As the Bin Turns

The concept of the worm wigwam bin is to feed in layers, and then cover each layer of food with a few inches of peat moss and shredded newspaper or cardboard.

By the time all of the layers reach the top of the bin, you can give the handle on the side of the bin a few turns and all the good, soil conditioning poo will get sifted out to the bottom.

You lift off the "door" and collect the poo. The pile consequently goes down in the bin, and you continue the feeding/covering/sifting cycle.

The time needed to get to that first handle crank is kind of a mystery since I didn't begin with the prescribed pounds of worms. They suggested 30, I started with around 10 and probably have a little more now- we'll say 15 to 20.

With their suggested amount, they estimated the first crank should occur at 90 days. I estimated mine would take about 120 days- I started in mid-May, so that puts me around.....right about soon.

You can see the crank on the side and the trap door where you can get the goods out:
Here's the height inside when I started:
Currently, my herd is about a foot from the top:
I estimate the first crank in about a month, which puts me a few weeks behind- but, whatever! I guess worms aren't an exact science!

In other news, a friend forwarded me a really cool blog written by her friend's little brother, Jake. He is also environmentally friendly, and sells some nifty handmade stuff, too. Enjoy!

The Last Splash of Summer!

Please excuse this mostly non-worm entry today about one of my dogs favorite days of the year!


Animal Friends held their Last Splash of Summer today at Sandcastle. I don't like to brag, but I mooched the idea for this event a few years ago from The Beach Waterpark in Cincinnati and pitched it to an event person for Animal Friends while attending their Mutt Strut. They totally went for it, and now it is in its fourth year, hooray!

I love love love seeing the waterpark being taken over by dogs- especially mine. Benj adores swimming in the pools, but even more, he loves tearing around the deck and checking out the whole scene.


Here's another of him getting in some serious lap time.


If you didn't make it to the Last Splash of Summer, be sure to check out their other animal events, gatherings, classes, etc., or drop them a donation so they can continue their compassionate no-kill mission.

In creepier news, the worms are less than a foot from the top of the Wigwam, I am so geeked! As soon as the feeding/casting pile gets to the top, I can give that special handle a crank and the good stuff will fall to the bottom for collection. Then I can I finally begin production on what will be the most wonderful organic soil conditioner items in the WORLD.

Until then, patience is key and it's more feeding and watering.

Here's to hoping you got your LAST SPLASH of the summer, too!

Just Peachy

If you ever wondered what happens when you put a whole nectarine (with a little bit of mold- ew!) in the wigwam, here it is:The worms seem to love it and got through about 1/3 of it in three days. But see what I mean about NOT eating half their body weight daily? There are tons of worms in that bin so that nectarine should be GONE. I just know putting their food in the processor speeds up consumption time by DAYS, and once Lilliworm is up and running full throttle it will be processing all the food all the time!

I've been working on a new Lilliworm website that's full of great graphics, snazzy sentences, and fantastic photos- thank goodness. My HTML and FrontPage skills are obviously at a third to fourth grade level, and I'm not going to lie: the current Lilliworm site is an travesty and embarrassment to my worms (and pretty much myself, as well).

Soon, with the creative mind of Gary Cekus Design, my worms will be able to stand (creep? crawl?) proud when the new site is revealed. He crafted the magnificent Lilliworm logo, so you can expect fantastical results!

Lastly, to pay tribute to end of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing and salute Micheal Phelps, the Lilliworms will swim (read: burrow) around and around the watermelon ring of honor, devouring it all little by little in 17 short days. Well, hopefully much less than that!

The Words of Worms

I found a fun site called Wordle that will let you make cool word collages with either words you come up with or ones it will pull automatically from a web address you enter. Here's the one I crafted for the Lilliworm blog.

Eat, Sleep, Work....Eat, Sleep, Work....

Am I talking about me or the worms? Recently, I'm not so sure.

As another season winds down at the world's favorite traditional amusement park, I realize I've spent another summer in a drone-like pattern: eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work.

My worms are pretty much in the same boat- but they have a lot more energy and look a heck of a lot more content about it!

Did you know red wigglers can eat about half their body weight each day?

Yeah, right! That's what all the books and sites say- but I have to tell you, whether I chop their food, puree their food, or feed it to them on miniature spoons, my worms aren't eating anywhere near that much. If I feed them four or five pounds of food chopped up, it takes them at least three or four days to finish it. And if I puree eight pounds of strawberry tops, it takes about four or five days.

Baloney half their body weight! Either all those sources are wrong, or I just happened to get the all worms with the petite super-model appetites.

ANYWAY, when the season is finally over, I need to locate a new food source. I am eying up a small fruit store near my home, hoping the owner is amenable to handing over old or damaged produce. I've been practicing my elevator pitch...

Canta Worm Love Cantaloupes?

Unfortunately, not when he lives at my house. Neither myself nor my husband (or my cockapoo for that matter) ever buys any.

However, my fantastical fruit and veggie eating friend at work returned a worm bowl a few days ago with previously untried fruit for my little friends: cantaloupe rinds. No one could have guessed the absolute havoc that would ensue in the Wigwam when these rinds were added!

Cantaloupe rinds must be like a crazy drug for worms. When I checked up on them- I know, I can't stop looking at them, still!- I found a two by two inch piece that easily was housing fifty worms, and all of them were literally in a small squirming frenzy.

Did you know that cantaloupes are a super fruit? Me neither, but the worms did!

Fun with (Gummi) Worms

My real worms are working hard on another batch of organic scraps, so I thought it might be fun to visit some sites that are also using worms- gummi worms, that is.

Cooks.com has an array of gummi worm inspired recipes- from the popular Dirt & Worms to the more ambitious version created in a real flowerpot. However, they didn't have any pics to enjoy.

If you enjoy sushi, there's a new version in town. This mock sushi recipe using rice cereal, fruit leather, and gummi worms looks cool whether you love fishy rolls or not.

More daring worm lovers can try Pond Worms or Graveyard Pudding, and those with deep pockets can pony up $12 for this work of worm art.

I know what you are thinking- when will I be writing more serious posts about worms? Every time I start typing, I ask myself the same thing!