We bought our house two and a half years ago with a very formally landscaped garden and have been slowly adding or changing things to make it more ‘liveable’ and child friendly. We’re also slowly including things to make our house more sustainable & self sufficient, the whole process has been significantly hindered by the fact that we have an internal water feature caused by a very very shonky roof that needs replacing, so that’s our first priority. Now that the ball is rolling with the roof, it’s time to move forward and start some more interesting and satisfying projects......

We don’t have a compost bin because we use the council’s green waste bin that gets emptied every fortnight and the kitchen scraps & have been going in there. We’ve thought about getting rid of the green waste bin but then we’d have nowhere to put all the garden & lawn clippings and a compost bin wouldn’t be big enough to take them all.

I’ve got a long ‘wish list’ of things I want for our yard and kitchen so we can make more of our own food from scratch (bread, juice etc.) and to make our backyard more of a working yard rather than one that just looks pretty. The outside list consists of:

1. Veggie Garden – TICK!  
2. Worm Farm – TICK!
3. Chooks – still working on that one!

Since starting on this journey I’ve found lots of books and websites about ‘urban farming’ or ‘edible backyard gardens’ so there’s plenty of information around to provide ideas & inspiration. Recently I went to the ‘Spring Sustainable Living Festival’ held by the Frankston Council and met the owner of “Chooktopia”, Ella. She had a type of worm farm that I hadn’t seen before, a VermiHut, which not only looked a lot more attractive than the other’s I’d seen, it’s made from recycled plastic and has the tap at the side rather than the bottom to help prevent it from getting clogged. All these features meant I’d found the one I wanted.

A worm farm has many benefits, obviously our kitchen scraps now have a higher purpose, they’re staying in our yard and will become fertiliser & compost for our veggies that are growing. Reducing the amount of rubbish that goes into landfill (for those who don’t compost) reduces CO2 emissions. It also provides the kids with some fascinating little creatures to study. My 2 year old daughter is the one who loves being outside the most and wants to touch and feed the worms. My 4 year old son is worried that they’ll poo on you if you pick them up (because they usually do), he still wants to help but not touch them! I don’t think it will be long before he comes round.

The VermiHut came with legs, a base tray, the holding tray, three working trays & a lid, plus some coconut fibre, the tap, bolts and a drain cloth.

Not having any idea of how these things work I read the instructions very carefully, well, enough to get things started anyway, if I don’t read I rush into things thinking I know what I’m doing and end up missing a few major steps in the process. The instructions were very clear and the farm was very easy to put together. Soak the coconut fibre in water for two hours, mix some shredded paper into it. Lay down a few sheets of paper onto the working tray then lay the prepared worm bed (coconut fibre & shredded paper), add the worms. I did all this and then read a bit further on and I was supposed to mix some food into the bed first, but no biggy, I just added a few scraps of fruit peel onto the worms later on. We placed the Worm Farm in the veggie garden in a place that doesn't get a lot of sun and will hopefully be sheltered from direct rain, I'll have to keep checking on it to make sure this spot is ok.

The little bucket that the worms came in is the right size to hold a day or two worth of our kitchen scraps and perfect size for the kids to manage.

……..Here’s an example of what I mentioned earlier, about jumping into things head first……. I didn’t put a sheet of carpet, hessian or damp newspaper over the top of the worms so off I go to finish the job….

The instruction manual tells me what to and what not to feed the worms and as I keep reading I find out they can get quite stressed from the move into their new home and that I need to let them settle in for a few weeks and, they can be overfed (the food rots before they get a chance to eat it), oops! I got a bit excited and started filling up the ‘worm food bucket’ with all the fruit scraps from morning tea & lunch thinking they’d be devouring their earlier meal as I’m writing this but not so, so I guess they’ll have to go in the green waste bin for a little while longer. Apparently you don’t feed them more until half the food you gave them previously is gone and they can be fed everything from non-acidic fruit & veg to egg shells, egg cartons or other cardboard, tea bags & coffee grinds and apparently I will become much better at caring for the worms as time goes on, I’ll be getting to know them and how to look after them. So it looks like we have some new pets in the house (outside)!! I’ve only got one working tray on the go at the moment and I’m looking forward to being able to add more as the volume increases and to our first batch of worm juice to put on the veggies. 

This might be way more than you wanted to know about worms, but I started off not knowing very much at all except that I really wanted this amazing fertiliser factory in the backyard and I’m every bit as excited now that I have one as I was when I just wanted one, just a little bit more stressed about the prospect of stressing, acidifying or even killing my worms!

Next stop – Chooks!

Our worm farm came from www.chooktopia.com but you can also check out www.gardening4kids.com.au or your local council 

Happy Farming!