WELCOME
Dirt Hugger is a regional composting company that supports a sustainable, local economy by collecting, processing, and utilizing valuable organic nutrients locally.
Category Archives: Composting
Cover Shot!
The Gorge is famous for “nuclear winds” which draw kiteboarders and windsurfers from around the world (including ourselves). The high winds are perfect for boosting big airs and carving jibes on wind swell, however they are not perfect for composting … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Composting, Media
Tagged biocycle, biocycle magazine, composting magazine, cover shot, dirt hugger cover shot, media coverage
Leave a comment
Technology Upgrades
As a start up we wanted to get a composting facility off the ground at the lowest initial cost possible. On day one that meant borrowing machinery from our gracious neighbors to build and turn piles of compost. Slowly, we … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Composting
Tagged aerated static piles, aeration, ASP, compost technology, composting techology, extended asp, start up
Leave a comment
Organic Certification!
We just got word that Dirt Hugger Local Compost is officially “listed by the Organic Materials Review Insitute (OMRI) for use in organic production.” From the beginning have been making compost according to organic standards, but we finally bit the … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Composting
Tagged Dirt Hugger Organic Compost, OMRI listed, OMRI Listing, Organic Compost
1 Comment
STA Certification
We just received the Seal of Testing Assurance from the United States Composting Council! OMRI Organic Certification is next (stay tuned!)
Posted in Composting, Events
Tagged OMRI, OMRI certification, OMRI compost, Seal of Testing assurance, STA, US Compost Council, USCC
1 Comment
Summer Scenes
This summer has been a busy one. We’ve had a lot of early mornings, late nights, and made a bunch of compost. Check out this photo essay of the Dirt Hugger summer. compost customer- Nora’s Table the site after … Continue reading
A Complaint!
The two biggest potential issues in developing a composting facility are: leachate (stormwater that leaves a site) and odors. The regulating and permitting office in Oregon is the DEQ and they are very attuned to each of these issues. In … Continue reading
Failure Parts VI & VII
Failure is the engine that drives our entrepreneurial venture forward. Every day we make mistakes and hope that they are minimal and that we can learn something valuable from them. That’s not always the case, so at least we hope … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Composting
Tagged event composting, fail early fail often, failure, mistakes, start-ups
Leave a comment
Compost Mulch
At the very end of our process when the compost has cooked and cured we run it through a trommel screen to screen the “fines” out from the “overs”. The fines consist of any compost that can pass through the … Continue reading
Posted in Composting, The Gorge
Tagged compost overs, farms, food production, local food, mulch, nearby food, organic farming
Leave a comment
Welcome to the Team
While the national unemployment rate is hitting new staggering highs, we are doing our level-best to counter The Great Recession. This past month the Dirt Hugger team has doubled from two guys in a $500 craigslist office trailer to four … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Composting, Events, The Gorge
Tagged employees, employment, growing a business, interns, machinery, new hires, new iron, start up
Leave a comment
Post-Consumer Food Permit (DEQ Type III)
We are thrilled to announce that on 6/16/11 our post-consumer food waste permit was approved by DEQ! (A post-consumer food waste permit allows a composter to accept both food prep fruits and veggies plus any food from a plate that … Continue reading
