Last Thursday the trucks started bringing compost and spreading equipment down to the farm and by day's end three loads had been spread. On Friday they finished spreading around 7pm, well after dark. We spent four hours Saturday afternoon shallowly tilling the compost in, mixing it with the top layer of soil. Soil and compost/organic matter are happy together and protect each other from premature weathering/breakdown of nutrients and life.

Applying compost in fall, when the ground is settled and solid, is preferable to applications in spring, when the ground is soft and 'open' after the freezing/expansion/thaw cycle that winter brings. Even with 5 inches of rain over the last month, the ground was settled enough that no significant compression occurred with heavy compost spreading equipment driving everywhere. Last spring the ground was so soft and damp that we compacted the soil by driving on it, creating huge ruts. The soil became so compressed and compacted that it took half a growing season of tilling and rain to loosen up the soil and get air/oxygen back into it. This didn't happen at all this time around, and things are looking great for next spring.

The entire project is the single most expensive thing we do as a farm, and we're planning on doing it every year after the fantastic results we experienced from this past spring's application. Even with the terrible compaction of the field after the spring application, the results in the end were amazing with dramatically improved soil characteristics and soil life--we saw worms in places we've not seen them in years. Now with an even larger application that did not result in the field being compacted, we're expecting better results with continued soil life improvement and physical structure. At the current application rate, the entire project cost just over $20,000, up from the $15,000 level we applied last spring.

These off season expenditures would not be possible were it not for our CSA customers and the nature of our relationship. In a few years, after we realize our full efficiency and profitability, we'll be able to pay off remaining farm debt and get ahead, paying for projects like compost applications with previous year's profits rather than needing to depend entirely on incoming CSA money as we currently do. Though well over half the farm's debt is paid and we're becoming more profitable, we still depend heavily on incoming CSA money to meet current financial needs.

For that reason, we've finalized the details of our 2013 CSA and are offering an additional discount for those signing up and paying in full by December 1st. For customers who invest in our farm by paying in advance, as the original CSA model suggests, we want to offer a return on your money equal to, or greater than, what you'd expect to earn on the stock market, and with a lot less risk. Check out our website or this link if you're thinking of signing up for next year. Though we've put significant time into our website making signing up for our CSA easier, we don't have thousands of dollars for a slick and foolproof site, so feel free to call Robin if you have any questions or problems signing up.