March 2015

Vermicomposting a Ton of Coffee Grounds?

Question from Andreas:

I live in an eco-village and weยดve been contacted by a large music festival who would like to give their coffee grounds to us. They say they will have somewhere around a ton. Iยดm kinda tempted to take it on, but I only have a few small systems – do you think there is any feasible way to handle the grounds with worms?

Hi Andreas,

This takes me back to the times I 1) decided to take all the compost-friendly food waste from a very popular local restaurant, and later, 2) started taking all the coffee grounds produced by a local coffee shop!

Good times…goooood times!!
๐Ÿ˜†

Joking aside, these were both very valuable learning experiences, and – all in all – they resulted in a lot more “good” than “bad”! But as you might already have guessed, I will definitely recommend that you proceed with caution.

If I am understanding you correctly, this sounds like (more…)

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Tiny Tub Challenge – 3-26-15

Yeah, things have been a bit quiet around here as of late (considering my last blog post was my last Tiny Tub update)! Yikes.

I finally checked on my tubs last night.

Here are my cocoon counts:

Bin #1 โ€“ 18 cocoons
Bin #2 โ€“ 0 cocoons (remember, my worms disappeared early on and I decided to keep it as a comparison bin)
Bin #3 โ€“ 22 cocoons

Temperature down in the basement is still around 17 C (~63 F).

The adult Red Worms in the two worm bins are still looking big and healthy. STILL no juveniles – but some of the cocoons looked just about ready to hatch.

Food levels were looking pretty low, so I added some frozen kale to all 3 tubs. Adding some new bedding to a couple of the bins as well.


We had a bit of a scare with my daughters bin (remember – she is keeping a different TTTWC bin up in her room so we can compare). What’s funny is that she had been at me repeatedly to check on it and I kept delaying it (was never at the “right time” – plus I figured there wasn’t much to check up on yet).

Guess I should have listened to her! When we finally did check on the bin, the (more…)

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Tiny Tub Challenge – 3-13-15

I checked on my “Tiny Tubs” today.

Here are my cocoon counts:

Bin #1 โ€“ 13 cocoons
Bin #2 โ€“ 0 cocoons (remember, my worms disappeared early on and I decided to keep it as a comparison bin)
Bin #3 โ€“ 15 cocoons

Temperature down in the basement is still around 17 C (~63 F).

The adult Red Worms in the two worm bins are still looking big and healthy. No sign of juveniles yet.

Food levels were looking pretty low, so I added some frozen kale to all 3 tubs.

It’s important to note that (more…)

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Lonnie’s Outdoor In-Ground Worm Bed

trench-winter

My good friend, and Worm Farming Alliance member, Lonnie Sibley, recently wrote an article describing the in-ground worm bed he built last fall for raising Red Worms.

After seeing the heap of rocks he had to remove from the excavation site, I promise I will never complain again about the one or two field stones I tend to encounter when digging a new vermicomposting trench!

I can honestly say that I’ve never had to use a pick axe to create a worm bed!
๐Ÿ˜†

Lonnie gets some pretty cold winter weather where he lives in Missouri – and he mentions that the top 4-5 inches did freeze. But thanks to (more…)

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Papaya Vermicomposting Update

Quick update on the papaya vermicomposting front. I actually almost forgot about this one (surprise – lol) – but a comment on the first post reminded me to go have a look today.

The papaya is definitely pretty well processed by now – and a LOT more worms seem to be taking an interest in it as well. I have included my Day 0 image below for comparison.


DAY 0

DAY 8


As you can see, (more…)

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Tiny Tub Challenge – 3-02-15

I just got finished checking on my “Tiny Tub Two Worm Challenge” (TTTWC) bins. Things seem to be coming along.

Here are my cocoon counts:

Bin #1 – 7 cocoons
Bin #2 – 0 cocoons (remember, my worms disappeared early on and I decided to keep it as a comparison bin)
Bin #3 – 6 cocoons

Temperatures down in the basement have been hovering around 17 or 18 C (~63/64 F) – so still on the cool side.

The Red Worms in the two worm bins are (more…)

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Dan’s VermBin48 System

Dan Lonowski, a WFA member and owner of the VermBin Plans Package recently shared this video with me.

I am REALLY impressed with his set-up! The bin looks fantastic (puts “The Beast” to shame) – and he is clearly doing a fantastic job with the worms as well.

Of course, I totally appreciate the (unsolicited) plug for the plans package at the end! Dan is just that kind of guy.
๐Ÿ˜Ž

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