Sunday, March 08, 2009

We've got WORMS!! (Don't Look Sara!)

No, not the internal kind, hmmm, then again, don't know that for sure do we? hehehehe ;p
Sorry Sara, could not resist :S


Well, these guys were pretty thrilled about it, Derek happily greeted Marissa at the door with; "Want to come see our worms?" She was pretty interested but a little let down with how few we could find to show her. This specific kind of worm, "Eisenia fetida" to be precise, doesn't like the light at all, so they stay hidden as much as they can. Plus I "only" bought 2lbs (approx 2000 worms) to start and it takes a while for them to multiply.

But they seem to be happy in their new home as they seem to be multiplying quite quickly! Last time I fed them there were so many it was impossible to miss them, and lots of young ones too! In the photo we had just placed them there and they had not yet burrowed down.
We got worms to help reduce the amount of compost that we are currently filling our yard with, we produce a LOT! Worms in a bin do the same as worms in a garden but at a far faster rate because they are concentrated. The resulting worm "castings" is extremely beneficial for plants, here is a link to the place I got the worms.

Some folks wonder (as I did too) why a particular kind of worm? I can dig them out of my garden for free! Well, some people have, and soon discovered, not all worms are alike, and when they are somewhere they DON'T like, they leave!! So one fellow awoke to his worms attempting to make good their escape across his floor :) Or as my book on vermicomposting says, the worms "refused to stay"...."Some vartieties are accustomed to light and will exit the (bin) without any warning or notice" Hahahahaha, not sure how a worm might give one notice, had a good laugh over that :) Basically there are thousands of kinds of worms, but these "red wigglers" as they are called, are amoung the best suited for worm farming.

ps I am impressed, I was very negligent and had a whole cawliflower go moldy in the fridge, it barely fit in the bin, but about 4-5 days later when I looked, save a small slimy slip, it was ALL GONE!!! :D:D:D Go worms :D:D:D lol

4 comments:

Hilary said...

So enjoying the frequent updates! And so glad your house won't be overrun with worms!! :) :) (Although the boys would probably be thrilled, ha!)

Anonymous said...

I flew out of the house today without looking at the computer & I missed seeing your update. I could've viewed the worms while i was at your house! :(
I feel gyped

Anonymous said...

So nice to see the boy's interested in gardening. Just don't let them take any worms to put under their pillow!! J & B

Anita said...

Eeeewwww, worms! But I love the good they do. Your header pic is so cute! I haven't been over here in a while, but I'll be back more now.