WORM RESCUE MISSION

This morning when I went out to check on the worms, the temp outiside was 27 degrees F. This is no big deal for worms. But when I lifted the lid of the hot tub, the steam rolled out!

Ok I am a pro at compost...or so I thought. I know it heats up. Well heat up it did and this is not good for the worms.

But I had to wait all day til I got done with worm and cubscouts.

J came to spend the night with me and he helped me fix up an alternative "worm condo".

Blue rubber maid box with old shipping paper, chicken food, wet news print etc.




I don't know how many I lost if any but I feel that I saved most of them. For now until the compost cools a little, they will live the life of elite worms indoors.

THROBBING BRAIN

Yes my 2 pounds of worms actually looked like a throbbing rolling brain the size of a human brain.

Ok this might be more than you wanted to know but it makes me smile.

:)

HOMEMADE ORANGE OIL AND WORM FOOD

Because it is not good to put citrus peels into your vermicomposter, I found a better way to use them.

An organic fire ant control is made from worm castings tea, mixed with molassas and orange oil. I will be experimenting with this.

The idea is that the orange oil disolves the exoskeleton of the fire ant, the compost tea provides the microorganisms which will invade the bodies of the ant and the molassas feeds the microorganisms.



I will be staking out 100 sf sections of my field to expriment with this and will document the results.

I have been saving all of my bills for the past two years with the plans of finding a different method of doing away with them than sending my private information to the land fill.



I tried burning them but the wind carries the burning pieces of paper away and are a fire hazard. So I spent an hour today hand shredding about half of it into worm food. This will be an ongoing way to utilize junk mail and sensitive paperwork.

***UPDATE*** John and I stopped at a bait shop and purchased a dozen fishing worms for $4. The first box was all dead and rotten. The second had 1 dead worm but the rest were alive. this species is rather thick and short. Not a night crawler but somewhere between a red wiggler and a night crawler. I added them to the worm farm to see if they would survive. The label said they were from Canada! Why would people from TX ship worms from Canada!

SNOWS MELTING: WORMWORK BEGINS

My helper is very strong. He is also very excited about the worm farm and when he and I put our heads together we come up with some great ideas.

After we work, we always eat at my favorite place in Royse City called the Hot Rod Cafe. At dinner tonight we were drawing out ideas for the logo! When our server came to the table, I got an idea. I asked her if they got their pickles in food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids. She said they did. I asked if I could have them and she said sure that they just got thrown away. wooohoooo biodigesters away!




A lot of the back breaking labor falls on him though.




This is a lot of rabbit poo, kitchen scraps, paper, etc.

24 HOURS WITHOUT POWER--12 INCHES OF SNOW IN DFW!!!

24 hours without power and it was 30 degrees outside and in; I mounted quilts on the two entrances to the living room and built a fire in the wood burning stove. I slept in the living room.

The power company finally called me about 2:30 am last night to tell me that they were in my area.

What a pain in the neck; I cooked in a dutch oven on the front porch, I built a snow man, and I did a few chores outside. But for the most part I stayed inside bored to tears.

I did my budget, I read seed catalogs, etc. I need to work on many things this year to prep for this when it happens again.

MORE SNOW PICS

BEAUTIFUL MUD MAKER