Do you have any municipal composts where you are? They are normally cheap and effective.

Otherwise, the commercialluy available bags are expensive but work fine. Any left over, mix with your home made to jumpstart the decomposition process. Oh, and keep adding to it. Nothing beats home made, hehe.

Are the commercially available composts available at e.g. home depot, any good? What are some of your experiences with obtaining good quality compost for the sfg?

I bought our compost this year at the local nursery, not the bigbox, as they are giving back to the community in many ways so the money spent was a thank you. But it is much more expensive than other means.

Nonetheless, there should be plenty of farms where you are that are dying to get rid of their manure. Or a mushroom grower is way better, but they probably have everything spoken for (get on the list!).

Per sinfonian, I used to get municipal compost when I had my landscaping business and usually very good, if you go this route make sure the ammonia smell is gone from the pile you back up to.

Dan

thanks, dan and sinfonian:
i think i will be able to use some of my compost after it dries out. it got rained on and was soggy and caked. i will supplement it with some cow manure from a friends farm. i will only use commercial compost as a last resort as i would like to be as organic as possible and i can't be sure what went in the commercial stuff.
paul