Hello / Shout-outs thread.

[Steven Chow]

Well, sometimes I don't have anything to update specifically about my vermicomposting efforts.. nor do I see any specific thread I want to contribute to at the moment, but I still want to say a "hello" to folks... and let people know I stopped by... I figured other folks might be in the same shoes... so I started this "hello" thread... so people can just stop in and say hello. Please feel free to say hello whenever you stop by the site.. each day you come by.. or as often as you want :).

I don't know why but I like checking my email in the morning and seeing email notifications that folks have been hello-ing in here. If you want to be be email notified when other people post their hellos/shoutouts too... by clicking on "follow" at the bottom of this page:

As if there wasn't enough opportunities to be vermi addicted :P... hehe...

[Sumilea Jiana]

Great then I have nothing to worry about.  What type of foods do the worms really like?  Like banana peels?  

[Sue]

Banana peels are great. Though some people are a bit weary using banana peels if they don't know where the product came from because of spraying. IMO, if you keep them in a bucket (closed, to prevent more fruitflies and the like laying eggs there) until almost mushy, whatever bad stuff there is will have broken down, I hope. I haven't experienced any negative side to banana peels.

All melon & gourd type are great too. Anything that is mushy.

[Joseph Tai]

Hi all,

name is Joe from Perth, Western Australia.

Started one month ago with a can-o-worms system with a 500 worms starter kit... had the same newbie mistake of overfeeding them too fast....

recently found a nice lady who raises worms for her husband's veggie patches... bought 1000 fat worms from her and put them in my bin... wow... big difference it made to the previously wet bin I had...

now, I have bought a 2nd Can-O-Worms bin from Gumtree (similar to Craiglist in America), and 2000 more worms... soon, we will struggle to keep up with the scraps to feed them :D

 

Anyway, plenty to read here... and plenty to learn from all of you...

 

Happy worming :)

 

[Joseph Tai]

seems like there are a few wormers around here, as I have asked a local motorbike forum about worm farmings, and there were a fair few responses from them... (last thing I expected motorbike riders to be talking about :D)

had a rummage through my bin on Sunday, and have noticed a few egg casings, so hopefully it means more worms breeding...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6TiawLx0J8&eurl=http://vermies....

[Alison Bruce]

Welcome Joe, I live in Karratha, WA!

[Joseph Tai]

Wow. How do you keep your farms running with hot temps up there?

[Alison Bruce]

Hi Sam and Joseph. I wrote a fantastic reply to you both and then must have not actually clicked reply!

To start with my worm farms are made from styrofoam boxes as they have good insulation properties. They have lots of holes for air flow. Location is important. I find I have to regularly move the farm to follow the shade or sometimes I use a tarp. I put frozen bottles of water into the farm every day for probably 7 months of the year. You have to be careful with bedding and feeding. Somethings seem to heat the farm like crazy. Avoid fresh manure and straw! Sawdust and wood shavings are ok as they de-compose slower, paper and cardboard are good too. You have to be very careful with food as excess composting food can heat up. It's probably better to let the food compost or freeze/blend it to start the process. I am quite lazy so don't always do that.

If the worm farm does get really hot I put more ice bottles on/eave the lids off the bottles or throw in ice cubes. Or all of the above! I have also removed things that were causing heatwaves in the farm. 

The other important factor is keeping the farm moist. I empty the thawed water into the worm farm every other day or leave the lids off the bottles.I will also stick my hand in and move things about a bit to try and introduce more air. 

[Paul Morris]

Hello everyone! I am excited to be here! I am a big fan of worm farming and organic gardening! I look forward to meeting everyone here, learning and contributing!

[Rich Feiller]

it's a random thing Betsy, kinda like the lotto, but you don't pick the numbers! :-)

it has absolutely nothing to do with what you know or don't know or how long you've been a member.

[Andrew from California]

Frank is correct that it's totally random. I'm one of a handful of mods that can hit the "feature" button and I basically pick someone who has added an image (any image) as their avatar...something different from that generic recycle symbol.

Betsy: I'm not sure what happened with your account here, but there is no "feature" button available for you. I checked several other members randomly and they all have that option. Maybe you can check your account settings to see if any privacy options are clicked on.

[Andrew from California]

I've since found other members without the "feature" button. Here are screenshots of a section of two member's homepage. The 2nd one has the "feature" button.

[Rich Feiller]

Ah Ha! so you are the secrete weapon. :-)

i actually like the feature, it helps to reintroduce individuals, and now it also will encourage more photos.