The second round of cutting-edge biofuel and oilseed-crushing workshops is coming to farmers in Virginia on March 26th and April 1st. Biofuel continues to be a prime opportunity for small-scale family farmers to make their own fuel or add value to their crops. In addition, the crushing of oilseeds to make valuable food grade oils (such as flax seed or sunflower oil) is growing in popularity among savvy farmers.

“The 2010 biofuel & seed-crushing roadshow” will feature a team of expert professionals offering workshops at rural locations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Virginia.

The workshop on March 26, 2010 is part of the Southern Virginia Bioenergy Conference. The cost of this event is free. Registration is required.

The workshop on April 1, 2010 is being hosted by Virginia Cooperative Extension, James Madison University, and Piedmont Biofuels.

All of the workshops will be conducted by Piedmont Biofuels Coop, one of the leading community-based biofuel producers in the country. (More information on Piedmont Biofuels at www.biofuels.coop.)

The workshops are three hours long and include an overview of small-scale biodiesel production, as well as an introduction to oilseed crushing machines and techniques. The Piedmont Biofuels mobile training lab includes a biodiesel reactor and a German-made Momfort Komet seed press. The organization has conducted dozens of workshops across the nation in recent years and is in high demand.

Rachel Burton of Piedmont Biofuels said, “We are so pleased to be coming to communities to meet farmers and anyone who is interested. We think every rural community can benefit from this type of hands-on training.”

The team will make enough biodiesel at each stop to fuel its own pick-up truck for the tour.

The 2010 Biofuel and Seed-Crushing Roadshow is coordinated by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, based in Pittsboro, NC. Funding is provided by the Risk Management Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, through a grant to the non-profit National Center for Appropriate Technology.

For general information about the tour, contact Fred Broadwell at Carolina Farm Stewardship Association at 919-542-2402 (office) or 919-943-1068 (cell). Site-specific contacts are below.

Roadshow dates and locations*

Virginia

March 26th

Southern Virginia Bioenergy Conference

Workshop Location: Institute for Advanced Learning and Research
150 Slayton Avenue
Danville, Virginia 24540

April 1st

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Shenandoah Valley

Workshop location: Montezuma Hall, Montezuma, VA

Workshop time: Starts at 10AM

Contact:  To register for this event please contact the Rockingham County Extension Office at 540-564-3080

The registration fee is $10 and includes lunch.

ALABAMA

Wed. & Thurs. February 17, 18

At the 118^th Annual Tuskegee Farmer’s Conference, Tuskegee, AL

Hosted by the Tuskegee Institute

Biofuels/seedcrushing workshops both days.

www.tuskegee.edu (click on “Outreach” for conference registration)

Contact: Barrett Vaughn  (334)727-8527or (334) 552-1152

GEORGIA

Friday February 19

Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA

10:30 AM  – 2 PM

Contact: Leon Porter, porterl@fvsu.edu, 478-987-2028, ext 245

Also Friday February 19

Koinonia Partners, Americus, GA

Call for time.

www.koinoniapartners.org

Contact:  Sarah Prendergast, sarah@koinoniapartners.org, 877-738-1741

FLORIDA

Saturday February 20

Wildwood Farmers Market, Wildwood City Hall, Wildwood, FL

Hosted by UF/IFAS Sumter County Extension Service

9 AM to 12 noon

Contact:  Susan Kelly, sakelly@ufl.edu, 352-793-2728

Monday February 21

Crescent Moon Organic Farm, Sopchoppy, FL

Hosted by Florida A&M University Statewide Small Farm Programs

1PM to 4:00PM

Contact: Jennifer Taylor, Jennifer.taylor@famu.edu, 850-412-5260

SOUTH CAROLINA

Tuesday February 22

Low Country Council of Government offices, Yemassee, SC

Hosted by Clemson University Cooperative Extension

1:30 to 4:30 PM

Contact: York Glover:  yglover@exchange.clemson.edu, 843-812-2909

*Note:  More dates are planned in March in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

From humble beginnings as a biodiesel co-op to commercial biodiesel production, PB has first hand experience with all scales of sustainable biodiesel production. They are the smallest bq9000 certified producer in the world recognized nationally as fuel quality experts and internationally for their biodiesel education programs. Come experience life in a local economy and spend 5 days learning about production, plant design, methanol recovery and glycerin refining, fuel quality testing, regulatory and safety, and the fundamentals of the biodiesel business.

Register here:

http://theabundancefoundation.org/biodiesel-workshop/

Workshop dates: October 26-30, 2009 –

$650 – Pre-Registration & Payment by August 30
$700 – Registration & Payment from September 1 to October 1
$750– Registration after October 1

Join us for the Fourth Annual

Collective Biodiesel Conference

July 31st – August 2nd, 2009, at American University in Washington, DC!

3 Days, 3 Tracks, More than 20 Speakers!

KEYNOTE: a special advance screening of FUEL, the full-length biodiesel documentary

With director Josh Tickell, author of “From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank” and “Biodiesel America”

REGISTER | SCHEDULE | FAQs

The Collective Biodiesel Conference, originally held at the Colorado School of Mines, is a technical conference for small scale biodiesel and B100 users. It’s THE national conference for the homebrew community.

Biodiesel Production, Feedstocks and Usage are this year’s workshop themes. Talks will also cover Safety, Regulatory Compliance, and Fuel Quality.

The CBC brings people with all levels of biodiesel experience together to share secret tips, innovations and best practice methodologies. Whether you’re a newbie or a die-hard home-brewer, a B100 user or just looking, come learn more about biodiesel production and consumption from some of the community’s heavyweights!

Participants will also get to meet with legislators, take biodiesel buses to a Saturday night bonfire at beautiful Calleva farm, and tour the Pogoil farm-scale biodiesel processing facility.

The last day of discount ($150) “Medium Bird” registration is July 15^th. After that, registration is $175 until July 30^th, then walk-up registration is $225. You can also sign up for on-campus housing at our website for both nights of the conference for just $50 per night, and also buy one of our sharp conference t-shirts for just $15.

Learn more about this year’s conference and REGISTER TODAY!!

Thanks,

Web:  http://CollectiveBiodiesel.org

Email: biodieselconference@gmail.com

About the Collective Biodiesel Conference

The Collective Biodiesel Conference was held in Golden, Colorado the last three years. It is a non-profit effort, volunteer-run, and dedicated to building the biodiesel community.

Special thanks to American University’s Department of Facilities Management for hosting this year’s conference.

As part of Piedmont’s new world order, they have embarked on “Celebrity Grease Runs,” in which they load the vacuum truck with everything they need:  gloves, hoses, stingers, drums, and an extra volunteer person who rides along.

Tami was the first to participate. She spent a long day sucking grease and allegedly impressed both Moya and Kate with her quick learning and her strong back.  Everyone was afraid she would lose a tiara in a dumpster, or break a nail, but neither happened and Tami’s stock went up as news of their successful day spread across our project.

Contrary to popular perception, you do not need to be a blonde to participate in Celebrity Grease Runs.

This morning as I trudged through the gate, I encountered Beth Turner getting ready to go suck grease.  It was a humid June morning, and she was feeling a little shiny, but her enthusiasm for the adventure ahead was palpable.

What is unclear at this point is who is the celebrity in the “Celebrity Grease Run.” Surely both Tami and Beth are big names around town-but some argue that it is in fact Moya and Kate who have celebrity status.

We can argue about it.  Recently Tony from Star joined Moya and Kate on a run.  Here is his take on Celebrity Grease Runs.

In the meantime, we have a new focus on our feedstock collection efforts. With a newly polished budget, a new web presence, and a brochure coming soon, we are doing some outreach to anyone interested in gaining more intimacy with the oil collection side of our lives.

Anyone interested in going on a run, or helping out with more grease pickup points, should email greasegoddess@biofuels.coop.

Feedstock collection, it seems, like membership, volunteer projects, and local fuel sales, is growing again.

We’ve noticed that they do all their homework before they come to the plant and they get straight “A’s” without trying.  That is either a testimony to their big brains or a knock against Horton Middle School.

We are unable to homeschool by day, and so we have undertaken the task at night.

One night their study of science involved the crushing of seeds to see which one had the most oil.  Rachel took them to the college, dropped them off with Matt, who handed them off to Andy, who helped them run sunflower, safflower, and mustard seed through the crusher.

On the drive home they reflected on how it was “the best night school night of all.”

Which shocked me. It was merely an array of  some of the best bio-oleo-chemical instructors in the country.

“Because we had a real teacher,” they said.

Somewhere there is a plaque which named me “Environmental Educator of the Year,” once upon a time when I taught at the college.  I guess I’ll move over for Andy.

We had a rare snow storm the other day.  Horton Middle School, and the rest of the piedmont of North Carolina closed for the day.

As a bitter Canadian, raised in the “snow belt” of southwestern Ontario, who never received a “snow day” growing up, I announced that our subject of study for the day would be “marksmanship,” and the three of us headed into the woods for a protracted snowball fight.

We ended up at the Coop, where work never stops.  People were plumbing and farming and making fuel in the midst of the snow.

And on the roof, there was a “volunteer opportunity,” to sweep the snow from the solar thermal collectors.  Our beneficent landlord dropped a hickory tree in the front yard so that the old solar collectors are now in full sun.  And the system has been re-plumbed.

The concept of  passive solar hasn’t quite sunk in, since someone has blocked the sun from the Grease Warming Zone with black barrels and totes in the yard-but that’s OK.  One thing at a time.

At one point I was asked if the boys were working on the roof in an expectation of future fuel, and I explained that instead they were learning the joys of volunteerism as part of their new curriculum.

At the same time, they seemed to be quick studies in military strategy, availing themselves of the “high ground” to pellet those of us in the yard with snowballs.

Our trip through the woods morphed into a gathering at Scott and Rachel’s for banana bread, which then turned into an “intern intake” party at our house.

And I have to say it is impressive.  Caleb has the Coop spinning like a top.  Moya is collecting more grease than the Coop plant can handle, Michael is spinning it into fuel, Kate is jumping in with both feet, and locally collected feedstocks are being converted into fuel for the members who draw from the B100 Community Trail.

Rain or snow.  It’s happening.

And it is an inspiration.

Despite the odd snowball to the face…

Mark was a huge supporter of this community and will be missed by many. We will celebrate his life on December 28th @ 1:00pm at the biodiesel plant at 220 Lorax Lane in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

Gary Phillips will conduct a short ceremony. People can have some time to speak and then as Mark would have it, we’ll start the music, eat and drink and be merry!

From the New York Times December 21, 2008:

ESTILL–Mark. On Tuesday, December 16th, 2008, the world lost an incredible man in Mark Thomas Estill, 54. His new rock star wife, Beth, held his hand and his gaze in his house in Moncure, North Carolina as he passed away. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer four weeks prior. Mark, of course, never smoked. His brothers Jim, Glen and Lyle are planning the next “Brothers Weekend” (a concept which Mark had created), in his honor. His mother Ann and his father Don joined us all, and they miss him very much. It comes as no surprise to the legions of nieces and nephews he loved and brought to multiple hockey games that the Hurricanes beat the Canadiens later that evening, and no doubt Mark would see that as “Beautiful”. The family is having a private affair, but we cordially invite the community to paint the town Hurricane Red on December 28th at Mark’s biodiesel plant on the edge of town. Mark hated flowers, and the
family would appreciate those so inclined to donate in his name to Girls Rock North Carolina, a foundation whose goal is to empower young women through music (www.girlsrocknc.org) and the Abundance Foundation, which is focused on local food, renewable energy, and community (theabundancefoundation. org).
Published in the New York Times on 12/21/2008

The first facility of its kind in the state of North Carolina, the Bio-Refinery will dramatically reduce the ecological footprint of each gallon of fuel which comes from the plant, and improve the sustainability of the biodiesel production process.

Specifically, the facility will allow large-scale methanol recovery, reducing the inputs required and turning waste streams into useful co-products.

The event will begin with a tour at 3:00 p.m. with a tour of the facility, continue with speeches from local, state, and federal officials at 4:00, and continue with festivities at 5:00.

Confirmed speakers include U.S. Congressman Bob Etheridge, N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, N.C. Senator Bob Atwater, N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird, Speaker Joe Hackney of the N.C. House, President Steven Burke of the N.C. Biofuels Center, and Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller. The event will be open to the public.

The Bio-Refinery was built in part by a loan from the North Carolina Biofuels Center, a grant from the USDA, and money from private investors.

Piedmont Biofuels is a successful grassroots movement fighting for sustainable food and fuel and eschewing dependence on foreign oil. Beginning as a three-person co-op in 2002 it has since climbed to a coalition of over 600 members.

Piedmont Biofuels is now nationally recognized as the premier center of sustainable biodiesel education, advocacy, and expertise on the eastern seaboard, and a model of small-scale, locally-based biodiesel production.

It is the only community scale biodiesel plant with BQ-9000 quality certification from the National Biodiesel Board.

Piedmont Biofuels has worked in partnership with the NC State Energy Office, the NC Division of Air Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the North Carolina Solar Center, the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Triangle Clean Cities, the NC Biomass Council, and the NC Biofuels Center on their quest for sustainable biodiesel production.

Join us if you can.