Vermicomposting

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.


Should You Move To The Country?

So what sort of person do you need to be to move out to the country and make a good go of it?  Well, in my opinion, here are some character traits that are pretty important:

1. Like being outdoors
2. Not afraid to get dirty
3. Not worried about breaking nails, having messy hair
4. Don't mind sweating
5. Not afraid of working HARD
6. Appreciate isolation

Those are just the very basics.  I know people look at TV shows and read magazines and have this rosy glorified idea of what life in the country is like.



Hey, it's what attracted me originally so I get it.  And yes, some of it IS like that.  The fabulous views, the peace and quiet (that isn't really quiet, it's just a different sort of noise, you know, bugs, birds, tractors...) the ability to grow your own food on a larger scale, the animals...BUT it can also be very isolating.  You have to plan a little more if you need things from certain stores.  You will hardly ever see your friends from the city if you've moved more than 30 minutes away.  You can't just walk out the door on a whim for a beer or a sit on a patio.  It's difficult to get good internet service (in fact we don't have ANY right now and are in no hurry to sign up either).  Will that bother you?  If the answer is yes, then a move to the country is probably not the best option for you right now.

Are you afraid of bugs?  Bats?  Mice?  If yes, it's definitely not going to be for you.  I get bugs in my hair almost every day!  I anticipate mice will be paying us a visit quite soon as the farmer next door will soon be harvesting his corn field and the weather is getting cooler.  We have well water that frequently smells like sulphur.  It's great for your skin and hair but not especially appetizing to smell in the shower or in a glass.  Does that freak you out?  It takes Darrick at least an hour to mow the grass.  We have literally pounds and pounds of compost to deal with.  The list goes on and on.


As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider beyond the idea of sunny fields of corn and charming country lanes.  I've lost weight just working on my gardens getting them ready for next year!  I've sweated and gotten dizzy with the effort of digging and moving and weeding and refilling and hauling.  I've shattered all my nails, hurt my wrist and gotten grass stains on my jeans.  But I also get to take breaks swaying gently in the breeze in my hammock, under a lovely tree, book in hand.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Would you?  The answer to that question is key.


The before and after of weeding a huge flower bed (and it's still not done.  In fact, it's never done!)



The barn that will house our vermiculture venture in warmer seasons.


Even the stormy skies are appealing.

New Blog - From City to Country

So here it is, a new blog to chronicle all our adventures "getting back to the land".  It seems like a good idea really, separating the content related to our lifestyle change from my other blog.  Will it become overwhelming?  Time will tell.

A little background story is in order.  On July 27th, 2012, after 2 years of talking about it,  we made the move from a condo in downtown Hamilton, Ontario to a 3000 square foot, 120 something year old Victorian country home in Waterford, Ontario.  We went from this:


to this:


and so far it has been one of the best decisions of my life.