Treating
Fern Street lot
Oyster mushroom straw laid on 2 September over 0.4 acre.
Sample site. Cinder & Root is invented; readings and sites are sample data.Built by connectNPO
● Soil test requests are openNext free test day: Sat 18 Oct, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.Practitioner course: 4 of 16 seats left
Post-fire soil testing and cleanup · Sable Hills
Post-fire soil, cleaned with fungi, plants and char.
A fire leaves metals and char in the top few inches of ground. We test it, treat it with living things instead of trucks, and teach neighbours to do the same.
How a site gets clean
Sixteen inches, four layers, two tests.
1 · Ash and char0 to 4 inches
First we test. Nine cores from each lot go to an outside lab, and the results are posted on the site's page.
2 · Straw and mycelium4 to 8 inches
We lay straw grown through with oyster mushroom. The fungi break down fuel residue and the mat holds the ash in place through the rains.
3 · Roots8 to 12 inches
Sunflowers, mustards and native grasses follow. Some draw metals up into their leaves, which are cut, bagged and taken away. All of them hold the slope.
4 · The second test12 to 16 inches
Same depth, same lab. A site is finished when the second test is under the level the county set, and the page says so.
410
Lead, mg/kg, Old depot yard.
Sample reading, not a real result. Outside lab, 0 to 4 in, 9 cores. First test Jan 2025, last test May 2026.
Sample reading, not a real result. Outside lab, 0 to 4 in, 9 cores. First test Jan 2025, last test May 2026.
Tested before, and tested after.
Every site we take on is on this page with what we found, what we did and what the second test said. What a number means for a family is for the county health department, not for us.
Before
| Site | What we used | Lead, first test | Lead, second test | How it was measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old depot yard | oyster mushroom straw, sunflowers, char | 410 mg/kg | 96 mg/kg | outside lab · 0 to 4 in · 9 cores |
| Mesa Verde school garden | raised beds, compost, char | 180 mg/kg | at the lab now | outside lab · 0 to 6 in · 12 cores |
| Fern Street lot | oyster mushroom straw, native grasses | 260 mg/kg | due December | field XRF, then outside lab |
| Arroyo creek bank | willow wattles, sedges | 140 mg/kg | due March | outside lab · sediment · 6 cores |
All readings here are sample data for a demonstration. A real site would link each figure to the lab report, and to the county's and the state's own screening levels. Every site, with its lab reports →
14 sites in the record
Where the work is now.
Staff move a site from stage to stage in one screen, and this list follows.
Re-testing
Mesa Verde garden
Second test taken 14 August. Results go up when the lab returns them.
Holding
Arroyo creek bank
Willow wattles keep ash out of the creek through the rains.
Done
Old depot yard
Final test 2 May. Handed back to the city for a park.
Ten more sites are on the sites page, each with its readings, its photos and the date of its next test.
After a fire, or near one
Three ways in.
For residents
Ask for a soil test
Four questions about the property and none about anyone's health. We reply with the next free test day near you and what to bring.
Ask for a test →Training
Learn the work
- Soil practitioner course, 8 Saturdays4 of 16 left
- Mushroom straw workshopSat 25 Oct
- Reading a lab sheet, onlineTue 4 Nov
What we need
Bring or pledge
- P100 respirators12 of 40
- Tyvek coveralls60 of 60 ✓
- Cargo van0 of 1
Start with one test.
If your yard, garden or lot burned, the first step is knowing what is in the soil. The test day is free, and nobody asks why you want to know.