On Saturday November 1, a handful of folks showed up at Benbow KOA to get trained in operating the Ring of Fire kiln that will be loaned out free to trainees. A mix of registered people and drop-ins set up, loaded and fed brush to the kiln for about two hours, then doused the char at the end. The whole process was recorded to make a video available later.

The only down side was that the brush was difficult to pull apart because it had been pushed into piles with a tractor. This is not how to prepare brush for kiln burning, but Benbow KOA had been piling this way all season in order to simply incinerate the brush, and this was the only brush that was available for the training. It slowed us down, and it reduced the amount of material that we could burn in the allotted time. Brush that is staged for loading a kiln should be stacked parallel, with the butt ends lined up, so that it can be easily grabbed and dragged to the kiln.

In the end, though, we generated about a cubic yard of good quality biochar, which two of the participants and the videographer happily took home.

Thanks to John Dowd, superintendent of the KOA golf course, for agreeing to host this training after the original location fell through and tarping the brush for us in the rain!