Sierra Preta is gearing up for the 2024/25 kiln season, and we want your input!
After a successful first season producing BioChar, we are seeking feedback through a community survey to better serve our community and environment.
The survey focuses on past experiences, future plans, and interest in BioChar production. Whether you hosted a kiln, attended workshops, or are curious about joining, your insights are invaluable.
If you have not filled out our survey you can click here
Key Survey Areas:
Chapter 1.
Participation last season
Chapter one is focused on understanding the previous experience of everyone who was involved in our first burn season. This is everybody who hosted our kiln on their land and those who attended one of our workshops. This information will help shape a more efficient and community-centered approach to our BioChar production in the coming season (December – April).
1.1 Kiln Hosting Experience
The following questions are focused on gaining feedback from everyone who hosted our kiln on their land or assisted in a burn. As this was our very first season we have a lot of new ideas for improvement and your answers help us perfect our processes.
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How was the level of assistance you received during kiln setup and burn process. Fire can be intimidating and it is important you feel confident and are aware of safety requirements.
- Please give feedback on the level of assurance you have in our Sierra Preta Team.
- We want to know if you witness or experienced any technical difficulties during the time our kiln was on your land. This can include with our equipment, feedstock issues and transport.
- Please elaborate in as much detail as you can, the more information the better!
1.2: Workshop Experience
If you have participated in one of our workshops, these questions are for you! Sierra Preta wishes to ensure our workshops cover everything and anything our community are interested to know regarding BioChar and Regenerative Agriculture.
If you have not attended a workshop and have ideas for our future workshop, you can share your ideas in Question 29.
- Consider if the workshop topics were relevant, beneficial and practical for your needs.
- Here you can comment on any areas or topics you’d like to see covered in future workshops.
- We want to make sure that our workshops are fun and engaging this question is to understand your evaluation on the knowledge and engagement level of the workshop instructors.
1.3: Overall Program Feedback
- Indicate how likely you are to participant the next burn season.
- Share if you would recommend Sierra Preta to others to grow our movement.
- Let us know if anything else came up for you after answering the previous questions, provide any additional comments to help improve the program.
Chapter 2.
Planning of the next year
This section focused on planning the upcoming season. If you are interested in hosting a kiln on your land or getting involved to process your own BioChar this section is for you.
After the massive positive reaction to our project and demand of the use of the kiln last season, we are planning to build more and helping others build their own.
2.1 Land and access
To make our project accessible for everyone, its important for us to understand the different types of land in our area.
- Provide an estimate of your land size in square meters.
- Describe how easy it is to move the kiln or transport feedstock on your property. We are planning on building a smaller version, we hope this will assist us in reaching properties with difficult terrain.
- If the difficulty level is not one we have suggested, please describe the best you can.
2.2. Feedstock Material
Feedstock is the organic matter which we process into BioChar using pyrolysis. Ideally this feedstock is dry and pre-cut for easily access in the kiln. Large voluminous branches, for example, prevent having a compact burning layer and would need to be cut down before application.
- Identify the types of trees you have for feedstock, such as olive, almond, pine, etc
- If you have trees not on the above list we would love to know, this helps us know what to expect and what type of trees are thriving in our area.
- If you have a routine pruning schedule please specify when you usually. Ideally the pyrolysis process works better when the feedstock has had time to dry, this questions gives us an idea of our communities groove so we can plan accordingly.
- We are curious to know if you currently have feedstock drying on your land. This is ideal for us to book you in at the start of the season as this feedstock is ready to be processed.
- Gauging the size of wood available helps us determine how much preparation work is needed.
- Knowing the size quantities our community is interested in helps us plan for new kilns and the labor needed to complete the process.
- Indicating when you’d prefer to process BioChar gives us an idea about the expected time frames of our community for planning purposes are demand.
Chapter 3.
Future interest in our Project
This sections focuses on future interest in our BioChar Project. Our goal is to fill the soil of the Sierra Nevada with BioChar, improving resilience and water retention as a combat to desertification. With each new member we are one step further in realising our mission.
3.1 BioChar Production
Our mission is to fill the soil of the Sierra Nevada with BioChar, improving water retention and regenerating our environment. To reach this mission we need a lot of BioChar! Sierra Preta supports like minded non-for-profit environmental associations with donations of BioChar whenever we can!
- Express your interest in hosting the kiln on your land. If you are unsure of the logistics please reach out to discuss, email and phone number at bottom of survey.
- Sierra Preta are preparing for the future procedure models for our services. Choose the type of service that would best meet your needs (e.g., full service, rental, DIY support).
- If you have ideas of other method we have not thought of please elaborate here, feel free to give as many ideas as you could imagine assisting yourself joining our movement.
- We are looking to raise funds for our Project buy selling the BioChar we have for people to use on their land. Indicate if you’re interested in purchasing BioChar.
- Specify how much you would need annually, this is aimed at farmers and large land owners but if you are an avid gardener and have an idea how much your would use in your garden, this question is also for you.
- We would like to offer different mixes for our BioChar. Choose if you’d prefer BioChar on its own or mixed with other materials.
- If you have heard of another beneficial material to mix with the BioChar, please let us know!
- State your interest in participating in Workshops to learn more about BioChar and its impact.
- One of our main focuses is education, the more our community knows about regenerative practices. If you have a specific topic you would like to learn in our workshops we would love to know and do our best to incorporate it into our workshops.
- Whether you dug a hole in the ground or build your own kiln, please share your experiences!
- Sierra Preta focuses on the availability of BioChar production for our community. Knowing what model of kilns are a preference will help us in our planning of our next kiln build.
- If you have seen other kiln models for us to look into we want to know! Especially if you have had a good experience with them.
3.2 Membership and Volunteering
Our mission cannot happen without the support of our community! We rely on fundraising and volunteers to help make our vision possible, having members who show continuous support can assist us plan for the future and expand our outreach.
- Here we wish to understand the interest in our community in becoming members.
- There are different ways to fund our expenses and resourced which we provide to our community. One of them can be a membership fee, another can be a fee for the use of the kiln. What is important for us is we find a solution for everyone.
- Express your interest in volunteering and share ideas or feedback that could make the project more appealing to you. You can find more information about Volunteering here
- This is our first survey attempt so we want to know if there was anything in this survey experience you would liked changed.
- Share any additional thoughts, suggestions, or ideas for Sierra Preta.
- If you’re comfortable, leave your contact information for follow-up, or email the team directly..
This survey is valuable for planning the upcoming kiln season and ensuring our project meets community needs.
Your input will help shape the future of BioChar production with Sierra Preta!