Char Chit Chat

In this episode Dylan reads the article now on the BNNZ website that outlines the benefits of adding biochar into any composting system. Dylan was paid by BNNZ to create the article and a couple of versions of it to help promote biochar being used in composting. It outlines 10+ ways that biochar benefits composting. Aeration, nutrient adsorption, biology habitat promotion, pH improvement, carbon sequestration, less smells, quicker completion, and so on. Every benefit is backed up with links to academic research! 2-10% by weight and high temperature (above 600° C) best so that the biochar has high surface area.

Here are some great supporting resources:

USBI brochure on composting with biochar (pdf)

Video featuring biochar made at a composting facility in Spain: https://youtu.be/oHbdtJxb6ZE?si=ckop5L8FBJg0OURr (4.5 mins)

Thorough and referenced blog post: https://www.compostmagazine.com/biochar-in-compost

Extremely well referenced white paper by Pacific Biochar: https://pacificbiochar.com/wp-content/uploads/Pacific-Biochar_Biochar-Compost_white-paper.pdf

Excited to release this chat with Huhana so you too can enjoy her passion for biochar and growing good food. Huhana is an artist, university professor, farmer, kaitiaki, biochar enthusiast, and more...

We explore a recent stream rehabilitation project made into an art project that has probably exposed thousands of people to biochar with an exhibition in Wellington.

We go into some detail on making biochar paint and how it was applied to the hemp and wool roll with a design inspired by pukeko footprints... Supporting blog post: https://passionatepermies.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/podcast-with-huhana-smith

Loads more detail of the Kuku Biochar Project: https://www.drawingopen.com/blog/2024/3/3/the-kuku-biochar-project-2021-2024

Listen to Huhana on RNZ: https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/countrylife/2025/huhana-smith-artist-scholar-activist-and-farmer

Follow Huhana on instagram @dooze69High and her property website: https://www.waikokopuoil.co.nz

Episode 14 featured Cameron who lives on a lifestyle block near Pukekohe in the Auckland region of New Zealand.

I liked Cameron's answer to what is biochar: "I like the coral reef analogy - I think it's something people understand. They have a strong visual image of what a coral reef is... and full of life, a structure, a habitat..."

Cameron is super passionate about biochar because of the results he gets after adding it to his growing areas.

We talk about the practicalities of making biochar and how his methods have adapted over time to suit his context. Retorts at community gardens, TLUDs for corn cobs, pits for home biomass, to old dairy vat for prunings and sawmill waste...

We also talk about feeding biochar to various animals and using it successfully in a deep litter sytem for chickens.

We hear about Cameron's optimism for making serious inroads into predator control with the confluence of intelligent, resetting, and dynamic traps that hopefully will become low cost enough to be deployed throughout all of New Zealand.

The chat gets into permaculture near the end and you can also read more on Cameron's blog: https://onionroadfarm.com/ including some posts about biochar :)

An introduction and overview of Biochar: https://www.sces.org.nz/biocharThe national biochar association in NZ: https://biochar.net.nz/ (BNNZ)https://freesound.org/people/joshuaempyre/sounds/250749/

John is a researcher and academic so it was great to hear his perspective and explanations of biochar knowledge that he has gained from doing a PhD tackling 3 aspects of biochar; investigating how biochar changes on a molecular level at different carbonisation temperatures, quality testing protocol development, and composite materials innovation.

Ket takeaways for me:
1. Higher temperature pyrolysis (600-800 degrees C) gives higher surface area biochar which is better for soil.
2. Biology influences biochar on the microscale and chemistry influences biochar on the nanoscale.
3. Higher temperature pyrolysis (above 620 degrees C) gives biochar that is electrically conductive (for use in EMF blocking composites)

John is now a free lance consultant helping people and companies in biochar production development and improvement. He also has been a BNNZ committee member since its inception and offers his scientific knowledge to the organisation free of charge.

Episode 12 was an inspiring chat with Simon from Waiuku (40km south west of Auckland city) who uses biochar to enhance his pastures as well as feeds it to cattle to improve their health.

The success is evident in the increased pasture regrowth times and animals not needing drenching, having high fertility rates, and growing faster.

Yes, it is work to make biochar, but the benefits are obvious to Simon and this recording advocates for more people to try it out.

Livestock are also excellent distributors of char to the landscape negating the need for any kind of spreading machine.

To see some photos from Simon's farm, see the accompanying blog post here.

An introduction and overview of Biochar: https://www.sces.org.nz/biocharThe national biochar association in NZ: https://biochar.net.nz/ (BNNZ)https://freesound.org/people/joshuaempyre/sounds/250749

Episode 11 of Char Chit Chat features a chat with Dale from the Bay of Plenty area of New Zealand. Dale is an ecologist with a strong interest in tree systems and biochar. We delve into his hands-on, low budget methods of making biochar from tree branches on the family farm. Dale has started his own business called Rivendale Wood where he sells products from the treed landscape of the farm.

We also talk about Hazelnut tree production that his Dad has been doing since the 1980s, Dale's favourite and efficient way of making biochar, and his thinking behind people taking action to mitigate climate change.

https://rivendalewood.com/

Episode 10 (into the double digits!) is with John from Paekākāriki on the Kāpiti Coast. We chat about his discovery and immediate fixation with biochar around 2020 and then the formation of a local char group as an offshoot of the community gardens. CharPae applied for grants from local council to get the gear to go and demonstrate and educate about biochar in the community. Something all councils should be doing in my opinion. John talks about their Char-B-Que as an intergral part of the educational workshops, along with their 600 litre kontiki kiln for making large amounts of high quality char. John was pumped about his recent participation at the Biochar Network New Zealand stand at Fieldays in Hamilton where members came together to cook sausages on the Char-B-Que and promote biochar to anyone with a nose for barbecued venison sausages!

Dylan chats with Helen Dew (now 87) who featured in the documentary called Being the Change at 85. Helen speaks with conviction about how important healthy soil is, and how biochar, bokashi, compost, and mulch in combination all help soil health. We talk about her upcoming autobiography and her plan for a natural burial as well as an alternative to the current, but unnecessary economic growth paradigm -> Savings pools as an example of interest free debt (Living Economies). I hope you will be inspired by the admirable life Helen leads..

An introduction and overview of Biochar: https://www.sces.org.nz/biocharThe national biochar association in NZ: https://biochar.net.nz (BNNZ)

Intro music:https://freesound.org/people/joshuaempyre/sounds/250749

Klaus and his family run PermaDynamics Farm and Education up in Northland and we chat about his long history with biochar and agroforestry. Permaculture comes up too. I really recommend having a look through their website after the podcast and also seeing what is on offer on their youtube channel. They offer a paid educational service helping people to learn about Syntropics as well as a planning tool called SAPP.

An introduction and overview of Biochar: https://www.sces.org.nz/biocharThe national biochar association in NZ: https://biochar.net.nz (BNNZ)Intro sound: https://freesound.org/people/joshuaempyre/sounds/250749Support/donate: https://checkya.com/char_chit_chat

Cornelia (and Kai) run KoruKai Herb Farm in Banks Peninsular, near Christchurch. We had an excellent chat about how they make and use biochar for their animals, compost toilet, worm product, and composting in general. Also, about their homesteading and small home business selling herb related products as well as live compost worms!

Resources mentioned:

Phyto Farm: bringing plant medicine back to its rightful place in garden plots and promoting the kitchen as a pharmacy (Little River)

Crafty Gatherer: Designing and producing artisanal tools.

Southern Humates: Shallow humate mine in Southland.

Biochar Network New Zealand: National biochar organisation.