Worm farm

I have had my worm farm for about 10 years now. When I'm not in the country I take the whole setup over to my friend Debbie's, and she takes care or them.
They don't need a lot of attention or affection. If a few basic requirements are met, the worms are happy to spend their lives converting household waste into lovely dark crumbly compost.
I have a commercial black plastic 3 tier bin arrangement, but the worms aren't fussy, and can live in a variety of setups.
Every month or so during the summer I harvest a tier of worm compost. I also collect the liquid that drains out the bottom. Dilute it to the colour of weak tea, and it is a great liquid fertiliser.

The basic requirements of the worms are a dark, moist, cool environment, with good drainage. I avoid feeding them meat, fats, onions, citrus and anything that might sprout eg tomato or pumpkin seeds.
In the autumn I try to take the time to get a load of horse manure from my friends, I fill my high sided plastic wheelbarrow with the drainage hole in the bottom with the manure, and throw in a couple of handfuls of worms. For the winter this is parked under a tree, and partially covered, to stay cool, and let a little rain in. In the spring the load of manure has been converted to a lovely crumbly mix, and the worm population has exploded. This mix is perfect for transplanting the new spring seedlings, or revitalising the potting mix in my planters.

 

 

Worms definitely aren't as entertaining as the chooks, but they are an important part of our life here on the (tiny) farm.

 

Compost Bins

My compost bins aren't pretty. They don't get filled that scientifically either. But the bins I fill in the autumn have broken down in the spring to dark sweet smelling stuff that has a huge number of earth worms in it.
A few days ago I emptied two of the three bins and started filling one back up again with all the weeds etc that I have been pulling from the garden beds the last few weeks.

 

There are hundreds of worms, though by the time I got the camera ready, they had already burrowed under the surface.

 

One of the reasons that I cleaned the compost from the bins was to mound over the newly planted potatoes. It didn't take much to do that, and I still have lots to go in the garden beds that weren't turned into compost bins for the winter.

 

The potatoes are planted a little early, but with a little luck and no frosts, they'll be on their way by the time I get back in December.

As well as the three compost bins out by the garden, I also have a worm farm. The kitchen scraps go to feed them. A friend worm-sits them when I am away. If I have a surplus of worms in the worm farm I usually dose the regular compost bins with them to help get them going. 

It seems there is never enough compost to go around, but I always have some on the go. There are always a few of the raised vege beds that are resting, with a ring of chicken wire around them, and garden waste filling them up. I rotate the beds that are treated this way every change of season, so about every 3 years each bed will go through this regenerating rest.

How and why I garden

I love to eat and I love to garden, it's that simple.
I don't want to eat pesticides or herbicides, so I don't use them.
Because of the way we live I garden in four very diverse climates. In Canada(zone 4) I have a short season garden-2 1/2 months frost free if I am lucky, followed by very cold winters. In New Zealand I garden in a mild temperate climate-almost frost free all year round, and in Thailand I am gardening in a tropical climate.
Most of my garden practises are based on a permaculture approach. That is I try to be sustainable and build in lots of diversity which cushions me against crop failures and pest invasion.
My gardens aren't big, but there is always something to eat in them no matter what.
I try and eat in season, and according to the country I'm gardening in.
I have compost bins and worm farms on the go, and every now and then spend enough time in one place to even keep chickens
.
Here is the garden on June 29th a few weeks after arriving back in Canada, just weeks after the last frost of the season.

 

and here it is again today, 1 month later.

 

 

I am eating lettuces, arugula,peas-both sugar snap and sno pea,beans,summer squash,pak choi,rhubarb,basil,chives, parsley.

The lettuce and parsley self seeded from last fall,so that gave me a good start.