Confessions of a worm farmer...
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Worm Bin Composting | Posted:
Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:23 pm
It has been a busy summer and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't seem to manage fitting 25 hours into a 24 hour day. That meant "things" went undone, important things when you're a worm.
It was hot here all summer and without the time to turn the worm bins and get a feel for what was going on in the deeper levels of the bin I didn't water the bins as much as I should have nor did I feed. Now worms are much more forgiving than many other forms of life (which is a good thing or I wouldn't have anything left to farm). Going without fresh food is not such a big deal as they eat the bedding they are in including their own waste, but they will get small and very skinny. But dry is a death-trap. They can not live through dry.
Therefore, when I finally got my hands into the bins the beginning of September what I found was disheartening to say the least. I have never seen such a pathetic population of worms. I was sick.
So I started on a regular regime of feeding, watering, and turning. Little by little I have added layers of fresh bedding, water and food, being ever so careful not to get anxious and overload the bins.
The results of having a bin that has been healthy and then neglected is that you will have worm cocoons (eggs) that will go dormant when the conditions are not right for babies. Then when the bin returns to prosperous times the cocoons respond by hatching and before you know it you have a newly thriving batch of worms.
I'm happy to report that after a month and a half of laboriously, loving tending that the worm population is back on the rise and the bins are looking like there's a worm farmer on the property.
Fall is my favorite time of year for worm farming. You can really start mixing things up and incouraging some composting as the weather cools. Next month I will begin removing finished product and continue building the bedding material up in preparation for the coming winter months.
I'll be in touch.
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