Pictured is Elena with our new vermicomposting tray system. It is now set up and filled with worms! For those of you who are interested, here's a description of the process:The worm house came with a block of coconut coir about five inches on a side. This is fibres from coconut all pressed together into a brick. We soaked this and it ballooned out to fill a large kitchen bowl. This is part of the worm "bedding." In the future, we'll be using shredded paper for bedding. We had also saved a small kitchen trash can full of kitchen scraps (vegetable peelings, etc). We mixed the scraps with the coir (squeezed out), plus a few handfulls of dirt (supposedly to seed our system with the bacteria that aid in decomposition). Then we added the worms, who swiftly climbed away from the light and into the scraps and bedding.
In the picture are only two trays of the five we have. Hopefully, the worms will process the food in the lowest tray for a while, then move up to the tray above where we will have added more food for them. The idea is that by the time we have put scraps on the top tray, the material in the bottom tray will be ready to harvest and relatively free of worms.
In with the scraps were some white larvae (of flies, I think). Most of them were in a little colony under the scraps bucket (there was a crack on the bottom where things leaked out), but I'm sure some of them got into the worm system. Does anyone know whether these are problematic?
Elena enjoyed the whole process, but she really doesn't like being dirty. She helped me squeeze some of the coir, but every time she immediately wanted her hands washed ("Mama, wash my hands!". She tolerated holding a worm for about three seconds before she wanted it out of her hand. These must be Erich's genes. With her interpersonal sensitivity, her ability to "behave" as the only child at an adult dinner party, her dislike for touching bugs and dirt, never mind the blond hair and taller-than-average stature... If I hadn't seen her emerge from my body, I'd wonder if she were related to me!
4 comments:
I love the picture. She's so big!! I hope we see you soon, somehow!
I love it - the composting and the update on Elena. Where'd you get the trays?
It is fun to hear you guys have got some worms going. As far as the critters that you don't know about I think this web page is really helpful.
Worm bin Critters
If I had to guess though I would say they won't be a problem. The bin is really full of a lot of critters all working together and flies are annoying but with your bin being outside they won't be too bad.
wormswrangler.com!
Post a Comment