Organic Fertilizer - Converted Organics, Inc.

Maury Treleven, Outreach and public relations for Converted Organics of California, LLC stands on a catwalk between digesters used to make organic fertilizer. Behind her are storage tanks.

She does PR for organic fertilizer firm

By ROBERT WALCH
For The Salinas Californian
April 21, 2008

GONZALES - An avid home gardener and composter, Maury Treleven has been a longtime devotee of both the organic and recycling movements.

Because of this, her return to the workplace about two years ago was an easy transition.

When the stay-at-home mom agreed to step in to handle the outreach and public relations chores for what was then United Organic Products of Gonzales, Treleven said she had no problem embracing the firm's product line because it fit nicely with her "green" philosophy.

GARDNER— A company that makes organic fertilizer hopes to take over part of the former S. Bent & Bros. furniture factory land: vacant, city-owned property that city officials have been looking forward to putting back on the tax rolls.

Developers yesterday morning laid out conceptual plans for the property; 27 acres off Mill Street that the city acquired in the summer of 2006 after its original owners fell $250,000 behind in taxes.

I was chatting with my friend Amigo recently. Yes, that sounds redundant, but it's the name he goes by: Amigo Bob Cantisano. Considered by many to be the best organic farming adviser in the United States, he was giving me an eye-opening look at his line of work. For more than 30 years, he has helped growers make the transition from chemical to organic practices. (His Web site is at http://www.askamigo.com.)

"Guys who used to be chemical farmers tell me they have fewer problems with pests since they went organic," said Amigo, who lives in North San Juan, Calif. "Crops they once had to spray three or four times now don't need to be sprayed at all."