The Compost Chronicles

We were starting the worms inside and all seemed to be going well but turns out the Red Wigglers should probably be called Red Runners...as they can and will escape even though the result is certain death by dehydration.

As soon as we made the move to the country I was struck with the overwhelming desire to leave my city job.  As we do not have a functioning farm nor the means to fully become one, we are not making any sort of sustainable income in our new home and I continue to commute an hour each way every day to sit at a desk and work on a computer.  And boy do I miss being home when I'm away.


It is hard.  Not because the commute is so bad, it's actually a fairly pleasant drive (for now, we'll see what Winter brings) and many people have much longer and more difficult ones.  More so because it feels like a remnant of the life I'm trying to leave behind.  I don't like sitting in an office.  I never did and yet it's what I do.  It's what many of us do I suppose; we do what we can, what we know how to do, and that's not always what we want to be doing.  Having 80% of my life falling into line with what I want makes this 20% feel more weighty.  It's just so noticeable, my unhappiness with my work life.

Darrick is more fortunate.  He likes what he does and he makes a good living at it.  He clearly made some good decisions along the way in pursuing a career path he enjoys and likes doing.  Waking up in the morning is not necessarily a chore.  Some days it overwhelms me how much dread I feel about going to work.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I hope to make some changes.  And I'm hoping those changes will come about in the next few months.  Hope isn't enough of course, I have an action plan of sorts.  It will be something to watch for here.  I'm working on figuring out some viable ways to generate income from home doing things I truly value and enjoy.

Now on to yesterday's recap.  It's about Vermicomposting.  From Wikipedia:  Vermicompost is the product or process of composting using various worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and earthworms to create a heterogeneous mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. Vermicast, also called worm castings, worm humus or worm manure, is the end-product of the breakdown oforganic matter by an earthworm.[1] These castings have been shown to contain reduced levels of contaminants and a higher saturation of nutrients than do organic materials before vermicomposting.

We received a pound of worms in the mail.  Yes, you CAN receive worms via the postal service, who knew?  A pound of European night crawlers.  These are good for compost and bait.  We have 2 pounds of Red Wigglers on the way as well, they will be exclusively for vermicomposting.


We've set up the first bin, added peat and earth and straw and coffee grounds and moistened it all down,


 then added the worms and the first batch of compostable scraps.



In retrospect, I think we are supposed to wait a couple of days before adding this food, I may remove it when I get home today (here's the first in the "learning" steps).  We have printed out a manual of sorts and have a very good book as reference, so I'll take another peek this evening.