Schmelly's Dirt Farm

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United States
New Orleans, LA
Schmelly's Dirt Farm

Pickin up the schmelly stuff for Greater New Orleans. Compost pickup & delivery. We recycle organic material into compost so you can grow healthy food.

We also seek to dismantle & compost racism, patriarchy & the gender binary. We envision a city with healthy soil and people empowered to grow & share good food. Schmelly’s is an organics recycling company that produces high-quality compost and soil products for the farmers & gardeners of Greater New Orleans. Since 2014, we have composted over 7 million pounds of organic material. Schmelly’s transf

orms New Orleans’ food scraps into healthy soil while fostering meaningful, uplifting, living-wage jobs. Our vision is to work together to examine and dismantle social constructs of oppression such as racism, patriarchy, and the gender binary by building the capacity of co-workers to communicate across differences in a democratic work environment.

12/23/2024

our carbon feedstock is full of mycelium these days, much thanks to they have become a fantastic partner in our journey to create even better compost, exploring how to work with mycelium in our static window systems.

DM us know if you want to nerd out about microbes & compost!

11/04/2024

this is the place to take your old pumpkins!

09/26/2024

COME GET IT 🌟 open hours every Sat 8-noon starting Sep 28.

bulk soil pickup at our Hollygrove site: compost, garden soil, mulch, pine straw.

bring a pickup truck 🛻 for orders over 0.5cu.yds (14cu.ft). smaller orders we can bag it & pack your Prius 🚗. questions? visit our website for products & prices, or DM us.

09/14/2024

our office power has been out since Wed, AND our dump truck is in the shop 😩 thx for your patience 🖤

NEED SOIL? We will be open for pickups only this Saturday 9/14: 8am till noon! c'mon by 8301 Olive St in Hollygrove ✌️

Summer job openings! Part-time early morning work (7am till 1ish). email dirt@schmellys.com with some info about you & a...

06/12/2024

Summer job openings! Part-time early morning work (7am till 1ish). email [email protected] with some info about you & any questions you have. Thx!

05/15/2024

📣 NOW OPEN 📣 The New Orleans Community Urban Agriculture Micro-Grant Fund 🌟

from ...
We are excited to announce that with the amazing support of the USDA’s Farm Services Agency, we are administering a $500,000 micro-granting program over the next five years. This program is meant to support the development of New Orleans urban agriculture, make infrastructure investments in traditionally underserved producers, and generally connect farmers to the services that our new Urban Service Center offers.

Application Deadline: June 30, 2024

WHAT IS THE MICRO-GRANT FUND?

The USDA Farm Services Agency (FSA) has recently opened an office here in New Orleans and they are working to build community with growers. We are so excited they are resourcing us to do an innovative and collaborative project that allows for redistribution of grant funds to the community. This fund, with micro-grants ranging from $500 to $10,000, aims to expand the growth of urban agriculture in New Orleans. The fund specifically targets:

Financial assistance for innovative projects that contribute to sustainability
Community-driven farming initiatives
Infrastructure investments for traditionally underserved producers
Connecting farmers to the services that our new USDA Urban Service Center offers

HOW ARE WE ADMINISTERING THE FUNDING?

SPROUT believes in community control of food systems, and we have endeavored to pilot a community board to make decisions about this funding.

Forty organizations and individuals will be engaged to make group decisions and build processes around this endeavor. To name a few: Crescent City Farmer’s Market, For The Horticulture, NewCorp, Sông CDC, The Greater New Orlean’s Grower’s Alliance, Southern University, Louisiana State University Ag Extension, Recirculating Farms, and Familias Unidas en Acción.

05/03/2024

it's happening 🛞 fill out our fun online request form at schmellys.com ➡️ now with NEW & IMPROVED scheduling function ✨✨ 🚚 love y'all 💋

04/18/2024

let's get to work! 🌻 open hours every Sat 8-noon. deliveries re-started! make your order online! link in bio! go go go!! 😴😵‍💫💚🌱

04/01/2024

Soil deliveries postponed until further notice 💔 I'm deciding to lean into vulnerability to share with my community about my recent loss. My father died Friday night, & I'm heartbroken. I want to share here for both practical reasons & to take an opportunity to be open about what this process is like for a community composting business like Schmelly's.

Practically speaking, I can't be in New Orleans right now & that is affecting my life in my business; my co-workers are lovingly supporting by helping to pickup loose ends in our day-to-day operations. Behind the scenes, we process up to 25 tons of food scraps & organic material every week, 52-weeks a year (for 10 years non-stop!). Schmelly's is a business that, by-design, cannot take a break. Many other community compost organizations know about this challenge. So how do we take care of ourselves?

5 years ago my Dad began getting sick & I had to figure out how to keep running my business while also taking care of him (luckily I have two amazing sisters on my team 💕). I've learned to stop working 80 hours a week, stop falling into the entrepreneur hustle trap & balance my life with the things I love: friendships & family & community. And because of those positive changes to my work lifestyle over the years, I'm able to be more present now while in mourning.

Today is full-on spring and the busiest time of year to be delivering soil & compost to gardeners & farmers. For many safety & liability reasons, I am the only current Schmelly's dump truck driver. Sadly, I have to take a hiatus & we will not be doing deliveries until further notice. I have dozens of delivery customers waiting to get soil for their gardens, and I have not had the time to coordinate other delivery methods. I'm deeply sorry for the inconvenience this will cause, and I hope you will understand & find workable alternate plans. We are a tiny company & don't have the resources to pivot any faster; I'm hoping in the coming weeks to have more options to get our products to your gardens, so if you're able to wait, stay tuned for more.

many thanks 💙 nicola

03/11/2024

FINALLY!! 😅 swing by on Saturdays 8am-noon to pickup garden soil, compost, mulch & pine straw. NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED! just come by! check out our prices, volume measuring guide & calculator on our website (link in bio) 💚🤎💚🤎💚

03/08/2024

ok, world. it's on.

01/15/2024

Hello! We're taking this winter season to rest, repair broken equipment, & move a little slower. If you've reached out to us & not yet heard back, we'll respond very soon! Thank you for your patience 🩵

Address

8301 Olive Street
New Orleans, LA
70118

Telephone

(504) 535-4769

Website

http://schmellys.com/

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We envision a city with healthy soil and people empowered to grow & share good food. Schmelly's offers compost pickup for Greater New Orleans commercial food service industries, residential pickup for groups of 5 or more households in close proximity, supernatural ultra primo garden soil & compost for all kinds of growers, and delivery right to your farm or backyard. We also love community compost programs and offer consulting & logistics for anyone who needs it.