Show Notes
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!
More from Char Chit Chat
Toula from Southland Carbon joined me for a chat this week about her journey of biochar discovery to being the largest commercial producer in NZ.
Episode 14 was a fun chat with Kevin Rapson from Buzi-B Flower Farm. We chat about how he has used biochar to improve his and his wife Trish's soil for growing flowers commercially on their small holding on the Kaipara Coast, North West of Auckland.
Episode 13 of the Char Chit Chat with Amanda from Tinwald Farm covered a lot of cool stuff. I feel like more women are needed in the world to run farms so that they become way more connected with the living systems that they are part of.
Episode 12 features well known regenerative farmer Greg Hart from Mangarara Farm in the Hawkes Bay region. Dylan has known about Greg and his tree planting for many years and met Greg at the Underground Festival in 2025 after he attended his biochar workshop. It's great that Greg is now seeing the benefits of biochar to his farming systems and he is an excellent advocate for its widespread adoption. Greg talks about his farming journey and his move towards exploring better ways of raising animals without the abundant use of fossil fuels once he realised it's completely unsustainable around 20 years ago. Trees on farm are a massive part of this as are other ways of cycling nutrients such as on farm slaughter and charring of bones. Greg also is interested in intentional communities and is setting up an agrihood to address the "more people needed on the land" issue in a proactive and practical way.
Shakēd is involved in a large variety of endeavours and we talk about these for awhile before biochar comes up, but hopefully you will still find it all interesting!