Mama's Worm Composting

On Hiatus

Hi everyone. Mama's is undergoing a change of ownership. Until we get everything transferred over, we will not be taking any orders. Please check back here at the end of August to see where we land.

Thanks for your interest!

Mama

Worm Composting: Local Pickup Worm Orders

Worms are now available for local pickup in Albany, CA. To do so, you must order through paypal in advance (sorry, no more cash... too hard to keep track of for taxes...). You will then be contacted and given a couple of options for pickup times and the location. I usually have two pickup times per week, once on the weekend and once during the week. Due to a very tight schedule and two little screaming monsters, I am not able to make individual appointments. :-)

After you place your order we will contact you within 48 hours to arrange a pickup time. Thanks!

1 Pound Red Wiggler Worms LOCAL PICKUP ONLY:

Worm Composting Class: February 19 at 1pm

Join us for a free workshop and learn how to get started composting with worms! Worms will be available for purchase at the workshop. Please email me to rsvp. Hope to see you there!

Next Worm Composting Workshop Saturday

I know my worm composting blogging has been somewhat lacking in excitement of late, but at least I can offer you a new date for the next worm composting workshop! It will be this Saturday, January 15 at 1pm in Oakland. If you'd like to rsvp for the worm composting class, please email me to do so and I will send you the details. 

Got other questions? Got something cool to share? Just let me know and I'll blog about it!

Worm Composting: My Local Cohorts

Now that I've written that title, I realize that I can't really call Jack Chambers of Sonoma Valley Worm Farm a worm composting "cohort", as he is more of a worm composting god than anything, and I'm not exactly on the same playing field. At any rate, Jack's a good guy who played a key role in helping me start my own operation, so I thought I would go ahead and send a little traffic his way. 

Check out this article on SFGATE about Jack and his worm composting operation. His farm is truly a site to behold, and whenever I visit I crave things like big motors and a dump truck of my very own... well, a girl can dream anyways. And if you happen to own a farm and are looking for a manure solution, he just might be able to solve all of your poop problems. 

Good worming!

Worm Composting: New Lower Prices on Red Wigglers!

Well, Happy New Year to you! I just wanted to write a quick announcement that Mama's is lowering prices on Red Wigglers to just $20 per pound in 2011. Pickup is available at ongoing worm composting classes / workshops that I will be holding at the farm in West Oakland. I'm sorry, but with two little kids to run after I have to schedule my pickup times very tightly, and thus the worm composting classes were born.

If you're not local, shipping is just $10 and includes a live worm guarantee no matter the weather. 

Also, vermicompost / castings are now available for pickup in the hour before the scheduled worm composting classes. Prices are $10 per cu. foot and $160 per cu. yard (you shovel...). This vermicompost is a rich mix of worm castings, partially processed manure, red worms and worm cocoons. 

Order your worm composting worms online HERE.

Good worming!

Worm Composting Workshop 1/7/11

Just wanted to write a quick note that I will be having another worm composting workshop/class next Friday, January 7 at 8pm at the worm farm. If you would like to attend please rsvp by emailing me and I will send you directions. Worms will be available to buy but there is no obligation to if you just want to learn. Hope to see you!

Worm Composting Open House

The warehouse where I grow my worms is 4 acres large, so much of the space is rented out to local artists and other small businesses (like myself). We are having an open house Saturday, December 18 from 11am-3pm. If you need to pick up a pound of worms or are looking for some (very) original art as Christmas presents, stop by! 1960 Mandela Parkway in Oakland, and it says AMERICAN STEEL in huge letters on the side. See you there? 

Worm Composting: Where's Your Farmer?

Wondering why things have been quiet around here lately? I've been in Florida on a vacation filled with screaming children, princesses and overpriced STUFF (almost all of which I want to BUY!). In fact, I have just exited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and am waiting for my three-year-old to wake up so we can go to Honeydukes and get everybody sugared up.

Got questions about worm composting in the meantime? Feel free to email me and ask or just have a poke around. Orders placed this week will go out on Monday as usual.

I'm off to get mysel a butterbeer! Thanks for visiting Mama's Worm Composting, and please say a prayer for me for a scream-free flight home. :-)

Worm Composting Class

Starting this coming Sunday, November 28 I will be offering worm composting classes every two to three weeks at the worm farm in West Oakland. The class will start at 8pm sharp and run for 1 hour. You will be able to buy worms and/or castings at the beginning and the end of the class. If you're interested in coming to the first worm composting class this Sunday, please EMAIL ME to rsvp and get details about the location. 

I look forward to seeing you there!

Worm Composting: Why Worms?

Last weekend I was at a birthday party for a 3-year-old and was asked about my business; ultimately the question came up, why worms? I didn't answer the question very well at the time (in the middle of the conversation my own 3-year-old came up and called me a "pain in the butt"... sigh...), so I thought I would try to answer it once more. 

The first part of the question can be taken as "Why did you get into the worm composting business?" In early 2009 when I started Mama's Worm Composting we were in a pretty bad way with the economy (I guess we still are). I recall seeing a news article about how the only sector of the economy that was growing was green businesses. So that's reason #1 that I chose this niche. Reason #2 is that at the time it seemed SO easy. I figured worms grow like mad, eat free poop I could get at a barn, and sell for a pretty good price. 1.5 years in now and I'm still not making a profit, though my business is doing well overall and profits are (finally) on the horizon. Raising thousands of pounds of worms is NOT easy, requires being covered in poop for a good part of your waking life, and truly is farming. You don't learn how to grow tons of food in the most efficient way overnight, and you don't learn how to grow worms that fast either. Reason #3 is that I could see a clear opening in the market in the little section of the Bay Area where I live; there are no other growers right here and I try to capitalize on that. Reason #4 is that I thought it would be funny to be a woman and a worm farmer (of all things). This has proved true, and my girlfriends love watching me tell people that I'm a worm farmer. And I'm pretty entertained by those conversations, too. :-)

So, someday it appears that I will make money. I have almost quit many, many times. Being a business owner in any sector is very hard; being a business owner who puts her kids to bed and then goes to shovel poop for 5 hours is even harder.

The second part of the "why worms?" question is really, "Why should I compost with worms? Why would I want to?" Worm composting offers a unique opportunity for urban dwelling folks to compost their waste (even in their tiny apartments) without producing a stinky-garbage smell. It does take a little while to get the hang of it, but once you do you'll be surprised at what your worms can handle. In about 1 cubic foot of space you can cut your trash outgo by at least 30%. The resulting worm castings are much more powerful as a soil amendment than traditional compost. And let's face it, worms are just fun. There's something awesome about maintaining an animal usually thought of as disgusting and watching them grow and feed. I remember holding and keeping caterpillars when I was a kid, so why not worms? I blame movies like "The Lost Boys" for making my little squirming buddies into something so "gross". 

I used to write about how I would squeal in horror at my worms, and it did take me a while to get over my initial fears. These days you're more likely to hear me say things like, "Hey, little buddy, where are you going?" when I find a worm out of place. And the things that make me squeal these days are usually just unexpected critters I bring back from the barn as stowaways in the load of horse poop I've just picked up (grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, the occasional mouse). If it's not pink and moving slowly, it's going to get a surprised yelp out of me! 

Worms aren't for everyone, it's true. But for those of us who have spent years in urban environments longing to be connected with nature like when we were kids, they are a great first step back. 

Worm Composting: Gardening and Resilience

My friend Catherine will be so pleased to hear me use the word "resilience". 

Really this post is just an update on the garden and a shout-out to my new friends over at Transition Albany. Since learning about things like Peak Oil and the Transition movement, my desire to create a homestead in my new (little) backyard has grown even more. I'm even thinking about bees, and bees scare the beejeesus out of me. The pics above are of the new boxes I've been building for my winter veggies. I'm trying to use as much space as I can for food production while still allowing pathways so that the kids can play. The lower left corner is being left open for an incoming trampoline (shhh! It's a surprise!). The cement area to the left of the (useless) tree is where the chickens will go.

Worms are being integrated into the entire garden in one way or another. I'm using a hefty amount of my own worm castings, which are a mix of manure and finished castings and which are also full of small worms and cocoons (available for local pickup, BTW). Already I'm seeing worms all over the place, which will help to break down the mulch buried underneath the beds even faster and turn it into rich compost for the plants right at the roots. 

Since we moved we haven't gotten our own worm composting box up and running yet (I've been concentrating on the garden); we now have green waste pickup so it's easy to be lazy in this arena. However, stay tuned for pics of our new worm composting system. It is widely touted that worm castings are a far superior compost to use than traditionally produced compost. Stay tuned for my own growing experiments this spring using different mixtures. 

Good worming!

Worm Composting in Winter

I must admit that, as far as being lucky, when it comes to weather I am extremely well-off. The San Francisco Bay Area has very mild weather compared with a lot of the rest of the country, and it makes growing and maintaining worms quite easy. 

With the seasons moving on, however, I know a lot of you out there are staring down the first snowfall of the season and perhaps wondering how you can possibly take your summertime hobby of worm composting and bring it through the long, cold winter. Red worms thrive in temperatures (the temperature of the bedding, not the air) of between 55 and 77 degrees, but can survive perhaps 15-20 degrees beyond that in either direction depending on the circumstances. For you in cold locales wishing to practice worm composting all winter I have a couple of suggestions.

First, and most obvious, is to bring your worm composting bin inside. A garage or basement will suffice and will be several degrees higher than outdoors. That, in addition to the active decomposition of food (which produces heat) will keep your red wigglers happy and warm (enough) through the cold season. When in doubt, take the temperature of the bin. If it's too low (below 55) then perhaps add a breathable blanket to help insulate and feed a little bit more (don't forget the bedding!) to increase microbial activity and heat within the bin. Also, when moving a bin indoors don't forget to cover it with a thin, breathable sheet to keep flies from becoming a nuisance. 

Another more adventurous option is to experiment with your worm composting efforts outside, even in frigid weather. With a bit of planning and some manure to help keep things heated you can be successful. Remember, snow is insulating, so use that to your advantage. Dig a trench about 18" deep and 18" wide (do it soon, before the ground freezes!). Begin to fill it with horse manure and food scraps, at least 2' long worth, and add your worms. Cover with a generous application of straw, about a foot deep. Make sure to cover the food well with the manure and straw; while many critters are hibernating during the cold season, you still don't want to take your chances by leaving a free meal readily available to them. As the season progresses, add to the trench lengthwise your food scraps and more manure (the manure serves as bedding as well as food for the worms). Take the temperature frequently. And remember, if the whole thing goes kablooey, worms lay eggs that can survive through extremely tough weather; any worms you may lose during the winter will come back in the spring in the form of tiny hatchlings and start the work again. 

Got questions about worm composting in winter? Email me here. 

Good worming!

Worm Composting Blog Review: Guerrilla Gardening

As we settle into our new house and monster #1 is in Kindergarten for 3.33 hours per day, I find myself with a teeny tiny bit of time to actually think while monster #2 naps. This week I stumbled upon a blog that I thought might interest anyone reading this blog. I figure if you're interested in worm composting then you are probably interested in sustainability in general. 

Guerrilla Gardening is an organization that goes around to public places and plants beautiful plants and trees... without permission. This is right in line with my way of thinking of late because my new home happens to be right across from the BART tracks (sexy, I know), and right under the BART tracks is a 2 mile long bike path with nothing but dying grass and some random shrubs along the sides. As I become more interested in homesteading in general I am increasingly aware of both the small size of our lot and the huge amount of wasted space across the street. Project #1 is to implement my worm composting garden into my back and front yards. But let's face it, a mom of two with a business has only so much time, so this worm composting gardening project may be a year or so in the works. Inspiration, however, is the fuel for motivation, and as I keep looking across the street I envision vines of hybrid peaches, tomatoes, broccoli bushes... the list goes on. Wouldn't it be cool if food security was right in your backyard, right across the street, or even in the median of the big boulevard? 

Check out the Guerrilla Gardening blog for ideas and inspiration. They have a forum where you can find people in your area going out on missions. Live in Albany? Keep a look out for my broccoli bushes when time permits. 

Thanks for visiting Mama's Worm Composting and good worming!        

Worm Composting in the Classroom

It seems that fall is high season for classroom worm composting. Email after email comes in to me from teachers asking about worms, worm bins and presentations. Well, I’ve finally decided to put together a worm composting classroom kit, including a short presentation, for all of you folks in the Bay Area.

Here are the rules. First, I need to be able to bring my kids to the presentation (they are 3 and 5). Second, I need to be able to pass out fliers to kids to bring home to their parents which will include some advertising materials for my company. Third, your school must be within 25 miles of Albany, CA for me to make the drive to come see you.

The worm composting classroom kit will include:

2 pounds of Red Wiggler worms

1 homemade worm composting bin

1 30 minute presentation

Are you interested in introducing worm composting into your classroom? Email me for pricing and available dates.

Thanks for visiting Mama’s Worm Composting, and good worming!