The Nomco Story

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The hardwood bark, apple pomace, cheese whey, poultry manure, beef manure, hay and straw are mixed together in a special "secret" blend and then composted by NOMCO under cover. Weather does make a difference in the composting time but—under ideal conditions—a batch is finished in 30 days. The resulting product is an excellent growing medium which improves the tilth of the soil, contributes many valuable trace minerals to the earth and enriches the dirt to which it's applied by a slow decomposition (for up to seven years under ideal conditions) of new organic matter.

One of the two analyses reproduced with this article gives the B.S.A. composition in parts per million (as if it were chemical fertilizer) and the other is a soil test which shows that the conditioner contains an abundance of every element required for good plant growth, with the exception of nitrogen. Tests have shown that when B.S.A. is used outdoors, enough nitrogen is usually naturally present to make up for this single deficiency (common to many composted "natural" fertilizers). If the soil amendment is mixed with a soilless growing medium (such as vermiculite), however, NOMCO recommends that blood meal or some other natural source of nitrogen be added. Commercial growers have been very successful with a slow-release or liquid-feed type of fertilizer for this purpose.

At the same time the Morrells were standardizing their B.S.A., they were developing a second bark product . . . although not quite exactly the product they intended. As Nate recalls, "Our original notion of manufacturing bark nuggets as well as soil amendment was given up when we found that the local bark doesn't process well in nugget form. Our machinery couldn't handle the job anyhow... so, instead of nuggets, we now make a mulch by fibrating bark into a fine material. The woody part remains fibrous and forms a porous mat that holds the mulch in place on the ground where the finer particles retain moisture and inhibit weed growth."

As Nate and Onnalee were smoothing the final kinks out of both NOMCO products, they made the acquaintance of Don and Judy Buckley of Canaan, Connecticut. Don, a retired ad vertising man, and Judy are staunch advocates of organic gardening and Don has written a soon-to-be-published book, Ad Man In The Garden Of Eden, about their experiences with natural methods of raising fruit and vegetables. The Buckleys are also deeply concerned about the thousands of birth defects and cases of leukemia which some scientists have traced to the low-level radiation produced by "peaceful" uses of atomic energy (see Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass's book, Low Level Radiation, published by Ballantine Books), and have established the Bucks Foundation for the Survival of Man to study the problem.

Given the Buckleys' interest in natural methods of gardening and living, it's hardly surprising that they became enthusiastic supporters of Nate's and Onnalee's soil conditioner and bark mulch. Don even took the time and effort to rename and register the products as BARSOLA and BARMULCH and write advertising copy, an industrial user's newsletter and instruction sheets for the NOMCO items.

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