Dear Reader, 

We are happy to share a look into our first biochar burnat Humans & Nature Farm!

This soil-building technique has been used for millennia around the world.

Read on and enjoy a few photos below.

Love,
Center for Humans & Nature

Biochar burning
Humans & Nature Farm

Here is how biochar burning works: The biochar kiln, pictured below, blocks air flow from going underneath the fire. This smolders the wood and creates char—those black bits of wood you see at the end of a fire.

After a few hours of smoldering, you douse the fire so that the char doesn’t continue to burn, which would turn it into ash and carbon dioxide.

Worked into the soil, the char acts as a nutrient sponge that benefits the plants, insects, and animals; in other words, it offers foundational goodness for the whole community of life. Also, the char is a carbon sink, meaning it pulls carbon dioxide out of the air and sequesters it below ground.

At the Center, we have plenty of Buckthorn, a strong species that can choke out other plant biodiversity. When we remove Buckthorn, we could just burn it in a burn pile—but that creates ash and carbon dioxide. Burning the Buckthorn in a biochar kiln is a win-win-win, creating space on the land for plant biodiversity, healing soil, and sequestering carbon dioxide.

At a time when fertilizer prices are going up, we are so happy to be creating nutrient-rich soil locally, while also supporting biodiversity and the climate. Our biochar kiln is a “Ring of Fire” kiln designed by Kelpie Wilson. We love it! It is easy to take apart and move around the Farm wherever we need it. 

We look forward to sharing more of our burn journey with you all soon!

Read this week’s full newsletter here.

Photo by Brooke Hecht