Okay. I know. I've been ignoring this blog for some time now. However on looking over it's stat's I see that the most popular blog I've ever had on it seems to be the one about my paltry attempt at worm farming.
Well, I may be posting more about the little wigglers. Don't know how soon, though. I've fallen in with the folks over at a place called Community Seeds. They are a faith based organization, which makes me working with them seem odd I know, as I don't rightly care what any one believes about such matters as faith . . . as long as they don't start telling ME what to believe. Then, Bubba, we will have a problem.
As to my association with the C. Seeds folks and the worm farming thing. They started a community garden. They wanted help with it and as they said they wanted it to be as organic as possible I was there! I am one of those of the opinion that the more gardens, for food, for flowers, for the public, that a town or city has the better. Especially if they are organic and sustainable. If you can get some info in there about Permaculture and get the word out about that, why, then it's all good!
Basically I and another lady who is an ex-master gardener in this area, (Ex as she had to stop going to all the meetings for some reason, I think. Or couldn't afford the dues. Or some such) and I got invited to go up to Michigan to learn about this thing called Growing Power. The stuff I saw and learned there was way cool, especially the way they were growing worms. Those feisty little wigglers were everywhere and in every pot of plants they had!
Needless to say those plants were very healthy and happy looking plants. If you want to find out about Growing Power just run the two words to gather and put a dot and 'org' after it. You'll get there. When you do you'll see as I did that the organization is right along the same lines, generally, as Permaculture.
Hey, they both like worms. Check them out. Check out Community Seeds to. Just do a search. I found their site that way.
Community Seeds is planning to use vermiculture and vermicomposting to expand it's community garden plans into bigger and better things. The hope is to eventually use the gardens, worms, hot houses and hoop houses to supply food for the community food pantry and perhaps even a local farmers market. A side issue, tied in with that will be something called transitional housing that will house homeless, jobless or underemployed folks until they learn a job, or get one or better themselves generally. Way I see it if they can be taught to garden in any kind of space they will be way better off than they were, period.
After all that old saw about giving a person a fish or teaching him to fish is even more true of gardening.
All we have to do is survive this drought and start growing stuff and building things. Money would help and they are working on that.
Showing posts with label worms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worms. Show all posts
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Down on the worm farm....again
Yeeyoww! I've been invaded! Attacked!! By them damn little piss ants. (pardon my Anglo Saxon)
Started noticing those nasty little beggars a day or so ago, snooping around on my kitchen counter near the stove, so I washed that area down to make sure I'd gotten up any spills or splashes. Then I went back and used the plastic bottle it came in to puff some boric acid into the area between the stove and the counter, behind the stove, and into that little crack that's appeared between the back splash of my counter and the wall. I figured that took care of that.
News Flash!
The next day I found a whole line of the dirty little creeps snaking along from just under my kitchen window down toward my sink, along the back splash right toward my WORM FARM!! I hadn't done anything about ants over there. I'd gotten lazy and figured the boric acid I'd put down last year was still working. I opened the farm and was confronted with hundreds, thousands!!! of happy little ants.
If you are wondering that would only be good if I had an ANT farm instead of a WORM farm.
Needless to say I was afraid that serious damage had already been done. I feared those fearsome little hunters had wiped out my whole herd(?) of worms. Daring them mean ol' ants to bite me I dug down and found my cute little red wrigglers still wiggling.
Relief!
But I still had the problem of the ants....IN MY KITCHEN! I'm fine with the worms but NOT with the ants. They bite me. They eat my food before I'm ready to even fix it, instead of waiting patiently for the scraps like the worms.
Now here is an illustration of why a lot of folks refuse to go 'green'. These non-greenies, lets call them brownies, would want to either just forget the worms and dump the whole mess out side somewhere and spray the kitchen area down with the strongest bug killer available, or maybe, if they wanted to keep the worms bad enough, just spray the area around the worm bin down. If they tried the later they'd likely wonder in a few days or so why the worms had died off. (duh)
What did little old greenie me do? I spread some newspaper sheets out on the back porch in the shade and dumped the ant infested worms/worm food/worm poo mess out on it. I knocked all the ants off of the container and sat it aside. Then I proceeded to pick out all the worms I could find as well as the bits and pieces of as yet unused food scraps that had no ants attached and tossed them back in the worm bin. Then I added some mown grass that I spotted that hadn't already gone back to whence it came and added that as a lot of the worms food was still ant infested. I dampened the grass down, added the tea bags I hadn't put in before I noticed the ants and closed the thing back up. Then I wiped down the place where the worms had been in the kitchen with a soapy dish cloth. I also wiped down the trail of ants that had returned looking for that tasty little farm. Then I blasted the little biters with some more boric acid! I puffed the stuff out where ever I'd seen them little varmints walking. I puffed it up under the bottom piece of wood on my window sill. I opened the window and puffed it there. I went outside and puffed it along that side of the house and then around the nearest corner and under the back door. I even puffed it around and in my houses AC unit.
Don't get me wrong. Ants are fine. Great even. But only in their place - outside - and NOT in my KITCHEN!!
Started noticing those nasty little beggars a day or so ago, snooping around on my kitchen counter near the stove, so I washed that area down to make sure I'd gotten up any spills or splashes. Then I went back and used the plastic bottle it came in to puff some boric acid into the area between the stove and the counter, behind the stove, and into that little crack that's appeared between the back splash of my counter and the wall. I figured that took care of that.
News Flash!
The next day I found a whole line of the dirty little creeps snaking along from just under my kitchen window down toward my sink, along the back splash right toward my WORM FARM!! I hadn't done anything about ants over there. I'd gotten lazy and figured the boric acid I'd put down last year was still working. I opened the farm and was confronted with hundreds, thousands!!! of happy little ants.
If you are wondering that would only be good if I had an ANT farm instead of a WORM farm.
Needless to say I was afraid that serious damage had already been done. I feared those fearsome little hunters had wiped out my whole herd(?) of worms. Daring them mean ol' ants to bite me I dug down and found my cute little red wrigglers still wiggling.
Relief!
But I still had the problem of the ants....IN MY KITCHEN! I'm fine with the worms but NOT with the ants. They bite me. They eat my food before I'm ready to even fix it, instead of waiting patiently for the scraps like the worms.
Now here is an illustration of why a lot of folks refuse to go 'green'. These non-greenies, lets call them brownies, would want to either just forget the worms and dump the whole mess out side somewhere and spray the kitchen area down with the strongest bug killer available, or maybe, if they wanted to keep the worms bad enough, just spray the area around the worm bin down. If they tried the later they'd likely wonder in a few days or so why the worms had died off. (duh)
What did little old greenie me do? I spread some newspaper sheets out on the back porch in the shade and dumped the ant infested worms/worm food/worm poo mess out on it. I knocked all the ants off of the container and sat it aside. Then I proceeded to pick out all the worms I could find as well as the bits and pieces of as yet unused food scraps that had no ants attached and tossed them back in the worm bin. Then I added some mown grass that I spotted that hadn't already gone back to whence it came and added that as a lot of the worms food was still ant infested. I dampened the grass down, added the tea bags I hadn't put in before I noticed the ants and closed the thing back up. Then I wiped down the place where the worms had been in the kitchen with a soapy dish cloth. I also wiped down the trail of ants that had returned looking for that tasty little farm. Then I blasted the little biters with some more boric acid! I puffed the stuff out where ever I'd seen them little varmints walking. I puffed it up under the bottom piece of wood on my window sill. I opened the window and puffed it there. I went outside and puffed it along that side of the house and then around the nearest corner and under the back door. I even puffed it around and in my houses AC unit.
Don't get me wrong. Ants are fine. Great even. But only in their place - outside - and NOT in my KITCHEN!!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Down on the farm...The worm farm that is.
It occurred to me that some might wonder just what a lazy but dedicated Permaculturest (aka permie) might do to get their selves in line with the stated philosophy.
Some of my methods are simple things dictated by the fact that I can't afford to go out and buy all kinds of neat new toys. Toy's like solar panels, wind turbines, batteries to store the energy those two produce or even solar powered electric fencing to keep the goats in. Or any kind of fencing for that mater.
Permie method #1. My thermostat is set at 80 degrees. Unless the weather folks say it's going to be lower than that and not rain. Then I turn off the ac, open the window's and lock the screen doors I added onto my house. I added those doors just so I could open the main doors and keep the cats in and the bugs out. #2. I try not to buy stuff that is over packaged. I get my top up card for my cell phone at the DG because they put the info on my receipt and I don't have a chunk of plastic to worry about. Shoot, I can't afford to buy to much of anything anyway!. #3. I rinse out the cans I get soup or beans or whatever in and place them in the container with the plastic, glass and metal. #4. I store up the junk mail I get as well as any other scrap paper I generate and the odd newspaper. #5. I either use the paper to make paper mache boxes or some such or I take it, cardboard I've collected, and the sack or box of stuff from #3 to the recycling place there in Greenville. I'm trying to do this once a month. The result is I only add about one trash can of stuff a month to the local land fill. #6. My small left over food scraps, and tea bags feed my worms. The larger, non-meat, scraps...if any, go to the goats. To bad I don't have chickens to feed meat scraps to. To bad I don't have any meat scraps. #7. I have horses on this place too and I refuse to let the folks who clean the stalls try to 'dump' or 'put out for collection' the leavings in the stalls. (yeah, they get odd idea's like that) Instead, I insist on it being piled up where it can compost and eventually be used to either feed the gardens I plan to have or the worms I hope to eventually have working away for me. #8. I don't turn on lights unless I actually need them. #9. As there is no one here but me, I only do one load of washing about once a week. That saves energy and water. #10. I'm watching the way things grow, even weeds and such, on my place. Where they grow and where I and others leave trails or insist on mowing. This will let me know where I can plan to plant gardens and possibly even what kind of stuff I can grow in them. I'm also watching to see where would be a good place to set up a worm farm larger than the one presently setting on the counter beside my sink.
Umm. I'm betting that some out there are saying: "Worms? WORMS!!? Eeeeeyuuuuu! By the sink!!! In your KITCHEN!!!"
Yeah, I know you're also likely thinking: nasty, icky, smelly and gross.
Me. I like worms. I also respect them for the yeoman work they do keeping the biosphere going.
You do know that almost all life on this planet...including our whole civilization is completely dependent on about the 3 to 6 inches or so of arable soil that covers the some of the land masses of this planet. And don't give me that foolishness about hydroponics. Talk about energy and work intensive agriculture!! Besides, they aren't smelly and are only icky and gross if you are a sissy. (So says the gal whose always been a 'tomboy')
Worms keep the soil alive, healthy and able to support crops. They aerate and mix the soil as well as digest and make available all kinds of nutrients needed by the plants we need to live.
Yeah, even us meat loving carnivores need plants. Remember, those critters we like to eat? They need plants to live and the plants also make oxygen for us all to breath.
So if your ever looking for something or someone to thank for your continued existence, thank the worms and, also, the bees! If you are wondering; no bees, no pollination, no fruit, vegetables or such.
Some of my methods are simple things dictated by the fact that I can't afford to go out and buy all kinds of neat new toys. Toy's like solar panels, wind turbines, batteries to store the energy those two produce or even solar powered electric fencing to keep the goats in. Or any kind of fencing for that mater.
Permie method #1. My thermostat is set at 80 degrees. Unless the weather folks say it's going to be lower than that and not rain. Then I turn off the ac, open the window's and lock the screen doors I added onto my house. I added those doors just so I could open the main doors and keep the cats in and the bugs out. #2. I try not to buy stuff that is over packaged. I get my top up card for my cell phone at the DG because they put the info on my receipt and I don't have a chunk of plastic to worry about. Shoot, I can't afford to buy to much of anything anyway!. #3. I rinse out the cans I get soup or beans or whatever in and place them in the container with the plastic, glass and metal. #4. I store up the junk mail I get as well as any other scrap paper I generate and the odd newspaper. #5. I either use the paper to make paper mache boxes or some such or I take it, cardboard I've collected, and the sack or box of stuff from #3 to the recycling place there in Greenville. I'm trying to do this once a month. The result is I only add about one trash can of stuff a month to the local land fill. #6. My small left over food scraps, and tea bags feed my worms. The larger, non-meat, scraps...if any, go to the goats. To bad I don't have chickens to feed meat scraps to. To bad I don't have any meat scraps. #7. I have horses on this place too and I refuse to let the folks who clean the stalls try to 'dump' or 'put out for collection' the leavings in the stalls. (yeah, they get odd idea's like that) Instead, I insist on it being piled up where it can compost and eventually be used to either feed the gardens I plan to have or the worms I hope to eventually have working away for me. #8. I don't turn on lights unless I actually need them. #9. As there is no one here but me, I only do one load of washing about once a week. That saves energy and water. #10. I'm watching the way things grow, even weeds and such, on my place. Where they grow and where I and others leave trails or insist on mowing. This will let me know where I can plan to plant gardens and possibly even what kind of stuff I can grow in them. I'm also watching to see where would be a good place to set up a worm farm larger than the one presently setting on the counter beside my sink.
Umm. I'm betting that some out there are saying: "Worms? WORMS!!? Eeeeeyuuuuu! By the sink!!! In your KITCHEN!!!"
Yeah, I know you're also likely thinking: nasty, icky, smelly and gross.
Me. I like worms. I also respect them for the yeoman work they do keeping the biosphere going.
You do know that almost all life on this planet...including our whole civilization is completely dependent on about the 3 to 6 inches or so of arable soil that covers the some of the land masses of this planet. And don't give me that foolishness about hydroponics. Talk about energy and work intensive agriculture!! Besides, they aren't smelly and are only icky and gross if you are a sissy. (So says the gal whose always been a 'tomboy')
Worms keep the soil alive, healthy and able to support crops. They aerate and mix the soil as well as digest and make available all kinds of nutrients needed by the plants we need to live.
Yeah, even us meat loving carnivores need plants. Remember, those critters we like to eat? They need plants to live and the plants also make oxygen for us all to breath.
So if your ever looking for something or someone to thank for your continued existence, thank the worms and, also, the bees! If you are wondering; no bees, no pollination, no fruit, vegetables or such.
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