BIOCHAR Field Day

NM Healthy Soil Working Group in partnership with Permaculture Picnic and Gardens of Fire is presenting an interactive biochar field day with the community at Tico Time in Aztec, NM. Permaculture Picnic is a festival with hands-on permaculture workshops, art, and music. Gardens of Fire is based in Durango, Colorado, and works to upcycle local carbon materials, like beetle-kill wood, into biochar to enrich soils, retain water, and reduce wildfire risks.

Biochar is created from organic waste through a process called pyrolysis—burning in a low-oxygen environment. This creates raw biochar, that can then be charged or fertilized with compost for many long term synergistic benefits. This process recycles natural materials such as firewood waste, crop residues, and forest debris from thinning or limbing activities, turning them into a sustainable long-lasting soil enhancer. 

The biochar produced during this event will be returned to the beautiful environment around Tico Time, contributing to the long-term improvement of the soil for future event attendees to witness. If you’d like to contribute, we welcome you to bring a small bag of compost or soil from your own garden.

The biochar field day is free but we ask that you please sign up in advance. Field day attendees will be given food vouchers to food truck vendors on site for lunch. If you come for the field day and decide you’d like to stay for the Permaculture Picnic festival, there will be a 30% discount off the regular ticket price.

What to Expect from the Field Day 

Our educational demo will introduce accessible and low-tech ways to create biochar at home or on a farm. Whether you’re new to biochar or looking to refine your technique, we’ll cover: 

? Basic Principles of Biochar: Understanding its benefits and how it improves soil health. How to make it safely with minimal emissions (flame cap methods)

 ? Hands-On Production Methods: We will demonstrate the traditional conservation pile burn method along with two approaches that require basic equipment—the Whitlox method and the Ring of Fire 

? Processing Biochar On-Site: Attendees will have the opportunity to handle unprocessed biochar, learning firsthand how to refine and activate it for agricultural use. 

? Blended Biochar Demonstration: We will also showcase pre-charged biochar mixed with compost, giving attendees insight into how to integrate it effectively into their own gardens or farms. BYO compost!

? Informational Biochar Resources: Where to find studies to explore the VAST research around biochar, diagnostic tools that plug into the Web Soil Survey, and other helpful items and networks you can join for more information.