as it turns out, the worm bins project i've
started this past summer has become a lot more
fun than i expected it ever would.

for one they are great pets, they have no
fur, they live in dirt, they smell great and
their poop even smells good.

at first it was going to be three containers
that i could rotate the kitchen scraps through.
then i noticed that when we cook we cook for
three to five families at a time. so instead
of a fourth of a bucket a week in scraps we'd
have periods of nothing followed by half to a
full bucket of scraps. there's noway 12 crawlers
and 30 worms could keep up with that. haha.

the first three buckets had three months to
digest the paper and vegetable scraps along with
some dirt mixed in. at first i kept things a
little too wet but as soon as i noticed the
sour ammonia smell i broke them all down and
added more shredded paper and sand to dry things
out a bit. no problems after that. i cover the
bin and buckets with cheesecloth to keep the
fruitflies and fungus flies from having a field
day. once in a while i pull the sprouts out
and sprinkle a little water to keep things
moist enough.

my first worm census after three months, all
crawlers were still alive and very healthy (even
if my further reading has said they would not
do well in bins because they like undisturbed
soil and need burrows very deep to procreate so
i may never actually get crawler babies)... i
got them mainly because they eat more and i needed
some big mouths quick. the regular worms i
added were mostly there and there were about
two hundred little worms.

i've since added more bins because it's taking
about a third of a bucket of dirt to cover the
vegetable scraps in one layer and i can do a
second layer a few weeks later after things
settle and compact and the rot and worms get
going.

i have to stop adding new buckets this winter
when my last two buckets of dirt run out and i
have no more space to keep them in my room. i
should be able to consolidate a few as they
get digested and put the castings out in the
garage or garden shed (to wait for spring
mulching). the assembly line is still in
process...

i went out and found some worms and took some
others from various places to add to the newer
buckets i just set up, some from the weed pile,
others from under boards and others from digging,
so i'm guessing i've got at least six species
munching for me. i figure each bucket has
enough micro niches that some will do better
at times than others and so will eventually
figure it out. it will be interesting to see
what happens with the various populations as
time goes on and i mix the natives with the
bait shop rescues. yes, i do know there are
worms for composting you can buy by the thousands,
but this seemed like more fun to play with
and compare.

in another year or so i'll expect to have
enough adult worms to keep up with the demand
and the bucket chain will be long enough that
i can have a supply for the gardens of worm
castings. all from stuff that we used to
throw away.

i think it's a good thing we don't have
a basement. haha...

the reading of _eaarth_ turned out to be
blah, the author's style just doesn't work
for me. i don't mind rants against bone-headed
policies or politicians, but i felt that the
whole book was rather disorganized collection
of rants and intermixed little facts about
this and that, but felt it was really short
on some other things...

the basic truth however could not be
avoided and i sure agree with the author that
we are now sailing on a new world.


peace,


songbird