ph meter

I just bought this ph meter from Bend in Bloom, one of Bend's garden supply shops.

I am really excited to test the ph of the compost and castings in the Red Wiggler bin!

More later!!!

Mysterious Veggie/Fruit plant growing in my garden!

Does anyone know what this is? It looks really healthy and thriving in my veggie garden. I didn't intentionally plant this. There must have been a seed in my worm castings when I added the amendment to the soil.

I am not sure if I should let it continue or pull it. It reminds me of some sort of squash because there are yellow flowers underneath these massive leaves but nothing else seems to be growing?

If you are out there and reading this could you help me? hmmmmm

Happy Wormin'

Backyard Compost Pile

My backyard compost pile has been going for about a year. I started throwing yard debris, including grass clippings into a small section of my yard. Many of my clients have free standing piles and have had much success with adding Red Wigglers so I decided to give it a try. The pile was dry so I made sure to get it very wet so the wigglers would thrive.

My neighbors often supply the wigglers with a lot of food waste. Last week, I added about 2 cups of the waste to the pile. Adding the food made me a bit nervous. I didn't want the pile to attract flies. So far things seem to be quiet in the corner.

I will wander out there this afternoon and check on the progress of the food waste. I am hoping to find the worms having a feast. If all goes well this week, I will continue to add food scraps to the pile. Wish me luck!

Last Worm Bin Delivery for the season!

This is it! The final delivery of the season! It was a cool one for sure, and one that I will remember for a while (well at least when I have the pictures as prompts...I need all the help I can get. The mind ain't what it used to be) On Monday, I took a pound of worms, a bin, peat moss, shredded newspaper, and my hubby to a Llama and Alpaca Farm. Marty, the human leader of the animals, greeted us with a huge smile and a hand shake. She lead us to the future home of the red wigglers, a renovated chicken coop that was invaded by racoons...Yikes. The chicken coop was already set up with a heat lamp and hay...perfect for a red wiggler set up in November. Totally cool! These guys love their llamas and alpacas and will soon love their red wigglers. Just look at that set up!
Here's a picture of hay which is above sheets of newspaper. This will keep the worms warm especially during the chilly Bend nights.
Doesn't this look yummmmmmy!!! Marty was all set with food scraps for the red wigglers. I put the rotting lettuce, celery, cucumbers and squash on top of the bedding and covered the scraps with the sheets of newspaper (another good use for USA today). I use the newspaper to keep the red wigglers contained to the food area so they won't travel up through the hay. In the summer this helps reduce fruit flies.

Marty's goal is to reduce her food waste and to also compost her llama and alpaca waste. I don't have experience with animal waste so she is my test case. We will be chatting a bunch to see how the red wigglers are doing. I am excited to see what happens!!

Let the Feasting Begin!

I came home this afternoon to find my pumpkin collection bucket full of nasty, rotting pumpkins. My red wigglers will be feasting for a while, especially on something they enjoy.

During my 5+ years of vermicomposting, I have found that they love pumpkins. In the past, I have halved and quartered pumpkins and tossed them into the worm bins. After a day or so, I checked on them and lifted a piece of the pumpkin and to my surprise, I found a cluster of red wigglers underneath! Way cool!!!
If you have a worm bin and pumpkins left, go ahead and feed them to your worms!

Thanks to all of my friends for supplying these nasty, rotting pumpkins!

Pumpkins=Happy Red Wigglers

Calling all Halloween Jack-O-Lantern and rotting pumpkin owners!

When you are tempted to toss your icky pumpkins into the trash can, don't! STOP and think about other options.

1. toss them into the corner of your backyard.
2. toss them into your compost pile.
3. toss them into your worm bin!!!
and if these options don't work for you, GIVE THEM TO THE WONDER WORMAN!!! (if you are local)

Pumpkins are 100% biodegradable. When added to your compost pile, you will have rich fertilizer for the spring! A huge bonus, if you have a worm bin, the worms will have a Halloween treat too! They love, love, love pumpkins! I can't stress that enough!

REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF USABLE WASTE THAT CLOGS OUR LANDFILLS!!!!

School Visit

This has to be the highlight of my Wonder Worming job! I love to go visit the schools and see kids, teachers and staff members eager to learn about worms. I also like to gross them out with some really vivid and cool photos of decomposing food and the red wigglers feasting on it!

Seven Peaks, a beautiful, private school on Bend, recently bought 5 pounds of my earth loving red wigglers. They are creating a school wide composting project to reduce their usable waste and then use the rich organic fertilizer that the worms produce for their community gardens. I will be guiding them on their journey! Stay tuned for future progress.

Day 3: Is This Appealing to YOU?

Welcome to Day 3! Not much has changed in Bin #1, except there was a cute visitor hanging out on a watermelon! My daughter got a kick out of seeing him and called him a snail. I think she is right, or is it a slug??

Seeing this little guys made me smile. He too is enjoying the nice, juicy watermelon along with my Red Wigglers.

Let's hope for some more change tomorrow. Change that is worth photographing! or maybe a cute visitor?!

Friends of Wonder Worman

Local shops in town like, Big Island Kona Mix Plate, thump coffee, and Riley’s Market provide tasty scraps for pick up. These scraps are put to good use and let the Super Composting Red Wigglers get a taste variety.

I support Big Island Kona Mix Plate, a local family owned restaurant, in their efforts to make their restaurant “greener”. Also, Big Island Kona Mix Plate no longer uses styrofoam plate-ware, which further reduces their contribution to the landfill.

Thump coffee, is a really cool coffee shop downtown (family owed as well), has an ample supply of used coffee grounds that can be used in your garden or compost pile. When my Super Composting Red Wigglers need a little pick-me-up I stop by the shop just before closing and pick up the goods.

Riley’s Market, another family owned business, located in NorthWest Crossing, offers among other things, fresh organic locally grown produce, a variety of delicious sandwiches and tasty baked goods. When time takes its toll on the produce and bakery items at Riley’s Market, I am called in to take the goods to my trusty sidekicks! My Super Composting Red Wigglers are more than happy to do their part! What a great treat!

Red Wigglerism - How many Red Wigglers in a pound?

There’s between 800 - 1,200 Red Wigglers at various stages of development in 1 pound of Worms! Those 1,000 or so Red Wigglers will produce a bunch of compost over their life span, which you can then use as indoor or outdoor compost for your plants. The worms will continue to multiply and produce more and more worms. So why not benefit from the joys of Red Wigglers?

Red Wigglers and Garbage Disposals

A friend of mine just forwarded me an interesting article he heard on NPR this morning. Raleigh, N.C. is having issues with their sewer lines and garbage disposals. I knew many people were putting kitchen waste down the disposal thinking they were reducing the waste in the landfill. Yes they are reducing the waste, but they can also recycle their waste at home without damaging the sewer lines. I used to put veggie waste down there too before I had red wigglers. Now I am putting that waste in my worms bins and producing super rich compost for my gardens and indoor plants. Whether or not people use red wigglers, I think it is so important to compost.

Things are rolling

Wonder Worman is growing! Super Composting Red Wigglers will soon be in the bins of LaPine Middle School and Tumalo Elementary School. Both of these schools are located in Central Oregon. These red wigglers will help with the reduction of the school waste. The compost made from the red wigglers will be used for their community gardens.