Vermicomposting
Have you ever heard of Vermicomposting? That is our newest adventure. So what is it? Worms. They turn compost material into dirt. And this is where it will all happen. A Rubbermaid tub. Well at least it better, I am excited about the worms making compost, but I want them to stay in this tub to do it. I am not excited about them doing it anywhere else, especially on my living room floor!
Ok, so to be honest, I had never heard of Vermicomposting until a few weeks ago. This farm was a dairy farm when I was a kid. There were cows and chickens and dogs. No other animals that I remember. I am not sure Granny would have allowed any other animals. My granny was very particular, I am still a little surprised that she would drive through the pasture each day knowing that some of "that stuff" would end up on her vehicle. Those of our friends who have come to visit have noticed this, sorry Kim. It is just sort of part of living on a farm. We will be regulars at the local car wash. Thankfully, there is one just up the road from the house.
Why vermicompsoting you might ask? Well, you may or may not know that in 2007 we went on a journey that led us to decide to eat as naturally as possible. We began eating organic food whenever possible. Our grown kids have called us hippies, our younger kids were disappointed that we no longer had Ramen noodles in our house as a staple and my parents made fun of us at every turn. We had to make changes in our life. We didn't want to put Zach on medication and that was the option we were given. So after much research we decided to go "organic" and treat him with enzymes instead of medicine. I haven't regretted it at all. One problem. We moved to Louisiana and organic food isn't as readily available in this small town as it was in Colorado Springs. The closest Whole Foods is in Houston, three hours away and so is the Costco. Let's just say we were regulars at both of those stores. John and I have even had dates to Whole Foods. I am certain we will make regular trips to Houston, however, right now that isn't on the top of our list of things to do. We had a pretty good stock of non-perishable foods that we brought with us so those will have to do for now. Otherwise, we buy whatever organic food we can find, eat food that my parents have graciously shared from their garden this summer and settle for non-organic produce if we must.
In the future, we plan to raise a garden of our own and if possible we would like to grow organic food. In order to do so we need to have good soil that is high in nutrients. One way to do that is vermicomposting. How does that work you ask? Worms! That is right, worms. We ordered 2 pounds of worms from a farm in Wisconsin. We had to wait a few extra days because it was too hot for them to be shipped last week. John and Zach made our first home for the worms yesterday. In the future there will probably be a bigger home for them but for now a Rubbermaid container will do.
One great thing about worms, they eat all of the kitchen waste and turn it into nutrient rich dirt. Apparently, they love cardboard, egg shells, coffee grounds and best of all, junk mail!! I hate junk mail, but I won't get started down that rabbit trail today. The fact that our worms will eat the junk mail makes me very happy. We have composted before, but weren't very successful in making it work for us. When we lived in Louisiana before, we tried, but never got the chance to plant a garden and put it to use. In Colorado, the wind blew it all away, far away, who knows where it all ended up, what with 50-70 mile an hour winds all the time. Did I mention that we lived in the plains of Colorado. There was mostly dry land, very few trees and LOTS of wind. We tried planting a garden there but it dried out quickly and again, the wind didn't help either. We were successful in growing Egyptian walker onions, but we didn't have to work at those, they just grew without any assistance. My parents and grandparents have been successful in raising a garden here many times. In fact, when we lived here in 2003 and 2004 we had more cucumbers and tomatoes than we knew what to do with. Zach was in heaven! He was 2 and ate more cucumbers than anyone could imagine. We had to be careful when we had a fresh batch. I would find him walking through the house with a cucumber in each hand eating them like candy bars. Sometimes before we could get them washed. I canned every kind of pickle imaginable that year. It was truly a bountiful year! We hope for the same kind of results in the future. Best part, the worms will help. This is what John has told me anyway. I hate throwing all that kitchen waste in the trash so I am excited to feed it to the worms and let them get to work. John has done a lot of reading on this subject and he is ready for to put all the information he had gathered to work. His dad ran a worm farm when he was a kid so he has some experience too. He counted worms for them and got paid a penny a worm to count them into 50 count containers. During his research he has had several "ah hah" moments and now he understands why they did some of the things they did. At least now he won't have to count the worms. If that ever becomes necessary, I am sure Zach will be the man for the job.
The worms arrived this afternoon at the same time we returned from a trip to Lake Charles to pick up another floor sander, more on that in another post. John was like a kid at Christmas, he couldn't get in the house fast enough. So now, all the worms are neatly placed in their vermicomposting home and ready to get to work. Let's just pray they stay in their container, I don't plan to clean them up if they end up on the living room floor. That will be John's job!
Until we meet again.
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| Our first Vermicompost bed without worms |
Why vermicompsoting you might ask? Well, you may or may not know that in 2007 we went on a journey that led us to decide to eat as naturally as possible. We began eating organic food whenever possible. Our grown kids have called us hippies, our younger kids were disappointed that we no longer had Ramen noodles in our house as a staple and my parents made fun of us at every turn. We had to make changes in our life. We didn't want to put Zach on medication and that was the option we were given. So after much research we decided to go "organic" and treat him with enzymes instead of medicine. I haven't regretted it at all. One problem. We moved to Louisiana and organic food isn't as readily available in this small town as it was in Colorado Springs. The closest Whole Foods is in Houston, three hours away and so is the Costco. Let's just say we were regulars at both of those stores. John and I have even had dates to Whole Foods. I am certain we will make regular trips to Houston, however, right now that isn't on the top of our list of things to do. We had a pretty good stock of non-perishable foods that we brought with us so those will have to do for now. Otherwise, we buy whatever organic food we can find, eat food that my parents have graciously shared from their garden this summer and settle for non-organic produce if we must.
In the future, we plan to raise a garden of our own and if possible we would like to grow organic food. In order to do so we need to have good soil that is high in nutrients. One way to do that is vermicomposting. How does that work you ask? Worms! That is right, worms. We ordered 2 pounds of worms from a farm in Wisconsin. We had to wait a few extra days because it was too hot for them to be shipped last week. John and Zach made our first home for the worms yesterday. In the future there will probably be a bigger home for them but for now a Rubbermaid container will do.
One great thing about worms, they eat all of the kitchen waste and turn it into nutrient rich dirt. Apparently, they love cardboard, egg shells, coffee grounds and best of all, junk mail!! I hate junk mail, but I won't get started down that rabbit trail today. The fact that our worms will eat the junk mail makes me very happy. We have composted before, but weren't very successful in making it work for us. When we lived in Louisiana before, we tried, but never got the chance to plant a garden and put it to use. In Colorado, the wind blew it all away, far away, who knows where it all ended up, what with 50-70 mile an hour winds all the time. Did I mention that we lived in the plains of Colorado. There was mostly dry land, very few trees and LOTS of wind. We tried planting a garden there but it dried out quickly and again, the wind didn't help either. We were successful in growing Egyptian walker onions, but we didn't have to work at those, they just grew without any assistance. My parents and grandparents have been successful in raising a garden here many times. In fact, when we lived here in 2003 and 2004 we had more cucumbers and tomatoes than we knew what to do with. Zach was in heaven! He was 2 and ate more cucumbers than anyone could imagine. We had to be careful when we had a fresh batch. I would find him walking through the house with a cucumber in each hand eating them like candy bars. Sometimes before we could get them washed. I canned every kind of pickle imaginable that year. It was truly a bountiful year! We hope for the same kind of results in the future. Best part, the worms will help. This is what John has told me anyway. I hate throwing all that kitchen waste in the trash so I am excited to feed it to the worms and let them get to work. John has done a lot of reading on this subject and he is ready for to put all the information he had gathered to work. His dad ran a worm farm when he was a kid so he has some experience too. He counted worms for them and got paid a penny a worm to count them into 50 count containers. During his research he has had several "ah hah" moments and now he understands why they did some of the things they did. At least now he won't have to count the worms. If that ever becomes necessary, I am sure Zach will be the man for the job.
The worms arrived this afternoon at the same time we returned from a trip to Lake Charles to pick up another floor sander, more on that in another post. John was like a kid at Christmas, he couldn't get in the house fast enough. So now, all the worms are neatly placed in their vermicomposting home and ready to get to work. Let's just pray they stay in their container, I don't plan to clean them up if they end up on the living room floor. That will be John's job!
Until we meet again.
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| Necessary materials |
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| Zach with the screen for the top of the bucket |
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| You can't see them well, but the worms are all in there all two pounds of them |
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| Fist full of worms |
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