Post Fire Series: DIY Compost Filter Socks

Join Lynn Fang, MS and Maggie McCabe of Soilwise and Arlington Garden's Director of Horticulture Tahereh Sheerazie for this hands-on workshop creating unique ecological filter socks out of upcycled fabric remnants to help clear post-fire contaminants from your soil.

Ecological filter socks are those long tubes filled with compost and mulch that help to heal soil in gardens, and have been particularly important in our community following the Eaton Fire. The socks, also known as 'wattles', clear post-fire contaminants from run off water by slowing water flow and filtering pollutants to improve soil health.

In part one of this two part series, we'll learn how to pack a mix of compost, mulch, fungi, and biochar into creative ecological socks made from remnant fabrics such as burlap, canvas and denim.

Experiment with making a small sock for your own garden, and contribute to a larger collective 'sock' that will be used to help rebuild soil health in the area of the Garden that was affected when the work shed burned this summer.

Limited space is available and capped at a max of 20 people.

Background: Watch this Soil Testing and Bioremediation talk with James Oliver (CAER) and Lynn Fang (Soilwise) held at Arlington Garden in February 2025

Special thanks to Jones Coffee for donating burlap coffee bags.

About the Presenters

SoilWise: Lynn Fang, MS (she/her), co-founder of SoilWise, has over 10 years of experience in ecological landscape design, soil science, community composting, and regenerative farming. She centers soil health as the foundation of thriving and abundant gardens. Her teaching and community work include partnerships with LA Compost, Integrative Development Initiative, Arlington Garden, Altadena Community Garden, Cal Poly Pomona, and Pitzer College. Since the fires, Lynn has offered her expertise and experience towards post-fire soil contaminant testing and bioremediation, guided by scientific research, local case studies, experienced practitioners, and scientists in the field. She brings a thoughtful, ecological, and community oriented approach to soil bioremediation.

SoilWise: Maggie Smart-McCabe (they/she) is a community composter who loves bringing together the worlds of soil health and native plants. They have years of experience working in regenerative gardening, leading community composting hubs in local green spaces, and teaching about community soil health. Maggie is currently the Compost Hubs Program Manager at LA Compost, and they also support SoilWise through facilitating workshops about soil health and bioremediation. Maggie also co-founded Club Gay Gardens- a collective of local LGBTQIA+ volunteers who build and maintain a native habitat parkway garden at the Glendale arts nonprofit, Junior High LA.

Arlington Garden in Pasadena: Tahereh Sheerazie (she/her) is the Director of Horticulture at Arlington Garden. She is also a gardener, quilter, and trekker whose passion for mountains and hikes often weave themselves into her garden and quilt designs as The Plant Artist. She designs California Native plant and food gardens with focus on water harvesting earthworks. Primarily using native plant palettes, found objects, and repurposing onsite materials, her fabric aesthetic is an understated call to look close and behold the unassuming authority of seemingly useless materials in a wildly wonderful native plant landscape or hand-made quilt.

About Arlington Garden in Pasadena

Located in a residential neighborhood, Arlington Garden is a public habitat garden and 2.5 acre host to climate-appropriate plants, trees, fungi, root systems, animals, birds, bees, bugs, and people. The Garden is not a public or municipal park, and is a community-founded non-profit 501c3 organization that is largely supported by donations and grants. We are open, with general attendance free of charge, during daylight hours 365 days a year.