Wordless Wednesdays

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worms Update

Our worms are doing much better now that they live outside. Well, the are actually living in the laundry room. The number of mites is way down now that the lid is off full time, I guess the mites don't like the fresh air. I think that once we get settled into the new house, it will be time to sort out the worms from the castings and start again.

*Work Worm Bin Update*
These poor guys are not doing good at all. I brought them home last week for a little worm vacation and they have been slowly getting better. They had been WAY overfed and their bin way full of enough rotting food to keep them busy for several months. I cleaned everything out and throw all the food - the worms into the compost pile and then start a fresh box for the little guys.

Awesome Wife +Craigslist = Killer Deals

For those that don't already know, about three years ago Morgan was able to find us a $600 Pottery Barn table (and chairs) for $10! Today drove to Dayton (about 50 mins away) and bought a $1800-$2400 gas range and oven for only $400! I don't know how she does it but she can smell a deal a mile away!
This is not the exact one that we bought but is the same make and model. I'll take a picture of it when we bring it to the new house.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to do our final walk through of the house and we might even be able to close and get keys on Monday! If not Monday, our close date is Wednesday the 20th.

I PROMISE to take picture tomorrow when we do the walk through...won't be until 5pm though.

After we got home with the stove, we went to our new neighbors house (friends of ours) and built two 4'x4'x10" planter boxes and a worm harvester - We'll use this to separate the worms from the castings in about a month. I was hoping to be able to use it to separate the rabbit manure from the pine shavings but I need to build another one with chicken wire that is smaller the 1/4".

We built the boxes at our friend's house so that once we close we will be all set to drop the boxes in the ground, add dirt and plant. We are pushing the planting window but I think we'll be okay...although I still haven't ordered our dang potatoes.

We are also going to get some measurement for the kitchen tomorrow and start planning the layout out. You can see our possible color choices at Morgan's blog here. Please be sure to leave a comment and vote for your favorites.

Worm Brochure

Good Morning, good morning! It's Friday!

Last night I put together a worm brochure to take to work because I wanted to be able to share the joys of vermicomposting with my coworkers. Here is the link the brochure. You can either view it online or download and print it.

If you have some information that you would like to be included in the next Vermicomposting brochure, just let me know.

You can email me @ TonyR.stillmorningair@gmail.com

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Related posts:
Hrm...is Mold okay?
Kitchen scraps to Garden Gold
We've got worms

Hrm...Is Mold okay?

EWW!! or AWESOME!!

I just checked on our little worm friends and guess what? They've made friends! I have to say that I wasn't very excited about their new "friends" but it turns out that everything is OKAY. I guess I just assumed that when we started our worm bin, we would just have worms! I was wrong.

It turns out that there are all kinds of little tiny things living in our new bin...to include some mold. I lifted the lid for my daily peak and BAM! there it was.

I got a little nervous for our worms so I did some research (google) and this is what I learned:

"It's not just arthropods and bacteria decomposing the organic material in the worm bin! Molds and fungi are common organisms in a healthy worm system. They feed on decaying organic matter with tiny, hair-like hyphae, secreting enzymes which break down and simplify the organic material. They are also an additional food source to other organisms in the system, including earthworms.

Molds and fungi can also serve as an indicator, telling us if the feeding rate is adequate. Because they grow most prolifically in still, quiet environments, large amounts of mold and fungi indicate there is more food than the system can quickly manage and the feeding rate should be decreased." - www.allthingsorganic.com/How_To/12.asp

I'm going to back off the food a little bit and maybe drop in a little bit of dry newspaper and see if that doesn't clear things up a little bit. Also, I learned that storing your scraps in the fridge or freezer for a few days before feeding to your worms will help them break down the food faster. (Yes Love, I know you already told me this several times before)

In any case, our kitten really likes the worms!


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Related Posts:
Kitchen Scraps to Garden Gold
We've Got Worms!

Worms **UPDATE**

I went back out to Wiggin' Dick's Red Worm Farm this afternoon to buy some more worms so I made sure to snap a picture. Dick (in the picture) grows his worms in cinder blocks and feeds them straight horse manure. He then covers the worms with straw to keep them warm in the winter and also to keep the water in during the summer time.
I had a few questions about what to do with the second bin. For now, nothing. Once your first bin is about halfway to two-thirds full of worm casting, remove the lid and insert the second bin right on top of the worms. Go ahead and start the second bin like you did the first one...4 inches of damp newspaper and food. After a month or so, all of your worms should have migrated up into the second bin. At this point, you can remove the first bin and after a quick search for slow moving worms, you are ready to use your fresh worm castings directly in your garden, compost pile, or fertilizer tea.

The worms I bought today are headed to work with me on Monday. If you have a kitchen in your break room at work, you should think about making a worm bin for the office as well. Great place for coffee grinds! I'm going to put together a flyer to attach to the bin to educate my coworkers so that they don't overfeed the worms. Once I get the flyer put together, I will post it for everyone to share!

We've got Worms!

Yes, I know how that sounds but I'm to excited to care that it sounds bad. We've got worms and I love it!

Today was the day that I decided that we were ready to start worm composting (Vermicomposting). I didn't give much thought to buying the worms because I knew that I could call our local feed store and they would have plenty of Redworms (like I said before, you only want to compost with Redworms).

So I called them up....nothing, no worms. Hrm... So next I called another good local feed shop....nothing. Three nursery's later and still no one had worms in stock. The nice folks at Moana Nursery did give me the name and number of a local Worm Farmer. Yep, he grows worms, who knew. So I called him (Dick) up and we agreed that Morgan and I could pick up the worms this afternoon. He needed some time to separate the worms out.

What is the name of this man's company you ask? "Wigglen Dicks" Red Worm Farm - 775.849.0773 and they are located in Washoe Valley Nevada

After I set things up with Dick the worm farmer, we meet up with some friends and a free local sustainable gardening class. It turns out that we knew a lot about sustainability already but we did learn a few new things...all of which I have forgotten with all the worm excitement!

Next it was off to Target where we picked up to small (13"x13"x13") totes with hinged-type lids. to make our Worm composter. I was really excited because the two totes only cost $16 dollars instead of the $130-200 dollars (plus shipping) for a pre-made composter.

We spent about an hour with Dick learning about worms and the worm business and we learned so much more. I had done quite a bit of research and reading about Vermicomposting but he taught us a lot! If you decide to buy worms and you live near us, please go with Wigglen Dicks - great name and lots of great information. If you live elsewhere, I suggest that you try to find a local worm farmer and buy from them. It is great to get the worms right from the farmer because of all the first hand knowledge that you get as well. We got to see everything from the manure to the beds to the finished worm castings. I totally meant to take pictures at the farm but I forgot.

The following pictures show us preparing the food and building the composter - we decided to take the time and blend the first batch of food to help the worms get going.


It took us less then an hour to build the composter and most of that was trying to find a good system to poke the ventilation holes (hammer and nail is NOT the best way btw). I will walk you through the very simple steps below but I cannot recommend the book The Urban Homestead (The link is to Amazon but please buy local if you can) enough. I love this book and you will too. They walk you through a very simple and straightforward way to start worm-composting.

First we bought:

1. 1lb of worms (this is about 1000 worms) from Wigglen Dicks Red Worm Farm
2. Two dark color (worms hate light) totes with lids.
   

Next we did the following:

1. Drilled 20 evenly spaced 1/4" holes in the bottom of both totes. (These allow the worms to travel from box to box, and let any extra liquid leak out if necessary.)
2. Drilled 20 evenly spaced 1/16" holes in the lid of ONE lid.
3. Drilled a row of 1/16" holes about an inch up from the bottom of both totes all the way around the totes. We went about one every 3-4 inches.
4. Drilled a row of 1/16" holes about an inch from the top of both totes all the way around the totes. We went about one every inch. These are the ventilation holes that will keep the totes from becoming to humid.
5. Next we lined the bottom of one tote with 4" of damp shredded newspaper. To do this we took handfuls of shredded newspaper and submerged them in a bucket of water. You then take it out of the water wand squeeze all the water out until you just have a few drops - should be like a sponge. Then just unbunch and spread.
6. Next you would want to add in a layer of worm castings (soil ill work if your worms do not come in a bunch of castings. If you add soil, then you will not have "pure" worm casting until you start your second batch. It's all going into the garden anyway so it not a big deal. Use worm casting if possible or just some good organic soil)
7. Carefully add your 1lb of worms and be sure to cover any worms that get exposed. I was surprised at just how tiny and fast these little guys are.
8. Cover with the lid with the holes and place in the kitchen. You want to your composter on top of the second lid (with no holes) to catch any drippings. Place two bricks or some wood to keep the composter off of the lid. Our lids have 1 inch plastic tabs that keep the composter from touching the lid. Any drippings can be poured directly onto your plants.

That's it! You now have a worm composter. Worms will double every 60 days or so. If you start with 1lb then in two months you will have about 2lbs of worms. They will also produce their weight in castings every week so after a month you the say you will have about 4lbs of fresh worm castings for your garden! Craziness!

The worms will eat slowly at first while they adjust to their new home so don't over feed them. Start with just one handful of food (kitchen scraps, not plate scraps) a week for the first week and then by the second week they should be eating about two handful a week. If you check on them and they still have food, then wait a bit longer. If you cover the food with damp newspaper, it will cut down on the smell and prevent flies.

You should really really check out The Urban Homestead for lots and lots of great worm caring tips. Plus they tell you how to make some really good fertilizer tea from the castings.

Dick the worm farmer suggested that we also check out Yelmworms.com for more information.

Good luck and don't forget to love your worms! I'll post worm updates so stay tuned!
P.s. Worms and composters make great gifts :)

From kitchen scraps to garden gold!

Worms Worms Worm!

Worms are my new best friends and I hope that they will soon be yours as well. I mean just look at them, aren't they awesome!
Like I said two posts ago, I am soon going to be making a worm composting bin. Once you get your bin built (so simple) all you have to do is feed your kitchen scrapes to your worms and they give you the two of the best fertilizers ever: Worm castings and fertilizer tea.

You can feed them almost anything that you would normal throw away. From fruits and veggies to tea bags, egg shells, and newspaper. I think I am most excited to finally have a use for the weekly neighborhood post that we get in the mail!

Building the worm bin is super easy to do. It's so easy that you could might be able to figure it out from just the diagram below.

For complete directions and way more information I suggest you do one (or both) of the following: Go to your local bookstore (I like to support the local stores if possible) and pick up a copy of The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen and/or visit the Virginia Tech website on Worm Composting

You want to make sure that the worms you buy are Redworms (Eisenia foetida) which are the proper composting worms. If you buy them online, try to buy them as close to you as possible so the poor little guys don't die in route. My plan is to check out the local bait and feed shops first.

Harvesting the worm bins is super easy to do because once your bin is full of worms and worm castings, you just stack a second bin on top of the first one and start the process over. Your little composting friends will slowly work their way up into the second bin leaving only worm castings down below. Easy!

I cannot say enough good things about The Urban Homestead I personally think that everyone that reads this blog should go out and buy two copies as soon as possible. Keep one for your homestead and give the other to a friend or neighbor!