How did an old farm become the site of a compost operation? 

The 180 acre Tuthill farm dates back to 1863 and has produced crops, dairy products, hogs, chickens and beef.  In recent years, our area of Livingston County has experienced rapid development and we began to question the future of farming in the midst of such growth. 

The yard waste ban posed a problem of some, but an answer for us as we saw an opportunity to make a business of taking these organics and turning them into compost that could be used as a soil amendment for our crops.  We had a good location close to the highway, and the necessary equipment and experience to deal with these materials. 

A compost operation was a good fit for our type of farming practices as well.  For the past 18 years, our crops have been grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. 

Compost is used on our fields while dry leaves that come in are often used as bedding for our cattle, aiding our manure management.  Our goal is to continue to survive as a farm. 

We also strive to operate in a way that creates no objectable odors or eyesores to our neighbors.  For those reasons, we have always prohibited plastic bags and trash from our site.

This aerial photo shows one of the fields we use for composting.  The long thin rows on the right of the drive are mixes of grass, leaves and manure.

These materials are loaded into a manure spreader at a 3:1 ratio of leaves to grass/manure.  Rows are then turned periodically with a windrow turner which further mixes, aerates and reduces particle size.  Temperatures are monitored and reach up to 150 degrees F. which kills pathogens and weed seeds. 

It takes from 6 months to a year for our compost to be considered finished.  To the left of the drive is our stockpile of brush, logs and stumps.  These are ground into woodchips and used for landscaping or composting.  This area also is our receiving site for grass and leaves.  Also pictured is over 500 round bales of hay used for our beef cattle.  Our site is accessible year round.