Comments on: The Tiny Worm Business With BIG Potential

By: Donna Harrell

Donna Harrell — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 23:43:33 +0000

I am new at this. Just ordered my first batch of worms. I am so enthusiastic as to being newly educated in this field. I needed the worms to catch an armadillo in my yard, but got so caught in this.

By: Thom Westergren

Thom Westergren — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 04:45:15 +0000

I noticed your posts about composting pet waste, but not this particular topic. I use horse bedding as cat litter which results in two by-products, solid waste and urine soaked saw dust. Both of these can be flushed down the toilet, but I’d prefer to turn the sawdust into compost. I always flush the solid waste. The sawdust is flushed or scattered on the yard.

Rather than newspaper or cardboard, what is our experience with sawdust? And do you think the worms will react positively, negatively or be indifferent to the urine?

I’d like to combine the litter with kitchen scraps to eliminate those two waste streams from our house. I’d be grateful to hear your suggestions and precautions. Thanks

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 09:58:15 +0000

Thanks Bentley!

Great article! Havent listened to podcast yet, as it is not quite 5am and all are asleep, put can’t wait. Really glad I couldn’t sleep this morn and found this reading. I am purchasing the course on profit. Financially have been struggling somewhat these past months so with some due diligence, hope to get started on making the two small bins I inherited into something bigger! Crazy, we moved here last spring and discovered a whole carport in back property where they kept horses and now has
“seasoned” manure. I will be out there as soon as this freeze is over. Thanks for all the tips!

Lori

By: roger odil

roger odil — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:31:53 +0000

i dont have a web page but i had aworm fram in corna calif i had one hunder worm bens they wear 4 feet wide an eight long it was on 1\2 of an acer that i rent from a diaer framer i wase ableto get all of his cowmamear i was also able to you his well fore watering my wormes ihad over head watering sytion i you 2 in pv pipe and spinger to do the watering that set on timer i watered the wormes law sprinklear o by the way my beds wear 4 feet high i would averg 20lbs per bed it took me 6 mt to set this all up i didnt make any money out of it fore 6mt ince i staed to work it i was making 2.000.oo amt not clear by no meanes isold my wormeres to acoop by the way redwormes love cow maner i al so had harving machine on agood mt i wold make over 6.000.00 i also sold the post from the beds to people in town bt the pick load 1.50.00 you com get or for 200.00 ide wold deliver over all i would harvest from feb -nov i then do my big harvest infeb then iould go thew and all new beds in as harved each ome and then fill to top with cowmaner cover with hay and jut water fore 3mts thear is a lot more to this fram but icould write but over all ones i got it up and ruiging i made selling wormes and copost iwold make around 70.000.00 ayear but took two yaers 15.000.00 dollers amd alot of weaking to do this and not by my slf eary ino longer have worm fram the farm sold the land to advelper i had five lear on the land that iwas so they had to by me to igot 2hunder thound fore my warm fram dont try to do wat i did in less you get alot of cow manear and get it fore free most daires framer or catale growes wil give t0 you fore free i could frind anoter pice of proty leas so got out of wqrm busise thea worn machines you cam by i will try and find the gy i got mime from nex mt i will have fax machine and i can send you lay out of my fram you dont have to strat out as big as you wat land you and make it work by the way the coop did all the shiping of the worms we take are wormes to they would pay us fore the amount of wornes we but you had to bring at 1,000.00 or more to get paid the sane thre more you had the more you get paid i would youly get 2.500.00 each week thear women that hase ten acaes but se also hase 3 daires frames she get hear cowmaner from in the coop we had 50 frames ln calif you have lot of frams berpes neary was one of bigest custermear they would by 4.000 lb every weak if you want to call and talk to me heares my phone number 541-0280-0124 if you want to talk cowmaner is bets feed fore wormes you can alsu by feed at your local feed store jet tel wat you are feding by by bulk if youcan call me i not a spammer or can i spell hope hear from you

By: Tom Bergstrand

Tom Bergstrand — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:52:34 +0000

Bentley,
I really enjoyed your podcast and have a few thoughts of my own to share. If you remember I am the guy in Arizona that decided to see if reds could survive in a total cow manure enviornment. So far it is really working out well. I have 3 ten gallon plastic bins and am in the process of finishing up a 30 gallon flow through. The bins are half full of compost and really need to be harvested. A rough count (more of a visual accounting) shows that my flow through will be NOT ENOUGH so I will have to reload my 10 gallon bins also.
One thing that I have seriously thought about is something that you eluded to and that was shipping. You recommend that one builds a local market first. GOOD idea. I would think that something as simple as some rose bushes in front of a house that are THRIVING due to vermicompost will surely draw attention. I am building up a supply of VC to brew Compost Tea for my large garden. I have 7 rows of raised beds that total just over 1100 square feet of solid growing area. This will also be a showcase of the benefits of vermiculture. The reason that I am in such support of the tea is that after you brew it you can still re-use the compost along with potting soil. Double duty. Actually that is just for starters since with the tea I can actually practice a “no till” form of growing. No need to churn up the ground and disturb the microbes that are comfy where they are. The downside of the tea is that contrary to what some retailers say the tea is NO GOOD by the end of the day unless added to the soil. I would think that if someone wants to have a good business they will make the tea AND add it to the plants, bushes and gardens of folks that don’t have the wherewithall to do this themselves. They could create a route and serve their customers once a week/month or a one shot in the spring deal. As for having a full time job and doing this. I have a suggestion. 3 part time jobs. Hopefully 2 during the week and a week end gig. There will be time to work the worms (which by the way once you are up and running is NOT a hard job at all) and still make a buck at a job. Once your business starts to produce you could quit one but still have 2 part time gigs to keep making money. Doing better? Drop to one part time job for steady cash and get bigger into worms. Also, 3 part time gigs puts you in contact with 3 times as many people as one job so you can “talk up” your business during breaks and such. Personally I would not try to sell worms of your own since that would slow down your growth. But, to each their own. Tea (to me) seems the best. After all you’re selling WATER. You can apply one liter diluted to 2 liters and cover a lot of rose bushes, veggies etc.. I could really see that a visit and pouring that on where it needs netting at least $10. A five gallon bucket Compost Tea process will make 20 liters which diluted will give 40 “doses”. If you don’t want to knock on doors try to hook up with a local gardener or two. ANY organic gardening company would SURELY be receptive to such a deal. Give a talk at all the local gardening clubs in your area. A florist shop could be a big help. There are many possibilities. Good luck to all that give it a shot.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 21:17:24 +0000

Hi Hector
If the worms themselves froze solid they will have died, but don’t give up on them just yet. I’ve found worms in mostly-frozen material and they were perfectly fine. Also, cocoons are even more tolerant of freezing. So, you may be surprised to find a thriving population once it warms up!

By: Hector Garcia

Hector Garcia — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 18:22:04 +0000

We had a spell of very cold weather here in Oregon and my worm bin media and my worms froze. Will they survive or do I have to start over again. Thank you for your valuable information.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 15:55:35 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, Michelle!
I appreciate you sharing your update as well. I look forward to seeing how things come together for you this year!

I noticed you also emailed me some questions (cool!)- so that should help with the upcoming podcast!
😎

By: Michelle M

Michelle M — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 18:28:59 +0000

Wow, yet another outstanding podcast from our vermi-mentor Bentley! I really love your true blue grassroots approach and I am all for the K.I.S.S method.

Starting a part time business is a challenge especially when trying to balance it with the rest of life such as a full-time job, kids, unexpected events etc. Having realistic goals is a very important point! Your advise on choosing one venue of the vermicomposting/ vermiculture biz and building from there is sound advice and I am speaking from experience. I figured a “total approach” was diversifying and in reality it simply made me tired and cranky haha. However, I like Andy, am in it for the long haul and despite roadblocks keep finding ways around them to move forward.

This year I am slowing things down a bit because I too decided selling worms by the pound was not for me for many reasons – the biggest two were space and the prep involved. I have not totally eliminated it but I am not promoting it either. In September I made the choice to focus solely on the vermicomposting side for 2014 and hit the local farmers markets in the spring. I really love the idea of the red worm mix that really is brilliant! I look forward to the next podcast!

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 12:32:22 +0000

Hi Andy – would you say you are at maximum capacity for the amount of business you are attracting? Or could you handle more business?
What’s funny, is I have ended up “cooling the jets” many times with my “real world” business since I didn’t want it to get SO busy I wouldn’t be able to do anything else.
For many, though, the challenge is rounding up enough business.