If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ll likely have seen plenty of references to what I call “living material” – but perhaps you haven’t been quite sure what I’m referring to.
I put together the Living Material Guide back in 2015 (hoping to update fairly soon, as I type this in fall of 2019), and I’m happy to report that I now have a (reasonably brief) video lesson on the topic as well!
The basic idea is that living materials are stable, beneficial-microbe-loaded materials – often quite readily available – that can greatly help with the vermicomposting process.
People often forget just how important a role micro-organisms (and to a lesser extent, other macro-organisms) play in the process. When you greatly boost their abundance – along with humus-rich materials – you are going to end up with a system that much more closely mimics what would happen in a natural, balanced habitat like an old aged heap of horse manure.
In contrast, home worm bins – especially fairly new ones started by inexperienced vermicomposters – are often out of balance. Initially they can be pretty sterile, and things like overfeeding and poor air flow can lead to all manners of hassles and headaches. The addition of living materials, alone, can greatly help you avoid a lot of this – kind of like a microbial security blanket that compensates for your “mistakes”! lol
Hope you find the video helpful – and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts below.
Stay tuned for Part II, where I will look at different ways to use LMs and explain the difference between “primary living materials” and “secondary living materials”.
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Awesome video Bentley. Can’t wait for part 2