I have an outdoor worm bin, and I did some things to prepare it for the winter. However, here in Boulder, we have had a pretty bad cold snap.
Here’s some weather data from the Weather Underground site for January of 2010:
You can see that we had a prolonged stretch of freezing winter. In fact, a few days ago, I went out to add some food to my worm bin, and the first whack with my post hole diggers showed that it was frozen. My worm bin is black, but it probably gets 1-2 hours of sun a day. That’s not great for winter (though it does help preserve moisture during the summer).
I dealt with this frozen worm bin a few ways:
- I added some food to the top. I had removed enough material in the fall (putting it into my garden) that I was able to just add material to the top. I made sure to cover the top with leaves and other carbon sources, and add some water (in the form of snow) to alleviate any smell.
- I froze some food. This is a fairly common wormkeeping practice, though I had never done it before. It keeps food smells down while you are storing it, and the freeze/thaw process helps break down the food faster. However, I still prefer my food scraps bucket.
- I threw some worm food away. I confess I did this in the deeps of the freeze, when I felt saving any more food would overwhelm my worm bin when I was finally able to add more food.
I have also added worms to a dirt bed in my patio area. I dug it up just a few days ago and was quite happy to see some redworms happily eating some food scraps I’d added a while ago. So, at least some of my population of worms survived the Boulder deep freeze of 2009-2010.
January 23rd, 2010
I saw a post on a worm mailing list a while ago:
I am doing a community project for my college and am starting worm composting bins at a local elementary school in Boulder. I am trying to get a hold of enough worms for 4 bins, about 2 feet x 1 foot (10 gallons). Does anyone know where I can get a hold of enough worms for this project, and possibly as a donation to the school?
What to do? Of course, she could buy the red worms from a local source, but she’s trying to do this for a school on a shoestring budget. I thought the following options would be the best way to acquire several pounds of worms for a community project around Boulder, Colorado.
- Contact local Colorado producers and see if they can give you a great deal, or perhaps donate them. I don’t know any big producers in Boulder. Boulder Compost Company used to do this, but they shut down a bit ago. You could try contacting them and seeing if they know anyone else around here.
- Another alternative would calling Growing Gardens and seeing if they can spare some worms. I know they have a largish bin; not sure how many surplus worms they have.
- I’d also contact Flatirons Elementary School here in Boulder. It looks like they have some kind of worm bin program [pdf] and might be willing to share.
- And, finally, it would be worth contacting Eco-cycle. They do worm composting and might have some extra for donation.
So, the general path I’d recommend if you need pounds of worms for a non profit would be:
- Try worm farmers for discount/donation
- Find other organizations that have worms (community gardens, recycling centers, schools) and see what they did and if they have any to spare
- Pay for some worms and start the project on a smaller basis than you may have wanted
What would you recommend?
PS She ended up getting a donation from a woman in Loveland for all her needs.
January 13th, 2010
Ran across an interesting book called Bottle Biology (apparently funded by the NSF).
Google books has a preview online, and there are two pages devoted to creating a worm bin in a 2L plastic bottle. They tell you just enough to whet your appetite, though:
Worms play a major role in breaking down plant matter and creating fertile soil. Earthworms eat fallen leaves and other plant parts. Their droppings, or “castings,” fertilize the soil. … Observe wonderful worm activity yourself by building a worm column.
January 3rd, 2010
