Today we went on a road trip to the Shuswap. We drove the Salmon River Road to pick up some “Hacks Truly Raw Honey”. This honey is unpasteurized and unfiltered and is without a doubt one of the best honeys I’ve ever tasted. There was a major fire in the Silver Hills area in 1998 and this is where the hives are located.
Here are the three quarts we bought, liquid sunshine! My adult children and husband all suffer from seasonal pollen allergies and my understanding is that if 1 tsp of raw honey is taken every day it jump starts your immune system to cope with local pollens, a very sweet medicine, but not for small children apparently!
On to the Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge where we bought a bucket of worms and forgot to take photos of the donkeys, which were sweet and demure! We have decided to make a worm farm to handle the daily household kitchen scraps. This farm will live indoors in the winter and in a cool place in the summer. Here’s how it’s done for under $20.00
A stack of Home Depot Buckets and 2 lids.
One of the lids is cut to sit on the glass jars and has holes drilled into it.
Bucket 2 has holes drilled in the bottom and stacks on bucket number 1.
Into bucket number 2 goes some shredded card board and potting soil mixed together. Add about 5 cups of soil to start the process.
Spray with water very well to make it damp all the way through.
In go the worms, we are using 1 pound of red wigglers, I forgot to take a photo before I added food, so had to push the food aside for you to see the worms.....what the heck was I thinking!
Now add some fresh vegetable matter and top the whole thing off with some damp shredded newspaper.
Pop the lid on top (the lid has small air holes punched into it).
This is the whole system, you check under the damp newsprint and when the food has been taken down, you add more. All the vegetable kitchen waste except citrus peels, onions, and garlic go in. There is no smell as the worms eat the bacteria from the decomposing organic matter. Every once in a while you pour about a litre of water over the worms and the liquid that comes off is worm tea, collected in bucket 1. This worm tea you dilute 1:25 and use it on houseplants and outdoors – it’s very potent stuff and plants love it.
When bucket number 2 gets full, you put new cardboard and soil and food into bucket number 3 and the worms will rise up into that bucket. After a few days you can remove bucket number 2 and use the worm castings in your garden. I’m very excited about this because my outdoor compost doesn’t work in the winter when it’s frozen solid.
When bucket number 2 gets full, you put new cardboard and soil and food into bucket number 3 and the worms will rise up into that bucket. After a few days you can remove bucket number 2 and use the worm castings in your garden. I’m very excited about this because my outdoor compost doesn’t work in the winter when it’s frozen solid.
Weaving Words
The Spanish word for weaver, tejedor, is also used colloquially to mean schemer.
4 comments:
I like your worm composter and very clear instructions. The finished 'soil' is also great fertilizer and seed started also.
Chris
Wow, cool Lynette. I am going to have to try that worm farm out. Thank you for such clear instructions!
The honey looks yummy too.
Why would any body go out and spend $60.00 to $100.00 for a worm factory, in this economy? Great article.
You're a brave woman keeping worms in the house in the winter! (I do compost....but not in a very official way. I just put everything in my compost heap and keep my fingers crossed!)
I wondered why you were buying so much honey. Honey seems to accumulate at our house. (For some reason people gift me with tea and honey often....and I rarely use either.)
Beautiful chickadee house and surroundings!!
Sue
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