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Fw: Worms! Wetness! Where to find out about 'em! Why everybody likes 'em! (wuz Re: Compost tumbler experiences?)

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Apologies for cross-posting, this is about vermicomposting
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Teuton <fteuton@total.net>
ToOGL@LSV.UKY.EDU <OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU>
Date: Sunday, September 12, 1999 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: Worms! Wetness! Where to find out about 'em! Why everybody
likes 'em! (wuz Re: Compost tumbler experiences?)


>
>Ken wrote:
>
>
>>Joy Williams wrote:
>>>
>>> I was SO happy to find red worms in my compost bin.  Do I need to keep
>the
>>> compost watered everyday to encourage them, or how often?
>>>
>>> >     Worms.  Don't just talk about it, adopt some!
>>
>>  It should be moist Joy.  Gitchie Manitou gave us all two wonderful
>>compost measuring tools:  noses and hands.  Noses will tell us if there
>>is too much N in the compost, and hands will tell us if it's hot enough,
>>or in your case, moist enough.  Wring out a wet dishcloth, feel it, and
>>if it's as wet as your compost (all the way to the elbow now girl, don't
>>be squeamish!), then you have a good mix.  OR, you could go buying some
>>complicated and esoteric thermometers and moisture meters I 'spose.
>
>Hmmm. The wormwise would say it should be wetter than this, Ken, what with
>worms liking a moisture level between 65 and 85 %. So instead of the wrung
>out sponge (dishcloth, whatever) you should have some moisture coming out
>when you squeeze...still not too much, which could trigger anaerobia...
>
>The best place to start worm wondering and wandering is the Worm Digest
>website, www.wormdigest.org . See Mr. Ken's great list of links, to wander
>everywhere there is a worm site to be seen.
>
>A good book on worms is Mary Appelhof's Worms Eat My Garbage; your library
>should have it but it is not expensive. Available at WD or at
>www.wormwoman.com , Mary's own website...
>
>Best farmscale info can be had at Jim Jensen's Yelm Worms website,
>www.yelmworms.com , and see especially his KISS plan for windrow worm
>composting, KISS standing in this instance for Keep It Simple and Save.
>
>If you want an outdoor all season bin that works on a flow through
principle
>and is insulated and heated, www.wormwigwam.com has the manufactured one,
>and www.vermico.com has plans to build your own. (Called OSCR--Oregon Soil
>Corporation---50$, or 75 for the plans plus a soil heating cable)
>
>A new book, called Manual for Vermicomposting, is supposedly in press and
>should be out sometime soon. Dr. Clive Edwards, who is  the academic guru
of
>the vermicomposting world, is the editor and I believe Biocycle is the
>publisher...stay tuned for more info.
>
>For those tuned into biodynamics, this year's Stella Natura has a little
>essay on why, if keeping cattle isn't your thing, worms in your compost is
>just what you need to balance your energies in your farm organism....Allan
>may tell you if they are still available, or where more BD insights into
the
>ways of the worm might be found...
>
>The ATTRA website and Vermico both have info on the raising of worms as a
>business....
>
>People like worms, and worm castings, and vermicompost, for a host of
>reasons. They are quiet, unobtrusive, useful creatures, easy to care for
and
>tolerant of a certain amount of neglect.
>
>Worm castings, the manure of the worm, can be sifted out on a 1/8 inch
>screen, and are fantastic as 10% of a seed starting mix, as is as a
>fertilizer, or to make tea from.
>
>They contain highly activated organic matter and several sorts of growth
>factors, more so than ordinary compost; vermicompost is the compost from
>which vermicastings are screened, before the screening, so it is just a
>touch less rich....
>
>Vermiphilically yours,
>
>Frank Teuton---whose worms have spread throughout his Pallet Palace Great
>Wall of Compost !
>>
>


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