Compost

Prepping beds with organic compost is one of the most difficult jobs of the year. Since we use no mechanized equipment for any farming activities, I like to say that you have to move compost three times. First, you shovel it into a wheelbarrow. The second move is pushing the wheelbarrow to the bed and dumping it in. The third move is shoveling in the bed and smoothing it out to a consistent depth. An exhausting job, to be sure, but worth it since plants love compost and will grow strong with healthy root systems.

If you are wondering about he plastic in the above pictures, I use it to keep the compost dry. Thursday and Friday we had rain (and snow!). Compost is heavy enough without adding the weight of the precipitation!