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By Mom Unplugged, June 17, 2009 10:09 pm

We have just added a new weapon to our arsenal against the heavy clay soil of Northern Arizona: our very own worm bin! In case you wonder what I am talking about, worm poop (more politically correctly known as “worm castings”) makes wonderful compost for the garden.

I didn’t pick the theme slippery with the worm bin in mind, but it occurred to me later that since worms are a bit slippery, this project fit the theme!

One option is to buy a commercially constructed worm bin such as this one, but I opted to go homemade (I guess this could have fit last week’s homemade theme too). Worm bins can be made out of wood or plastic containers. They can be one simple box or multilevel. I followed these online instructions for a two story, Cheap and Easy Worm Bin.

You’ll need two 8 to 10 gallon plastic storage boxes with lids (dark plastic, not transparent), a drill with a 1/4″ and a 1/16″ drill bit, some newspaper and a piece of cardboard.

First drill about 20 large (1/4″) holes in the bottoms of both boxes. Space them approximately evenly to allow for even airflow and easy worm travel.

Next drill small (1/16″) holes all around the top edge of the boxes, about 1 to 1.5″ apart. I did two rows for maximum ventilation.

Also drill small holes (about 30) in ONE lid. The other lid will be the base to collect any draining liquid, so don’t put holes in that one.

Fill a bucket or other plastic container with water. Tear the newspaper into long strips, approximately 1″ wide and toss them into the water to soak. This will be your worm bedding and you’ll want about 3 to 4″ of it in the bottom of the box. For us, it took one whole newspaper.

Take the newspaper strips out one handful at a time and squeeze them out well. They need to be nicely damp, not sopping (don’t forget that worms breathe through their skin so don’t drown them!).

Toss them in one of the boxes and fluff them up.

Once you have your 3 to 4″ of fluffed up bedding, you’ll need to mix in a bit of dirt. Since we still have a giant sand pile in the back yard, we put in a bit of sand too. Worms have gizzards and need to eat some of this rough material (dirt/sand) in order to digest their food (by grinding it in their gizzards - no teeth!).

Finally, soak a piece of cardboard just big enough to cover your bedding and place it on top of the bedding. The worms will be put underneath this cardboard and it will also become a tasty treat for them.

Now it’s time to set up your worm hotel. Place the solid lid upside down on the ground as a tray to catch any draining liquid from the decomposition process (known as “worm tea,” your garden will love this!). Place some bricks or blocks on the upside down lid as a base for the boxes (this allows for drainage). Next goes the empty box on top of the blocks, with the full box nested inside it. The lid with the air holes goes on top. Keep in a cool dark place.

When the worms move in, place their food in a corner and bury it under the newspaper to avoid odors and fruit flies. Bury new food in a different part of the bin each time you feed them. They will follow it around the bin.

Voilà! The finished worm bin! Now all we need are the residents. I ordered a 2 lb bag of Red Wigglers online and they should be arriving soon. At least their new home will be ready for them.

NOTE: Worms like: vegetables, fruit, tea bags, coffee filters and grounds, eggshells, bread, cereal, grains. Do NOT feed: meat, dairy, oil, fat, feces.

For more complete feeding information, as well as how to harvest your worm castings, please be sure to read the Cheap and Easy Worm Bin article!

LINKS:

Cheap and Easy Worm Bin

Worm Anatomy

Worm Composting (Vermicomposting) How-To

Vermicomposting

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FOLLOW-UP: Be sure to check out the arrival of the resident worms in this post: Worm Bin Update - NO VACANCY

ALSO: Read about our first harvest (only 8 weeks later)

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Comments (4)

By Mom Unplugged, June 2, 2009 2:18 pm

The theme for this week’s Unplugged Project was petal. We planted flowers this week…unimaginative perhaps, but at least our front porch is looking pretty!

Between golf lessons, art camp, and homeschool French we haven’t had time this week for a more formal project. Perhaps next week (golf and art will be over).

If you did a petal Unplugged Project this week then please leave a link to your project post in Mr. Linky below, and a comment with the link too. If you didn’t do a petal project, but would like to join us in future Weekly Unplugged Projects then you can read more about how it works here.

NOTE: Mr. Linky appears to be up right now, but there have been a lot of problems lately, so please also leave your link in a comment in case the Linky fails again. We want to always be able to find your project post!

The theme for next week’s Unplugged Project will be:

Homemade

Have fun and be creative!

Comments (13)

By Mom Unplugged, April 27, 2008 9:10 pm

My two oldest each had lengthy birthday parties to attend this afternoon. So although I had an art project in mind when I chose birds as this week’s Unplugged Project theme, my children’s busy social calendars precluded anything too complicated.

Instead of art this week, we decided to do something I was meaning to do anyhow: put out some nice spring nesting materials.

While most people know that putting out food and water for wild birds is a great way to attract them to your yard, another often overlooked additional method is to provide nesting materials in the spring. As long as you have some good nesting locations (requirements vary by type of bird), giving them handy materials can encourage them to nest in your yard where you can watch the action for several months.

All you’ll need are some empty suet feeder cages, or a few of those nets used to package oranges or potatoes in bulk. We used a big net from some oranges and a few small Baby Bel cheese nets.

We have some high class, five star nesting material: leftover alpaca fleece from Dempsey, an alpaca at our local alpaca ranch!

If you don’t happen to have a local alpaca ranch or any spare alpaca fleece lying around your house, you can also try putting out any of the following:

-dried leaves and twigs
-human or horse hair
-pet fur, sheep’s wool
-dry grass
-plant fluff (ie. cattail fluff)
-feathers
-yarn or string (cut into 4″ to 8″ pieces)
-thin strips of cloth (1″ x 6″)
-cotton batting
-bark strips
-pine needles
-shredded paper
-moss

But don’t put out drier lint (stays soggy, dries hard, can contain chemicals from laundering).

You can prepare the household materials together, or go on a nature hike to collect suitable natural materials.

Place the materials in the nets or cages and hang them around your garden on trees, or deck railings. You can also push loose material into tree crevices or between rocks, and drape yarn and string over bushes. Heavier items that won’t blow away, like twigs, can be put out in small piles around your yard.

Then simply sit back and watch to see if there is any interest in your spring gifts!

For more about this (and my source for much of this information), please see: Attracting Birds With Nesting Material from the fascinating Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

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If you participated in the birds project this week, please put your link in Mr. Linky below (also be sure to leave a comment in case Mr. Linky malfunctions).

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Next week’s Unplugged Project theme will be:

Green

Please join us!

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Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, March 18, 2008 9:03 pm

Since my 2 year-old is obsessed with puzzles at the moment, I am always on the look-out for fun, educational, high quality puzzles that she might be able to do. A recent surfing expedition revealed these totally cool layered, life-cycle puzzles. They are made of wood and feature five separate puzzle pictures to complete. The mini-puzzles fit on top of one another in layers to show the life cycle of a butterfly (or frog, or duck).

The recommended age is 4 and up. As much as I’d like to claim that my genius 2 year-old could do these, she probably could not without assistance. The big photo makes it look deceptively easy, but there are actually thirty pieces, five puzzles, and five layers. Her older brother and sister might enjoy them though. Hmm…we’ll see. (It’s times like this that I really wish I homeschooled so that I’d have an excuse to buy these slightly pricey but really amazing-looking puzzles!)

These Beleduc puzzles are made in China of birch wood and meet or exceed “Specifications of European (EN-71) and American (ASTM) Toy Safety Standards:”

This butterfly puzzle is also made of wood, but the description offers less information (it costs less too):

Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, March 16, 2008 9:12 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project theme was wood. Our project began with a snowy trek through the trees on our property in search of twigs and small branches. The winter winds had knocked down many pine branches, so they were easy to find. We gathered a few pine cones too. The plan: Fairy Houses!!

We’ve done this before in the summer when more materials were available (leaves, moss, petals, etc.) which made for quite luxurious accommodations. But since there was snow today, these will have to be rather austere, winter fairy houses.

As you can see from the photos, the dogs did a wood project too…romping through the wood-s.

Here are our gathered materials:

Plus some cardboard bases, some string, and a hot glue gun.

My husband was happy to operate the glue gun and glued whatever needed to be glued. I was the string expert and helped tie string.

Here is the process and result:

My daughter then placed the fairy houses in the garden for the fairies to enjoy.

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What did you do for wood? If you joined us, please put your link in Mr. Linky (and a comment in case I have to take him off - so we can still find you to visit). If you didn’t join us but are simply lurking, why not “delurk” and put your link in, either this week or next? If you don’t have a blog, you can still join in…read about the non-blog options at my Unplugged Project page.

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Next week’s project:

Eggs (for Easter, or spring/birth if you don’t celebrate Easter)

Please join us with your ideas for eggs!

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