Mama's Worm Composting

Bokashi and Your Worm Composting Bin

I've been interested in learning more about using the microorganism Bokashi to aid in worm composting for some time. Of course, when you have a worm composting bin you can't feed the worms absolutely anything. Worms prefer a diet rich in fruits and veggies, and hold the onions and citrus, please. So what do you do if you produce a lot of onion, citrus, bread and dairy waste? You can use a Bokashi bucket to pre-compost these materials, and then feed them to the worms. In fact, most sites claim that you can also compost fish and meat products using Bokashi without attracting vermin. According to this article, after you add the finished Bokashi materials into your worm composting bin, the worms will steer clear of the materials for a couple of days and then come around and munch it all up. So it appears we have found a way to include some previously unwanted materials into our worm composting bins without hurting our worms. And all of this, of course, can be done during the winter months and indoors without bad smells.

One thing I have noticed is that many Bokashi start-up systems are quite pricey, though the Bokashi materials themselves are not too expensive. In addition, the use of two Bokashi bins is recommended so that the first one can ferment totally while the second one is still being filled. Cha-ching! Here are a couple of links for setting up your own homemade Bokashi bin. 

Homemade Bokashi Bin

Another Bin

Interesting stuff! I'll be setting one of these up in coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Good worming!

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My Worm Composting Garden: Weathering the Storm

My family lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, so rain around here tends to be a relatively unusual occurrence. Sure, we get a month or so of drizzle come spring, but “big” storms don’t usually come our way very often, and thunder and lightening is a rarity. Last week one of the many sunamis that have been plaguing the other side of our planet threw a large storm in our direction… right after we planted our worm composting garden.

Now, don’t forget, I usually kill almost everything I plant. All day I was calling Saaba, checking on whether our plants were surviving. Expecting them to be long dead, I was very surprised to find that not only were they surviving the storm, they were thriving! A little thing like this can really show the large disconnect between urban society and mother nature. I was awfully surprised that a little rain hadn’t positively killed everything!

The worms are also doing fine, munching away at the manure and fruit and veggie scraps. I really didn’t put tons of worms in, only a couple of pounds, so they’re quite spread out. Here’s hoping they start making babies soon and fill up our worm composting trench with castings and next spring’s worm stock!

Here’s the picture of the week.

Good worming!

 

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Let’s Kill More Fungus Gnats

One of my worm composting bins is sadly infested with fungus gnats. It’s hard to say which creatures I hate the most, fungus gnats or fruit flies, but let’s just say they both suck and I want them all dead. Neither species will harm your worms or ruin the resulting worm castings from your worm composting bin. However, they are quite a nuisance to have around, especially for indoor worm composting projects. Nothing makes me angrier than a fruit fly landing in my glass of hard-earned wine at the end of a day juggling worms and screaming children!

Until now, the most effective way of controlling these winged demons has truly been the easiest and grossest method: fly tape. They can’t resist it, and after a few days you will find more flies than you ever knew you had sticking to the tape. So that is step one to getting rid of flies; wrap the edges of your bin with fly tape. I say the edges because when the baby flies crawl up the sides of the bin to take their first flight, they will get stuck on the tape before they ever get the chance to spread their evil little wings.

A few additional methods exist for fungus gnats (though not too many options are available for fruit flies, sadly). I have tried purchasing predatory mites (or “beneficial nematodes”) called Hypoaspis sp. to eat the larvae of fungus gnats. This method, while it was sort-of helpful, was extremely expensive. To get just a small container of these mites will cost you at least $20 (and I have 55 bins of worms to contend with).

Then I read about a bacteria called Bacillus Thuringiensis which is said to interrupt the life cycle of the fungus gnat and kill the larvae. Well, turns out that regular Bacillus Thuringiensis is used to kill caterpillars and will not have an effect on fungus gnat larvae (I found this out after I sprayed my bin, of course). You have to get a special kind of this bacteria called Bacillus Thuingiensis israelensis (who the heck names these things?). So that’s what I did. There is a product called “Mosquito Dunks” and “Mosquito Bits” that contains this bacteria, can be diluted and sprayed. So stay tuned. Hopefully by sometime late next week my worm composting bins will be fly-free. Anyone practicing indoor worm composting will be interested in this one!

Good worming!

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Using a Refrigerator for Worm Farming

I was positively elated to find an article last weekend about a guy who uses old refrigerators to do his worm farming. Now, mom’s old 1970’s fridge may not be something you want to have sitting in your backyard. BUT, for those of us who are interested in worm farming on a larger scale with almost no money, I thought this was quite a find! A quick search on Craigslist turned up many old fridges and freezers in the “Free” section, so all I need now is a truck and someone to help me, and it’s gonan be fridges galore at the warehouse! 

Check out the article here.

Buy worms for your very own refrigerator worm farming operation here.

Good worming!

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What Is Going Wrong With Your Worm Farm?

I had a little diagnostic job to do over the weekend, and it inspired me to make a cheat sheet for you all to have a look at when you feel something is going wrong. A reader wrote to me about a problem bin in which the worms seemed to be decreasing in number, and flies were increasing in number. After many, many questions, I determined that he wasn’t adding dry bedding to the bin each time he fed his worm farm, leading to condensation of the compost materials, anaerobic conditions, and the slow die-off of his worms.

Having problems with your little worm farm? Take a look at the list below and see if your problem applies.

Do you add water to your bin?

You generally don’t need to add any water unless you are using an open system. Too much water will condense the materials, creating anaerobic conditions.

 

Do you feed bread, citrus, or onions?

All of these things are acidic, and could “turn” your worm bin into an unfriendly worm environment. Bread is generally ok in moderation, but citrus and onions you should stay away from entirely.

 

Do you add dry bedding with each feeding?

You need to! Without the dry bedding between layers of food, air flow is severely impacted, resulting in, you guessed it, condensed materials and anaerobic conditions.

 

Is the food rotting before the worms eat it?

You are overfeeding. As long as you are adding ample bedding, it’s ok to overfeed, as the worm population will increase to meet the food supply. However, pay close attention to the bin; if you see the materials condensing down into a thick dense layer, mix in more dry bedding to break it up and allow air in. Also, be careful of overfeeding if smells are a big concern (like for indoor worm composting).

 

Does the bin stink?

A well maintained worm bin should smell like slighly composted food for about a day after feeding, and after that should smell like rich earth (not that garbage-y smell you get with traditional composting).

 

Does the bin smell like fish?

RED ALERT! RED ALERT! Get out the hose, the gloves, and a mask for your face, cause you’re about to clean up a big mess of dead worms!

 

Is your bin in the sun… EVER?

If you have a plastic worm bin, make sure it is never, EVER in the sun, not even for just a half hour a day. Can you say worm souffle?

 

Is it really hot or really cold?

Red worms thrive in bedding temperatures between 55 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that the temperature outside can be well outside this range, as long as the bedding is within range. Grab your meat thermometer and stick it in there; where does it land? If it’s above 77, add more dry bedding and try to move the bin to a cool location; do NOT add water. If it’s below 55, consider an insulating blanket, addition of manure, or moving the bin to a garage or slightly warmer location.

 

Got a question about your worm farm that I didn’t answer here? Please feel free to email me for specific advice.

 

Good worming!

 

Now’s a great time of yeat to start your worm farm. Buy worms here!

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Worm Composting Trench Garden Update

I wanted to share pictures of my method and madness yesterday when I applied the worms to our worm composting trench garden. As you can see below, first we started with a layer of wet cardboard, added fruit and veggie scraps, a layer of manure, more cardboard, the worms, and finally the rest of the manure. In the last pictures you can see a free box of E.B. Stone Organic Sure Start fertilizer I received as a gift from their rep last weekend (thanks, Tom!). Since the garden was already planted, instead of digging this fertilizer into the soil, I simply spread it all around.  An impending storm will not bother the worms in their worm composting area (as there is reasonably good drainage), but I'm hoping it won't drown the baby plants. 

Cardboard

Scraps

Manure, round 1

Cardboard, round 2

Worms

Final Manure

Organic fertilizer

"Helper"

Worm composting, planted, fertilized garden

Wish me luck with my worm composting garden... I'm gonna need it. The main goal is, of course, to try not to kill everything. Hopefully nature can help me out in Saaba's yard a little better than on my dry, hot balcony!

Good worming!

Buy worms here from Mama's Worm Composting! When you buy worms from me, you get the best possible service I can muster, healthy hungry worms, and a web-smart Mama who responds quickly to any inquiries you may have. Not ready to buy worms today? Bookmark me and come on back when you are! :-)

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How I Got Started With Worms

The most common question I get from customers who buy worms from me is, "How did you get started selling worms?" They're not asking because they want to know how to start themselves; they are asking with incredulity at the ridiculousness of my business. This doesn't offend me; after all, I sell WORMS for goodness sake. My friend, Diane, loves to hear me tell people what I do for a living. I live to entertain. It just sounds nuts to tell someone that I'm a worm farmer. It makes everybody laugh, including me (um... how did I get from photography school to here anyways???).

So I don't mind the incredulity. I'm sort of banking on it, actually, to set me apart from other farmers you could buy worms from. I'm not your average chew-spittin', cowboy-hat-wearin', truck-drivin' farmer. I haul manure in our Honda Civic natural gas vehicle (much to my husband's displeasure). My customers are often surprised when I put my bare hand into a bag of worms and pull out a handful for their inspection. And my four year old now doles out advice about different types of worms and even knows what peat moss is and what I use it for. This ain't your average stay-at-home-mom business, and I ain't the average worm farmer.

So here's how I got started and why.

Many moons ago I started a blog called Mama Does Good. This blog was and is about doing good things for the planet and for humanity. As I scrolled down the list of eco-friendly projects to incorporate into our lives, I chose composting as something to try out. I tried composting with a trash bin on our balcony, but it was a disaster. Stinky and full of flies, I quickly abandoned that effort. Then I read about how if I buy worms I could continue composting without the smells, and even do it indoors. So I tried it. 

When I first went to buy worms, I had a hard time finding anyone local to buy from. Finally I ordered some from afar. When they arrived I basically freaked out. At the time, worms to me were vermin (in the bad sense), frightening, gross, and too squirmy for me to comprehend how I was going to handle managing my worm bin. I screamed loudly when I first opened the box; I was really freaked.

Over time, after the worms went into their new home, I started to like them a little. They were multiplying, and I thought the babies were cute. Also, I realized, these were animals that were in my care. Disgusting or not, I was responsible for their little lives, and something about that was endearing to me. 

So all was well. They were on the balcony under a shade cover. And then one day they all died at once. My shade wasn't sufficient, and too much sun had gotten to their bin, heated it up, turned the contents anaerobic, and everybody croaked. I was really upset, both with the guilt that I had killed all my critters, and with the mess I had to clean up. 

I decided that I would give it one more shot (as the previously mentioned husband shook his head at me in disgust). I read more about how to compost with worms (including adding more bedding, which I hadn't really understood before, to prevent anaerobic conditions from developing). And soon I was on the hunt again for someone I could buy worms from locally. This time I checked craigslist and found someone right here in Emeryville that I could buy worms from. I picked up one pound of worms and a lot of advice from her. Then, a few days later, I decided that I was going to need more worms to jump start our kitchen compost consumption. I called her up to pick up more, but she had sold out. It didn't take long after that for the lightbulb to turn on in my scheming brain, and soon after I was experimenting with selling worms myself.

I suppose the rest is history. That same woman I bought worms from told me that this business was a labor of love, and she's sort of right. I'm not exactly rolling in cash. But I enjoy it. Weirdly. 

So that's the story. I hope to please my customers with my honesty, get a few laughs from my occasional shared stupidity, and I hope you will buy worms from me when you decide to get started. 

Good worming!

Buy Worms Here!

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Worm Composting Garden Update

Before

After

I wanted to post an update on our worm composting garden. My good friend Saaba and I are creating a winter (well, coastal California winter) garden this fall with a worm composting trench running through the center of the rows. Our garden will be shaped like an upside-down U with lettuces, broccoli, kale, chard, cauliflower, and some yet-unknown flowers and other veggies. This weekend we got started with the actual digging part and cleared out the larger weeds on the end of the plot and dug the trench. This ground is hard as ROCK, so it will be interesting to see how the worms behave in the soil. We will put the composting worms in the center of the U in the trench that we dug. 

The trench will be filled with a false cardboard bottom (to keep them in place for at least a little while), bedding (paper) and manure. The idea is that the plants will be able to access the castings directly at their roots. It will also be interesting to see the difference in the plants that are planted in the center, closer to the worm composting trench, vs. those planted along the outer edges. Saaba will also be able to easily compost her food waste for as long as this project continues by simply burying it in part of the trench. 

While I was digging in this densely packed soil I also decided to sprinkle some composting worms along the top of the garden to see if they help immediately with aeration of the soil. The drainage is horrible, so the question really is is there anything for the worms to eat that's already directly in the packed soil. If not I suspect they will migrate to other parts of the garden or perhaps find their way to the worm composting trench. 

Here are two images from our first efforts, a before and after. I know it's not that exciting yet, but the second image does show the planted garden (the plants are tiny). We will be adding the composting worms this week, so I will have updates soon! 

Good worming!

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