About Black Earth Compost
Our mission is to nourish the soil to grow healthy plants in Massachusetts, with an emphasis on food production by any and all! Made in small batches, our compost is without grass clippings but instead utilizes the riches of a bounty of food scraps.
Compost is an excellent soil amendment to add to your yard for soil and plant health. Use it as a mulch for moisture retention, mix it into the soil before you plant, or topdress your lawn, trees and shrubs to provided added nutrients and organic matter.
QUALITY COMMITMENT
Our compost is rich in humus, nurtures beneficial micro-organisms, is free of any viable weed seeds, and contains an abundance of immediate and slow release nutrients.
- A Broad Range of Ingredients to support a bio-diverse compost
- No Grass Clippings that contain herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides
- Free of Weed Seeds
- Lab tested for optimal composition (scroll down for details)*
- Screened to 5/8ths inch
- Made in MA! Our compost sites serve as local sources of nutrients, making our state more resilient. Manchester, MA; Groton, MA; Framingham, MA
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Lab Analysis - We have our compost tested at University of Maine each year for nutrients, pH, salts and C:N ratio. Additionally we test it for heavy metals (lead, nickel, cadmium, chromium, zinc, copper, and arsenic).
Plant Trials - We believe that plants don’t lie, and we know that analytical reports from laboratories won’t tell the whole story. That’s why we grow vegetables, fava beans and clover in our compost in a controlled plant. Clover and fava beans for the presence of persistent herbicides, using published bioassay protocols, and vegetables to show general vigor as they are heavy feeders.
Biology - We test the compost for communities of bacteria, fungus, protoctist and nematodes. We tend to be a bacterial dominated compost, but over the long term fungal populations establish. Our compost is great for making compost tea.
Email BulkSales@BlackEarthCompost.com or call 978-290-4610 ext. 3 if you have questions.
A note on pH: Compost normally shows pH 7 to 8 if it is rich in nutrients (especially for food scrap composts). This does not mean that it is going to dramatically send your soil’s pH sky high. The high pH of compost is attributed to the initial pool of 'ready to go' soluble nutrients. After that, the pH comes down to between pH 6 to 7. The compost will continue to release nutrients as the organic matter decomposes over the season.
| Nutrient Lab Test | Herbicide Trials | Food Web Test | Food Safety Modernization Act |
| 2022 Compost |
2022 Compost |
2022 Compost | 2022 FSMA Report for Farmers |
| 2021 Compost 2021 Soil |
2021 Soil - 1 2021 Compost - 1 2021 Compost - 2 2021 Compost - 3 |
2021 Compost | 2021 FMSA Report for Farms |
| 2020 Compost 2020 Soil |
Not documented | 2020 Compost |
2020 FSMA Report for Farms |
| 2019 Compost 2019 Soil |
Not documented | 2019 Compost | -Last year of no FSMA law for small veg growers- |
Heavy Metals: This graph shows metal content found in our compost and soil blend compared to state thresholds.
2022 Report of Annual PFAS Analysis: This report shows the content of fluorinated compounds found in our compost compared to state thresholds and other contaminated and non-contaminated soils. Note that our compost meets the criteria to be used in the state's strictest use case: compost can be used on a farm that sits over a drinking water supply and grows food where children are present.
*Some plastic such as fruit stickers and wrap may be found in the compost because we are sourcing the food scraps from the community.
HOW WE MAKE COMPOST
Building Community Food Projects
In 2020-2022 we proudly supported the following community food initiatives with raised beds or finished compost.
- Backyard Growers, Gloucester, MA
- Everett Community Growers, Everett, MA
- Eastie Farm, Boston, MA
- Friends of Egleston Square Library, Roxbury, MA
- Growing Resilience Schoolyard Initiative, Boston Public Schools
- Holliston Community Farm, Holliston, MA
- JJ Round Community Garden, Wakefield, MA
- Littleton Community Farm, Littleton, MA
- Malden Community Garden, Malden, MA
- Needham Community Farm, Needham, MA
- Nourishing the Northshore, Newburyport, MA
- Salem Community Gardens and The Mac Park Food Farm, Salem, MA
- Wellesley Community Gardens, Wellesley, MA
Supporting Local Farms With FarmWorks
With the support of our customers, we were able to offer compost at a reduced rate to the local farms listed below in 2020-2022. 10 cents of each bag of compost sold goes to our FarmWorks program. Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at one of these farms or buy their produce to complete the full circle sustainability loop.
- Alprilla Farm, Essex, MA
- Black Moon Hollow Farm, Charlton, MA
- Brookwood Community Farm, Canton, MA
- Cedar Rock Gardens, Gloucester, MA
- Clodhopper Farm, Concord, MA
- Codman Community Farm, Lincoln, MA
- Crown and Roots Farm, Oxford, MA
- Dismasis Family Farm, Oakham, MA
- Driftwood Farm, Rockport, MA
- Dancing Plover Farm, Boxborough, MA
- Five Stones Farm, Gloucester, MA
- Four Ever Farm, Pepperell, MA
- Gibbet Hill Farm, Groton, MA
- Harper's Farm, Lancaster, MA
- Heron Pond Farm, South Hampton, NH
- High Road Farm, Newbury, MA
- Iron Ox Farm, Topsfield, MA
- Land's Sake Farm, Weston, MA
- Living Soil Gardens, Ipswich, MA
- The Food Project, Lincoln, MA
- Maitland Mountain Farm, Salem, MA
- Night Owl Farm, Franklin, MA
- Old Stone Farm, West Newbury, MA
- Oxford Farms, Oxford, MA
- Oxcart Farm, Upton, MA
- Potter Hill Farm, Grafton, MA
- Rattle Root Farm, Princeton, MA
- Seaview Farm, Rockport, MA
- Smolack Farm, North Andover, MA
- Three Sisters Garden Project, Ipswich, MA
- Zeigler's Market Garden, Norfolk, MA
