Market Farming

[Leslie Moyer <unschooler AT lrec.org>]

I'm getting ready to plant a 7-acre mixed fruit orchard (tree fruits) and I'm 
wanting to bring in some compost just before I plant.  We've been readying 
the soil for the past year+ by growing a couple of cover crop successions on 
it.  We've also raised the pH to proper levels and brought in chicken litter 
to bring up the NPK to good levels.  However, I'd like to add more organic 
matter to the soil and, most importantly, increase the bio-diversity of soil 
organisms.  I have easy access to two kinds of compost in my area. Mushroom 
compost and leaf compost.  The leaf compost isn't very well composted.  I 
would more appropriately call it leaf mulch.  It is shredded, but the 
composting process is incomplete, to say the least.  I think that the fungal 
life in the leaves would be good for the fruit trees, but I know that some 
tannins can be harmful to fruit trees.  On the other hand, the mushroom 
compost is-as I understand it--"sterilized". Doesn't this kill much of the 
"good" biological life in the soil?  Of these two options--mushroom compost 
or leaf compost--which would you recommend?  Or shall I search for another 
option?  (We do have a human waste compost available here that I've used on 
ornamentals and it works *great*, but I'm unwilling to use it on edibles.) We 
used to have composted chicken litter available, but they went out of 
business (and I already have all of the nitrogen I need right now anyway).  

--Leslie