Spiral Living Center Biochar Intensive Workshop

Taught by: Kelpie Wilson, biochar consultant
Cost: $100 ($80 for Spiral Living Center members)
Included: Lunch, a biochar sample and instructional handouts
Advance registration required. SPACE IS LIMITED!
Register now at http://biocharintensive.bpt.me/
Description: At the Biochar Intensive, you will learn several ways of making biochar yourself using simple equipment. You will get an overview of the science behind biochar and how it affects soil chemistry and microbiology. You will see a demonstration of techniques and equipment used to test, condition and charge biochar to make fertilizers that feed the soil food web, promoting healthy soils and plants.

Schedule:
8:30 - 9:00 am - Registration and welcome
9:00 - 9:45 am – Presentation – Introduction to Biochar and Pyrolysis
9:45 – 10:00 - break
10:00 – 12:30 – Demonstration – how to make biochar in open fire kilns and gasifier stoves
12:30 - 1:30 - break for lunch and biochar cooking demonstration
1:30 - 2:30 – Lab – how to test biochar characteristics using simple kitchen chemistry
2:30 – 2:45 – break
3:00 – 4:00 – Presentation – How to use biochar in soils and compost
4:00 – 4:15 – break
4:15 – 5:00 – Demonstration – biochar processing and composting
5:00 – 5:30 – Wrap-up, Evaluation and Questions

Bio
Kelpie Wilson is a writer and a mechanical engineer and the principal consultant at Wilson Biochar Associates. She is also an editor at the Biochar Journal. She has worked in the biochar field since 2008 as a project developer and writer for the International Biochar Initiative (from 2008-2012) and then as an independent consultant from 2012 to present. She has been active in environmental protection and was the executive director of the Siskiyou Project, an Oregon forest protection organization, from 1996-2001. She makes and uses biochar in her own garden, teaches workshops and classes and works as a consultant for industrial biochar producers and public agencies. She blogs about her biochar activities at www.backyardbiochar.net.