Came across this feel good story about the great work Jason Aramburu from Re:char is doing in Africa. Chick here for the story >>>>

Re:char is a pioneering company that sells kilns to farmers in Kenya that allow them to convert their farm waste into what’s known as biochar.

Story by David D. Burstein, www.fastcompany.com

I will presenting an informal talk and workshop on Biochar on the 4th February.

Barry Batchelor is a Sunshine Coast trained Permaculture designer who runs and owns Black Earth Products. Australia’s first company to produce and supply Biochar for the backyard gardener. Barry will talk about the history, present and future of Biochar production. It’s use in organic gardens, blending with composts and liquid nutrient biological teas. Barry will also cover how to make a low emission Biochar gasifier, Barry has developed as an open source style project so other Biochar enthusiasts can cleanly make their own Biochar.

I will have some Biochar and BiocharMax for sale. I will also have 25 litre bags of my awesome new Biochar compost blend. If you are interested in bulk 200 litres drums of any of these product contact me >>>> before the workshop.

Yandina Community Gardens – Queensland >>>>
Corner of North and Farrell Streets, Yandina, Queensland.
9.30am to 11.30am
4th February 2012

The FREE workshops are part of the Community Partnership under the ‘Living Smart’ Programme with Sunshine Coast Council.  All workshops commence at 9.30 am (unless otherwise indicated) and go for approx 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  These FREE workshops are open to everyone in the community, not just members and volunteers at the Gardens and there is no need to book a place  - unless otherwise indicated for that particular workshop.  It is advisable to bring along a notepad and pen for taking notes, as well as a hat, sunscreen and your water bottle.

For more information or to be included on our mail-out list for workshop reminders, please contact us at -

Email:  info@yandinacommunitygardens.com.au or

Phone: 5446 7373 and leave a message – a friendly volunteer will get back to you during  normal opening times at the Gardens.

I will also be presenting at Brisbane Organic Growers Inc “Seminar on New Directions in Organic Gardening ” in March 2012

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s science magazine (November/December 2011 issue) have a interesting article about scientific trials using various types of Biochar.

The html Article is available here >>>>

I have to say that from my many years of using many different types of Biochars in my own sandy loam soils that I now never apply Biochar directly to my soils, apart from Biochar made in continuous flow pyrolysis using poultry litter as the feedstock as the process retains a lot of the manure nutrients and I always soak it in biological nutrient liquids before applying.
The idea of tipping 50 tonnes of wood Biochar per hectare in one hit is not the way to do it from my point of view. Biochar needs to be blended with high biological and nutrient blends, good quality humus compost is my preferred blend. It needs to be applied slowly over many seasons. Adding something as complex as Biochar in such high rates would seriously effect soil biota which may take years to balance and start to produce positive results.

My other issue is trialling 50 tonnes per hectare. Going on a low price of $500 per tonne of Biochar that’s $25,000 per hectare. I think some of these soil scientists need to get a better idea of what agribusinesses could really afford and focus their budgets on realistic trials.

From what I have read on the Amazon Terra preta soils, it is a blend of both char and other organic nutrient elements, we should be focusing our research on blending Biochar in useful ways which are economically viable.

Aspen Daily News >>>>
The Carbondale-based start-up Biochar Solutions has been named as one of 11 clean technology companies from around the world competing for a $25 million prize from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Earth Challenge.

Virgin Earth Challenge >>>>
Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore announced the setting up of a new Global science and technology prize – The Virgin Earth Challenge – in the belief that history has shown that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for the good of mankind.  The Virgin Earth Challenge will award $25 million to the individual or group who are able to demonstrate a commercially viable design which will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects.  This removal must have long term effects and contribute materially to the stability of the Earth’s climate.

Black Earth Products and myself will have a display at this weekends (12-13 Nov)  ‘The Nook and Cranny’ Open Garden which is part of Australia’s Open Garden scheme

The Nook and Cranny
4 Coralgum Crt, Buderim
12-13 November 10am-4.30pm
Entrance is $6

The design of the pyrolysis system used by Black Earth Products produces liquid condensates, these are sometimes known as liquid smoke or wood vinegar. The chemical make up of these liquid is extremely complex, very little research has been done with regards to using it as a fertiliser. It should be noted that the chemical make up of the liquid will change depending on the process, system design and feed stock used, these informal results are to show the potential of the liquid, but further trials, chemical refining and toxic element identification are required.   The liquids used in this trial were produced using continuous flow pyrolysis at 550°C with a poultry manure and bedding material of wood shavings as the feed stock.

The results of the trial clearly show how well the Biochar holds/bonds and exchanges nutrients with plants. The liquid condensate was applied one prior to seed germination. Liquid condensate 5000 Lt/ha = 8ml in pot. Poultry litter Biochar 5 t/ha = 8g in pot

A PDF of all 12 groups with clearer images is avaialbe here.
BlackEarthProducts_Condensate_Pot_Trial >>>>

I will be at this years Yandina Open Garden weekend with a Black Earth Products Biochar display and products. I will also be dragging along my latest backyard Biochar maker which I call “Fatboy” It’s based off the TLUD (Top lit up draft) gasifier with a few major tweaks which I have been refining for some time.

Yandina Community Gardens

10am – 4.30pm. 22nd – 23rd of October (this weekend) at Cnr. North & Farrell Sts, Yandina. Queensland.

This is a shot of a new backyard project I’m working on which I call ‘fatboy’. Not that much to look at from the outside but the internals are now working really well. I have a primary and secondary air fuel set up which creates a good clean gas burn and the air flow through of the design means I get about 5-8 litres of Biochar from hardwood chips and branches  in 15 minutes with a very small loss to ash. I just tested it in a gusty wind with no effects which is also good.  The whole project was made from finds at the local tip/dump shop with a grand total of $15.00.

I have added the plans to a new project page with lots of photos of the system, loading, running and quenching it.

The journal ithaka has some useful information with regards to their search and results with regards to Biochar and viticulture, plus some other articles including a large hobby gardener trial.

The English version of the website is here >>>>

Two years ago the Delinat Institute started the first large-scale biochar experiment in Europe. The results come not only as surprise for sceptics, but also far exceed the expectations of optimists.

Biochar in vineyards PDF link >>>>

An article on re-char dispelling some of the myths about Biochar and it’s place in the future.

The Internet and the twitterverse have ignited into a firestorm of controversy over biochar. In general, it seems that a lack of information is pervading both sides of the debate. As a seasoned group of biochar enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and researchers, re:char presents the following items which we believe will clear up the most common misconceptions about biochar.

Chick here to read the full article >>>>