Wanna go full out organic? Daylilys may be the best flower to grow. In the basket are yesterday's spent blooms, the worms LOVE LOVE LOVE em!!! They're partially broken down(slimy and wet) and its basically instantly available food to them thats very nutritious. The stack of sticks are the dried bloom stalks from daylilys. About 2 weeks after blooming the stalks dry up and can be pulled out easily, chopped up(must be quite small and fine, they are fibrous and woody) and are a great carbon source for making precompost (research says anyways). I will finish drying them in the sun then chop em in a barrel with the wead eater to get them as small as possible. The daylilys also grow green blades that can be chopped fresh(again small and fine) to make a good nitrogen source(I'm skipping this part, they are best harvested in spring when smaller and fresh), I will be using an organic seed meal nitrogen source when I make this precompost. Will continue to post details on this experiment in the future. 😁🪱💩😁

Tomorrow, Monday at 12 noon, we will have our first “office hours.” Anyone is welcome, but no pressure! I’m wanting to record and have the replays for anyone who can’t make it live. No questions are dumb questions, and I’m excited to all learn from each other. Hope to see anyone there who wants to learn a little more about these wormies!

🎉 July Launch Month! All Office Hours are open to the community throughout the month of July. Beginning in August, Office Hours will become a Premium Membership benefit. Starting this Monday, July 6th, at 12:00 PM Central, I'll be hosting live Worm Farming Office Hours every week. These are live group calls with me (Cherene) where you can ask questions, troubleshoot your worm bins, and learn alongside other members. This is separate from our 24/7 Community Hangout, which is always available for members to chat with each other. Whether you're just getting started or you've been worm farming for years, you're welcome to join! Bring your questions, photos, or videos, or simply listen in and learn from everyone else's questions. Some topics we might cover: - Feeding - Moisture management - Bedding - Worm castings - Cocoons & breeding - Troubleshooting ...and whatever else comes up! I'm really excited to finally launch these, and I hope you'll join me Monday!

I want to use SMS. I want the fungal microbes in with the rest so I have more complete and varied castings. But I've noticed a couple things. 1) When I hand broke the blocks up into small chunks, they tend to compress. The worms end up on the bottom of the bin and the moisture control is dicey. 2) There seemed to be very little casting production. 3) It tends to soak up water and make moisture control an issue. I had already decided not to use an SMS only bedding that I was going to run as an experiment due to these issues. Then I saw a reel from the Aussie Worm Cartel and he says his pre-composted SMS makes the worms go coo-coo for Coco Puffs! So now, I'm going to experiment with pre-composting it. Right now I'm doing it with shredded cardboard and coffee grounds. BUT - I'm using my poultry chopper to make it into a very fine mix. This time I added water to it after I mixed the ingredients. Next I'll try soaking the SMS before hand and then drying it down to a proper moisture level. After that, I'm going to see if there's a way to pre-compost just SMS without the cardboard. So I'm not done with it, just have to find the right mix and use for it. Anyone else have differing or similar experiences?

Here is another idea on how to have biologically active bedding. It’s not required, but I know a lot of people already have electric composters. I’ve loved having this to just toss scraps in, and it’s easy for my wife and kids to do the same during the day. It is a pricey machine, but depending on your goals it could be another option. I would also say this is a “luxury” item because if power goes out you can’t use it. The idea of precomposting is to use bedding that is biologically active! This is the principle that I want to stick. If you just use plain inactive bedding, your worms will not adjust very quickly. My worms cannot keep up with how many food scraps I get, so having other ways to use them is part of my game plan! I collect scraps from my parents and aunt as well, so the scraps add up quickly. WAYS I USE FOOD SCRAPS -feeding the indoor worm bins -feeding outdoor worm bins -feeding in ground garden worm bins -freezing for future worm feedings -electric composters -outdoor compost piles The list can go on! Let me know how you use your food scraps ☺️