August 30, 2007

Getting Misty...

So I've had my worm bin for about a month and a half and although the little squirmers aren't a lotta trouble, the sprayer I bought at the local Rite-Aid is a python sized pain in the posterior! Every time I go to spritz the wormies, it gives me two good sprays, starts leaking all over for two more squirts, and then just quits altogether.

Today I ventured to another fine discount establishment and bought a new and hopefully much improved sprayer. This one was a little cheaper- only $1 versus the first $2.99 one- and much more cheerful looking in an enticing clear bright yellow. They also had super-inexpensive plastic containers- so I now have three new homes for when the current arrangement starts overflowin' with worm happiness!

August 27, 2007

Scrappy friends and family

Just when you thought it was safe to look in the fridge...it is overrun by worm food! Seriously, how do two people (and two of our friends) produce so many biodegradable scraps? I have two almost overflowing worm bowls taking up a lot of fridge shelf space, and that's just from four people over about week! I am trying to imagine how much of this kind of WASTE my street/neighborhood/small town must be throwing away EVERY DAY! AARRGGHHH! That's terrible, embarassing, and FIXABLE!!!

I fed one of the bowls to the wormies tonite, and it had a bad peach in it. This bad peach was so squishy and juicy and made the whole mixture real runny, ew. But, it smelled peachy and sooooo much better than the last batch that almost knocked me out cold. This mix was kind of like a fruity coffee perfume for worms.

This week I am going to get a few more bins and start dividing these suckers up. They are eating like crazy, and the castings are all over the place and seem a few inches deep now. Look out worm world, here I come!

August 19, 2007

I spy

I spy with my little eye....a bunch of squirmy worms I am not supposed to keep looking at! That's right, I am a peeping tom with these dang worms. I know I am supposed to just spritz them, feed them, and add some nice bedding and be on my way, but I feel like I NEED TO KNOW what is going on underneath that shredded paper!

Before I leave for work in the morning, I turn off their little nite-lite and I cannot resist popping the top off, putting on my garden glove, and pulling back some bedding to see WHAT IS UP. Are they eating? Are they sleeping? Are they mating? I NEED TO KNOW.

Then when I arrive home, I give them some spray water and again, I put on the garden glove, pull back the bedding, and do another check. WHAT ARE THESE WORMS UP TO? Let me tell you, NOT MUCH. They are really squirming in their new batch of food- this time featuring mashed grapes, berry tops, coffee grinds, and potato peels. But, that's about it.

Worms as pets on a scale from 1 to 10 would get about a 1.5 for excitement and a 2.5 for activity- however, as far as ease of upkeep, they'd be a solid 10, and keeping me environmentally friendly, another solid 10!

August 8, 2007

As the worm turns...


As I may have mentioned, worms are not the most active and exciting animals on the planet. So here's a pic of my real pet and husband, who are pretty fun and always exciting.

Back to business. The food from the first batch seems to be done, except for a few potato peels. The next worm bowl of food comes from the hard work and recycling efforts of a fellow co-worker, and is full of different foods than last time like carrots and banana peels. Hats off to her for giving them such variety in their little lives!

HOWEVER...this one smells wildly and mind-blowingly worse than the last and took a lot more cutting and mashing and crunching up to make it into mush. Like my instructions point out, WORMS DON'T HAVE TEETH! I would like to point out, CARROTS DON'T MUSH!

Last week, I shredded another edition of our city newspaper to add more bedding, as it seemed to be disappearing. When I pulled it back to put the food in (new row!), some of the worms were mixed in with the paper near the top.

Hmmm.

I hope in wormspeak this means "Put in new various delectables- I am hungry, ready to mate, and make lovely organic fertilizer!"and not "Just wanted to check the local headlines from a few days ago!"

As for ever getting a shot of that feeding frenzy, forget it. These dang worms are private eaters and not hot on light, so every time I try to pull back the paper and snap one of them squirming around- FORGET ABOUT IT! Away they go!