Thursday, September 6, 2012

Friday Morning Sewing Club - Community Hub - Coffee & Chat

Had a brilliant morning with the Schoolie from the Salvation Army that we have at our  Primary, she is an inspirational whizz. A dynamo of a person, and one with a gorgeous heart. She has so many great ideas, and is so amazingly capable.
The sewing went sideways after a little while. It was a beautiful day, good coffee and a real desire amongst us to connect. We ended up teaching three of the mums how to knit. It was awesome, I love seeing people trying something new, and when they get what theyre doing, theyre away like a train ... Brilliance.
The cake was awesome (at this rate we might need the Zumba lessons after all!) and I went on to help with the childrens sausage sizzle. There, there was a need to learn what to do, and master the art of the sausage bread, sauce, sausage and wrap motions. I got there :-) Thanks Room 9. I hope you enjoyed them.

The Garden was abuzz at lunchtime with small and bigger people asking if they could help. Unfortunately nothing was planned, and I had one very keen young man helping me weed, compost and split the rhubarb, which had unfortunately started to rot in the crown. I hope we got to it soon enough, and the four pieces will take off. If not, I have a spare one in my own garden that I can place in the garden. The idea is to have rhubarb and custard at some stage. Im not sure they have enough for the whole school... yet. It will not take long if we continue adding the compost. The bokashi units look interesting. I peered into a couple today and wrinkled my nose. I know that smell (composting fruit) so this is good stuff for the soil.
We got some bread today from the leftovers at the sausage sizzle too, which will go down well in the bokashi. Ive seeded the garden with some of my worm farm inhabitants too, I know theyll love their new home, and work behind the scenes to bring the garden to success.

So thats me... all that.  A whole day doing fun things with neat, good people!
Im a bit stiff and sore, but there is half a babys hat knitted somewhere, and a whole garden dug over, waiting for its potatoes to go in next week...

Love to You all,
My Heart to Yours,
E BUTTERFLY
XXXXXXXXX

1 comment:

  1. Hello E Butterfly!
    thank you for the great article! I am sure it will be very helpful to people that are new to vermiculture.

    Another thing that many people don't know and worry about is the fact that there will be many other creatures in the worm farm apart from the worms.
    Many of them are actually no threat at all.

    There are other worm farm inhabitants besides the worms living inside your worm bin.

    These creatures are part of the small ecosystem that forms around decomposing organic materials inside worm farms.

    Some of those worm farm inhabitants like the spring tails or the wood louse are joining forces with the compost worms and take part in the composting process.

    Others like the centipede or the woodlouse spider are predators that are looking for their next meal. Let’s first have a look at some of the creatures that are not harmful to your compost worms.

    The woodlouse is known by many different names around the world.

    Amongst them are names like sow bug, butcher boy, potato bug and roly-poly.

    Woodlice are posing actually no real threat to your worms.

    They can regularly be found in worm bins where they are roaming around taking their share of the decomposing matter.

    Woodlice like a moist and dark environment.

    If you want to remove them from your worm farm you can simply collect them at sight.

    I see them as helpful participants of the recycling process and leave them in peace.
    Another worm farm inhabitant you might encounter are slugs or naked snails.

    They can be found from time to time in worm bins. Most of them are decomposing organic material and fungi.

    Some slug species however are considered predatory and are suspected to eat worms.

    There are in fact a few predators you might find inside worm bins.

    I personally have never seen a slug feeding on a worm but we always take them out of our worm farms if we encounter them.

    If you want to remove them from your worm bin, either place them somewhere else where they can’t harm worms or plants or kill them and add to the compost heap.

    Spring tail's are tiny creatures the size of a pin head.

    They have six legs but are not classified as insects anymore.

    Spring tails are worm farm inhabitants that can live in large numbers in top soil and decomposing organic matter.

    Their population can reach many thousands per meter square / 10 square feet.

    Spring tails feed on fungi and parts of the organic matter in their environment.

    They are useful members in a worm farm environment that do their part of the recycling process.

    Unlike the predatory Centipedes, Millipedes are no threat to compost worms.

    Millipedes are no predators but rather enjoy consuming decomposing organic materials.

    They are quite cute creatures and roll into a ball when they feel endangered.

    Millipedes move slowly over the surface of rotting organic materials and are a helpful in the recycling process inside worm bins.

    Apart from those critters mentioned you might encounter as well a few predators in or around a worm farm.

    Kind regards and happy worming

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