June 2019
The $50 Worm Business Start-Up Challenge
I was recently thinking about the low costs associated with starting up a small worm farming business and the title of a book I really enjoyed – “The $100 Start-Up” (by Chris Guillebeau) – popped into my head and got me thinking.
What if someone handed me $100 and said “start up a worm farming business from scratch, and AT LEAST double or triple your money (earn back $200 or$300) within 2 months”.
Kind of a neat idea, but it didn’t take long for me to dismiss it as “too easy”. Even a basic worm re-selling strategy (buying in bulk then sell smaller amounts) could likely yield that sort of ROI.
OK…so what if it was only a $50 budget and I had to AT LEAST quadruple it (make $200) in 2 months?
**For Even More Worm Fun, Sign Up for the RWC E-mail List!**Interview with Mai Ann Healy – Biofiltro
Last month, after stumbling across a fascinating article I had shared on Facebook (several years before) about a winery using some sort of bio-filtration bed containing composting worms, I found myself completely immersed in the topic of “vermi-filtration” – with most of my attention on the work of a company called BioFiltro.
My brain nearly exploded (in a good way – haha), I wrote a blog post on the topic (see “BioFiltro – Vermicomposting Filtration Systems“), and I immediately (more…)
Comfrey Red Worm Diet – 6-14-19
Back at the end of May I wrote about a new bin set up to test the viability of Comfrey as a sole worm food for Red Worms (see “Comfrey as Sole Food Source for Worms“).
[Just as a reminder, when I say “sole food source” it should be assumed that plenty of bedding materials will be added as well to help keep things balanced.]
As you can likely guess, this has been (and will likely continue to be) a very low key experiment. Comfrey can take some time to break down – even when chopped up – and it is not something I just want to keep piling into the bin, due to the nitrogen (and water) content.
Today is just about exactly 3 weeks from the start of the experiment (and nothing was (more…)
Super Simple Vermicomposting Pit Garden
A common misconception people have (touched on in my recent “5 Great Reasons to Use Vermicomposting Trenches & Pits” post) is that these in-ground systems need to be massive, involving days of back-breaking labor.
I really want to hammer home that this is NOT necessarily the case at all! I’ve had a lot of fun with my own epic in-ground system adventures over the years, but it’s important for people to realize there are plenty of much easier options available! These are especially well-suited for those just starting out who want to test out these sorts of approaches without killing themselves (or taking up a lot of time) in the process.
Just for fun – and to illustrate my point – I decided to create a very simple pit garden a few days ago. It was based on one of the ideas I shared in the Trench Vermicomposting course, but not quite as involved (we’ll come back to what I mean by this a bit further along).