I recently watched the movie "#BiggestLittleFarm" on my sister's recommendation. The movie is about a couple who bought a 200-acre farm in California to achieve self-sustainability. When they arrived at the farm, they discovered the soil was poor and damaged due to recent droughts .They created a large-scale worm farm to restore the soil, which I found intriguing. Worm farming has many benefits, whether it's done on a small or large scale. Vermicomposting, which is the use of worm poop, is an excellent sustainable solution for organic waste and can enrich the soil with essential nutrients.
At LaLa's Farm, we created a worm farm in our basement using ten large Home Depot mortar trays, a mixture of shredded newspaper, cocoa coir, water, organic matter, and worm food such as vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, and rabbit manure. After ordering 100 red wiggler worms, they immediately got to compost the matter into vermicompost, which we now use in our gardens and lawns. Our worm farm has grown to an estimated 5,000 worms, perfect for our hobby farm.
We will be showcasing how we use castings and worm tea in our gardens in the spring, and in the meantime, I will be sharing how we make worm beds and feedings. Worm farming may seem unusual, but its benefits, such as reducing soil erosion and compaction, adding organic matter, enhancing soil fertility, improving soil aeration, and breaking up clay soil, are undeniable.
In my next blog post, I will show you how to set up a worm bin and discuss feeds. If you are curious, fascinated, or have mixed reactions to worm farming, please send us your questions via our contact page. We love talking about worms! For more information on worm farming, I recommend reading "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof and Joanne Olszewski, "The Worm Farmers Handbook" by Rhonda Sherman, and following "The Crazy Worm Lady" on Facebook.
