Gnats Galore!

We had an outbreak of gnats and could not for quite some time figure out where they were coming from. I cleaned the drains with baking soda and vinegar as I have in the past to get rid of them and that didn't seem to work. I had resorted to leaving my vacuum cleaner sitting in the kitchen to suck them up every time we found one. It seemed like we were vacuuming all the time.

We went away for the afternoon to return home to a frenzy of them in the entrance. After vacuuming up those that didn't sneak away, my son notice the worm farm sitting in the basement; the gnats were flying out of the air holes we had made in it!

Needles to say, the worm farm is now sitting outside in the shade, which happens to be on our front porch. I'm sure we will fit in with all the other red necks in the neighborhood by having a cooler sitting on our front porch now. Just don't open it thinking there is going to be a cool beverage chilling for you. You will get a wiggly surprise. Since we moved the worms outside the gnat population has dwindled and they are no longer doing fly byes as we eat or work on the computer!

Worm Farm Take II

On Tuesday I was stirring the worm farm to aerate and mix up the bedding. I do this about once a week to make sure it isn’t too moist and allow oxygen into the soil.  When doing this, I noticed we had new babies that had hatched!  There were just a few, but we were getting close to the two month mark and according to my research they multiply in about two to three months.  While doing this I also noticed the soil smelled a little.  I found research which indicated to stop feeding until the smell dissipates, or add garden lime to the bedding to neutralize the ph. 

While out on errands I thought I would stop at our local Early May Garden Center and see if they carried garden lime to add to the farm.  I went in specifically stating I was looking for garden lime to help neutralize the ph in a worm farm.  The gal that helped me initially tried to sell me pellets.  I indicated again, this was for a worm farm, and did they have anything in powder form?  She took me to another part of the store and handed me dehydrated lime.  I specifically asked if this would harm my worms.  She indicated “no, they would be fine”.  We talked more about the worm farm and the reason we started it.  I had some more items to get so it was awhile before we were ready to check out. 

When checking out, I again asked her if this would kill my worms, because I didn’t want anything happening to them.  She laughed, and again said no.

My son and I returned home and I proceeded to sprinkle some of the lime on the top of the bedding.  I next mixed it into the soil.  The worms started to wiggle around like they had never done before.  I wasn’t sure what the problem was until I took a couple out to look at.  They were bleeding.  I quickly looked at the package and started reading it in depth.  It indicated the product may cause burns on skin. I noticed my vinyl gloves were starting to leak as well.   If this product could cause burns on skin why would she sell this to me to be placed into a bed with worms?  I became upset and wondered what I could do to save them.

After a few hours of trying to salvage the worms by rinsing them and placing them into new bedding, we realized it was all in vain.  Our entire worm farm perished.  It was awful watching them suffer.  My son and I were both sick to our stomachs.  Not only did we lose the worms we had purchased, we lost the newly hatched babies and the eggs still to hatch. This didn’t include all of the time and effort we put into the project to this point. 

Needles to say, neither of us slept very well that night.  The next morning I phoned the manager to see what their liability policy was.  He indicated that freeze dried lime would be too harsh and shouldn’t have been used in that type of environment.  I am still in the process of trying to recover the expense to replace our farm.  I will keep you posted on the status in the future. 

When I returned to the store on Wednesday to get a refund on the lime, the manager indicated the employee stated she tried to sell us pellets and that she said she told us to be careful with it.  I indicated to him after further research the pellets would have had the same effect.  I also indicated she never mentioned to us to be careful with it.  If she had, I would have questioned purchasing the product.  I also specifically said I wanted to make sure what she was selling me was not going to harm or kill my worms.  If I hadn’t asked those questions of her, I would have taken the responsibility for what happened myself. 

I could easily have gone to another business to purchase my lawn and garden items, but I chose to support a local business; a reputable business in lawn and garden care.  This business should be responsible to give accurate information about the products they carry.  They should have knowledge of the products they are selling. 

As a cosmetologist, if I have never used a product, or I am unfamiliar with it, I do not try to sell it to a customer unless they specifically ask for it.   If I sell something, it’s because I have tried it and have used it.  How can you sell a product you are not familiar with and make a claim when you do not actually have experience in the area? 

What happened to customer service anyway?  When I worked in customer service, the customer was always right.  It seemed, at times, that motto was at all costs.  Now days, many businesses appear not to care if they get your business or not.  I can tell you I have several bags of garden material still unopened.  All of which may be making a trip back to the store to be purchased at a lesser price elsewhere if they fail to make this right.  Replacement cost for my farm was a mere $25.  If they choose to stand behind an employee that isn’t knowledgeable, and is dishonest to say the least, they will be losing more than the $25 when the items are returned. 

We are back to day one of our worm farm.  We have a new cooler, new bedding, and 130 worms to occupy it.  It appears they have all migrated toward the bottom of the cooler and are all alive.  Now we sit and wait for them to provide us with fertilizer for the garden and multiply.  

Today I mashed a pear for the worms to consume.  I started with a pear that was very soft and was past the point of giving to the older chicks.  I cut the pear in half and took out the seeds and stem.  The seeds and stem were then placed into my container to go to the compost pile.  I chose not to throw them in the trash, or put them in the garbage disposal.  These still contain nutrients that will be of use in the compost bin.  I then proceeded to mash the pear with an old potato masher and add the food to the top of their bed.   

This masher has come in handy for many things.  And to think I almost took it to goodwill with some other household items my husband had when we got married.  I have been able to find many uses for items in the past I would have easily gotten rid of because they were older.  Many of these items are no longer available for purchase in stores now. 

 Mashing the pear.

Pear puree added to the top of the bedding.

I inherited many things from both of my grandmother's kitchens after they passed away.  Little gadgets you can't find in a store.  If you look, and are into seeking out finds, auctions are a good place to find gadgets at a cheap price without paying the higher price for a new one.  In addition, you are recycling an item and giving it a new use.  Often times the older the item is, the more likely it was made in the USA too! 

Our Worm Farm

Worm farm, sounds yucky doesn’t it? That was my initial thought when I first read about worm farms. And the reaction I get from some of my friends.  It’s not as bad as you may think. 

Our worm farm adventure actually started a couple years ago.  I was starting my square foot gardening and worm farm information kept popping up everywhere I looked. After learning worms were great for fertilizing your garden, I decided I wanted to start a worm farm myself.  

I purchased a Styrofoam cooler, worm bedding, and food.  All I needed to start the project was the worms.  We initially thought we could gather our own worms from the yard to get started.  The problem was, our worms only came out late at night, and we weren’t about to go outside in the dark to try to catch the amount we would need to start. 

After spending the time getting my square food gardening started, I didn’t have time to take on a worm project, so it got pushed aside.  The cooler, along with the bedding and food, slowly migrated to the back of my basement. This is where they sat until recently. 

Once we decided we were going to be purchasing chickens, I again started thinking about worms.  Initially I thought I could feed some worms to the chickens for protein.  I did further research to see how difficult of a task this was really going to be to get started.  I had no idea they would take awhile to multiply.  I found many helpful sites such as:

Create your own Worm Farm 

Making a Worm Farm 

wormfarmingsecrets.com

I was starting to read how others kept their worms in simple plastic totes and was almost ready to go buy a Rubbermaid tote.  Then I remembered the Styrofoam container I had purchased a couple years ago.  I figured my husband had disposed of it, or placed it where I would never find it.  To my surprise it was still there, buried in the back of our basement with the bedding and food next to it.  I didn’t read the bedding directions before I left for the store on my search for worms.  If I had, I would have noticed the bedding needed to be mixed with water and set for awhile before adding the worms.  I stuck the worms I purchased in the refrigerator and proceeded to prepare the bedding.  The next day I placed the worms into their new home. 

I ended up purchasing night crawlers.  I only bought one package because I wasn’t sure how well they would do.  I have read night crawlers are not the best choice since they don’t “eat through” the compost material as quickly as red worms.  Unfortunately, the only worms available to purchase at that time were night crawlers.  You can purchase red worms online, but by the time you pay for shipping they can become rather expensive.

After a few weeks I realized the worms were doing well and thought we should get more to expand the farm.  This time when I went to get more the store had Canadian trout worms.  They looked small and red, but I wasn’t sure if these were the “red worms” I was looking for without researching. Until I could research them, I decided just get two packages of the red ones and another night crawler.  I now have almost 100 worms in the cooler. 

Just before adding the new worms, I harvested some of the dirt and replaced it with new bedding.  I added more bedding this time since there was going to be more worms living in the container.  The pre-packaged bedding mixes contained food already added and you can purchase granules to feed to them as well.  These things are found in the hunting and fishing departments of most stores.

I actually liked the first brand of bedding I purchased. It was called Magic Worm Bedding (http://www.magicproducts.com/bedding.htm)  When compared to the second package, which was Brown Bear, it was much better. The package of Brown Bear seemed to be ground up newspapers with a lot of dust.  The Magic Worm Bedding looked like actual dirt when it was all mixed.  The Magic Worm contained less dust, which is nice when you are mixing it in the container.  I felt I should have been wearing a face mask when mixing the Brown Bear mixture.  I might the next time. 

In the meantime, I will be on the lookout for the Magic Worm Bedding and stock up on when I find it.  Many sites will tell you to simply add newspapers, topsoil, straw, or manure to your worm farm to start it.   I didn’t have access to all of the materials and let’s face it, I live in town, and I wanted something simple and easy to use.  Thus the reason I chose the boxed bedding. 

The worms have been eating through left over lettuce rather well. Lettuce seems to disappear faster than anything else.  I also give them scraps of fruit such as pears, apples, and bananas.  The bananas I mashed almost into a liquid.  The other fruits I cut them up as small as I could and actually tried to mash them a little as well. I was reading they have very small mouths and have a hard time eating large pieces of food.  Some sites recommend actually putting the food into the blender. 

Now that the chickens are eating scraps, I have a dilemma.  Do I give scraps to the chickens, worms, or add to the compost pile?  Most of the time, the chickens win; unless it’s something they don’t particularly care for, or it has gone past the edible stage. 

You can buy a fancy home for your worms if you desire.  Most average around $100.  I found many people using Rubbermaid totes or simply a trash can dug into the ground and buried.  I prefer not to have to go to all of that trouble and expense.  I keep mine in my basement where it’s cool in the summer, but not too cold in the winter. 

I am hoping they will start to multiply soon.  I have noticed the bedding is starting to look darker and resemble dirt more than it originally did.  This means they are eating through the bedding and consuming the food we are adding to the bed.  Many sites discuss worm tea; however, with the cooler I am not set up to drain liquid from the farm.  I will have to be happy with harvesting part of the bedding every five weeks or so for my garden.