In the Heat of the Summer

A new friend of mine on Facebook asked me this question...

I live in Mount Washington, and, unfortunately, have no shade for our house, or yard. I want to have worms to take care of our green waste, but I'm afraid, in the heat of summer, they will die. At its worst, our house averages 95 degrees, even in the kitchen. I'm worried it will kill any red worms I might cultivate. When the weather is favorable, what can I do?

Heather, Here's my advise. First, understand that even in 95 degree weather in the house the ambient temperature of the worm bin will be cooler, as long as you are careful with your bedding and food stock that you do not get any active composting going on.

I would start with a tower compost bin like the Can-O-Worms which you can find on my website. This tower, when all trays are active, will give you a great surface area to feed your worms without the mass of a larger bin that might heat up when food waste is added to the bedding. (Note: you still need to be careful, but with separate trays available for the worms to migrate into, there is less of a chance you will accidently fry your worms.)

Second suggestion, if you want to compost outside, I would first consider proximity to a water source, electricy and the need for you to keep a watchful eye in hot weather. Make sure your bin is out of any prevailing wind, erect an arbor to grow your own shade, set up a misting system to keep the surface of the bin moist without drowning the bin and a small fan to move air over the surface of the bin. The air movement will cool the bin like a cool breeze cools you in the heat of summer.

I hope this helps all of you to worm bin compost no matter what your conditions are.

Christy
VermiCulture Northwest

Can Different Worm Species Co-exist in the Same Environment?

These red worms are in a bed of shredded newspaper.

A question I was just asked recently that I get alot is whether you can use the worms you find in your garden or lawn in the worm bin. This most recent question asked if they could co-exist with the red worms.

Please be aware that the worms you find in your garden or lawn are soil dwellers and red worms are composting worms dwelling in piles of organic matter such as leaves, manure, rotting grass clippings, compost piles, etc.

As such these worms each have their own requirements for their environment that are very different. These worms do not naturally co-habitate. Even if you find them in the same area around a pile of organic matter, the soil dwellers are at the soil level and the compost worms are in the organic matter. This is the only situation where these two organic consumers will co-habitate. Soild dwellers will not thrive in a worm bin. They are not deep enough to provide the soil dweller with area to burrow.

One way to have each of the lovely creatures in the same area is to dig a hole and fill it with organic material. This would provide the best of both worlds for each of the worms, and the area could be heavily mulched to provide cover for the colder winter months. (That's for all of us wormers in the North.) The material in the hole would need to be removed and replaced with fresh organic material to keep your red worm composters happy and in place. Otherwise, they will go looking for fresh organic material if you do not provide it for them.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

For now, happy worming however you decide to do it.

Christy

http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com

DIY Worm Bin 101

Here is the video I did to show you just how easy it is to build your own worm bin. Get started with something simple like this and use the experience to stimulate some ideas on other ways to worm bin compost.

Have fun!



Christy
The Wormn Lady
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com

First Harvest

I'm not sure how well you can see the worms all congregated in the corner of the bin, but that is about what it seemed like I had left in the worm bin after winter. My first peek in the bin on March 20th, the first day of spring, left me sad and full of regrets that I was not able to properly tend the bins before winter hit hard. I truly thought this was going to be the year I would have to consolidate all the worms into one bin and repopulate.

But I harvested my first pound of worms last night. And they were plentiful, fat, mating, and as I worked my way through the material there were lots of fresh cocoons. My bins are once again on the rebound and will be supplying me with a steady supply of worms and finished product.

With that being said, I have a DIYS worm bin to build. I will be filming and showing you just how easy it is to build your own worm bin.

Till next time,

Happy worming. What do you have planned for being green in the next year?

Christy
VermiCultureNorthwest.com

Moving Material

One aspect of a worm bin is what to do with the material after the worms have worked it and need fresh bedding. This is some of the most awesome stuff on earth! Seriously, if you are a gardener you will be in heaven when your bins get to the point that they need regular fresh bedding.

The container in this picture is one of the Large kiddie wadding pools you can pick up every year at KMart, or any such store. I have a number of them I have salvaged from the trash or yard sales. They are perfect for handling large quantities of material as they are not too deep and provide a good amount of surface area for drying the material.

This batch sat all winter and the bacteria and microbes continued to work the material until it was so fine it looked like soil. Mind you, I do not use any soil in my worm bins, not even the handful so many tell you to add to your bin when you start one out. I use manure so maybe I get enough soil mixed with the manure I don't need it, but my bins have never needed it.

I have a harvester that I put the material through that has an 1/8th inch screen on it and separates the finer castings material from the coarser compost. I estimate about 60 lbs. of castings came out of this batch (it would have been heavier but the material dried pretty good over the winter). I got 2 large, construction size wheelbarrow loads which I put on a bed I had prepared and that raised my bed up one landscape timber deep.

This is great stuff for the garden. Just one more reason to worm bin compost.

The Worms, They Never Fail Me

It always makes me happy to work my worm bins, because the worms never cease to amaze me.

When I first went out to the worm bins this spring I truly thought that this was going to be the year that I was going to have to start over.

Fall was a very busy time for me and I really didn't have the time to work the bins, and indeed hadn't worked the bins properly all summer. They were just plain neglected. But I knew that if I expected them to make it through winter that I would have to get fresh bedding and food stock worked into my schedule. Then winter hit! Early and hard.

The year before my greenhouse collapsed from the weight of the snow. If it hadn't that year it most certainly would have this. We went to bed one night with zero snow on the ground and woke up to almost 3'. WOW! I kid you not, this is what we woke up to. I opened the front door and couldn't believe my eyes.

Needless to say, my work was to clear the driveway and I never got a path shoveled out to the worms. I had visions of mice happily setting up housekeeping, having late night parties, and generally carousing and creating havoc in my worm bins.

Once I did get out to the bins, the population was dismal to say the least. One bin looked like it might have a population that might recuperate before the spring season was over. One was totally void of worms (the one without heat) and the other two literally had a handful of worms that were congregating in the corners of the bin. One of those bins is represented in the picture above. I truly can not believe all the worms I have in this bin already.

Still have a couple of more days to work on the worms. Will be setting up my video area to film the making of a DIY worm bin. And I have worms to harvest. Life is good.

Christy
The Worm Lady
VermiCultureNorthwest.com

Update on the Worm Bin - 4/18/09

The bins are starting to look pretty good now. Feed is disappearing in a couple of days which is an excellent sign the population is growing and becoming active.

Food waste placed in the bin a couple of weeks ago heated up to the low 80's for a couple of days, but now is reading normal - that would be about 67.

Going to take out harvested material and turn the bin, add new bedding. Then the worms should really take off. The temperatures are still cold at night, but the bins are heated.

Will need to process some of the material I harvested last fall to make room for more material. Everything takes time.

Excited to get my hands in the worm bin with a healthy population of worms. They are so miraculous, they facinate me, even after 10 wonderful years!

Christy
The Worm Lady

April Showers

Brings May Flowers!

I'm not sure this is what they meant when they coined that phrase, but this is what my world woke up to this morning.

Beautiful in it's appropriate season, but this is suppose to be Spring, right?

Anyway, I am excited to start bringing you new videos for the new season.

My first series will be on AACT or Actively Aerated Compost Tea.

There is a lot of mis-information circulating out there and other people just not understanding what it is that they are using when they use the liquid that comes from their worm bins.

Hopefully the series will clear up a lot of that.

The one thing we all must learn is that, "Life finds a way."

Even the most toxic, waste dumps eventually heal and new life starts. But how many lifetimes does it take, and do we really want to leave that for our children.

Composting properly, gardening and farming organically, and just treating the earth with respect will teach our children and show them we care about their inheritance.

We will expand our discussion this year. I hope you will stay with me and share your thoughts.

Christy

The Worm Lady

Handle your waste responsibly.

http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com

http://motherearthsfarm.com

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ChristyRuffner

Follow me on Facebook: http://profile.to/christyruffner/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/cruff93154

Winter Worm Report - Promised update

It's amazing how a worm responds to warmth, moisture, and food supply.

On the 20th I took my first look in the worms bins since November of last year. With the winter I had to deal with, there was simply no time or energy left, plus all my bedding was buried under about4 feet of snow.

Needless to say, the bins were a big downer for me as the worm population appeared to be almost non-existant. What was there were huddled in the corners and along the edges.

I brought them into the center of the bedding after turning everything for air, added fresh bedding, a little food stock and of course some moisture and low and behold, the worms come out of the woodwork.

They still need a little time to rebound, but it looks like I will be back in business relatively soon.

If you remember, I sent out a special notice to all my subscribers that the pricing on my website will be going up this year. I offered last years pricing to anyone who wanted to pre-order worms. A few of you took me up on that offer. You will be hearing from me soon regarding your orders.

Now all I need is a little time to rework the website. I have new products to add as well which I am very excited about.

Also if you remember, I have mentioned a membership site. This will be highly interactive, educational, affordable and will include many bonuses you won't find anywhere else.

I am thinking seriously about making it an organic gardening membership site as I have much to share that goes beyond worms. But the worms will make the big difference between what my Worm Bin Academy will have to offer organic gardeners.

The VCNW monthly newsletter is due out soon, so all you subscribers, old and new, be on the look out for that. It will cover the second of a series of articles I am planning on AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea).

The bulk of the newsletter will be simple text from now on with a link to view online if you want to.

Well, just taking a break from the worm bins and I better get back before it gets any later. Just thought I'd take the opportunity to catch-up with you guys.

See you in a day or so with the VCNW newsletter. If you haven't subscribed yet you can go here and get on the list. Do it now and you may still be able to see the last newsletter before it gets replaced with the next one.

Peace,

Christy
Wormnwomn
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com

Winter Worm Report - Updates to Follow

Here we are, first day of spring 2009. Winter has been long and hard. Snow hit very heavy just before Christmas and I wasn't quite ready.

Things look bleak for the worms, but if there is one thing I have learned is that it always looks worse than it is. But only a few days will tell.

I will be out there watering every day to bring the bin back into moisture range for the warmer weather.

I turned the bin and the bedding was pretty dry. Most of the worms were congregated in the corners and along the edges of the bin.

I have added food waste and fresh bedding and will water on a regular basis and watch closely.

The bedding material, which has been under a heavy layer of snow until recently (days) is the perfect moisture level and there are worms working away deep in the pile. Always good to see critters in the bedding, especially worms. That's a pretty good indication the bedding is habitable, don't you think.

I'll keep you all posted as things progress. I know a lot of you are looking for worms. I won't be harvesting for a while and when I do I have a few orders that were placed to get my old pricing as the website will be getting an overhaul and new pricing will be going into effect.

I'm excited for the 2009 season. I have some special videos planned, the first one being on brewing compost (worm compost) tea. This is to follow up on my latest newsletter.

For now, that's it. We will talk soon.

Compost Tea - the real story

My next newsletter, due out soon (it's already late), will be about "Worm Tea".

With the gardening season just around the corner, there is a lot of talk about "tea" and a good deal of it is not coming from people who have done thorough research. As a matter of fact I wonder if any research has been done at all.

My initial thought was to find some good information on YouTube I could share, that someone else had already put out there, but there wasn't anything that I found that I could conscientiously share with you. None of it had any evidence of any research behind it. And real "Compost Tea" has a great deal of science behind it.

There is a lot of good scientific information available on "Compost Tea" and the value it has in gardening and landscape applications. But bad or incomplete information can do more harm than good when it comes to the reputation of such a product, or a similar product made improperly.

I am planning a series of articles/videos that will explain the science of "Compost Tea" , the value of properly made "Compost Tea", and how to properly make "Compost Tea".

There are experts in this field who have explored the science and verified the findings. And while Nature has a way of using all levels of healthy biology for the good of life on earth there is value to understanding the why behind every level of success.

In other words, why does the compost tea from a simple home made tea brewer made from aquarium pumps and air stones work when applied to the soil or plant and how does using a properly designed worm tea brewer improve the process?

So stay tuned and I will share what I know and the valuable resources where I got my information.

Happy Worming,

Christy
Wormnwomn
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com/

Winter Worm Report

Winter

Worm

Report

The weather is changing - warming temperatures, rain, days getting longer - soon it will be time to dig into the worms and see how they survived this winter.

This winter was different for me from any other winter so far, since I have started worm farming.

• We had an early, heavy snowfall in December which caught me unprepared to carry my worms into the colder months of winter.
  


• Time constraints kept me from working the worms properly in the fall to prepare the bins for winter.
  


• I had decided I wasn't going to spend time out working the worms in the winter months.
  


• I had decided to not harvest any worms for sale through the winter months.

The snow that fell in December is still on the ground and covers all of my bedding material with a thick, crusty snow. Today I thought the snow was melting enough that I could drive out the other half of my circular drive, but I almost got stuck.

But it's close. Soon I will be writing and or video taping my Winter Worm Report. So stay tuned.

Those of you who have asked to be put on a list for worm orders...you need to stay tuned too. If you are not on my list you will not recieve notification of when I am going to start harvesting worms in the spring.

I'm a little apprehensive, but the worms have never ceased to amaze me. They are resilient and can survive much neglect.

Talk soon,

Christy Ruffner
Wormnwomn
VermiCultureNorthwest.com

Winter Prep Activities for the Worm Bin

Removing finished material to make room for fresh bedding is imperative when you are preparing your bins for winter.

If your bins are out doors, and there is a concern for your worms freezing then it is even more important to get fresh bedding in to the bin.

The idea is to time your addition of fresh bedding and food stock for the change in temperature. Once the weather changes and the temperature starts dropping then it is safe to start encouraging some composting in the bin. But be careful! It is so easy to get a spike in temperature, and if that is combined with a warming trend you could be in trouble.

This is something I have to be very careful of here in my part of the world. I worked one of the bins recently and added food waste and fresh bedding with a thin layer of grass clippings. The bin before I started working it was running about 68 degrees. The food waste when I put it in the bin was about 56 degrees. By the next day when I check the temperature the bin was reading 87 and by the time I got out there today to feed and water, the bin was reading 97 degrees.

Now it's important to remember that I always put the temperature probe in the center of the bin right where the food waste is, and if you remember from my videos I put the food waste down the center of the bin so that if the material does heat up the outsides of the bin remain cool for the worms. This is indeed the case as I put temperature probes along side of the bin and the temperatures reads 76 and 79. So you see that if the winter temperatures had continued to drop the composting action would be very beneficial.

Stay tuned and happy worming,

Christy
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com/

Anatomy of a Worm Composting Bin

Minimal size for a conventional composting bin is 3' x 3' x 3'. This is a size that is managable for handling by hand and for building up composting heat. It 's important for you to understand that the bacterial action going on in the pile is what is causing the heat.

When you combine Carbon + Nitrogen + Water + Air you provide the perfect environment for massive bacteria growth which is consuming (composting) the material in your bin. Once your conventional compost pile heats up and then cools, you turn the material in the bin to move fresh material to the center of the bin mixing air back into the mix, and composting begins again and the heat in the bin builds again.

When worm bin composting you want to be very careful that you do not get the heat you produce in a conventional composting bin.

1. When you mix materials for a new bin always allow the material to sit before you add your worms to make sure you have not created a haven for massive bacteria action. HEAT!

2. Once you know the material is not going to heat up, separate out some of the bedding into another container and add only a small portion of your worms to make sure the bedding is safe and the worms will like it.

3. As soon as you suspect a problem, if you can feel heat, it smells bad, and or your worms are trying to escape IN MASS, get them out. If you are not sure of your bedding, use wet, shredded newspaper. Keep a supply handy at all times.

4. If you have a bin that has been active for a while and you develope a problem, there is a possibility that you have cocoons in the bedding and you loose your worms, don't throw away your bedding. Leave it and you may have worms hatch once the bedding becomes habitable again.

Just remember, heat kills worms.

Good Luck,

Until next time.

Christy
Vermiculture Northwest

New Videos Awesome Quality

I just went back and watched my video that I have hosted on my server and I can't believe the quality. It just can't compare to YouTube. So I am happy and ready to get part 2 finished of The Various Stages of Vermicomposting. I forgot I had split the video into two parts because I had originally planned on putting it up on YouTube and then I couldn't.

So anyway, keep an eye out for notification that part 2 has been uploaded. It will be soon.

Until then,

Happy Worming.

Christy
VermiCulture Northwest

No More YouTube

New software allows me to host my own videos.

This is great for a couple of reasons.

1. I'm sick and tired of waiting all night for my videos to upload only to find it didn't work and I have to do it all again and again and again. I just don't have that kind of time!
   
2. The videos can be longer if need be. I will still try to keep them 10 min. or shorter but sometimes I had to cut out some good stuff just because the video ended up being a little too long.
   
3. Better picture quality. By creating my own flash videos I am able to encode the video as a .avi file which is bigger and ends up better quality. The file ends up too big for YouTube or Podcast.

So to view my latest video which is entitled - "The Various Stages Of Vermicomposting" please click and go watch it on my website.

I apologize for not being here much this summer. I have plans that I will be posting here so I invite you to follow me so you don't miss any of the updates.

I also invite you to sign up for notification of new videos by using the form provided to the right.

Trying To Determine an Anaerobic Smell

Decomposing food smells sour and stinky. Anaerobic smells past that. It smells like death, food death.

If something just smells like rotting bad food your okay. Anaerobic is a smell you probably haven't smelled until you have a bin that's gone anaerobic. Usually that smell will be at the bottom of the bin where there is no air and it's too wet. When you get a whiff of it you will know, it will send a panic into your worming being.

I wish I could send a smell electronically. But if the food just smells like it's rotting you're okay, especially if it is in the top layers where it can get air.

Food that is smelly and molding is starting to decompose. That's when the worms will really go after it. Just make sure and bury it with a layer of bedding.

Most importantly, as I always say, take your cues from your worms. If they appear to be thriving and happy you're okay. But you need to get your hands and nose into the bin. Don't just go by what you see on the top layer. Get to the bottom of things as they say, at least once a week, especially until you really feel comfortable with what you're doing. Don't worry; the worms will do fine with that. The will appreciate the air you are incorporating into the worm bin, especially if you have an anaerobic situation developing. Air is the best fix for anaerobic.

Happy worming,

Christy

VermiCultureNorthwest.com

Worms in the Food Waste in the Worm Bin

I can't tell you the feeling of getting your hands in the worm bin and having them crawling with worms. It is so exciting to see the worms happy, fat and glistening.

The video below is one I just posted to my new podcast, As The Worms Turn. The footage is cool and thought I would share it with you here.




Hope you're having fun in your worm bin. This is the best time of year to spend a lot of time working your bin. You don't have to worry so much about the worm bin overheating as you add new material. With the freedom of being able to add fresh food stock you can witness how happy this makes the worms and watch the population grow daily.

Happy worming,

Christy
VermiCulture Northwest

Recent Comment On My New Podcast

Here is a recent comment on my new podcast. Indeed these videos will be of great value to anyone who is interested in learning all the fine points of how to worm bin compost.


"Christy, Its great! I can’t wait to watch the rest. It is very helpful. Susan Rickett"


This video: Controling Spidermites in the Worm Bin

I have a series of videos planned that will take you start to finish on how to set up, run and harvest a worm bin. If you want to know about these videos when they are ready please go to my web site and opt in for this information.

http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com/

Find the "Journey in Video" headline in the right border.

If you have struggled with worm bin composting, or shyed away from trying it because you think it's too complicated, or maybe you had a bad experience before and don't want to risk it again: then these videos will be for you. Go now and sign up and receive notice of when I post to my podcast. There you will see a growing number of samples of the content you will find in these videos.

Until then, happy worming

Christy
My Podcast
http://www.asthewormsturn.com/

Winter<---->Spring<---->Winter<---->Spring

This time of year it's hard for the weather to make up it's mind. You just get to where you're thinking spring and winter hits again. It's not really winter cause the snow is more slush and the temp in the air is definitely warmer. But even so, Ol' Man Winter is still saying, "Not yet."

That's right, we got snow last night. Just a dusting really and it was gone by end of day. Still enough of a reminder to not get too anxious yet.

So I went out to check on the worms tonight, probably only the second time this week. The bins are showing more and more signs of worm population. Can't wait to get my hands in there this week.

Just a reminder, Episode 3 of "As The Worms Turn" will be coming up early this week. Be sure and tune in. We're going to talk about watering the bin, why and how much. And we'll probably talk a bit about food waste and where a majority of our waste ends up.

Organic waste is something that worms can take care of so efficiently. And while the waste is kept from the bowels of the earth, the end product actually feeds the soil and finishes the cycle.

See you next time on "As The Worms Turn"

Christy

VermiCulture Northwest