Uncategorized – Sonoma Biochar Initiative

March 9, 2019

Announcing Upcoming Conservation Burn Workshops

In collaboration with The Vineyard Team and the air quality management districts in San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and Santa Barbara counties, we are happy to announce that we will be giving conservation burn workshops in each county on April 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Each workshop will be 4 hours in length and include a lecture […]

April 16, 2018

Upcoming Biochar Workshop

SBI is offering a 1.5 hour Biochar Workshop this Saturday, April 21st, from 10:30 A.M. to 12 P.M, as part of the Earth Day activities at the Sonoma Garden Park. Learn about what biochar is, how you can make it yourself or where you can purchase it locally, how to use and apply it, and […]

July 10, 2017

North Coast Biochar is Now Available!

The Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI), a non-profit organization that owns and manages the FSC Certified Usal Forest on the Lost Coast of northern California, is now producing high-carbon, low-ash biochar from surplus tan oak culled during forest restoration activities. Production started on June 1, and this high-quality soil amendment is being marketed under the […]

July 5, 2016

Biochar-Enhanced Chicken Manure Pellets Now Available

In collaboration with Weber Family Farms in Petaluma, The Sonoma Biochar Initiative and Sonoma Ecology Center are now offering buckets of biochar-enhanced chicken manure pellets as thank-you gifts for donations during a special fundraising campaign. The chicken manure is an OMRI-listed organic manure that is high in nitrogen and blended with biochar made from locally-sourced woody biomass. […]

April 5, 2016

USBI 2016 Biochar Conference: Save the Date Aug. 22nd – 25th

The Synergy of Science and Industry: Biochar’s Connection to Ecology, Soil, Food and Energy Registration is now open for what is sure to be a fantastic gathering of scientists, entrepreneurs, farmers, enlightened government officials, energy, soil, and fire geeks, agricultural change agents, NGO’s devoted to sustainable practices and carbon sequestration, backyard biochar tinkerer’s, and folks […]

July 2, 2015

Sonoma County Biochar Project Workshop and Demonstration

The Sonoma County Biochar Project Presents: Biochar Soil Management and Pasture Benefits A Workshop and Demonstration Date: July 25th, 2015 / Time: 10am to 2pm At Swallow Valley Farm, 1100 Freestone Valley Ford Rd. Valley Ford, CA 94972 For more information, click here.

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 […]

June 12, 2013

Community Meeting Reminder—Tonight

Just a quick reminder that we are hosting a community meeting tonight at the Sonoma Grange, from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M., featuring Judith Harwood of the Mendocino Woody Biomass Working Group and Jason Aramburu of re:char. You can register online here: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=mausxnlab&oeidk=a07e7iq4sa59e54b840&oseq= or just come to the meeting. We are asking for donations at the […]

December 15, 2011

SBI receives P. G. & E “Power Your Community” Grant

The Sonoma Biochar Initiative was recently awarded a $1000 “Power Your Community” grant from our local utility, P. G. & E. This money is being put to immediate use in helping us purchase a large quantity of biochar for local field trials in Sonoma and Napa counties. We sincerely thank P. G. & E. for […]

October 31, 2011

All Power Labs Tour

On Monday 10/24 our Biochar Working Group, consisting of SBI members and Sonoma County agencies, traveled to All Power Labs in Berkeley to review their famous gasifier-generators. I attended a workshop there a year ago, and was impressed then with their new Power Pallet, a computer controlled gasifier tied to a 10 KW generator. An […]

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