One way we try to beat the wind is by getting up before dawn and starting work before the wind cranks up for the day. We are particularly cognizant of wind on days when we grind yard debris. Grinding involves perching an excavator on top of  a pile of yard debris and loading an 850 horsepower machine capable of turning a four foot diameter tree into four inch wood chips.  On one such day this past summer we snapped a photo of our grinding operations at dawn. Through a last minute email conversation with Dan Sullivan, BioCycle Magazine decided to pick up the photo and run it for the cover shot this month. We are stoked and honored to have the photo run in our favorite composting magazine.

Big thanks to our grinding partners D&Z, Dan Sullivan, Nora Goldstein and the art staff at BioCycle.

Part-time position with Dirt Hugger located in The Dalles, Oregon.  We are seeking someone who is self motivated, hard working, reliable, and doesn’t mind coming home absolutely covered in dirt (room mates, spouses, and significant others might not let you in the house). This outdoor position will be active in receiving feedstock, creating high-end compost, delivering to customers, and any of the million other things that pop up in a given day. Experience with heavy machinery, being mechanically inclined, and interest in working in a green industry is preferred. This is an entry level position with lots of opportunity for growth and advancement within the company. Starting at 20hrs a week, with a flexible work schedule. Please send letter of interest & resume to pierce@dirthugger.com if interested (No phone calls please).

Thanks Crystal Davis Ross for the tip on GC’s.

The statement “truck make money” has long been a favorite of mine. However, inspired by a recent Dirt Hugger acquisition we are tweaking McCohwan’s statement slightly to “truck save money”.  We’ll explain. In the composting industry a truck is a useful and necessary tool – as McCohwan says, a truck can do things that a car can’t.  That said, a truck’s utility is usually good, but truck’s fuel economy is not.

Spending a depressing 10 minutes on fueleconomy.gov reveals there haven’t been any trucks released in the past 20 years that have even moderately good fuel economy. Which, is what drove us to look to the past for the new Dirt Hugger commuter truck. We stumbled upon a 1981 VW Rabbit diesel pickup truck, which enthusiasts call a “Caddy”. We picked it up from the single owner who had the original purchase receipt from Volkswagen.

not the biggest truck in the lot

The best part about this rig, and the reason we bought it, was fuel economy. It gets between 39 and 45 miles per gallon- which leads us to the post title, Truck Save Money. It blows us away that trucks 30 years ago got that kind of mileage and now a scant few cars, save hybrids and TDI’s, achieve that. Like many, we have to commute to work, however, with the new super-commuter we’ll hopefully reduce our costs. From the numbers we ran the Caddy should pay itself off in fuel savings within a year.

Coming up, the new biodiesel plant….

A main goal in starting the business was to return recyclable nutrients to local farms. We had a blast this fall meeting farmers, hearing about their operations and delivering compost to cherry orchards, garlic fields, organic mixed veggie farms and even a hops grower for Oregon breweries.  A huge thank you to all the farms who applied compost this fall and for a great crew of contract haulers: Ross and Kiwi Construction, Braun Enterprises and Munsen paving.

(We will have more compost available this winter so please check back if interested. We’re also hoping to stockpile some compost for the spring season).

The most recent technological jump we’ve made has been adding forced aeration to the composting process. Perforated pipes laid underneath the piles allow us to blow oxygen into the pile which amazingly does numerous things: allows us to more closely manage oxygen levels, reduce the amount of turning using machinery (read: fossil fuel intensive machinery), speeds up throughput (by adding more oxygen) and increases the footprint efficiency (we can pile more material on the same space). The goal of this technology is to allow us to produce 2-4 times the volume of compost on the same one-acre pad we have.  Thanks to some old blowers donated by Recology we are up and running with three zones of aeration. We have just completed the transition, so the jury is still out, but so far it seems to be positive.

A second technology update has been the addition of a new screener. We have been looking since March for a good (cheap) used screener for our final product. Again graciously, Tom Walter from Pacific Rock & Recycle has been allow us to rent his screener, but it was too small for our volume of material. After months of searching, a investigatory trip to Lost Hills, California, much negotiating and a sweet loan deal from Centerpointe we are now the owners of a new-to-us screener.

Big thanks to Peter Moon and Harold Ruppert at 02 Compost, everyone at Crestline, Dave, Larry, Ame, & John at Recology, Tim & Jason at Ferguson, Tom at Pacific Rock, Mark at GrinderCrusherScreen and John Gass at Centerpointe.

The Dalles Disposal
1317 West 1st Street, The Dalles, OR
Open Monday thru Saturday
(541) 298-5149 ‎

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 bullet went for the certification. It’s a little confusing, but OMRI Listing is to food production inputs (farms, gardens, etc…) as USDA’s “Organic” is to food.   The same group, National Organic Standards Board, regulates both Organic food and Organic input certification, but when it comes to the certification process there is a distinction between food and farm inputs. We’re excited because of the added credibility for our product, and because certification streamlines paperwork for our organic farm customers.

OMRI Organic Certification is next (stay tuned!)