Hop in on a zoom panel with me and my peers, Cesar Mendoza from Sustainable Generation, and Braeden Cohen of @lifesource.earth , on Thursday, May 14, from 1-2pm, as we discuss our career paths in composting, varying from compost pile infrastructure to community fire remediation, to end of life options.
Sign up at the link in bio!
Thanks to @girlysocks123 from the Association of Compost Producers for hosting this panel!
#compost #careers #eco #environment #sustainability #waste #soil #health #climatechange #ecology #farm #deathdoula #aeratedstaticpile #asp
Free simple soil testing workshop tonight 5-8pm in Rialto at @sandalwoodfarm_ie ! Come learn about testing for soil texture, aggregate stability, pH, electrical conductivity, NPK, and microbiology! We’ll also touch on lab testing options and how to take a soil sample. Farm to table dinner provided at 5-6pm!
#soilhealth #soilscience #testing #monitoring #microbiology #ecology #community #compost #regenerative #farming #permaculture #food
We had fun sharing about soil bioremediation with the Girl Scouts @girlscoutsla today! The workshop was lead by Lynn @l_fang and Jonny @n8tiverootslandscaping
We saw lots of beneficial microbes and a fun mite in Jonny’s worm compost, played with worms and found worm eggs, and we made seedballs with phytoremediation seeds donated by @altadenaseedlibrary !
Thanks to @ourcommunitycompound for coordinating the event!
#soilhealth #community #bioremediation #postfire #youth #education #seeds #plants #microbes #microbiology #ecology #compost #worms
The return of the SoilWise Microbial Assessment Certificate is available now! Hosted on the 131 School of Compost platform, taught by @l_fang Level up your microbial awareness to make better compost and soil, grow more food and healthier plants, fight disease and degrade contaminants!
Learn to identify common microbes and understand what they mean for compost quality and soil health. Let your microbes inform and improve your land care practices.
Course content will be available upon registration. Live zoom Q+A and guest speaker sessions will be happening the 3rd and 4th Tuesday of February + March 2026.
We are excited to host special guest speakers Nathan Rutz @soilfoodrutz of Rust Belt Riders @rustbeltriders and John Duke and Monique Bosch of the Northeast Organic Farming Association NOFA to share about their relationship with soil microbial assessment and community education programs.
This course is great for soil practitioners of all kinds: composters, farmers, gardeners, landscapers, bioremediators, soil specialists, and community educators!
Register now at the link in bio!
#soil #microbes #microbiome #ecology #science #soilhealth #assessment #compost #education #community #land #steward #landscape #farming #regenerative
During our Fall ERC, we had the pleasure of hosting Lynn Fang @l_fang and Maggie Smart-McCabe @maggie__mayhem at our Soil Lab and composting area @quintavaledalama . Our soil experts Dr. Elodie da Silva @elod.dasilva and Jeroen Boss @_jeroen_boss shared our compost testing procedures using the new Ridan composter @ridancomposters and Johnson-Su bioreactors. We walked through how we are monitoring the progress and measuring the results. It was fun to talk soil biology and the challenges with scaling composting programs to meet local needs.
In this reel, Lynn shares her thoughts on her visit with us.
About Lynn:
Lynn Fang, MS, is a community soil scientist based in the Los Angeles, CA area. She specializes in ecological design, compost and soil health, regenerative farming, and native habitat restoration. She founded a small business called SoilWise @soilwise.earth in the summer of 2023 to offer these services to the community. Since the Eaton Fire in January 2025, SoilWise has offered post-fire soil contaminant testing and bioremediation support to the impacted communities of Altadena and Pasadena.
Learn more about our Soil Lab: mudvalley.org/soil-lab
#mudvalleyinstitute #algarve
#nonprofit #lagosportugal
#ecosystemrestoration
#regenag
#regenerativeagriculture
#ecosystemregenerationcamp
#erc
#composting #soilhealth #sharingknowledge
What a deeply transformative time with @maggie__mayhem at @mudvalleyinstitute@quintavaledalama learning about agroforestry systems and soil health monitoring through the Ecosystem Restoration Framework. We also supported a local agroforestry farm, @medronheira_em_rede in post-fire restoration.
We focused on protecting the water lines from soil erosion by felling burned logs and laying them on contour along the hillside, piling up log berms with brush in critical gully areas as check dams to slow water and sediment flow. Hay filled with seed was spread along the hillside to build soil organic matter and replant ground cover. Many of the trees and plants were already regrowing and bouncing back.
So much hard work, thoughtfulness, intention, and deep community care was offered by their team to ensure we could have a powerful educational experience in a way that also supported our well-being as individuals and in community. Not only did we receive deep ecological education, we also got to experience positive communication and relationship building. We were also fortunate to be surrounded by very kind and passionate participants.
We also got to learn about their soil lab and soil health monitoring techniques. It was a super fruitful exchange and so inspiring to see the healing work done on so many levels, creating a safe space for so many people to be able to learn.
You can support their post fire restoration work through their GoFundMe (link in bio!) /f/renascer-das-cinzas-apos-fogo-devastador
#agroforestry #ecosystemrestoration #soilhealth #soilscience #community #compost #imo #microbes #ecology #permaculture #postfire #restoration #remediation #regenerative #health #wellbeing #soil
Thanks to everyone who helped make our soil critter celebration so much fun. It was a huge, strictly voluntary team effort between artists, scientists, artists, growers and makers to pay our respects to the critters, large and small, who help us "grow" the healthy soil needed for growing healthy food.
Today we had the great joy to host @maggie__mayhem and @l_fang at our Soil Lab and composting area @quintavaledalama . We had an awesome time geeking out on our new Ridan composter, sharing information about our composting processes and tests here at the farm, analyzing compost samples, and exchanging ideas about composting programs and how to scale them. Here’s to even more collaboration between us in the future!
#composting #soilhealth #sharingknowledge #mudvalleyinstitute #algarve #ecosystemrestoration
Having a great start at our event with @planetearthobservatory@healthysoilla@arlingtonpasadena and getting a lovely custom poem from a vintage typewriter thanks to @berndecember offering a blessing of healing for the world. Come thru to celebrate the work of our humble soil critters. Let’s let the world know about all their great toils, feats of deep resiliency. Thanks to @likelybiking@maggie__mayhem@micklorusso@dr.daisyrosasv for making this happen!
#soil #health #critters #microbes #ecology #art #poetry #celebration #healing #community #wellbeing #compost
Why seek advice from the creatures who live in the soil? Why not!
They've been taking care of our precious soil for millennium. Join us Saturday, November 1 from 5:00-8:30pm at Arlington Garden in Pasadena for an evening of poetry, storytelling, microbes and more. Music by Compost Jam and Likely Biking. Meet Diablo The Ironclad Beetle at the soil critter petting zoo. Chat with Aaron Tupac about the Mycoverse. Visit John Craig'sWorm Farm and spend some time colouring Mick Lorusso's tarot inspired soil critter colouring book. Prizes for great critter costumes, sweet treats and more. More details in the bio.
I’ll be giving a webinar hosted by @ilsr_org this Thursday, August 14, from 9 - 10:30am PST / 12pm - 1:30pm EST on Restoring Soil with Compost: Lessons from the Los Angeles Wildfires and More.
We’ll go over the contaminants of concern in soil and compost after an urban wildfire, the role of microscopy in assessing soil health, the ecological principles of bioremediation, and how compost can support soil bioremediation.
I’ll share a few case studies we’re working on in Altadena, and also touch on findings from the recently published Post-Fire Contamination Toolkit, which analyzed soil and compost samples at several LA Compost @lacompost sites affected by the Eaton Fire in Altadena. The toolkit was also created in collaboration with Prospering Backyards @prosperingbackyards (check it out at link in bio!)
Registration is $20, sign up at the link in bio! All registrants will receive a recording of the webinar.
*Free registration is available for government, farmers, educators/schools, and members of the Community Composter Coalition (CCC). Government should use the discount code GOV, farmers should use FARMER, K-12 educators and schools should use EDU and CCC members should use CCC at checkout for free registration.
#bioremediation #wildfire #soilhealth #restoration #community #wellbeing #soilscience #health #compost #remediation #phytoremediation #mycoremediation #soil #ecology #microbiology #microbes #fungi #contaminants #heavymetals #dioxins #pfas #hydrocarbons
