http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php Copyright 2012, edwardp edwardp en-US SPHPBLOG 0.5.1 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120514-160620
This patch of taller greener grass is the site of one of my
compost heaps started back in june 2009. The heap was made on top of a pit 1/4 cu meter deep.
I added some material the to this heap in 2010. In 2011 nothing was added. I estimate
the total volume added in 2009-2010 as at least 1 cubic meter of compostable materials, mostly leaves and grass clippings.
All this is reduced to ground level by now. So the reduction rate on this site is roughtly 3/4 of volume in 3 years or 75%.]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120514-160620 edwardp Mon, 14 May 2012 21:06:20 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=05&entry=entry120514-160620 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120506-203603
Last week was rainy, that made many montrealers sad, but not my worms. I disassembled my temporary greenhouse and let rain water to get into the bins. In two days of pretty cold rain the number of worms at surface multiplied several times. Most likely the worms from the depth came to the surface and staid there. They also started to process more food.
Why worms become so active under the rain? Is highly oxygenated rain water the reason? May be rain slowly but steadily moisturizes the bin's contents making it more available for worms?
May be it washes down some products of decomposition making food more attractive for worms?

I also like rains in Spring. I used this opportunity to fill my rain barrels. It's interesting will the stored rain water have the same effect on my worms as the direct rain?]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120506-203603 edwardp Mon, 07 May 2012 01:36:03 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=05&entry=entry120506-203603 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120415-200749
The composting worms are surface dwelling species. This slightly ambiguous picture pretends to show this.
It's possible to see the separation between black compost line and not yet finished material where worms live. ]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120415-200749 edwardp Mon, 16 Apr 2012 01:07:49 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=04&entry=entry120415-200749 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120401-202111
Common ancestor of fish and humans lived around 450 millions years ago, that is not really far by geological measures. So we still share some similarities. For example, our excretions are similar.
That means it can be treated similarly. So an aquaponic system can clean human waste as well. Of course I don't want to put people in a fish tank. I just want to attach a toilet to the tubing. The solids can't go to the water flow, so they should be filtered out by a worm bin. All the rest will get cleaned by bacteria and plants. All the calculations should be similar to calculations for an aquaponic system.
As usually an aquaponic system has huge water losses to evaporation and plants transpiration. I think those losses could be balanced by adding some grey-water from syncs with bio-degradable soap. If not, rain water can be used.]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120401-202111 edwardp Mon, 02 Apr 2012 01:21:11 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=04&entry=entry120401-202111 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120324-074256
Welcome African Nightcrawlers to our Maison de Vers!
Those worms are larger and more active then eisenia fetida so they need more space. Maison de vers should be large enough to accommodate them. I fill the whole first tray with wet bedding of shredded leaves, cardboard and grass clippings. The grass clippings ought to heat up the compost a bit since African nightcrawlers need warmer conditions and I don't have them even indoors.
First thing on arrival is to check worms health. The simple test is the next:
Dump the worms on top of the prepared wet bedding and leave open under sunlight.

In 20 - 30 minutes check if any worms didn't hide in soil. If there are any - they are sick or dead.
In my case everything is OK. All the worms seem to be healthy and active.
The second important concern is what to feed the newcomers. Adult worms are conservative in their diet. So it's better to know what they were fed before to slowly help them to adapt to new food. As a general rule of thumb is that any compost worms will eat pre-composted manure. So dried grass clippings should make some substitute.
The third and last by now is patience and attentiveness. It's important to let the worms alone for a while to calm down their stress, but not miss an important moment to intervene and add more bedding and food.]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120324-074256 edwardp Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:42:56 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=03&entry=entry120324-074256 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120205-184941
As the sun started to get higher, my accumulated compost started to warm up. It warms up faster then expected. So I decided to use a natural frozen coolant - the snow.
Snow seems to be perfect to cool down worm compost. It slowly releases cold water exactly on the most hot spots, thus reducing their temperature and watering dry material at the same time. Worms also like wet environment with slightly moistening water flow.]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120205-184941 edwardp Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:49:41 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=02&entry=entry120205-184941 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120122-192054 Located on the 13th floor of the Concordia Hall building, the greenhouse
feels like a garden of Eden in the heart of the busy city and in the midst
of a snowy winter.

It stretches out across the roof, covering an area of about 5 medium-sized
classrooms.
You can find an atrium, where many herbs are grown to be dried up and used
in tea.
There is a room dedicated for an urban agriculture class (GEOG 398).
Another room contains the aquaponic system, about which I will write in more
detail.
And one more room with the vermicomposting bins.

The greenhouse used to be a high-tech laboratory for the biology department.
Eventually, the department moved to the Loyola campus and a group of
students decided to use the space. This was back in the 70s. A number of
things have changed, as new projects replaced older ones. Right now, the
greenhouse is made of solid glass, has automated air vents, windows that can
be manually opened during the summer for additional ventilation and heating
that is provided by the school. In fact, it gets pretty hot in the summer
and the worms have to be moved to a back room.

The aquaponic system was based on Murray Hallam's
system.
It started with water and micro organisms (i.e. compost tea), to
which was added ammonium, followed by plants (to experiment with the
filtration capacity) and then the fish. The system is consists of a big
metal container in which are placed 6 green recycling boxes. The system is
purposely made in this way in order to enable access to the sludge that
forms in the water. The container is on somewhat of a slant to enhance
draining. A year and a half later, they replaced the rock with clay pellets,
to facilitate access to the plants. The depth of the water in the system has
to be of about 2 inches beneath the surface of the clay pellets. It is made
of 3 components: the crates with the plants, a tall cylindrical container
and a tank for the fish. The water circulates from the plants, passing
through the cylindrical container where micro organisms (and sludge)
accumulates and sinks, to the fish.

There are 2 pumps. A timer regulates water circulation from the plants to
the cylindrical container, turning the water off for a certain hours.
However, the water keeps circulating between the container and the fish for
oxygenation purposes 24/7.

The system is enhanced with iron citrate: a spoonful is added to the system
every 6 months. The water is from the tap, and is often placed on the side
for the chlorine to sink before being added to the system.

The fish are normally fed duckweed. Currently, there is a research
development in the fish's food program. They're trying to feed the fish with
home-made recipes. This is done to reduce cost and enhance food quality

[photo, a corn shoot]. They sometimes feed worms to the fish, but not
so much anymore.]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120122-192054 edwardp Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:20:54 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=01&entry=entry120122-192054 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120122-190159
Winter came just before Christmas. It right away started to compensate for all the ski loses.
The temperature in my poorly insulated greenhouse fast fell under freezing point. The top layers of worm bins got frozen to a depth of 12" - 15". But when I dug under the frozen zone, it was wet and I found many live worms.
Unfortunately exactly for this time my compost supplier stopped its operation for holiday break.
So no warm compost came for 3 weeks in a row.
Now I put the fresh compost on top of the frozen one. I hope then when Spring will come the cold layer will delay, for a short time, compost self heating. This should let worms time to process the fresh compost gradually.]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry120122-190159 edwardp Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:01:59 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=12&m=01&entry=entry120122-190159 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111218-160253
Instead of ski season we have an extended Autumn in Montreal this year. And it seems like a green Christmas is coming. It's hard to say whether these are consequences of global climate change or an unusual fluctuation. I think in a couple of hundreds years this will become more clear.
In any case all of my worms, fish and plants may take advantage of an extended rain water collection season. The rain barrel was empty and packed for winter. I reinstalled it back and temporary redirected rain pipe. It's much easier to collect rain water this way then to melt snow!
Whatever a climate change will bring us, we always may take an advantage of it. Especially when we have our friendly earth worms with us!]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111218-160253 edwardp Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:02:53 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=11&m=12&entry=entry111218-160253 http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111210-180922
Here are some steps to eliminate fruit flies problem in a worm bin.
1. Stop feeding worms with fresh fruits or vegetables for 4 weeks. Boiled veggies, pre-composted food, manure - shortly all that doesn't get sour is OK.
2. Always cover the worm food with ready compost.
3. Keep the bin wet enough, but not too wet.
4. Bait fly traps with a mix of fresh fruit and vegetable scrap - better the same type as your flies hatched on.
5. Add some water into each fly trap to delay bait drying.
6. Put traps on lighted places, usually near a bright window.
7. Empty and recharge the traps each 4 - 5 days. ]]> http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry111210-180922 edwardp Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:09:22 GMT http://www.woodwormfarms.com/blog/comments.php?y=11&m=12&entry=entry111210-180922