Small Scale Worm Farming

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I asked my kids to help me restart a worm habitat for composting red worms also known as “red wrigglers.” The project was so beneficial last year, that after releasing the worms into my garden beds, I knew I would have to do a repeat this year.

To get started I had a pair of matching plastic totes (do not use clear, worms like it dark) that I drilled air holes along the sides, bottom, and one of the tote lids.  The first layer we added was the bedding made of strips of newspaper that were dampened with rain water collected in a bucket. 

worm farmred wriggler farmbedding for worms 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next layer we used was straw. The idea is to alternate green and wet layers with brown and dry layers. The newspaper bedding is considered a brown layer and worms eventually process their bedding along with the other layers.

 

building layers for wormsleaves n thingsworm food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once all layers are in place, top with dampened bedding and a peice of cardboard to help keep everything moist. When the cardboard begins to fall apart, I tear it into smaller chunks and use it as another layer as the worms seem to love it. We added some romaine lettuce and bok choy that had bolted. We placed the lid on the tote with holes in it, and beneath the habitat, we placed two bricks on top the upturned lid without holes. This lid serves as a tray catching any worm “tea” that may drip out.

As the worms eat through and process their habitat, layers will be continually added to the top and the contents will rise and settle many times before the second tote (also with holes drilled in it like the first) is added. When the bottom 1/3 – 1/2 of the tote has been processed, meaning it is nearly all worm castings, the second tote (with bedding and food layers added) can be placed directly on the top layer of the first. The worms will eventually move upward into the second tote in search of food and will leave the bottom tote filled with their nutrient-rich castings. Totes can be continually interchanged this way and worms are said to double in population in this type of environment every 2-3 months.

As a guide worms will eat anything that was once living. This includes:

• Left over vegetable scraps, fruit and vegetable peelings
• Manures (well aged)
• Tea leaves/bags and coffee grounds
• Vacuum cleaner dust or hair clippings (also animal)
• Torn up newspapers, egg and milk or pizza cartons (soaked first)
• Crushed egg shells (these will help with the pH balance)

The greater the variety of material you use, the better the castings will be. AVOID feeding worms citrus peels, onions, anything with grease, oils, meats, or dairy. Also keep in mind that their food will take longer to break down in cooler temperatures and extreme cold temperatures are deadly for worms in small worm habitats above ground. Make plans to bring your worms inside a garage, basement, or heated area that stays above freezing until temps outside are more worm friendly.

I hope you will give it a try. Worm farming makes use of items that would otherwise be wasted and turns them into plant food that turns into people food. You can apply worm castings to your garden beds and even directly to plants to fertilize without the burn effect you get with chemical fertilizers. Worm tea is also a great way to nurish your plants.

Because I let my worms go into my garden beds in early winter, I still had material to work with that had some castings in it. So we covered the castings and organic material with water letting it soak for a couple of hours. Then placed an old window screen with a couple of tears along the edges and used it to cover an empty container and strain out everything but the rich worm tea.

 

 

 

 

 

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The gray tote was nearly full when we finished and it was a wonderful treat for my tomatoes, beans, and other garden plants!

 

Where to buy red worms? There are many reputable sites online that sell red wrigglers by the pound or thousand, but if you have a local commercial farm near you or even a bait shop who will let you buy in bulk cheaper than by the 30 count then do that, please. But if no one near you supplies red worms, most sites selling them will guarantee them and ship within a couple of days.  Have fun and good luck!

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By: admin

Clay City Pottery – Clay Creations, Preserving Local Arts

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Clay City PotteryJust a mile and a half outside of Clay City, KY on Route 11 rests a gift shop owned and operated by Elihue Shepherd and Ruby Means. In it, one can find an amazing assortment of unique handcrafted items and be satisfied they have seen all that Clay City Pottery offers. However, the gift shop is but one nugget of the handcrafted goodness Elihue and Ruby have in store for visitors.

I stopped by for an afternoon with my neighbors at Clay City Pottery and was delighted to meet  with Ruby in the roadside gift shop. There, she gave me a tour of many of their finished works  for sale. Among the items were jars, mugs, jugs, stoneware pitchers, baking dishes, and more. The variety of pieces they make on site was really surprising. But as no surprise, their functional pieces are their top sellers: for example, their bacon cookers and bake ware.  In addition to vast shelves of finished works, the shop has the beginnings of an area dedicated to ceramics classes, which Ruby says they hope to begin before Summer’s end. See Clay City Pottery’s online catalog and updates at www.claycitypottery.net

More than 10,000 molds!

My tour continued with Elihue to the barn which houses their full service ceramic supply shop for ceramic artisans and is also home to some 10,000+ ceramic molds. Elihue says some of their molds are for sale and they are making new molds all the time.  I was excited to learn that among their many molds are a few that belonged to my grandmother who was a ceramic artist and teacher for several years. I have many fond memories of her ceramic shop and the students she taught each week. Such nostalgia makes me look forward to those classes getting started. :) Also in the barn are their four active kilns and three pottery wheels used to fill their online orders seven days a week, the shipping station, and a break area for workers to grab a cold drink or heat up some lunch.

But wait, there’s more!

The loft area of the barn houses an art library and classrooms for their future arts school! Elihue says the school is projected to be open and ready for students by mid 2011. Both he and Ruby have been involved in arts and crafts since childhood and will be teaching the classes offered. Elihue has made pottery since childhood and he is also an inventor, welder, blacksmith, woodworker, sculptor, miller, and makes musical instruments when he isn’t gardening, tending to rental property, or lending his wisdom to local budding entrepreneurs. Elihue was recently asked to demonstrate his pottery craft on a wheel for visitors at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Boonesborough, KY as part of their living history tour. In the ceramic industry over 10 years herself, Ruby has been painting since childhood on all kinds of items, she also sews, quilts, makes old fashioned scented soaps, and scented candles. She serves as a Ceramic Artist Guild Ambassador for Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. I’m hoping I can convince her to teach a class on soaps and candles too. ;)

Mugs, jugs, jars, pitchers, and bake ware.Now all of this was exciting enough for me to find in my neighborhood, but the tour was not over. As Elihue and Ruby’s plans develop, I will return with more information and pictures about the grist mill, water wheel, blacksmith station, and plans for a rug loom. These partners aren’t just selling their wares out on Black Creek Road, but rather they are trying to preserve the crafts of the region. Don’t miss this stop on your way to Mt.Sterling and be assured it is well worth the short drive from the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway exit 16.

Add this blog to your favorites or subscribe and check back often for updates on Clay City Pottery’s class schedule. You can also visit Clay City Pottery’s fan page on Facebook.

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By: admin

Time for a reality check.

Posted: May 2010 in Culture,Economy,Energy,Sustainability
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For several years now the rumor mills of the internet and the economic prophets of our day have preached that there was a day of reckoning ahead for the US and all prosperous nations. Each time the market nose-dived, many of those same experts stood firm that the REAL collapse of our hyperinflated currency is yet to come. As of this writing, bank and corporate bailouts are totalled in trillions, with a “t,” as main street saw nothing substantial in the way of aid for their economic woes. As the following video addresses, corporations and politicians are out of touch with reality and this is not just on a global, national, or regional level. Even local politicians seem to be stearing local communities coducting business as usual while ignoring the severity and scope of the crisis at hand. Chris Martenson offers his Crash Course at chrismartenson.com free of charge. “This series of videos is, I think, the clearest and most straightforward explanation of how our economy, energy systems and environment interact — how we got to where we are today, and some reasonable expectations for the future.” he explains.

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By: admin

Let’s try this again.

Posted: May 2010 in Sustainability
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It has been over a year since this blog has been updated because the author and keeper of the content went to gather some experiences and solid direction before continuing any further. She regrets being gone for so long and has returned even more passionate in her belief that the need to protect small town economies, resources, agriculture, and culture has never been greater. Finally she has stepped out personally and locally to spur change and feels ready to move forward with the mission of this site.

Thank you for your patience.

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By: admin

Help Fight the Corporate Attack on Small Farming

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Part of my garden regimen beginning last year included browsing Granny’s Heirloom Seeds looking for varieties of seeds that were free from any genetic modification or cloning and at the time I hoped the red flag waivers were wrong about the corporate assault on our food supply. Today, I’m thankful I made the decision and have taken further steps to increase the amount of food my family consumes from local sources as well as right here in our garden. The time to act is now to stop legislation that would put even greater favor in the hands of corporations.

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America’s small farmers are under attack through a series of bills presented under the guise of “food safety.” I don’t want to lose my freedom to grow, buy and eat real foods. Let’s fight for our small farmers who not only need our protection and support, but actual freeing from government intrusion, control and harm.

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE & SPREAD THE WORD:

** Contact your representatives AND local newspaper: http://www.usalone.net/cgi-bin/oen.cgi?qnum=7499

** Another easy way to contact your representatives: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

To understand more about Alternative Agriculture and the importance of protecting seed banks and small farmers please have a listen to the following:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A0661B3220AB8134

By the way, my heirloom tomatoes are looking great in my greenhouse made from a plastic covered dog kennel. My husband and I have agreed we want to do a little worm farming. He wants to farm night crawlers and redworms to sell as bait. I want the rich compost and productive means of ridding of my veggie and lawn waste. Selling wiggling things sounds like a good route to go to add something more to our cottage industry plans.

Make a stand – plant a seed.

Thanks for stopping by the site, please feel free to share any helpful information you find here with your friends and contacts. Be the change you want to see. :)

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By: admin

A Green Recovery?

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I was just reading through a report by the Center for American Progress about their plan for economic recovery that will create green jobs. It is a lengthy read but offers some insight to ideas being considered on a large scale and the pros thereof.  http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/pdf/green_recovery.pdf

The small 1 1/2 acre domain that is ours has a green recovery plan in progress that will create at least one paying job for now. We’re working on gathering the funds and materials to build our first hoop house greenhouse in the next week or so to sell plants and eventually vegetables and herbs, dried herbs, flowers, landscaping green, and maybe even some trees, who knows? We have excellent road frontage and a rental property next door sitting empty with steady traffic as well as tourist traffic heading to the Daniel Boone National Forest, and it just seems a shame to let my green thumb bless only my four and no more! Especially when natural and organic products are all the rage. I can grow my own wealth and health!

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I searched all over the net for free blueprints and plans for greenhouses, but nearly everyone wants to get paid for information these days. Finally I found some free plans here http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/postharv/green/small_greenhouse.pdf where you can build a 12 X 14 hoop house for around $100. I have to give this a shot and then take what I learn to folks who want to be more backyard sustainable but can’t afford the cost of a standard greenhouse. What I like the most about this design is that it is so versatile and can be used directly over garden rows (even on a smaller scale than the plans) throughout the winter to continue harvesting greens and cabbage.

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With our system, one greenhouse won’t be enough to produce the amount of plants I want to grow and have for sale so we have selected a spot in our yard where we can build another, and are considering turning an old mobile home frame into one as well. Currently the structure is being used for storage and we believe it will be a simple conversion where we can also set up a rain collection system and eventually solar power as part of our sustainability project. It is sitting in the ideal location in our yard for full day sun and recycling the aluminum siding may just help pay for this project and I’m always on the lookout of excess building materials and postings on my local Freecycle boards for people giving materials away.

We have our work cut out for us and without our truck running, there is no way to haul anything. Hopefully ours will be running and road-worthy by the weekend. Say a prayer for us, we need a break in the worst way.

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By: admin

DIY Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Windmill

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Simple and step by step instructions on how to build a vertical axis wind turbine windmill for an alternative power source for your home from one of my new favorite video bloggers, Dan and Denise Rojas from Green Power Science.

Be sure and check out their official website too for more information about solar, wind, cooking, water purification, and heat collection. You will also find shopping information for green energy products.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=85BDE77BE89B3F51
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Owingsville, Kentucky

Posted: February 2009 in Owingsville - Tags: , , , ,
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Owingsville Post Office Owingsville, Kentucky

Owingsville Post Office Owingsville, Kentucky

Owingsville, KY WIKI Information

Official Owingsville Webpage

Bath County Government Page

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By: admin

Mt. Sterling, Kentucky

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ms3

Montgomery County Courthouse, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky


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Main Street, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky

Mt.Sterling WIKI Information

Mt.Sterling Business Pages

Montgomery County Government Pages

Montgomery County KY Freecycle

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By: admin

Farmers, Kentucky

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farmers

US Post Office Sign at Farmers, Kentucky

All about Farmers, Kentucky

Rowan County Information

Morehead FreeCycle

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By: admin