstration:
Biochar is charcoal from biomass, which effectively sequesters carbon for hundreds to thousands of years. We demonstrate the Hawaiian pit pyrolysis technique popularized by Josiah Hunt, as well as a top-lit updraft (TLUD) biochar gasifier. Local wood and biomass is converted to char, and participants will take a bag of biochar home to experiment with.

Techniques to “charge” the sterile biochar with nutrients, and the importance of carbon sequestration will also be discussed.

One component of carbon sequestration can be biochar there by, preventing a portion of carbon dioxide from contributing to atmosphere greenhouse gases. The use of biochar has also been documented to improve soil fertility by increasing resident soil carbon as well as microbiological populations.

A lattes structure in biochar provides housing for microbes and an assortment of retained nutrients. This stimulates additional soil carbon sequestration processes, as well as increasing moisture retention. Char created the deep prairie soils of the Midwest, and the man-made Terra Preta soils in the Amazon.