Compost. Lots of Compost.

A coworker of ours, Judith, is an avid gardener and has been here much longer than we have, so she has been a great source for local gardening information. She is the person who lead us to Columbia Gorge Organics as a source for compost. They take the leftovers from their local juicing operation (pulp, skins, etc.), combine it with some manure from other local farmers, and produce large rows of compost which they then sell for $80/ton. Yes, that's right: they sell per ton.

It's a haul-yourself operation, so one workday we drove the farm truck to work and I drove over to pick up some compost at lunchtime. They first weigh your vehicle empty, then use a front-loader to load you up and weigh you again. Well, here's the result: 2300lbs of compost at a cost of $80. Our truck turned out to be only a 3/4 ton truck, but thankfully there were no problems.

The majority of this compost will be used in the raised beds in the garden. Looks like we've got quite a bit of shoveling to do...

- Mike (& Corinne)