Compost and Straw Bale Update

One great resource Tillamook has to offer gardeners is the Hooley digester.  Cow manure from many of the local dairy farms is broken down and the methane is converted into electricity.  The leftovers make wonderful compost.  The good people at the Port of Tillamook Bay donated ten yards of compost for our garden project.  A few gentlemen at both Saint Peter's and TUMC offered to help transport the compost, but lucky for all of us, Pastor arranged for Rosenberg, a local builder's supply store, to deliver it for free.  This kindness saved us a literal ton of work, since we won't need to shovel compost out of the beds of pickups or off trailers.

The plan from here is to spread the compost out across the garden and let it sit for about a week.  Hopefully the compost is hot enough yet to cook and kill any sod that remains in the garden plot.  After a week, we will till again to mix the compost into the soil.

Today I checked the temperature of the straw bales with a compost thermometer.  Their internal temperature is only about 80 degrees F.  I added a shovel of hot compost to the top of each bale.  I will check the temperature again next time I go by the garden.  Hopefully the straw starts breaking down soon and we can get planting.

Thank you, Rosenberg!

And this is what ten yards of compost looks like.  It isn't as big and scary as I thought it would be.

We Break Ground

No utility lines were located near our garden plot, so today we broke ground.  Tilling through sod is tough, TOUGH work.  My parents did the bulk of the work.  I did some tilling, and spent a good chunk of the day chasing my kids.  It feels great to get started!

My littlest helpers are sleeping!

Pastor took the riding mower out for a spin to cut the grass as short as possible before tilling.

These guys stopped running just long enough to supervise tilling for about 30 seconds.

Miles thinks work days are fun!  He also enjoys finding his big brother's pudding cups.

Elim, enjoying the work day and pudding as much as his twin.

It took about eight passes of the rototiller to get this deep.  Sod is no fun.

The little helpers definitely had more fun during the work day than the adults did.

Wheel barrow ride!

After seven or so hours of very hard work, this chunk of yard is starting to look like a real garden.