Making Compost 101
Compost — that magic elixir that builds soil, healthy grapevines, and fabulous fruit. At Sokol Blosser, we’ve learned to make our own. We’re making it now. Here’s the recipe:
First we assemble the ingredients: 10 tons of organic cow manure from a local dairy; 100 bales of organic straw, and all the grape pomace (stems and seeds) from our harvest.
Then our crew alternates layers of straw, manure, and pomace, starting and ending with straw. The piles are about 100 feet long and 6 feet high. We let them sit for 12 months and then spread the resulting rich, humusy compost in the vineyards and build the next year’s piles.