Vermi-wormies!
I got a little box in the mail yesterday and brought it home with me last night. I opened it up and found a muslin bag tied tightly and wrapped in a couple of layers of newspaper. I lay the newspaper out and spent a few minutes picking at the knots in the string closing the bag. I finally got it open and the first thing I saw was a worm egg sac. A good sign! I carefully removed the ball of compost and immediately saw worms escaping the light. I broke open the ball on the newspaper and was rewarded with the sight of hundreds of squirmy very-much-alive redowrms. I must have looked like such a freak, exclaiming over them and talking to them.
I opened my vermicomposting bin which until now has been occupied by maybe thirty worms, not nearly enough to consume the garbage we collect. The ones I saw appeared to be alive and healthy, however, and there were traces of castings all over the inside of the bin, another good sign that they were finding plenty to eat. I checked the pile of scraps I put in there last week and found them to definitely have been chewed on, but there was quite a bit of mold as there were too many scraps for the amount of worms in the bin.
While I was picking around in the bin I found something sprouting. It was so cute! I think it was a bean. I picked it up and was looking at it when I noticed some tiny eggs. Peering closer I spied six or eight tiny whitish-clear worms crawling around enthusiastically! Babies! "Look Michael, babies!" I gushed, holding my hand out to him so he could see. I really am a nerd. He said that he was glad I was enjoying my worms so much. I mean, how cool is that? You give worms a nice place to live, plenty of food, and in return they make rich dirt and save garbage from going into a landfill. Rockin.
I spread the newcomers over the top of the bedding and watched them immediately move to get out of the light (worms are photosensitive). Then I tore up the newspaper they came packaged in, soaked it in a bowl full of water, squeezed that out and added it to the bin too. After a few more minutes of poking around in the bin and generally harassing the worms I put the cover on and left them alone.
This morning, however, I opened the lid and found MORE castings stuck all over the inside of the bin! I could see lots of little poo-dots spotting the bedding on top of the bin. Wow! What a great thing to see after only 8 hours! The new worms are already getting down to the task of eating. I am super excited to see how long it takes them to get through the initial pile of scraps I put in there, and I have plenty to replace that with.
I just hope the natives and the newcomers get along okay and there are no worm gang wars or anything.
I opened my vermicomposting bin which until now has been occupied by maybe thirty worms, not nearly enough to consume the garbage we collect. The ones I saw appeared to be alive and healthy, however, and there were traces of castings all over the inside of the bin, another good sign that they were finding plenty to eat. I checked the pile of scraps I put in there last week and found them to definitely have been chewed on, but there was quite a bit of mold as there were too many scraps for the amount of worms in the bin.
While I was picking around in the bin I found something sprouting. It was so cute! I think it was a bean. I picked it up and was looking at it when I noticed some tiny eggs. Peering closer I spied six or eight tiny whitish-clear worms crawling around enthusiastically! Babies! "Look Michael, babies!" I gushed, holding my hand out to him so he could see. I really am a nerd. He said that he was glad I was enjoying my worms so much. I mean, how cool is that? You give worms a nice place to live, plenty of food, and in return they make rich dirt and save garbage from going into a landfill. Rockin.
I spread the newcomers over the top of the bedding and watched them immediately move to get out of the light (worms are photosensitive). Then I tore up the newspaper they came packaged in, soaked it in a bowl full of water, squeezed that out and added it to the bin too. After a few more minutes of poking around in the bin and generally harassing the worms I put the cover on and left them alone.
This morning, however, I opened the lid and found MORE castings stuck all over the inside of the bin! I could see lots of little poo-dots spotting the bedding on top of the bin. Wow! What a great thing to see after only 8 hours! The new worms are already getting down to the task of eating. I am super excited to see how long it takes them to get through the initial pile of scraps I put in there, and I have plenty to replace that with.
I just hope the natives and the newcomers get along okay and there are no worm gang wars or anything.
posted by Jen at
4:21 PM
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