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March 5, 2015

SBI Selected to Submit a Full CalFire Project Application

The Sonoma Biochar Initiative (SBI)recently received a formal invitation from CalFire to submit a full grant application to expand our Conservation Burn Training Program statewide. CalFire received 381 Concept Proposals, totaling over $135 million, from various entities and landowners throughout the state under California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds Grant Programs, and only a limited number […]

March 4, 2015

Conservation Burn Workshop at Circle Bar Ranch

The Workshop we held on February 13th at Circle Bar Ranch was a great success. Attendees (including vineyard managers, flower farmers, compost producers, RCD reps and others) spent the morning learning about the science aspects of the conservation burn training, and a few hours in the afternoon learning how to build and manage a pile […]

March 26, 2014

Mendocino Workshops Announced

The Sonoma Biochar Initiative, a project of the Sonoma Ecology Center, in cooperation with the Mendocino Biochar Demonstration Project, is offering two separate workshops in Mendocino County on Friday April 11th. Both workshops feature Peter Hirst, a nationally known biochar expert and trainer, co-owner of New England Biochar, and farm manager at Swallow Valley Farm. […]

February 27, 2014

New Biochar and Conservation Burn Workshops Announced

***Upcoming Events*** Biochar Workshop & Conservation Burn Training featuring Peter Hirst The Sonoma Biochar Initiative and Sonoma Ecology Center are pleased to announce a Biochar workshop and Conservation Burn training to be held on Friday March 21st at Circle Bar Ranch, south of the town of Sonoma. By replacing conventional open burn methods with the […]

December 21, 2013

Impressions from the US Biochar Symposium

Several things really made an impression on me when I attended the US Biochar Symposium last October at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The first was the plenary speech by Dr. Johannes Lehmann, considered by many as the scientific “godfather” of the modern biochar movement. The eminent soil scientist from Cornell University emphasized one […]

July 4, 2013

SBI well represented at the Sonoma 4th of July Parade!

A great time was had by all at the City of Sonoma 4th of July Parade, 2013. As part of the Sonoma Ecology Center Contingent of about 15 people, Ray Gallian, David Morell, and myself represented our organization by shaking and dancing around the streets of the Plaza to an enthusiastic and talented group of […]

September 28, 2011

Dr. Vandana Shiva

I attended a talk recently at Dominican University of California by the amazing Dr. Vandana Shiva, the Indian anti-GMO, seed-saver extraordinaire. She has been fighting the attempted takeover of our worldwide food system for 30 years by various corporate, anti-diversity interests including biotech giants Monsanto, Cargill and others, and her speech was both frightening […]

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