The poop is here!

Wavy standing in front of 25 tons of composted chicken manure

Anything we can do this time of year is one less thing we need to worry about between April and October. So today we had some composted chicken manure delivered. There is a big poultry farm in New York, across Lake Champlain, and all their chicken poop is a disposal problem. A number of years ago they started composting their chicken manure and selling it. Then, a few years ago when the new federal rules made it harder for small farms to make their own manure based compost, they got their composting process certified as organic, and now instead of a disposal problem, they have a product they can sell to crazy vegetable farmers. Plus, they sell it cheap since they have a lot of it and are always looking to get rid of it. The catch? They only have one size truck -- so you can buy 25 tons at a time, or zero.

Last year we had to wait until late spring to get our chicken compost because they had so many other regular customers to satisfy within the small timeframe of early spring. So this year, we cleared a part of our field from snow now, let it freeze solid for a few weeks, and then had the chicken people deliver early. We will now transport it up to the fields and put it in piles, ready to be spread and incorporated in the spring. If we put the piles in relatively dry spots and cover them, we shouldn't lose too many nutrients to leaching. So, I think this should work. Plus, now I don't have to worry about coordinating our field prep with a late spring compost delivery.