April 19, 2009

Strawberry Fields Forever

I received an original Easter gift this year: a strawberry planter. What a great place to test my worm castings!

The kit came with these little compact dirt disks that swelled to five or six times their original size when I wet them. I mixed up the disk dirt with worm castings for a squishy enriched seed bed.

Then I placed the dirt about 3/4 of the way up the planter and sprinkled in the seeds in, and filled the rest in to the top. Strawberry seeds are about as big as specks of dirt or small fruit flies. Very small.Have you ever noticed product photos can be kind of exaggerated?

If this kit takes off like the picture on the left, I will be pretty dang impressed (and well-fed).

Current berry plant count:0
Total berries harvested: 0

Stay tuned!

April 15, 2009

What Goes Around...

Comes back around!

It is almost time to turn the crank on the wigwam again, and I haven't even finished up with the first batch of castings I cranked out. I have everything sitting in my worm-work area (worm tea bags, cotton drawstring bags, little scoopers) waiting patiently for me to spring into action.

The Lilliworm site has been finished for a while now, also waiting patiently for me to get on with the show. I know....SLACKER!

Here's my current list of excuses:

-New casino opening- working like a crazy person!

-Training for the Pittsburgh Marathon- running like a crazy person!

-Eating and sleeping in between

Over the next two weekends, I am COMMITTED to devoting more time to my worm project!

The casino is open, I can run lots of miles, and I have reverted back to being an omnivore and getting 7.5 hours of sleep per night. I have no excuse for not heading back to the worm-grind!

I fed the worms last week with four MASSIVE bowls of scraps and a bag of gross lettuce. I finally checked on them last night, and all is quite well- even without my peepers nosing in every other day.

Even though I've been slacking, they have kept up the good work.

April 6, 2009

Moving Day

Remember Moving Day for the worms? I was so excited to uproot thousands of small lives for the promise of a better tomorrow. I didn't consider they might miss the close quarters of their mini-bins.

My new workplace had the same feeling of anticipation about our new building as I did about the wigwam, and this past week was Moving Day for the casino offices.

I now have sympathy for my little friends. How alone and lost they must have felt those first few days! Not that the wigwam is a labyrinth of corridors like my new building...I have been lost trying to find the stairs twice and walked by my office four times!

All of our stuff was marked and boxed for the movers, however not all of it showed up where it was supposed to. I was chairless for two days even though I super-taped a post-it with my name to it.

Today I was able to find a new chair, though not as good or cushy as my first.

It is my hope that the worms will also find peace, because I now know how stressful a big move can be!