...continued from part 3...


other fun/noteworthy things...

the two buckets of clay i dug up right before winter
turned out to be really useful as some of the buckets
weren't ready when i needed more room so i had to start
new buckets.

the downside? clay is really nasty when you
add organic matter to it and it gets really wet.

i did two new buckets at once after Ma pulled
a marathon cooking session and also made a lot of
fruit salads and stuff involving apple peels,
melons, etc. i didn't have any extra sand and
not enough newspaper and old castings to break
up the clay.

within a few weeks of putting those buckets
together they were gurgling up a storm and i
was worried that the worms i put in them were
dead and gone from all the fermentation and
them being too wet.

i ended up dumping a bucket out after a month
to see what was up. and of course it was a slimy
smelly mess that came out all at once in one
big pile of goo.

horrible smell, missed the bin with a big
part of it, that wet mineral clay smell along
with the smell of decay and a bucket gone
anaerobic was the worst. but no worse than
a nasty stinky diaper so, no big deal to me.
just made sure to wipe the floor good when i
was done (and the edges of the bucket too).

broke the pile of goo up into chunks and
put them on the bottom of new buckets and
made sure to put more organic stuff around
them, but it will be a while before those
chunks get broken up by the worms and
mixed with other things. exposed to the
air it mellows out after a few days too. i've
done that with the second bucket.

the surprising thing to me was that the
night crawlers and worms seemed to have their
burrows right down into that muck without
too much trouble and they were fine with it.
as long as they weren't swimming in liquid
they were ok.

i've had a few escapees, four to be exact.
two just the other night and the other two
quite some time ago before i had sewed the
elastic bands and cheesecloth covers. i suspect
it is the supermoon. like everyone is blaming
for the earthquake/tsunami. ha.

some people leave a dim light on to keep
the worms in their bins. i am not wanting
to run a light so have to rely upon barrier
to keep them down.

the first few weeks after starting a bucket
they won't usually even show up at night on
the surface. then they start making trails
around the edge (making gaps that can cause
fly troubles) and i'm sure mating is a part
of what they are doing after they get well
fed. i always see plenty of egg casings so i
know that they are doing what needs to be done
and i always find tiny ones when i start a
new bucket. good signs that i can't be
doing much wrong at this point.

moisture levels in a closed bucket can
be harder to gauge. if a bucket gets
really soggy i dig a hole and roll up a
newspaper and stick it down in there. that
helps wick the moisture upwards and after
a while the newpaper degrades or i turn the
whole bucket and use the newspaper on the
bottom. pretty much i've learned that
even if it looks dry on top it can be
too wet at the bottom. the worms are
ok fairly wet, but the anaerobic bacteria
can be smelly so i try to not get too
too wet (especially if there's a lot of
clay in the bucket too). as a last resort,
turning a soggy bucket is a smelly mess,
but it can be a fun smelly mess. and the
stink mellows in a few days when exposed
to the air. i've taken smelly chunks and
mixed them with other buckets in a larger
bin and then left them to be used again
in a future bucket.

the flies are the worst of it and they are
only here because i don't have small meshed
covers (something other than cheesecloth). a
while ago i almost had them eliminated, but
had to go away for a few days and couldn't
do the daily check/squish fly routine. came
back to population surge, almost back to
previous levels (one or two a day). luckily
they seem to like congregating on the east
window so i just pull the covers off and
check the buckets and squish what i can get
before they fly out. once i have the buckets
all checked then i get them from the window
too. they stay in this room so far only a few
wander further (these are not fruit flies
as those are slower to reproduce and larger
so don't get through the cheesecloth so
easily). but they don't bite or land on me
and Ma hasn't seen more than one or two even
during this surge. strange that they don't
go towards the light in the other room as
they do sometimes get on the computer screen
(and i squish 'em there too).

hm, any other things i can think of? besides
don't use clay and water in large quantities
together and use a bigger container to dump
out buckets in as it's very hard to dump
one bucket into another bucket without missing
and getting casting/crumbs all over. or you
get a big clump all at once and it's a mess
(like when the ice suddenly lets go in a cup
you're drinking from and you end up with
splashes all over the place).

sometimes the worms crawl up the sides
of the buckets and bin. usually after
they've been in place a while. some
are obviously mating, but many just
climb around and leave behind castings
here or there (but not all the time).
i'm not sure if they are prospecting,
airing out, or trying to get away from
that annoying younger sibling. since
so few have actually escaped the
pressure cannot be too great. but when
a bucket gets a lot of surface activity
and has been set up for a few months
then i consider it "ready" to be dumped
out and started all over again. currently
i have three buckets ready to be dumped
out and a few others that i can layer
stuff on top since they've settled enough.
so finally keeping up with production.

tipping a bucket that has night-crawlers
in it and taking off the top layer of loose
stuff you sometimes will have the night-crawlers
hanging out or falling out. quite a sight.

also scratching the edge of the bucket with
your fingernail will get nightcrawlers up to
the surface and out of their burrows. either
they think it is something digging for them
so they run or they think it's food or mating
i have no idea, but they can move quite
quickly and sometimes have startled me. if
they aren't out of the burrow i gently tap
them so they retreat as i'd rather they didn't
get injured if i'm putting down a new layer of
scraps or bean mush.

a big metal serving spoon is quite handy to
have and a quart yogurt container for moving
scoups of dirt. i also keep a squeeze bottle
of water handy to rinse off strange items or
rocks that i come across and a used toothbrush
if i really want to look at a fossil.

i've found all sorts of things in the dirt:
wire, glass, plastics. i don't think i'll ever
get commercial compost again, or if i do i will
be very careful. way too much questionable stuff
in it that made me worry about dog/cat/human poo
being in there too. bags of composted cow
manure were much better and had no "surprises".

drying things out is the most recent and best
method of evening out volume. drying reduces
volume by 5 to 10 times and once dry i can use
scraps whenever i need them and not worry about
it otherwise. no fungus or fly troubles as long
as i stick to drying veggie scraps (and keep the
fruit scraps wrapped and buried).

probably have processed a few hundred pounds of
scraps so far, most of it water to evaporation.
i will probably have a few pounds of castings,
juvenile worms and egg casings to use for one
lucky garden come active growing season. i
won't put this out until i'm sure the soil is
warm enough and the plants ready to soak up
the nutrients.

around 40 pounds of shredded paper are in the
mix but some of that takes a bit longer to be
digested. cardboard is quick (a month or so),
then newspaper, then card stock and shiny print.

worms will suck the colors off paper, i think
it's the salts/minerals. so far none of the worms
glow in the dark or wear a purple mohawk so i'm
not worried.

nice thing, can check the moisture levels,
squirt a little water if it looks too dry,
turn down the heat, unplug the hot water
heater and leave for a few weeks at a time
without worrying that they'll be ok.

time used on days when i have other
obligations/plans and don't want to mess around,
5-10 minutes, part of my morning hamstring
stretch. time used on days when i have to
double check and squish flies, 20 minutes.
time spent on days when i want to observe, turn
a bucket or shred paper and top off layers 30+
minutes. chopping and drying usually only takes
a few minutes when needed. regular month time
spent about 15 hrs. all of it enjoyable.

worst trouble, getting things too wet and
having too much clay in the mix. fly control.

great fun. having a night-crawler come
out of the burrow when putting out some new
chow. taking the flashlight at night and
seeing what's up. reading about soil science,
critters, bacteria and fungi. blabbing to
people about it (haha!).

have fun, i sure am!


songbird