When I started this blog, I was so looking forward to winter, this time of year in fact, because it would afford time to post regularly. I have a folder of all the ideas I was going to address, and the sheer lack of customers coming in the door would allow me to take each idea and cultivate it into full blooming recantations of life here at the compost site.

Well, it has definitely slowed down, but I find that there is truly not much happening here. I am not getting the daily phone calls of interesting questions. I have built and planted and watered and pruned and harvested almost everything available. So, before my boss reads this and starts wondering why he is still paying me, I will tell you of some on-going projects.

We screen our Topsoil Blend now. After collecting sod that people have judiciously recycled with us throughout the previous year, we blend it with Premium Compost and let nature work her magic for another year. Then, we move our screening plant out to the north ramp and start screening the large particles out. Screening Topsoil Blend is one of those endeavors that has come to signify both the end of the year and a bold statement for us of the hope for the coming year. It offers us a chance to begin our reflection on the year past but also to commit ourselves to the future. It's akin to tilling your garden in the fall.

We will also be working hard on developing a new mulch or two. Without getting into details, things changed rapidly in the landscape manufacture business this year. We see both an opportunity and a necessity to continue to develop and produce from locally recycled materials products that are useful and attractive.

With the seasonal decline in the number of retail customers, I get to get out of the office more. I have meetings with entities involved in the organics industry and I participate in the NM Recycling Coalition's many endeavors. I visit past, current, and prospective customers. I like to thank people who have spent time or money with us. One of the budding relationships about which I am really excited is a project with Gardener's Guild on Central. If you haven't checked them out already, do so.

We strive every day to give our customers a good product at a fair price. We want an educated customer. It is unfortunate that the season I have the most time to spend with curious gardeners is the season when no one is thinking about their gardens. So we spend a lot of time by the heater (and often times on top of a steaming compost pile) dissecting how we do what we do and how better to do it.

I guess there is more to do here than I had originally thought. Stay tuned for updates on the haps.