Top 5 Reasons to Start Vermiposting

1. Plants Love Worm Castings!

This has to be the number one reason people have worm farms, the great mounds of worm poop make for great plant growing. The castings are rich in microbial life and have many nutrients that act as great fertilizer for just about any plant.

2. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Let’s face it , any time you can take leftover kitchen scraps, cardboard, coffee grounds and just about any vegetable type matter except onions and garlic, toss them into a bin full of red wigglers, and in a few days its all turned into that black gold know as worm castings, you have all three R’s covered. You have reduced the load on your local landfill, you have reused food scraps and it’s all been recycled into something that people will pay good money for! A win on all three counts!

3. Make Your Own Fish Bait!

I know what your thinking, If I fish with all the worms, whats gonna eat all my garbage? Well good news, the worms grow more worms, see Item number two above! Reuse!  These worms will reproduce and make more worms , after a while you will need to find something to do with the extras, unless you going into a commercial size operation. Why not fish with them, or sell them to your neighbor so they can fish with them??  Thinking hard yet?

4. The Worms almost run themselves.

You just set up the initial worm home, feed the regularly and the worms do the rest. They need very little input from the outside world. That’s not to say this is a completely hands off operation, but with some feeding every two or three days , keeping the bedding moist but not soggy and keeping the temperature right, the worms do the rest!

5. Low Initial Start Up Cost!

For less than $150 dollars you can put together a starter worm farm and be up and running. The worms are around $25 and for $100 you can get a decent worm bin.

Don’t want to pay, heck make your own worm bin, just do a search for worm bin plans and get started! See I told ya low start up cost!

So there you have it , my top 5 reasons to start Vermiposting!  what are ya waiting for?

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If you wanted to get out and turn this over every two weeks or so the process would go much quicker, the extra oxygen from the aeration speeds up the composting action, you could have a finished  pile in as soon as two months.

I don’t get in a rush, so it takes a little longer for my stuff to cook.

As you can see , the cage was almost full , after cooking , not so much. the breakdown process compacts the compost down quite a bit.

Well there you have it, I will spread this around to feed all the spring garden plants.

Thank for dropping by.

How I Build A Compost Pile!

Since the high heat is in place here in South-East Texas there is not much in the garden that is thriving, other than watermelon and corn,see the last post! So today I thought I would get another compost pile going, it’s really easy the way I do it , so come check it out!

The first thing I did was to build a cage out of Red Brand Goat Fence, you can use what ever you have around your place, we just had some extra. I took a 10 foot piece and connected the ends to make a cylinder, it works perfect for containing the pile. I put this cylinder in an out of the way place , its gonna be there a while, and start gathering my materials. Since I live on the farm out here materials are easy to come by. I use mostly old hay that has gotten wet, and bales that fell apart around the haystack, plus grass clippings from mowing around the house. We also have an abundance of chicken, cow and donkey manure around here so that is a key ingredient of the compost pile as well.

Old Hay

Let’s Assemble this Compost Pile!

With the materials gathered up I first put down a layer of hay, 1 to 2 feet deep, then water it down with the water hose , it will compact down quite a bit.

1st Layer of Hay

The next layer is a layer of grass clippings, I used about 2 full bags from the mower for the grass layer it works out to about 5 to six inch layers. They key to a good compost pile is the mixture of High carbon content material and High Nitrogen material. The layering effect makes sure that you have plenty of each next to each other!

Bag From The Mower Full Of Clippings.

Layer Of Grass Clippings

After the grass goes on I dump in about two five-gallon bucket fulls of chicken manure over the grass layer and then wet it down, it helps to keep the dust down as well as adds to the needed moisture in the pile.

Five gallon Bucket of Chicken Manure.

From there it just goes layer upon layer , just like lasagna! I put about five layers on this pile and will keep the water going on for a few more days, as you add water you will see the pile begin to compact down. After a few weeks you can turn the pile over a couple of times to get the air moving again, this will speed up your compost, or you can just let it set and it will still work, it will just take longer.

Almost Done

So there you have it, started compost pile ready to cook. You can continue to add kitchen waste, more grass clipping, fall leaves, whatever just make sure you keep the pile moist and it will do fine. Check back in a few weeks and I’ll update how this particular pile is going!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Worm-A-Rater – More DIY How To Projects

Check it out and lemme know what you think!?

Let’s Start Building The Compost Pile!

1.   Old Hay

We have alot of hay bales and they break open or get wet and just generally get unusable, I take the old bales and break them up, soak them down real good with the water hose and then layer them in the pile, This makes up the main ingredient in my system.  You have to soak them good, otherwise it acts like a thatched roof and water just rolls right off of it!  Don’t put any hay that has been treated with herbicides into your compost pile, it will be bad news for any plants that you use that compost on.

2. Grass Clippings

Grass Clippings are the green component or nitrogen ingredient of this set up, I have about an acre and a half of “lawn” area and that provides plenty of grass clippings for 2 piles I use a Cub Cadet walk behind mower with bagger for harvesting the grass clippings, it works great !    P.S.  We also have a riding mower for the rest of the yard, I don’t push the bagger over the whole yard! :/ Grass clippings in your compost pile can get “gummy” make sure you mix it in good!

3.   Animal Manure

We have Cows, Chickens, Pigs, Goats and a Horse, there is no shortage of manure choices.  I usually us chicken litter for this component, it’s easy to get because the chickens roost in the same place every night, occasionally the odd cow pie will go in if I have the shovel handy  but I don’t go turd hunting for the most part! If you use manure in your compost pile, make sure it has plenty of time to break down. If you put fresh chicken litter on a plant it will burn due to the high nitrogen content, use caution.

These three items make up the main part of the compost pile, once I get the layers they pretty well sit for about a month, after about three days if everything is working, you can pull back the top layer and feel the heat that is building up… that means its working!

The Next two ingredients are stuff that just goes on the pile as they build up, they add that little extra boost hehehe.

4. Garden And Yard Waste

This is anything that I pull from the garden that doesn’t get eaten or fed to some animal, weeds, dead plant matter, well let me say naturally dead, not anything that was diseased, that’s a good way to ruin your garden!  And as above more grass clippings, shredded fall leaves… they too will make a waterproof mat if left whole!  They don’t have to be powder, just break em up a little.

5. Kitchen Waste

This can be just about anything but meat, dairy, or oils. I drink alot of coffee and all my used coffee grounds go into the compost pile, we put the egg shells in there the whole shooting match.  This makes up a small amount of the overall pile , but it adds alot of good stuff!

So there you go , this is what I have put in the compost piles I make. If You want to see the pile being built check Here.

So read up and tell me what you think!

What Makes Composting Worthwhile

Author: Paul Hata

If you’re into organic gardening you probably know by know about compost and how it works wonders to your garden patch. But for the first timers, creating a compost pile is not really on the top of their to-do-list. The question of is composting worthwhile usually comes up and not knowing enough they usually arrive at the easiest answer and course of action. And that’s a nope, I don’t have time for making my own compost. I will settle with the commercially available organic fertilizers and stuff.

First things first, composting is the process of decomposing organic wastes, which can be household wastes or plant remains or a mixture of both, and making them into a dark, earthy, and loose or crumbly substance. Because compost is rich in minerals which most plants need, compost can be made to replace your garden soil.

Most often, however, gardeners use compost to enrich their garden soil. When compost is added the soil, the overall structure of the soil improved allowing it to hold more water and letting air circulate within the soil.

Contrary to some of your perceptions, compost is quite easy to make and is especially easy to use. There are several methods that could be used when creating compost. The following guide shows how easy it is to create it on your own backyard.

I would suggest making your own compost bin to make everything confined to one place. You will avoid making a mess in your backyard if you do so. Plus, temperature and moisture can also be regulated if you construct a compost bin but allow the organic materials to be composted touch the soil. You need to allow your earthworm buddies and other organic microbes help out in the decomposing process.

Although, almost all organic materials could go into your compost pile, a good combination of greens and browns would be better. The greens refer to nitrogen-rich organic matter like fresh grass, leaves, and your scraps in your kitchen. The browns on the other hand refer to organic matter that contains a lot of carbon such as those dried leaves on your backyard, straw and, of course, wood chips or shavings.

A good combination of greens and browns can dictate how fast you will have a finished compost. Admittedly, you will have an edge in this area if you have piled up your experience in compost making. Why? Well, for starters you would probably have timed how fast the final compost is created from the different proportions of greens and browns.

Some, however, would suggest that the best proportion would be 25 percent of your compost pile is made of browns and 1 percent is made of greens.Take note that if you have a large part made up of browns the compost pile will decompose rather slowly. On the other hand, having too much greens on the pile could cause some serious smell.

Other elements that you should always consider when making compost are the air and the amount of water your pile will need. It is best to keep your compost pile damp. This will help in the decomposing process. Air is also needed so make sure your pile is properly aerated. If you do observe that no air is coming in, just turn over your pile. Observe and continuously aerate your pile every until you can already harvest the fruits of your labor.

It takes some effort in creating compost, that part I have to agree. But the results of composting are really worthwhile.

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We are trying to help others by bringing current, up to date information on composte piles, composting, composting with worms or vermiposting and organic soils and practices to help grow better food.

By using new methods , and a few old ones too, we hope to improve the taste of home grown vegetables , improve harvests , and control pests in a enviormentally kinder way!

So come on in and join us in our quest for better tasing food and a safer environment.

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