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Making a Worm
Farm
The first step in making a worm
farm is to gather all of your materials.
One of the main components is
the bedding. Shredded paper is the most used material in the bedding. Also
used in the bedding are eggshells, animal manure, peat moss and other
organic matter; such as, dried plants, straw, grass, or other organic
materials found around your house. Then you need to add two adult handfuls
of soil to the bedding to give the worms roughage. Altogether the bedding
should weigh 4-6 pounds.
The last step is to add the worms in the
bedding.
Feeding and Caring for the Worms
If you want to keep the worms alive, you must feed and care
for them.
The first thing to do is keep the bedding moist. The second
thing to do is feed the worms. You should feed the worms vegetables, fruit
and other non-meat organic waste products. You should not feed the worms
dairy, meat, greasy/oily foods or tobacco. The worm’s favorite foods are
pumpkin, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Caring and feeding the worms in this
manner, makes the worms happy and they make a lot of
vermicompost.
Starting the
Process
A worm bin can be put wither
indoors or outdoors. Indoors, you can place the worm bin almost anywhere,
because it produces hardly any odor. If you would like to put the bin
outside, you have to make sure it has shade in the summer, and shelter in
the winter. A garage provides both, so that might be a good place to keep
it.
After
choosing its location, it is time to prepare the bedding. To do this, you
must lay down a newspaper soaked in water in the bottom. The paper needs
to be wet, but should not drip – then you have the right humidity. After
this, you need to put the paper and the organic matter in the bin, so it
is approximately 3/4 full. When this is done, you can gently put the worms
in the bin. Remember that worms don’t like light, so if you leave the lid
of the bin off, they will burrow deep into the bedding. After 1-2 hours,
you can feed them.
To feed
the worms, dig a small hole in the bedding, put the food in the hole, and
cover the hole with one inch of bedding. The holes should be spread out a
little, to allow all the worms to get to the food. Besides your worms,
there might be other creatures in the bin, such as pill bugs and white
worms. These help breaking down the organic material, and should be left
alone.
Harvesting the Worm and
Compost
After a few weeks, it is possible
to start collecting the vermicompost and worm castings. In the bin, you
will see soil-like materials, called worm castings. You will also find
decomposed bedding and food scraps, which is the vermicompost. When there
is a lot of these materials, it is time to harvest. Harvesting can be done
in one of two ways:
The
first process is done inside the bin: Put the food on one side of the bin
for several weeks. This causes the worms to migrate to that side, allowing
you to remove the content on the other side. Remember to refill the bin
after you take out the material. Repeat the process by placing food scraps
in the new bedding area.
The other process is done outside the bin. Gently dump the contents
of the bin on a plastic sheet. Leave the pile for 20-30 minutes. This
causes the worms to burrow into the pile. You can now carefully harvest
the top layer of vermicompost and worm castings. Repeat until only the
worms remain. When doing this, you might come across light brown lemon-shaped
dots about the size of a grain of rice. These are worm eggs, and should
be left in the pile. When you are done harvesting, place the worms and
eggs back in fresh bedding.
Using Vermicomposting and Worm Castings
To show the worms how much you appreciate their labor, use
the compost and castings both indoors and out – your plants will say
“thank you”. Outside, the compost and castings can be used as mulch
around plants or as a conditioner for your lawn. Indoors, the harvested
material can be mixed with potting soil, or you can make compost tea
(steep two tablespoons of vermicompost with a quart of water for a day).
Conclusion
Any household of the STAR community can use this process of
making excellent soil. Worm farms are a great way to reuse food scraps
you would normally throw away.
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