Blog.GoGreen.VC(vermi-culture) Happy Holidays Maui Happy Thanksgiving Fall Color: First Frost Happy Halloween! Ian’s worm boxes Columbus Day S.E.E.D.S Garden Writers Association Basic Bin Management The Worm Factory Douglas Trade Show Worm Factory Simple Set-Up 9/11 - In Memory Western Washington Fair Labor Day Bacteria are essential to life Here's why I use the stacking Worm factory™ Oregon State Fair Evergreen State Fair California State Fair Bountiful Blueberries New Worm Factory Design Worm Sorting Secret factory in my kitchen New Box for Worm Factory Muckleshoot Powwow in Auburn, WA Coast Salish Day in Bellingham, WA Chocolate meringue cookie recipe Key lime pie recipe 4th of July Star spangled banner Father's day cookies Carnivorous Plants My new lawn mower Cucumber plant photo Ian’s worm boxes (10/28/2009) Bigger project than worm factory. Ian always has fun. Looks messy but he has a system. With the Worm Factory to recycle your kitchen waste and paper scraps, you also need a start of red wigglers. The process to grow worms is more hands on and larger space required. From the photos, you can see he is not inside the house. He is in an area of the manufacturing and shipping of the Worm Factory. The boxes are made of wood. They measure about four feet by four feet and about ten inches vertical. These boxes are moved with a fork lift. Inside each box is a starter layer of folded wet paper, wet coir, shredded cardboard, and worms. At this point it is similar to setting up the Worm factory. For this project in the northwest, the concern is about maintaining a comfortable temperature like fifty to sixty degrees. Even better would be a constant eighty degrees. The challenge is to insulate for temperature and not stress the worms. In some of the pictures, you will see a wheelbarrow with water. Each box is covered with folded newsprint and cardboard that is soaking in the wheelbarrow while he is adding food to the box. The food is quickly consumed. Today he is adding a mix of rabbit droppings, shredded hay (alfalfa sweepings),and sometimes there is the addition of chopped produce trims from the grocery store. He checks by digging with his hand to see worm movement around, sizes of worms(babies), and how fast they are consuming food. After a few months will be time to check for supplies enough of worms to sell. The worms are put through a sorter. If all goes well, there will be little cocoons(disk shaped baby worms). The cocoons go back to the boxes. Sometimes there is orders for pure castings. Castings is about a six month process. While the worms can be found, alot of eggs go out with the castings. Some would think that this could be a profitable project. Think again, Ian likes tending the worms. Hiring someone to do the chore doesn’t make sense. On the otherhand, with people finally catching on to Vermicomposting, there is a shortage of the pound or so needed to start the Worm Factory. The more we work with worms, the more stories are shared. So, it is easier to do the Worm Factory for your garden needs from recycling the kitchen waste and junk mail. The bigger project of worm raising in big boxes is far more tricky, even though it is the same worms.