2.26.08

Well, my worms have run away. I say “run away” because I do not wish to think that they perished in their new home.  It is early in the season to purchase/transport worms here, but I thought I would call the wormery in Arkansas,  from whom I normally purchase my worms, to see when they might be shipping again. I was saddened to learn that they would no longer be in the worm business. Their primary source for selling was eBay, but with the new fees and the new  requirements of their worms to be shipped via Expedited Mail, I imagine profits were lower than the losses.
The owner and I had a very pleasant conversation that offered me tons of advice for my own worm composting. Though I do not look to sell my worms, I do  need to make an abundance of compost as quickly as possible. I have to say, my enormous need for compost heightened my sadness over the closing of the wormery.  What I have determined as the demise of my vermicomposting venture is that there was not enough oxygen in my container. The commercial vermicomposting container that I use  has air vents at the top and pvc type vents running through the bottom, so I thought I was set as far as ventilation goes. It seems, however, that the more castings there are in the container the less ventilation/oxygen. The castings become a bit compacted. Mine is more fluffy, however this conclusion seems reasonable and I am ashamed that I did not consider the possibility myself. The container needs to be cleaned of the castings regulary with new bedding applied.  In my case, that means more shredded newspaper.  At the wormery, the large bins are filled with peat moss and the worms received daily feedings of dry corn meal, which is then misted with well water.
The good thing is that I currently have a few quarts of compost that needs to be sifted from the remaining food and newspaper scraps, but the bad news is I need to replenish my worms.

We have begun slowly in our process to become a green family. I started quietly with a little bit of recycling and vermicomposting. My first attempts of vermicomposting in the classroom proved successful and fun, so now that I am a WAHM, I figured I would give it another try.
A couple of weeks ago, I purchased my first pound of worms on eBay. I paid $20 and some change for one pound. When the worms arrived, there was 1 lb. 3 ounces of worms and mostly bedding. The seal a meal bag contained mainly small white babies with some medium sized red wigglers thrown in. Oh well, the shipping was included in the price, so I guess I cannot complain too much.
This past Thursday, my second order came in from another source Rocky Mountain Wormery. Purchasing from them in the past, I knew what to expect. Wish I had bought my first set from them. The worms arrived in a cloth bag inside a priority mail box. I was happy to see the bag moving as I took it out of the box.  Huge worms filled the sack, which seemed to weigh more than the pound. I didn’t weigh this bag, because I knew for certain I was getting a bargain.
Posted by anaj at 2/11/2008 3:09 PM