This year, I will put about 2,000 cubic yards of compost into our soil. We are still years away from restoring what was a very depleted soil to its optimum health, but we have made a lot of progress in this direction. We use compost from Reichardt Duck Farm in Petaluma, which is made from rice hulls and duck manure that has been fully composted and is certified to be pathogen free. (This is very important to us. We do not use raw manures because they may contain Salmonella or other bacteria that infect humans easily.) Compost that has been properly heated repeatedly will not have these bacteria.
Each year, we can see the health of our crops improve and the soil tilth develop from addition of this compost. I highly recommend it to the home gardener because it adds considerable nitrogen as well as improving the texture of soil. If you only need a yard or two, come to the farm and we will sell it to you at our cost (about $10/yd.)
