9526: Re: Growing food in gardens (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: NLaleau@aol.com
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Dear Marc--There are  several mushroom farms nearby. They use cow manure
as 
beds for their mushrooms. When the mushrooms are harvested, they dump the 
"used" cow manure into big  10-15 foot heaps in the fields. People like me 
come with 5-25 gallon containers and haul it away free. Larger farmers buy 
dump trucks  full, very cheaply. It's an organic fertilizer and incredibly 
rich--Sells several bucks a  bag at Wal-Mart. Our soil is adobe--rich but 
impossible to put a shovel through if you don't loosen it up with organic 
matter. Cow manure needs to be aged to be good, and the mushroom detritus 
helps too. Ordinary cow manure can be aged and work very well too. I'm far 
from an expert on it though! --Nancy Laleau