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4A Daily News – Saturday, July 16, 2011 Agriculture & farm Another stop on the California Beef Cattle Improvement Associa- tion tour was Full Circle Compost, within the Northern Nevada Cor- rectional Center at Car- son City, a minimum security prison. To get inside the prison grounds on the buses, the guards counted passengers for a head count. We wore a sticker Feed your Food - FullCircleCompost.com and during the entire time the bus luggage compartments were locked. When we left, a head count was taken again. The guard inspected the luggage compartments and the battery housing, by having the drivers open them. The prison was locat- ed near the site of the Stewart Indian School. It was a fascinating tour of a compost operation, much to my surprise. We drove past corrals where 900 wild horses were kept, and the manure from the corrals is col- lected every three months plus the prison dairy manure are used in making compost after it is aged. They limit the manure to 20% to make a quality product. Their recipe was 10% Alvarado joins Angus Assoc. Erik Alvarado of Corn- ing is a new junior mem- ber of the American Angus Association®, reports Bryce Schumann, CEO of the national orga- COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES Smog Check starting at $ (most cars and pick-ups) 2595 + cert. Pass or FREE retest 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. nization with headquar- ters in Saint Joseph, Mo. Junior members of the Association are eligible to register cattle in the American Angus Associ- ation, participate in pro- grams conducted by the National Junior Angus Association and take part in Association- sponsored shows and other national and regional events. The American Angus Association is the largest beef breed association in the world, with nearly 30,000 active adult and junior members. cow manure, 10% horse manure, for the green: 20% old silage or food waste from Costco,Whole Foods Reno, Walmart, Aramark, Embassy Suites, Adwalla, 40% wood waste, adding clay and old compost. Cody Witt, the son said that they still got plastic in the food waste and compostable products are not all biodegrad- able, as we saw bits of plastic in the beautiful windrows of compost. Craig Witt's great grand- father, Henry Godecke, migrated from Germany to the Carson Valley. He had a son named Clarence Godecke. Clarence and his wife, Esther, established Milky Way Farm in the 1920s as a working dairy. One of their daughters, Eleanor, mar- ried Herb Witt and they eventually took over the farm operation. Herb and Elinor had two sons, Jason and Craig. Jean Craig Witt, now Owner and President of Full Circle Compost, has since converted the dairy farm into a thriving, full- scale composting opera- tion, the first of its kind permitted in the State of Nevada. Doing business under the name of Full Circle Compost, Inc., they are also the first composting site offering the recycling of organic materials from the Tahoe Basin and the Carson Valley. In addition to humified compost, Full Circle produces custom compost mineral blends, blended topsoil, fertile mulches, compost tea, and vermicompost. In the late 1890s, Today’s Burning Issue Anyone Can Service Swamp Coolers....Can’t They? LIC #808524 Call For Free Information Toll-Free (800) 464-1403 or (530) 365-1403 6183 MEISTER WAY ANDERSON, CA 96007 (530) 365-1403 • (800) 464-1403 Is it noisy? Do your doors swell from humidity? Does it leak on your roof? Have you ever had your cooler stop working in the middle of a heat wave? Residential and Commercial Evaporative coolers have been our business for over 25 years. Service, repairs, replacement and installations are handled professionally for reliable cool- ing during the hot days of summer. “You are nice. You came out right away. You solved the (cooler) problem. Your service is prompt, good, and pleasant.” Mrs. Hickle, Palo Cedro THE Chimney Professionals Chimney Sweeps 527 3331 Flue Season ‘ Barton After graduating in 1978 from the University of Nevada Reno with a Degree in General Agri- culture, Craig returned home to run his fam- ily's third gen- eration dairy farm. He quickly real- ized, however, that to keep the farm pro- ductive and profitable, he would have to "unlearn" uni- versity agri- culture and begin studying and implementing more sus- tainable farming prac- tices. Craig's journey down the road to sustainability began in 1985. In order to convert and reduce the waste generated by the dairy's 300 cows in a way that would not be detrimental to the nearby Carson River, Craig turned to passive com- posting. He then pro- gressed to turning the compost using an end- loader. Still, the composting process took two years and the dairy was pro- ducing more manure than this system could keep up with. In 1996, Craig gradu- ated to specialized turn- ing equipment with his purchase of an Aero- Master Turner which reduced the compost cycle to an amazing eight week period. We saw the water machine dampen the compost, and fluff the mixture so it was well mixed. This incredible acceleration of the process coupled with the vast improvement in compost quality encour- aged Craig to learn all he could about the process and increase his knowl- edge of soil science. Simultaneously Craig purchased his first 500 gallon Earth Tea Brewer and implemented the application program of compost tea agricultural- ly on the arm and in the compost windrows. He began attending confer- ences pertaining to sus- tainable agriculture and also took courses on composting microbiolo- gy and soil agronomy while continuing his research and analysis of the compost and com- post teas that he had pro- duced. The gardeners on the tour wanted to buy a bag of the compost but our busdriver didn’t agree. One bag of Garden Boost amends 16 square feet, at 1/4 inch deep. Both men could sell an ice box to an Eskimo, they were so passionate about their products. We also saw the com- post operation on Bently AgriDynamics using the biosolids from South Lake Tahoe, Gard- nerville and Incline Vil- lage, with the green waste from the land- scape gardeners, plus straw and wood chips. They also used the manure from their feed- lots and horsebarn. There were 15 rows of mature compost, and it will be used on the ranch, since 5,000 acres takes lots of compost. We were told that they will apply compost when wheat is planted in an old field that used to have alfalfa. When alfalfa is again planted it will receive more compost, and they will up the level of wood ranch Full Circle Compost tour Courtesy photo A CBCIA tour member watched the AeroMaster Turner spray water and turn the compost. chips on the sandy soils. There are two full time men working in the compost operation. A water wagon driver and a turner. The 14-foot turn- er cost $ 280,000 and they have a professional come from Lodi two times a year to chip the wood scraps into chips. The ranch charges for wood dumping, since the trucks are weighed in and out. While receiving the green waste for free. They spray the windrows with water, so it is 50% moisture, and a new row is turned every day for a week, to get the moisture and mix evenly distributed. They will track the temperature every day. The ranch gets the effluent from Gard- nerville-Minden, and they had to build a special pond for storage. The hay fields have two pipe lines since the fresh water can not mix with the effluent water. They watch the ground water for nitrates, and will balance the nitrate load. Said the cost is one-fifth that of com- mercial fertilizer. Learning about com- post production was more interesting than I had expected. I came home and piled the old hay, grass clippings, waste from the horse barn and hoped to make my own compost. Looks like it will be a three year process, instead of eight weeks. *** A reward of $12,000 is still offered by the Tehama County Cattle- men, California Cattle- men, John Owens and Lee Loverin for informa- tion leading to arrest of the person or persons responsible for the theft of Owens cattle. Tip- line 1-800-671-4327, or 530-520-9399 or 530- 527-6332. Jean Barton can be reached at jbarton@theskybeam.co m. ‘Yard Sale Map’ Updated Thursday afternoon – for weekend Yard Sales! Click on locations for exact addresses and driving directions! at www.redbluffdailynews.com . Mouse over the red ‘ ’ tab and scroll down to ‘ ’ can be easily accessed from our top menu ’ and click. Check Out our online Yar Yar d S Classified a le Map d S a le Map