Floyd..unless I screwed up the math, you're sitting on about $5 million at retail in black gold. If I had access to it, I'd sell it to landscapers, organic farmers, homeowners and golf courses, by the dump truck load, for $20-$25 per cubic yard.

If you find just one volume customer, you can take his contract to the bank and borrow enough to buy the equipment to set up the business. I'll bet you could sell it all, at near retail, around the Twin Cities.

I sure wish you were closer to Long Island. I could sell that stuff in a heartbeat around here.

Right now, the best advice I have is to get ahold of the MN Nursery and Landscape Association and attend their winter show. It's called Green Expo or something, and it might be this week. Just sign up for the trade show.

There are a couple of soil vendors that exhibit at that show that may be able to help you.

Also, track down a guy named Bert Swanson, former bigwig in the U of MN Dept of Horticulture, now does nursery consulting. If your field really is that good, a recommendation from him goes a long way with nurseries and greenhouses in that part of the country.

I just wanted to say thank you to all for your responses and encouragement. Its very helpful. I'm doing a lot of thinking and will post a follow-up shortly.