Well, the best compost is anything you can get your hands on. Some pricy commercial products are just fancy sawdust.
Making your own is easy if you can find raw materials. But it does take time and a square yard or two of room.
Wow, shipping compost? I can buy a cubic foot locally for around $1.30. It might weigh 20-30 pounds.
I'm used to paying $2.32 to mail three OUNCES, or $4 to mail 12 ounces. I can't imagine shipping 30 pounds cross-country.
Have you tried every Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, nursery and hardware store within driving distance? If you can't get compost, clean bark mulch will become compost in 2-3 years.
Larry's suggestion about county or city programs for mulch or compost is excellent. That might require driving, too, though.
I found the phone number of the (lonely) engineer who runs the sewage treatment plant for Everett (a nearby pretty big city). He was super-eager to give his "biosolids" away to private citizens, but you need a truck to haul with.
If you see a road crew or anyone doing tree work, ask for wood chips.
If you see a bag of leaves by the side of the road, snarf it up!
If you stop at a fruit stand, bring a 5-gallon pail and ask for their rotten discards.
Save your newspapers and kitchen scraps. Pile them somewhere outside and get some water onto them every few weeks. That's all it takes!
Good luck finding local suppliers! Maye look for the local "Master Gardeners" phone line and ask them where they buy compost.
How about a local ag extension agent? I used to have a better link for finding them, but my signature block has this one:
Coop Extension Finder
