BIOCHAR? What is THAT???
Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous charcoal substance that is distinguished from other charcoals in it’s intended use as a soil amendment. Biochar is charcoal that has been produced under conditions that optimize certain characteristics deemed useful in agriculture, such as high surface area per unit of volume and low amounts of residual resins. The particular heat treatment of organic biomass used to produce biochar contributes to its large surface area and its characteristic ability to persist in soils with very little biological decay (Lehmann and Rondon 2006).
Now in English?
Biochar is the best amendment for your garden soil. It is a permanent and natural carbon that holds onto the 3 things that plants require from the soil,
WATER – NUTRIENTS – MICROORGANISMS.
By making or purchasing biochar you are permanently improving your garden and farm soil with inert carbon and it’s 100,000,000 year half-life.
Perfect for the Small Farm or Homestead
Biochar has so many functions to help improve your farm that you need to implement a small scale production system. You can turn your woody waste into this valuable material. Water Filtration. Animal feed supplement. Air filtration. Composting additive and effectiveness extender. Lightener & aeration for potting soils. Fertilizer & trace element carrier. Carbon soil amendment for drought prevention. Humidity regulation and building insulation for natural structures. Pesticide absorber in water runoff. Detoxification medication. Food conservation agent. Sanitizer for fecal and kitchen wastes. Farm animal manure management and disease vector reduction.
Turn Your Burn Pile from Biology into Geology
By simply changing the way you manage a fire pit you can permanently (one hundred million years permanent) improve your land, it’s mechanics, soil structure, cation and anion exchange capacity, water holding ability, beneficial microbiome and the plants growing there. We permanently pull the carbon molecules photosynthesized on your land out of the short carbon cycle and upcycle them into the permanent geology of our planet, benefiting all life forms inhabiting and that will ever inhabit your land. Biochar is a silent legacy of life.
Biochar Workshops & Demonstrations
Upcoming Biochar Workshops:
Not a workshop per se, but we will be set up a sales table at Lake Permaculture’s October Meeting at Groveland Exchange, Tuesday Oct. 7th, 2025. We will be answering any questions about biochar, selling 13 gallon buckets of biochar and showing off a few of the kilns available. See you there!!!
Ready to learn, but can’t make a public workshop? Host a Biochar Workshop at your garden. ($600 USD) Biochar Burn Ring, Educational Presentation, Hands-On Workshop for 14+ participants, Seasoned Bamboo Firewood and 55 Gallons of Bamboo Biochar. See contact options at the bottom of this page.
Bamboo Biochar
Flame Cap Kilns can burn any brushy wood waste, but Florida’s clumping bamboos are our favorite. Bamboo makes the best biochar, 80-96% carbon content, high silica and diverse pore sizes, perfect for beneficial microorganisms. Harvesting bamboo is safer than felling trees, lighter and the wood dries quickly. Bamboo grows 6 times faster than trees and a newly planted clump is harvested at year 5 and every year after. Plant clumping bamboos. Bambusa Oldhamii, Bambusa Malingensis and Bambusa Vulgaris are our favorite Florida Friendly bamboos to plant for biochar production systems on homesteads and farms, they are inexpensive, edible, edible for livestock, provide great windbreaks, drop significant mulch and are readily available at every bamboo plant nursery across Florida.
Biochar Sales
Biochar
3 gallon bags (20USD) Available only at Howey Homestead during Monday sales hours.
13 gallon nursery pots (60USD)
Pickup by appointment in Groveland, Florida or at Lake Permaculture monthly meetings. Purchases help fund continued biochar educational outreach. Discounted for BTC and open to barter.
Biochar Flame Cap Kilns or Burn Rings
Pyramid Kilns ($420) make 50 gallons, burn hot with no cold corners and looks great in your backyard. They are built from 12gauge steel, open bottom, handles for moving the kiln when cold and finished with coconut oil.
24-inch Burn Ring included with Workshop ($650) makes 35 gallons, made from salvaged pipe, 3/8″ thick 304 stainless steel, 24inches across, 18inches tall.
Oregon Forestry Kiln ($1350) makes 260 Gallons, made from 12gauge steel, water tight with 1-1/2″ drain plug, 60inches x 60inches x 24inches deep, finished with linseed oil. We also rent our production kiln to local farms.
If you are in Central Florida, message on PKBiochar’s Facebook Messenger. Or Paul’s Facebook Marketplace ad for biochar. or Text Paul at {3 five 2} 988-0086.