That is good to know, I drive through Richmond when making trips to my parent's.

I've given up on vermiculite. The so-called "coarse" stuff these days is always medium grade, whenever I come across it. I use bark mulch instead. If you can get it graded and delivered, that's probably your best bet, but I've had to use the bagged stuff from Home Despot - not the dyed stuff, this is Mountain Magic Premium grind. There is a good bit of wood chips in there but it hasn't caused a problem. If you have the space, aging it for a few months before use is a good idea for any bark mulch you are going to use for raised beds or potting soil. I live in a desert, there isn't a lot of choice for mulch here.

I bought mine through a wholesaler, but they also sold retail as well. So for my 4 c.ft. bags I paid $14.50, which is a steal in the Seattle area. I also got full bales of peat moss for $12.50. Both prices were half of what I would have paid at my local nursery. As for expensive veggies, my brother did envoke the old standby gardening joke of the $500 tomato. But he's "skeptical at best" when it comes to SFG. Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's gardening adventure!

I added this to the vermiculite source list ... http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/sqfoot/msg030226157705.html