Worm Farming: Everything You Need to Know To Setting up a Successful Worm Farm

By: Brian Grant

Published by:

Brian Grant and Random Technologies

4409 HOFFNER AVENUE, SUITE 347

Belle Isle, FL 32812

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Composting

A Word on Vermicomposting

Getting Started Worm Farming – What You Will Need

Types of Worms for Farming

Deciding on a Layout for your Worm Farm

Feeding

Common Issues with Worm Farms

Keeping your Worm Numbers in Check

Running a Successful Worm Farm

The Worm Farming Business

Conclusions

Bonus: Additional Uses of Compost

INTRODUCTION

Why Should You Grow a Worm Farm?

People don't tend to spend a lot of time thinking about worms. Other than the occasional surprise sighting when you turn over a rock, the animal is largely ignored, a fact which is surprisingly counterproductive in a time when people tend to be so concerned about the environment.

How do worms relate to the environment? Much like the pollination process of bees, worms naturally help plants growth by fertilizing the earth around them. The problem is that, because they are so ignored, they are dying off as a species without anyone noticing. Farmers using pesticides to protect their plants think little of the harmful chemical death they're causing to nature's natural helper.

The solution to this is worm farms. Worm farms enable us to help the species thrive, offer a new form of hobby, and even take care of your tackle box (free bait, anyone?). Worm farming can be done in a home or in an apartment because of the little space that it takes up – something that can't be said for a lot of natural farming.

The Benefits of Worm Farming

- Free fishing bait

- Source of food for birds and chickens, fish

- Natural fertilizers for your garden

- Worms foster the creation of very rich potting soil (composting)

- A fun hobby

- A way to learn about the environment

People don't often think of this, but you can actually have a lot of fun taking care of worms and helping them to thrive. You can actually save money by starting a worm farm by using the worms as free bait for yourself, using the worms as natural fertilizers for your plants, and even potentially starting your own business with your worm farm!

In a society that is growing so concerned about the environment, worm farming is a great way to teach both you and your children about it. From learning about effective waste disposal, to understanding how to cleanse soil through composting, worm farming opens the door to discussing many aspects of the environment. What's even better about this? All of this learning will be done while you actually assist Mother Nature in caring for some of her most productive little creatures.

Of course, even if you're only in it for the fun of it, worm farming provides a nature based activity for you to enjoy after work.

The bottom line here really is that worm farming has a lot of benefits, can be done no matter where you live, and is an extremely affordable idea to get started with. So let's talk about how you can get started.

COMPOSTING

Composting is a great way to turn natural waste into fertilized soil. The term natural waste refers to things like excess or scrap fruits and veggies. If you put these pieces of 'waste' into your worm farm, the worms will eat the waste and convert it to fertilizer. This fertilizer can easily be used to grow even more food, creating a symbiotic cycle of composting and growth.

What You Need To Know About the Composting Process

- Compost is an active pesticide, and cleanser of chemicals. The soil you get from composting will be toxin free!

- Compost should regularly be turned over, allowing it the opportunity to aerate. Aeration aids the compost in breaking down, as it exposes the compost to oxygen – a key component to the breakdown process.

- Have a healthy balance of carbon and nitrogen to keep your compost pile balanced

- Similarly, you need to keep your compost in the happy medium between dry and dripping... What am I saying here? You need to keep your compost pile damp, but not to the point of needing regular excess drainage.

How Often Can You Compost With the Worm Farm

The wonderful thing about the composting process is that the worms will get around to taking care of the scraps eventually, so you can compost either weekly or daily – depending on how much you have to get done. Do see the chapter on feeding the worms to understand the timing of this process, but overall you can compost frequently or not.

A Word on Vermicomposting

Vermicompost is a term given to describe red worm compost products. It is the most nutrient rich fertilizer made from compost that is available, and it is wholly organic.

How Do You Produce Vermicompost?

If you are looking to get into vermicomposting, be sure to select red worms for your worm farm – as the red wiggler is the only species to produce vermicompost. Also ensure that the worm farm has sufficient levels of moisture, again which would be moist but not dripping or requiring excess drainage.

Advantages of Vermicompost

- It adds variety into the way in which the soil looks

- The soil produced will be packed with extra nutrients

- The redworms (the only type of worm who can make vermicompost) castings will contain a mucus that add an extra layer of protection to the nutrients within the soil

Why is Vermicompost So Great?

Vermicompost contains microbial organisms that help break down extra nutrients in the soil, nutrients that will have an added layer of protection from your red wigglers mucus. This mucus is delivered via the castings of the red wiggler, and functions as a protector against watering and other seasonal decayers of nutrients.

Vermicompost does its job so effectively that if you throw kitchen scraps into this type of worm farm, you will occasionally get a natural yield from some of the seeds still left in those scraps!

This potency continues both in soil form, and if you use vermicompost to produce worm tea. This 'tea' can be steeped for anywhere from a few hours to a few days, and is then an extremely potent liquid fertilizer. These are just a few of the reasons why vermicomposting is a great idea for worm farmers.

Helpful Hint: Red worms tend to do some of their best soil producing work with a combination of manure, tomatoes, eggplants, and other kitchen scraps.

Getting Started Worm Farming - What You Will Need

- Worms (earthworms or red worms will suffice)

- Bedding for the worms (this can come from cardboard, newspaper, or even a store-bought kind)*

*Bedding is especially critical for worms because it is where they draw their nourishment from. It needs to be one of the listed supplies (or hay, burlap, sawdust, or aged and dried manure leaves) and it must be set up loosely enough that the worms can move throughout the bedding.

NOTE: For safest effects when using recycled paper avoid glossy paper, wax paper, and copy paper (the kind you often get in junk mail), as these types of paper can contain substances that will harm your worms ability to help with the compost.

- Housing for the worms – specifically a wooden or plastic container**

**Certain people have recommended only metal containers, but metal tends to act as compost contaminators, which can destroy your worm farm, so we do not recommend it.

- Organic waste - vegetable scraps, tea bags, egg cartons, etc.***

***Please do not use animal waste with your worms, as it may contain germs and other pest like substances that can harm your worms.

A lot of the initial start-up costs of worm farming can be eliminated by using supplies from home. Let's look at bedding. Worm bedding can be straw, compost, or even newspaper, torn up into one or two inch damp pieces. The cost of these materials is probably just the time it will take for you to grab the recycling container! Another example of this comes from housing, you can purchase an already prepared worm farm container, or you can make your own by drilling a few holes in a see through plastic container.

Why A See-Through Container? So That You Can Fully Enjoy Seeing Your New Little Friends Of Course!

Do keep in mind that you will want at least two good worm containers, one for the worms to live in and the other for your worm castings that occur.

How Much Space Do You Need?

One of the main benefits of worm farming is that you actually don't need a lot of space to do it. You can even worm farm in an apartment, so long as you have the space for the containers. How those containers are to be laid out will be discussed in a later chapter, but the bottom line is that worm farming does not take up a lot of space.

Types of Worms for Farming

Before you begin worm farming, you will need to select the type of worms you will use. Worm farmers traditionally choose between earthworms, nightcrawlers, and red wigglers (aka red worms). This guide will move forward discussing worm farming with respect to red worms and nightcrawlers, because of the belief that these tend to be easier to obtain and to work with.

Helpful Hint: You can pick up red wigglers online or at bait shops.

So what makes red worms and nightcrawlers so great? Consider the following facts about each:

- Earthworms are generally considered inferior at composting when compared to red worms and nightcrawlers.

- Nightcrawlers are some of the best bait available

- Red worms are best known for the ease with which they reproduce, even in the face of varying temperatures and being in an enclosed space.

- Both nightcrawlers and red worms can be released into gardens, where they will happily continue to fertilize the soil and thrive.

- Red worms and nightcrawlers are both relatively easy to obtain because they can be obtained at the egg stage.

To a certain extent, choosing the type of worm for your farm will depend on the purpose for your worm farming. If you're looking to raise fish bait, nightcrawlers may be best, and if you're looking to turn it into a hobby, consider red worms for your best chance of success. The 'best choice' is ultimately the one which helps you to further your purpose – of gaining fish bait, of farming for business, or just of enjoyment of worms.

Deciding on a Layout for your Worm Farm

There are a few different ways to lay out your worm farm, dependent on preference. Worm farms vary in size, often depending on their purpose. For example, people who run worm farm businesses usually work with a windrow based set up, a layout wherein the worm farm is a series of rows. In contrast to this, a smaller worm farm (perhaps set up as a hobby) may work in a space as small as a cupboard. The design you select is dependent on purpose for your farm, supplies available at hand, and personal preference.

Helpful Hint: While some people worm farm on concrete, this is unnecessary, setting it up on regular ground or a dirt floor should work just as well!

So what are the guidelines for establishing a worm farm?

- All storage of worm farms should occur only in dark spaces, worms fertilize best in darker spaces. If the room you are storing the worms in is bright, invest in a cover.

- Kitchens and basements make ideal spaces for worm farms.

- Look for a space that can house a container, whether under your kitchen sink or down in your basement, make sure you find a place the worms can stay (and not be regularly moved).

- If you're struggling to figure out what design you'd like to use for your worm farm, consider one that is premade.

Whether you'll be starting a worm farming business or just going into it as a new hobby, considering the layout in advance can help your worms to produce efficiently – by giving them the space they need laid out in a way that's convenient for you.

Worm Farm Layouts

For a small setup...

Vertically Divided Layout – In this set up the trays within the bins are set up one on top of the other, where you fill the trays from bottom to top.

Looks like:

- Organic supplies

- Bedding (done thickly)

- Worms

- Worms and compost

Benefits of this layout:

- It's easy to pull out tray by tray for harvesting

- The worms can move between layers to make composting even more efficient.

Horizontally Divided Layout – As the name implies, this method has the trays laid out horizontally as opposed to vertically. The bin is also divided in half with chicken wire, filling one half with the bedding for the worms and organic supplies, and the other side containing food.

Benefits of this layout:

- You can harvest compost more often (for example when the trays get half full instead of waiting for it to be full).

Non-Divided Layout – This layout involves the bin remaining undivided.

Looks like:

- Extra bedding

- Liner of bedding

- Worms, organic supplies and compost

Benefits of this layout:

- Takes up the least amount of room

Note about This Layout: Because the bin is not divided, you will always have to empty out the entire thing every time you need to collect supplies or castings.

For A Big Setup...

Please keep in mind that larger scale worm layout designs are generally most useful to those who are looking to make a business out of worm farming. That being said, we will discuss two popular methods for large scale worm farming.

Raised Worm Bed – In this set up, there are layers within the container, each with a separate purpose for taking care of worms.

Looks like:

- 1 inch Layer for feeding

- Mesh screen for bedding and to make casting collection easier

Benefits of this layout:

- No need for separating of worms and castings

- Functions especially well in warm climates

Windrows – In this set up, the bin is set up in rows, each with a separate purpose for taking care of the worms.

Looks like:

- Feeding section

- Bedding section

- Castings section

Benefits of this layout:

- Easy to clean without having to remove the worms

- Castings are simple to remove as they have their own section

- The most popular big scale worm farm layout

A Word about Air

Signs of improper air flow:

- Unexpected death of worms occurring

- Odour being given off from the bins

Special Note on Air Flow for all Layouts: If you find your containers seem to be suffocating, attempt to create holes within the bins to allow better flow.

No matter what layout you decide on, the key to developing a worm farm layout is to make sure of two things: that it is as easy as possible for you to care for the worms, and that the worms have everything that they need (food, bedding, moisture, and air).

Of course there will be times when you need to make adjustments, the key is to work to recognize where those adjustments need to be made. Specifically, on top of providing food and bedding, you must always be checking to ensure that the worms are getting the right amount of air and moisture. If you do not provide these things as well as the food and bedding, the whole process will be a waste.

Things You Can Do To Adjust the Levels of Moisture and Air

On that note, let us consider some of the common ways that you can ensure your worms are being properly cared for:

- Make extra holes in the container to promote better air flow, or to enable adequate drainage of moisture

- Regularly sprinkle water over the areas that are lacking in moisture (to promote adequate levels of moisture)

- Keep an eye on the temperature! Worms thrive between 55 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything above or below risks the health of your worms.

Please feel free to turn back to this chapter any time you need a refresher on the different layouts, or even when you're planning the one you want.

Feeding

What Do They Eat?

Now that you have a set up for your worms to live in, we will get into some of their basic care – feeding. Worms can eat almost anything, as they are great composters. Below is a list of the only items that you need to be careful with when feeding your worms. If you avoid adding these things to the mix, leftover scraps from your table should do just fine for keeping your worms sustained.

Foods to avoid

- Animal by-products or meat

- Grains when possible

- Oily or fatty foods

- Spices

- Anything that has come into contact with pesticide (this includes grass)

There are two main reasons to avoid the foods listed above: contaminants and imbalances. The foods above are all either carriers of contaminants (animal by-products/meat), or they tend to tamper with the digestive system of your worms. For some of the foods, like spices, this is just a feature of the worms digestive tract. For others, like grains, this is because the grains soak up moisture the worms need from their home.

A Note about Dry Scraps

When feeding your worms, if you tend to use a lot of dryer foods (bread, cereal, mouldy products), don't forget to monitor the moisture levels of your worms. Dryer foods will absorb some of the existing moisture, and will thus upset the balance of your container. If they are dampened before being given for consumption, this can counteract the drying effects.

If you find you are having trouble controlling the moisture, try soaking the scraps before placing them in the container, or padding it with bedding if it is too moist. The key with food, as with a lot surrounding worms, is balance.

A Balanced Diet is the Best Diet

We have already discussed the possibility of feeding your worms with the scraps of food you have left after a meal. This is true and will work, but only when carefully balanced with shredded paper. The reason for this mixing is because shredded paper is high in carbon, and leftover scraps are high in nitrogen.

Worms require a balanced diet of carbon and nitrogen. Interestingly, too many food scraps results in an imbalanced diet and can harm the worms more than not feeding them at all. This is because too much nitrogen can result in an acid that can kill off your worms. As a result, you need the balance of shredded paper and food scraps.

Recall: You must not include any scraps that have come from an animal. Animal products are some of the primary carriers of bacteria and contaminants that can harm your worms, so mind this law when feeding your worms or you risk their health.

Preparing Food for the Worms

In terms of how to prepare the food itself, there isn't much to be done. You can shred the paper to make it easier to consume, and chopping up your scraps is an option that will speed up the composting process. The main thing is to provide the balance of carbon and nitrogen, and to monitor its effects on your worms to make sure you've done so correctly.

Feeding Your Worms

There are two primary worm feeding methods that will be discussed in this guide, top and pocket feedings.

Top Feeding

Top feeding is the term given to describe the feeding procedure wherein you lay the food on top of the worm's bedding to await consumption, and then add an extra layer of bedding.

Pocket Feeding

Pocket feeding, as the name suggests, involves stowing the food in little sections of bedding (wherein it can shift and become more buried or consumed). The food pockets are then covered with extra bedding, and the whole worm home is rotated semi-regularly to ensure that each pocket gets consumed.

So which is better, top or pocket feeding? The truth is, both. By that I don't mean each has its own disadvantages and advantages, I actually mean experts recommend using both. Top feeding, while effective, benefits from the rotation of pocket feeding to prevent the attraction of fruit flies to the container.

How Often Should Worms Be Fed?

Worms should only be fed when the last feeding is completed/has been broken down. This is because worms are particularly gluttonous, they tend to eat several times their body weight if you let them. This puts worms at risk for overfeeding, so to avoid this, worms should only be fed once their old food is gone.

A Note about New Worms: Despite needing to carefully monitor when your worms food is done, you should also be watching for new little mouths to feed. Worms reproduce regularly (every few months), and you need to make sure you are providing for all of the worms in your container.

How Does This Fit Into My Vermicomposting Plan?

If you are intending to vermicompost, you can harvest the results regularly when you notice the food that you have put in has largely been consumed. The way that you collect vermicompost depends on your earlier decisions made, but there are different ways to do it.

Conclusions

- Worms need a balanced diet composed of nitrogen and carbon, this can be achieved by mixing shredded paper and leftover food scraps.

- When feeding worms scraps, avoid the foods listed above, and monitor your worms moisture levels to ensure that the food you have put in has not tampered with it.

- Only feed worms once they've eaten the food they've already been given, to avoid allowing them to overindulge.

- Monitor how many worms are in your farm at any given point, so that you will know when you need to start feeding more or less!

Common Issues with Worm Farms

It is completely natural for issues to arise from time to time on a worm farm. The best way to handle them is to stay on top of them, by monitoring them as they occur. This chapter will discuss some of the most common issues you may notice with your worms, and how to handle them.

If Your Soil Is Acidic

If the acid balance within your worm farm gets imbalanced, you will find a lot of suffering amongst your worms. To regulate acid levels, add water and lime to reduce or more food scraps to increase levels.

Bugs

Insects, pests, irritants, they go by many names – but if you find them in your worm farm you are having a problem.

How You Know When You Have Bugs

You will know you have bugs when you start to notice them inside the container. Pay attention to what type of bug you are seeing (small fly, big fly, ants, etc.), as this will come in handy when determining your course of action later.

Ways to Prevent Bugs

- Ensuring you close your container lid properly

- Feed carefully, ensuring you are not over feeding or drying out the soil inadvertently

- Monitoring the moisture levels of your worm farm

What to do once you have Bugs in the Farm

Once you notice bugs, your course of action depends on the type of bug you have seen.

If you are seeing ants... the soil does not contain enough moisture. Monitor your moisture levels more closely, and drop some extra moisture in to assist. You can also move the container to a location that's more difficult for the ants to access, or coat the siding of the farm in Vaseline to make it difficult for them to crawl up and in.

If you are seeing maggots... you have likely strayed from the safe to feed list. Soak a piece of bread in some milk and place it into the worm farm as a maggot trap. Going forward, ensure that you are feeding no animal products or meat to your worms – as this problem will repeat itself.

If you are seeing vinegar flies... you are likely simply providing an excess of food. Ensure you monitor your worms' consumption more carefully to determine the correct amount, but temporarily reducing how often you feed them or how much can go a long way with this problem.

Drainage

If you are having problems keeping water draining, poke a few extra holes in the bottom of the container, as well as adding extra cardboard or paper to soak up the existing moisture.

Runaway Worms

If your worms are frequently attempting to get out of the container, examine the worm's environment. Something is lacking or exceeding the balance, or else the worms would want to stay.

Check your moisture levels, provide some fresh air, your temperature, and that your worms are getting enough food. Act according to whichever imbalances you find, and you shouldn't have many more problems with worms attempting to escape.

Remember: worms need air, moisture, food, and bedding!

Smell

If you are having issues with the odour of your worm farm, add some extra paper.

Temperature

To ensure that your worms are able to regulate temperature, provide them extra time in the shade. If the problem persists, feel free to use a Hessian cloth.

Conclusions

It is totally natural to run into issues with your worm farm, particularly if this is your first undertaking of the hobby. The key is to monitor your farm closely enough that you can tell when there is an issue, and work to correct it as soon as possible. This will keep your worms healthy, and your farm producing!

Keeping your Worm Numbers in Check

Worms reproduce fairly regularly. This will continue so long as you support the existing population. The way you do this? Keep track of the numbers of worms in your worm farm, and add food and bedding accordingly.

Why would you want more worms? The more worms you have, the more castings you will get, which results in more fertile soil. This is because castings contribute to moisture flowing through the soil, increasing the fertilization. So many people encourage their worm population to keep growing to get more fertile soil

A Note about Castings: When you have extra worms and extra castings, you will need to be harvesting the compost sooner to prevent the castings from turning the worms environment toxic.

I remind you, worms all have the same basic needs, food, bedding, moisture and air. So long as you keep these things in check as the worm population increases, it will continue to do so. More worms means better soil, and even longer worm life span, so long as you're taking care of their food, bedding, and space needs.

Running a Successful Worm Farm

Worm farming is a great way to help the environment, enrich your soil naturally, and a fun way to pass the time. You are effectively setting up a system that will fertilize your plants for a very low cost, and doing so completely organically. On top of the obvious benefits, it's also a great way to get yourself into composting. This will cut down on your garbage output and allow you to not have to spend on sustaining the worms. This is a hobby that will save you money, help the environment, and be fun all at once.

This chapter will review some of the tips we have discussed to keep a worm farm running successfully.

Tips for a Successful Worm Farm:

- Always make sure your farm is set up before putting the worms in with all that they will need to remain healthy and producing

- Feed the worms regularly, but do not overfeed.

- Leftover scraps should be buried within bedding, and then covered with another layer of bedding, for best chance of consumption.

- Make sure you have adequate moisture, adding more bedding if you have too much and more holes to the container if the drainage is too little.

- Frequently check in on and monitor the condition of the farm, paying special attention to cues that something could need adjusting.

- Pay attention to new worms, adjusting your food output and bedding as necessary. If there are too many worms for the container you have, consider creating another worm farm set up to enable you to house the additional worms. No one ever said you couldn't expand!

- Harvest half of the castings at once, to enable the remaining half to continue enriching the soil as worm castings are completely organic and a natural fertilizer.

- Harvest excess worms for breeding or sales to suppliers in the area.

- Get your kids involved in the process for some family fun!

By taking these tips into account, along with the information provided in this guide, you're setting yourself up for success.

The Worm Farming Business

The tips in this guide have already taken you up to the point of having a very successful worm farm. So what now? This chapter will explore the possibility of turning worm farming into a business, rather than the enjoyable hobby it already is.

The great thing about the worm farming business is that it can be done part time. Worms do not take up your whole 9-5 day to care for them, but they can add profits to your life all the same. Now, this does not mean that the process of caring for worms should be taken lightly, as you already know there are things that can go wrong, but it is an advantage when someone takes the time to do their research (as you have started already!).

What will you need to go into Business?

- Adequate supplies – this means everything from food to bedding to where you will house the worms. You need to ensure you have what it takes to keep your worms healthy and producing before attempting to turn them into a business venture.

- Adequate knowledge – Are you familiar with vermicomposting? Do you know what to do if you get bugs? What are the advantages here that you can monetize? Taking the time to ask these questions before you go into business saves yourself a lot of stress for later.

- Adequate experience – If this is your first time worm farming I do not recommend instantly trying to launch a business. Enjoy your new hobby for a moment, take the time to see how you end up performing and if it's something you enjoy. If you do decide to turn this into a business, you need enough experience in the field to convince customers of your expertise.

- Some level of marketing skill – When all is said and done, you can be a great worm farmer with no success in business. Make sure you have a plan to attract customers, and that plan should include advertising. We will talk more about this below.

- Room for expansion – Finally, you need to have space for the added worms and supplies that you will need. This could mean going bigger scale and looking into connecting with other suppliers in the area, or it could just mean sectioning off your garage for the venture. The point is, you need to have space as well as supplies and experience, or this will not end well.

Finally, you will also need to investigate your local regulations on what you need to open a business in terms of licensing, experiential or educational requirements, and registration. This varies from region to region, so it requires research on your part.

Some Notes about Advertising

Advertising can be as simple as word of mouth, or a flyer in the paper, but it can get more complicated. Think about how much you want to invest before you go into business, to save yourself the financial stress later of trying to figure it out on the go.

Let's consider the forms of advertising available:

- Commercials – This can be done whether on radio or just in the newspaper, but be aware that this is one of the more expensive forms of advertising.

- Flyers – Cost effective, however requires planning in advance. How will you distribute the flyers? You certainly don't want to be stuck jamming them under windshield wipers – what if you break some one's windshield and end up with a bill rather than a customer? No, flyer distribution is better accomplished via local grocery stores, discount stores, and community bulletin boards. These are places that people come to check out flyers and look for information. Make sure to consult the owners before you undertake this, but this is the best way to use flyers to your advantage.

- Customer loyalty or referral programs – These are becoming increasingly popular and keep people coming back to you, and wanting to talk about it. While they may only get a small discount for their referral or repeated business, it's a discount no one else offered.

- Signs – Simple, but elegant. Consider making a sign for outside of your business, one that is big enough to attract attention and colourful enough to look professional.

- Word of mouth – The cheapest and often most effective form of advertising. If you know people to get the word to, this is the most cost effective way to advertise your business. Highly recommended, though should not be your only source of advertising.

- Education – How about teaching others about your hobby? Head down to the local library and offer to deliver a seminar, or draw up information on a website that offers help to potential worm farmers. This is another way to get word of mouth involved, but it also has the added benefit of allowing you to talk about your newfound hobby and business with people who are already interested!

The main thing to understand with regards to advertising is that although it will cost you some money, it will gain you clients. Every business has to put up with this expense, and you would do well to consider it before going into business to make sure that this is what you really want.

Conclusions

The worm farming business isn't for everyone, and it should not be undertaken in your first attempts at worm farming, but can be extremely rewarding if you decide it's for you. Take the time to map out your budget, do your research into community regulations on businesses, and you will be well on your way to doing things right.

Conclusions

So you've decided to undertake worm farming, and you've completed this book. Congratulations! You are well on your way to developing an efficient and environmentally friendly hobby, one that even your wallet will thank you for!

Summary of the benefits of worm farming

- The soil that is produced is among the most nutrient rich available

- You produce completely organic fertilizer, at practically no cost to you

- It's a great way to get into composting

Remember the tips that we have provided in this book. Don't be afraid to look back and review as you're planning and running your worm farm. And remember that as much good as worm farming does, it's also a great opportunity for fun!

Bonus: Additional Uses for Compost

We have already talked at length about some of the reasons we advocate composting. Composting is great for soil, great for the environment, and your worms do it easily. But did you know that composting has other uses as well? This chapter is going to go over some of the added ways compost can be used to benefit you.

Being Environmentally Friendly

The process of composting breaks down a lot of materials that would otherwise clog up your garbage and ultimately a landfill. Composting breaks down things like coffee grounds, egg shells, and even bigger objects like egg cartons, with an impressive ease that would make any trash compactor jealous. Using composting as a method to help the environment, by lessening your family's waste output, is a wonderful use of compost.

Tea (Non edible)

Don't panic, I'm not about to tell you to drink compost water. But the truth is, in addition to being used as a great fertilizer, compost can be used to make composting 'tea' for your plants – to only enhance its fertilizing effects.

Step 1) Take a pile of compost, partially done and completed.

Step 2) Place your pile in a small-medium sized bag (one that you can lift at any moment).

Step 3) Place the bag within a container with some water. Leave alone for 3 days.

Step 4) As the water browns, add more water. This water will look like tea, and be your finished product.

Step 5) Pour over your plants to enhance growth.

Step 6) Maintain your pile of compost as fresh. You will know you are done making 'tea' from a particular bag when the water does not change colour to the same darkened hue.

This mixture is a great addition to any household or garden plant, and is almost as nutrient rich as the compost itself. The added bonus here is that you can use the same bag to make 'tea' repeatedly (until it no longer darkens the water).

Gardening

The primary benefit of composting is that it's great for your soil. This is for many reasons, but primarily for drainage and nutrients.

- Compost is also extremely high in nutrients, which can only serve to aid your plants in growing.

- Because compost has already been broken down, moisture absorbs especially well in it, promoting proper drainage for your plants with ease.

Using compost for your garden is a logical 'next step' in the composting process.

How to Compost

We've discussed the benefits at length, and hopefully you're seeing the upsides here. So let's take a moment and describe how to compost, even separate from worm farms.

Step 1) Create a pile of compost that has already been broken down in a covered area where the elements will not make use of it.

Step 2) Add more leftover scraps periodically, until they are broken down. You can tell something is broken down when you no longer see it, as completed compost is generally at the bottom of the pile rather than the top where it was placed.

Step 3) Use a shovel as necessary to continually pack the compost together with the currently decomposing items, this only serves to promote the composting process, and makes it easy for you to rotate the compost when items are having a hard time breaking down.

That's it, it's just that simple. Feel free to start to enjoy the benefits of compost today!