Vermiculture

As I promised you on Wednesday, I have another worm article for you.

My bloggy friend, E. Michelle of Navigation Through Education and One Soul's Journey, is starting a garden ... and a worm farm. She has very kindly agreed to share her experience with us.

If you've never visited E. Michelle's blogs ... I recommend that you do. In One Soul's Journey, she talks about the inner person ... and getting to know the soul. In one of her recent posts shes says "... once you understand how to feel your emotions, you have no choice but to just feel them and ask for release." It's truly a beautiful and profound blog. In Navigation Through Education, she talks about her experiences as a teacher and the things she's learned along the way. She also publishes a regular feature called Sunday Gratitude Times where she lists the things in life that she's grateful for. So if you have a few extra minutes when you're done here ... head over to her sites and check them out.

A big THANK YOU to E. Michelle for this article:

Vermiculture…interesting word…it actually brings to mind vermin…ick. But what is vermiculture really? Well, simply put it’s growing worms. This year, now that I’m working from home, I feel like I’m finally organized around the house. And being organized I decided to start that garden I’ve been talking about for the last three years. After watching several episodes of Victory Garden, reading a square foot gardening book and a lot of internet research, I realized that if I wanted to be any kind of gardener, I would have to start a compost pile. Being pretty scared of snakes and “vermin”, I decided I needed some type of enclosed composter and not just a big pile in my backyard. Even though I live in a respectable subdivision in a city, there are enough wooded areas around that my dogs have found a few copperhead snakes in the backyard before. I wouldn’t want to meet one of them up close and personal. So, then on another last minute episode of Victory Garden, I saw it…I knew I had to have one…a WORM FARM. Ahh Awesome…I love dirt, I love worms…perfect match. So last week my worm farm arrived. I purchased mine from the worm wrangler http://www.wormswrangler.com/

They had a decent price and quick shipping. I ordered the 5 tray model, although you can get ones with less trays. I liked the fact the farm itself is made out of recycled plastic. It also comes with a little vented roof to put on top. I also ordered 1 lb of worms from the same place. They send the farm first and then about one week later you receive the worms to give you time to get things set up. I’ve had the worms for a few days now and so far so good. I ordered red wriggler worms, which according to my research was the best type of compost worm to have. Apparently regular earthworms, while they do a good job of aerating the soil, they do not compost. The nice things about using worms to compost, besides just being fun, is that not only do they produce a solid fertilizer, they also produce a liquid fertilizer, appropriately named worm tea. To begin you place food (veggie scraps) and some dirt and coconut coir (included with the worm farm) in the bottom tray. You then place the worm in that bottom tray and then place the next tray on top, half full of food. Once the worms eat the food in the bottom tray, they will migrate up to the next tray. So basically you just keep filling one tray at a time with the empty ones always on top. Essentially worms will eat nearly anything and can denature chemicals. However, considering that you will put their compost on food crops you need to watch what you give them to eat. Nearly all vegetable scraps will work, excluding citrus and other acidic fruits like tomatoes. Also, you cannot compost meat or dairy. Basically no protein, however you can give them eggshells. Also good to use is newspaper, and other paper (no colors). The directions say to feed once per week. I can sense though that it will take a little trial and error to find the best feeding schedule and types of food for my worms.

Another great thing about the worm farm is that it’s fairly affordable and fun. You can also build your own worm farm as well out of plastic buckets. Here’s a website that details the process: http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/default.aspx?tabid=2101

I should be planting my garden this week! I’m looking forward to using that great worm tea and compost on my veggies!!

UPDATE: E. Michelle sent the following update and pictures:

I am SO excited!! My worms had babies! Hahaha yes it’s true…I found baby worms in there today, they are tiny and white…too small to take a pic of unfortunately. I also found an egg, but I dropped it before I could grab a shot! Also, I had about 2 tbsp of worm tea that came out of the little spigot! I really believe everyone should own a worm farm! :)

The Farm

Inside the box

An older baby

My first worm tea

Another big THANK YOU to E. Michelle. And as always ... I would love to hear from you!

The Day I Bought Worm Poop, or The Crazy Get Crazier

My bloggy friend, Connie Mishali of Connie Mishali's Weblog, shared this funny story with me. It's all about ... worm poop. Yep ... you heard me right ... worm poop! When I read it ... I just knew that it would be perfect for Reduce Footprints.

Connie Mishali's Weblog is a wonderful site. She talks about relationships, green living, religion and so much more. You'll find book reviews and book giveaways. You might remember Connie from this month's vegan recipe ... Lo Mein Noodles. She graciously shared that fabulous recipe with us ... and now shares this fun post.

A big THANK YOU to Connie. And now ... her article:

The Day I Bought Worm Poop, or The Crazy Get Crazier



As promised, today I will share the story of the day I bought worm poop. It started out as a seemingly sane pursuit: my husband mentioned he was going to buy fertilizer for the lawn this past Spring. "Wait! Let me find something safe for the pets and birds." I wanted to find fertilizer that wouldn't harm our two Chihuahuas or the birds, bunnies, beach mice, toads and other wildlife we have around our home. So I started looking online for "pet safe" fertilizer and found a number of options, all of which were labeled "natural" and "organic". Do you know what's in natural, organic fertilizer? The blood and bones and manure of cows, pigs, chickens and other slaughtered animals! I felt myself getting faint.

So now I'm typing "pet safe, vegan" fertilizer into my browser wondering, "Is there such a thing?" Yep. It turns out the very, very best fertilizer for one's yard is "worm castings". That's a nice way of saying "worm poop". I found about a dozen different websites. I was overwhelmed by the choices and didn't know how I was going to make the best choice. Well, after doing some research I found out not all worm castings are the same. Long story made short, you have to find red worm castings for high quality fertilizer; you need to make sure it's 100% pure; you need to make sure the worms are fed high quality food. Unfortunately, the websites weeded themselves out with usually bad customer service. I had a number of questions being uneducated in the ways of worms, so I sent out messages to each one. Sadly, about half the website owners didn't respond. The other half gave me incomplete answers or seemed irritated by the follow up questions I had.

The only website I found which met the above product criteria AND responded promptly and completely to every question was Rising Mist Organics. http://www.wackyworldsof.com/ The owner thought it was hilarious when I wrote that I didn't mean to sound completely nuts, but could she please assure me that her worms were treated well, their poop was harvested humanely and they were given a good life. She explained to me that it sounded like I was "her kind of nut". She and her husband were both vegans and believed in doing no harm. She described the worms' diets (all organic food; their diets are better than mine) and their treatment (very good lives). She requested that when I was ready to order, I please call instead of placing the order online.

When I called her, I asked if she wanted me to call in order to facilitate my order or only because I was so crazy, she wanted to talk to me in person. She laughed and admitted it was mostly the latter. We talked for almost an hour and I found a kindred spirit! She lives in a small, rural town and we agreed that sometimes it's hard being the only crazy person where you live. She told me a couple of weeks prior, they had a huge rain storm and she was out with her front end loader, moving the worms to higher ground. She said she was sure the whole town was talking about her like they did about Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams" when he started mowing down his corn fields. She told me several months prior, she was at the town hall for a meeting. Someone was going to kill a bug and she yelled, "No! Don't kill it!" without even thinking. She then went and scooped up the bug on a piece of paper and carried it down the center aisle to the door to set it free. She said not one of several hundred people said a word, but they never took their eyes off her or uttered a word as she made her way to the door with the bug and again back to her seat. I told her stories of my own. We agreed that living together on a commune -- or at least having a few more like minded people in the neighborhood -- would be comforting sometimes.

By the way, worm castings are the BEST fertilizer ever!!! They will NOT burn your grass (or plants or flowers or vegetables). Although "expensive", they actually are a better deal than anything you'd buy at Lowes or Wal-mart because they need application only once a year and, in fact, they continue to fertilize the ground 2-3 years after application. They are completely safe for pets, children, wildlife and ground water. Finally, no animals -- including worms -- are harmed.

I started out with a seemingly easy task . . . find fertilizer safe for our pets and wildlife . . . which evolved into finding vegan, organic, safe, humane fertilizer. I was not disappointed with worm castings, or with Rising Mist Organics and their funny, friendly, do-good owners. And now you know how crazy can feed on itself!

Another big THANK YOU to Connie for this fun ... and interesting article. I hope you'll come back on Friday ... we're going to be talking about more ... worms! As always ... I would love to hear from you!

What Was I Thinking?

Today we have a real treat … a guest author. When I read that our bloggy friend, IB from Idiot’s Stew, is a certified Master Recycler-Composter … well, I just knew that we could all benefit from him. This article lives up to everything I hoped it would be. Using his own experiences, he teaches how it's never too late to start living a green life ... and how easy it is to get started (or in this case, restarted). If you’ve never been over to Idiot’s Stew … you’re missing out. IB is a talented writer who talks about everything. His posts are full of honesty and humor … they make me think, laugh and sometimes bring a tear to my eye. I hope you’ll drop by his site and look around … and while you’re there, drop him a comment. OK … sit back … relax … and enjoy:

What Was I Thinking?

Man, I am really feeling the pressure now. I have committed myself to “guest- authoring” at Reduce Footprints and I realize, 4 days into the process, I have…nothing.

What was I thinking?

I have no right to write a post about “green” living. Oh sure, I am a certified Master Recycler-Composter. I KNOW about composting. I can make a worm bin out of a 20- gallon Rubbermaid tote in 5 minutes. I can separate recyclables quicker than the curb-side collection guy can even get out of his truck yet, sadly, have turned my back on my training and my commitment to living in harmony with nature, for the last 10 years.

It is true. I am not proud.

So here I am, sitting at this keyboard, with a dead-line fast approaching, and I am struggling with my guilt. For a decade, I have possessed the power to affect change for the better, and I have chosen to not. What is worse, I have contributed to the current situation with apathy so great it borders on malicious. I have shunned the environment because I couldn’t be bothered, because I was too busy, because I didn’t want to believe in global-warming, because it wasn’t trendy or cool, and for it, I am a tortured man. It serves me right. Today, I look at the world around me and I see the effects of global- warming on the weather, on food supplies, on people, and I know I can claim at least a part of the responsibility because I have been, “…part of the problem”. My behavior has been deplorable, despicable and unforgivable.

But mother-earth IS forgiving. I believe she loves me and only wants me to live in that state of harmony with her; align myself with her energies and do that which is needed to give back to her rather than live the recent parasitic life I have. And so, I am returning to organic gardening.

It is still cold and wet outside, but I’ll be headed down to the hardware store today to get some supplies. The first thing to do will be to build a 3-compartment compost bin (see plans here). There are plenty of semi-decomposed leaves and other yard debris left over from last fall and my neighbor has a horse, so I can start a compost pile immediately.

After the bin is up and the compost is cooking (see a recipe for compost here) my son and I will build a couple of raised garden beds. By this spring we will have our organic vegetable starts in the ground. We will mulch around them with our compost and fertilize with our worm-castings (how to build your own worm-bin here) and I will finally feel right. I will rest comfortably knowing that I have found my way back home to a balanced relationship with our planet: one that I will never abandon again. Maybe one man’s vegetable garden won’t be enough to reverse the ill-affects of millions living and treating our earth like we are rude house-guests, but it’s a start.

That’s what I’m thinking, anyway.

IB

A big THANK YOU to IB for this post. As always ... I'd love to hear from you!