Monday, July 7, 2008

Why Worms?

I have been getting questions about my Worms. I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you what I have learned about Worms!

Why Worms?
1. I wanted to give composting a try but didn’t want the usual compost heap in the backyard due to the Dogs and other critters.
2. For the Worm Tea and Compost to use on my houseplants and in our Garden

What is Worm Tea?
Earthworms put out a by-product called castings; worm tea is obtained as water runs off or drips through the castings in the worm beds thus picking up the nutrients of the castings. Worm Tea is great for feeding Plants and acts as a natural pesticide.

What do Worms eat?
Worms can eat up to ½ a pound of food a day!!
For fiber, they can eat shredded paper, junk mail, magazines, cardboard, dryer lint, Kleenex, napkins, paper towels
For Fruits and Veggies, they can eat fruits and veggies past their prime, fruit and veggie peels and cores, food scraps, kitchen waste from food preparation.
For their starch, they can eat, Pancakes, pasta, doughnuts, rice, pizza crust, cereal, crackers and stale bread.
Other stuff that Worms can eat: coffee grounds and filters, tea bags (no staple, please) egg shells, non diseased flowers and plants, dry leaves and plant trimmings, Leftovers past their prime.

That’s a lot of stuff!

Just remember, Worms like their food cut or ground up into small pieces.

1 comment:

Robbyn said...

It's delightful seeing you try the worm composting, Carolyn! We have not yet tried it (we're dealing with Florida creepy-crawlies right now, and making the final arrangements for Jack's mom's funeral...we'd neglect other start-up projects, but plan to do them later) So nice to see all your adventures in homesteading!