Vermiculture
Now that the weather is warming up, I’m thinking about starting up my worm bin again. I haven’t had it stocked with worms since before Gregory was born (I *ahem* forgot to keep it moist enough when the temps were in the 110’s and all my worms croaked), but I remember it being a fun activity with Emma when she was a toddler, and I bet both the kids would enjoy it now. I also hate throwing away all our food scraps - where we used to live we could at least put them in the greens container and they would get composted, and at the property we buried all our scraps. Here we have a very primative recycling program and all that useful organic waste has to go in the trash.
There’s a worm farm not too far from here so I’m thinking that it would make for a fun field trip once we’re all well again. I still have the old bin, I just need new bedding (my MIL is going to provide the newspaper out of their recycling bin, so I’m set there) and once we have the worms we should be ready to go. I’m a little worried that it might still be too cold at night for them, but I think if I have them right up against the apartment building on the patio they’ll be ok. This place leaks enough heat that they should get some warmth! I still have to figure out how to keep them alive over the winter with our below freezing temps, but I have some time to research that. I don’t suppose anyone reading this has any experience with that?
allegra on 30 Mar 2008 at 2:14 pm #
I wanted to start a worm farm… but was VETOED!
However, I have a friend who lives in a condo (no yard) who has a successful indoor worm farm. She puts all of her food scraps in a plastic bin, and the worms are happy–though a few escaped and shriveled on her carpet early on before they acclimated. Maybe you could do something similar, then move it outdoors when the weather warms up?
This suggestion, by the way, is coming from someone who is freakishly paranoid about mold. I hate the stuff, but the worm bin passed my inspection.
This friend and I are both librarians, so naturally we present you with further reading:
* “Worms Eat my Garbage” by Mary Applehof
* http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm
amber on 31 Mar 2008 at 7:41 am #
Hi Allegra,
Wow, indoors! I have heard of such a thing, but I have a hard time believing it wouldn’t be gross. Hmm… I’ll have to think about that. That’s good to hear that it can work and not be gross. The one I had before I definitely don’t think would have worked indoors, but I don’t know if that was because how I was managing it, or because by being outside, it had the opportunity to be colonized by stuff other than worms. Not that it was all that bad, it just wasn’t something you’d want to bring inside.
Thanks for the book recommendation and the link - I went looking for that book at the library on Sat. but it was already checked out. But that reminds me, I was going to put in a request for it and I haven’t done so yet.
Thanks!
Jim on 31 Mar 2008 at 8:50 am #
Three cheers for resurrecting your worm bin. I totally understand the torture of throwing away food waste with respects to the local landfill but more painfully the loss of good compost for my garden. When our nephews and friends with kids visit they always love getting their hands dirty in the bin. There are so many critters in there and they love learning about how the food gets chomped by the worms. (especially the part of how worm poop is really good for the garden)
I will do some research as well in regards to your freezing temps. Where I live in california our worms just slow down a little. Maybe just keep a small group indoors for a while? It wouldn’t take long for them to repopulate…
amber on 31 Mar 2008 at 8:31 pm #
Thanks, Jim, I appreciate your comment. Do let me know if you find out anything. I’ll try and post some pictures of my set-up later on once we get it all going.
Valerie on 31 Mar 2008 at 9:56 pm #
Ah worms. I never knew how much I would love the little guys until I started my compost pile. If you need any starter worms let me know. I was turning the manure/compost pile the other day and they were so thick in there they were tangled with each other. I could bring up some for you. Steve and I need to come up for a visit anyway. I could bring some starter composted manure as well. Heaven knows we have a ton. Our garden was so incredibly happy last year. In fact is you want any composted manure let me know.
Val