Ingredients blended to meet the nutritional needs of your crops and soils

Our compost is created from a blend of beneficial, naturally derived ingredients and provides a holistic approach to your nutrient management program.  Because most of our ingredients originate from local sources, our compost effectively promotes disease and virus resistance for local agriculture.  Our family-scale operation has the flexibility to tailor your compost blend to your soils’ requirements.  Natural Selection Farms provides  both Conventional and Certified Organic Compost. Natural Selection Farm’s organic compost meets USDA National Organic Standards (7 CFR Part 205) and Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for compost.

Windrow Turner: Turning the compost cools and oxygenates the rows to maintain optimum temperature parameters

A Sampling of Our Ingredient Buffet…

• Fruit Pumice…grape, apple & pear…Carbon source

• Hop Residue…Hop Vines and leaves…source of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron; this  fibrous material also facilitates aeration.Ash… provides significant iron and calcium.  Iron is necessary for photosynthesis, oxidation reduction, nitrogen fixation, chromosome activity

• Blood Meal…nitrogen source
• Fish….hydrolysate and whole; nitrogen source
• Paunch…nitrogen Source
• Calcium Carbonate (Lime)…calcium source blended prior to screening and only upon request.  Please note, once lime is added, the compost is no longer WSDA organically certified.  Calcium is a catalysis that activates enzyme activities, which digest and break down carbohydrates in cells; aid plant with disease and parasite resistance, and improves soil porosity

• Milk and Whey…Microbe food source, sodium reducer: sugar, protein (amino acid), vitamin B, enzymes; Sugar functions as insect control (most insects don’t have a pancreas are unable to digest sugar) Vitamin B and Enzymes: microbe stimulant, enzymes convert food into a form microbes and plants can utilize.

• Dairy manure…source of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, calcium, zinc, iron and magnesium; blended only upon request due to the additional cost of follow-up testing to meet WSDA/ European Organic Certification; this product undergoes a liquids separation process and then passes through a screw press to remove water in order to significantly reduce salinity.
• Red Water…microbe stimulant
  

  Shredded Orchard Prunnings

• Shredded wood products and straw…tree pruning remnants and straw…carbon source; this  fibrous material also facilitates aeration.

• Milk & Whey…Microbe food source, sodium reducer: sugar, protein (amino acid), vitamin B, enzymes; Sugar functions as insect control (most insects don’t have a pancreas are unable to digest sugar) Vitamin B and Enzymes: microbe stimulant, enzymes convert food into a form microbes and plants can utilize.

Once these ingredients have been blended by the specific receipts designed by one of our three certified compost managers, they are placed into windrows.  These windrows are monitored and managed via time, temperature and moisture parameters established and mandated by the WSDA Organic Compost standards.  We utilize a Scarab windrow turner to homogenize rows and a Wild Cat Turner to maintain appropriate levels of  aeration and hydration throughout the process.  After our ingredients have completed the composting process, we screen the product to 3/8” minus.

Solvita Method of Maturity

Natural Selection Farms, Inc. Compost Certifications and GuaranteeNSF compost managers stay acutely attuned to and involved in new research, new compost strategies, and industry trends by constantly attending composting clinics, seminars, meetings and conventions.  We are members of  Washington Organic Recycling Council (WORC), and regularly attend Biocycle conferences.  Each NSF Compost Facility Manager has successfully completed the Washington Recycling Council Compost Facility Operator Training.