For Christmas I asked for and got a worm farm ( or as it is called on the packaging a Worm Cafe ). We didn't have any old sink or bath suitable so R got me a Tumbleweed Worm Cafe. The photo shows it with the stage one layer and lid. It has 3 more trays or stories to add as it fills up. The legs are supposed to be ant proof.
This is what it looks like inside before the first worms and their bedding were introduced.The island in the middle is so they can never drown and have somewhere to climb up on and at the front is the drainage hole with tap underneath for letting the extra water and leach-ate and tea drain out.
This morning we had time to visit a neighbour who kindly gave us some starter worms. In this case an ice cream container full. Where are they? Hiding underneath away from the light.
This is when I have just spread them out across the soaked coir bedding block that came with the cafe. I have then added 2 sheets of wet newspaper and for a blanket I have provided a soaked partly worn out cotton hand towel which was just the right size.
I now have a designated small bucket to put things worms like in especially my daily coffee grinds. I know not to put in citrus peel or onion skins ( too acidic ) or dairy or meat . I have read the instruction booklet from cover to cover and taken advice from the neighbour who supplied the worms. She has 2 lots ( farms ) one get all their food scraps minced and so produces a much quicker and finer lot of castings. That is what she recommended.
There are plenty of dos and don'ts.
If you have a worm farm ( Leanne ) and have any hints or encouragement I would be grateful to hear.
We will continue to make compost as we have always done. This will I hope give us an additional and more readily available to plants, product ( liquid and castings ) to use in our garden and on pot plants. To make enough for orchard use we would need a huge set up.
Note ; there are 2 main categories of worms - earth workers or composters. These are composters. but are they Tigers, Reds or Dendras?
