Harvesting the Worm Castings

Unlike today which is miserable, yesterday was bright and sunny, nice and warm. There was also a good, stalwart breeze keeping the skeeters and blackflies at bay. So I naturally wanted to go out and weed the veggie garden. Since I was going to be outside anyway, I figured I might as well harvest castings from the second worm bin, I did the first, larger bin a while back just when I started planting. I like to be outside when the bin is out because I don't particularly want the crows to think I have just set up a buffet for them.

Harvesting the castings is getting easier. Probably because I don't sift it anymore. If it is half decayed and/or not moving, I take it. I don't care if there's a leaf or a little leftover straw stalk in the castings. So it's not the major time consuming chore it once was. The set up is easy. I put down a plastic sheet, gently dump the bin out. Rinse the bin out well and get the new bedding of dead leaves soaking in water, that would be the white pail in the top picture. Worms hate the daylight and will burrow down away from the sun. So I go weed for a bit, return and take the casings until I hit the worms, go back to weeding, and repeat.

As I go down into the pile, I will come across a clump of leaf bedding not eaten. I generally don't feed my worms for a few days before harvesting so they will eating the bedding but there's always a few clumps still hanging around. The clumps go back into the bin for one very important reason. Those little yellow, orange and white balls you see on the bedding are worm cocoons. Each will hold anywhere from 2 to 20 baby worms. I don't know why they're different colours and sizes unless they're from different types of worms or, and this thought seems to make more sense, because they are in different stages of development

So after an hour or so, the castings are pretty much all collected. Now comes the grody part. I am left with a pile of eewy worms and I am not going to pick them up, gloves or no gloves. Ugh. That's were the plastic sheet comes in so handy. Not only does it keep the worms from burrowing into the ground and escaping, it makes the perfect transport vehicle for the worms. I just pick up the corners and gently slide the worms and all their gooeyness into the new cleaned bin. Easy peasy, thank you very much. I rinse off the plastic and it's ready to use when it is time again to harvest.





Here's the nice, clean bin all ready for the most productive inhabitants of the DaM Farm. After soaking the leaves for awhile, I'll wring them out as much as I can and put a good 6 inches in the bin, that's the bedding for the worms. Then I will put in some soaked and drained rabbit manure. It gets finished off with another layer of leaves. One of the things about harvesting in the sun is I'm sure the leaves won't be too wet. The sun evaporates any extra moisture without drying out the leaves too much. Well, as long as I keep an eye on things, that's how it works.

And so is all this worth it? The hauling, the prep work, the back and forth, the great big squirm of worms? I think so, most definitely. Because this is what I end up with... a great big bag of worm castings (I have my foot in there for scale, the bag is bigger than it looks). It might just look like a bag of earth to you but it since I've been using it, my garden has just exploded with produce! The more we can grow ourselves, the happier the whole family is.

The Naked Pumpkin

As it happens, we had some people show up the other day. They knew about us through friends and had contacted us by phone. Well, actually they left a message which I was meaning to return as soon as possible...and the weeks passed.

They were driving by and saw me in the butterfly garden and stopped in for a visit. Which was great, it's always nice to meet like-minded people. They are interested in raising meat rabbits and wanted to see my set up. I certainly don't raise rabbits in a conventional way but who knows, may-be they could pick up a useful tidbit or two of useful information.

The conversation meandered and jumped as it often does when people are just getting to know each other. When we were talking about gardens, they mentioned they had planted naked pumpkins. That was curious, so I asked what was a naked pumpkin. And the answer fascinated me; naked pumpkins don't have hulls around the seeds, they just have seeds.

In the summer, I give the dogs ground up organic raw pumpkin seeds to keep worms away. I cannot use the pumpkin seeds I have because it is such a pain to husk them. In fact, I find it impossible. The only recommended way I have ever found suggest to whirl the seeds around in a food processor then add water so the broken husks float to the top and the broken seeds sink to the bottom. I was planning to try that this Autumn. But if I can just grow pumpkins that don't have to be husked, well that's the way to go.

So when these kind people explained the naked pumpkin to me, I sort of gushed and was amazed and said I just had to get me some. A few days later, that kind lady showed up again bearing gifts: a few Scarlet running beans with a bit of thyme growing with them and a naked pumpkin. All, she said, were extras that she wouldn't be using anyway. It turns out that I had a few things that she would like to try. Some comfrey, lambs ear, lemon balm, catnip and apple mint that all could comfortably give up a clump or two. I like trading plants back an forth, it's comfortable and it's interesting. The plants grow and so does the spirit of co-operation.

So now I have a naked pumpkin. I hope it grows well and has lots of pumpkins. I am not going to rush summer, it can stay as long as it wants; but I kinda can't wait for Autumn now. I should really bite my tongue for saying that.

Ten Little Peepers

We finally had our first hatch of 2010 last Monday. This was done the old fashioned way, stick a bunch of eggs under a hen and let her do the work. Sounds easy enough but with the fiasco of the broody hen who wasn't, I've learned that easy comes tough sometimes. This Partridge Chantecler hen was broody and did a great job, I put 10 eggs under her and she hatched out 10 chicks, all are thriving. We've never had a complete 100% hatch rate before. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever heard of it, books and websites generally say anything over 60% is good.

So I'm thinking back trying to figure out what was different in this hatch.

• It was a great time of year, with the exception of one, all of last years' were in the winter.
• Very little wait time for the eggs. Usually I gather eggs for a few days, this time I stuck three under her the first day and the remaining seven the next. No wait time.
• I did not muck about with the eggs half as much. They say you should be checking the eggs every couple of days, making sure there was no broken or cracked ones. ("They" don't seem to give the hen a whole lot of credit here.) I was very apprehensive of disturbing this hen, I did not want her to stop being broody, one broody fiasco a year is plenty. I gently picked her up a couple of times later in the incubation, to take a gander at the eggs but that was it.

I don't know if any of this made a difference but I think I will definitely keep up the habit of the occasional visual check of the eggs, unless a problem arises. And I will aim for less wait time when it comes to collecting the eggs.

Enough of the pondering! I'm just going to enjoy these sweet little puffballs and their antics. I love watching a hen in mom-mode, they are so gentle and mellow with their little ones.

Here's Mama teaching a few of her chicks how to scratch and pick out good things to eat.

Garden Works (but sometimes it doesn't)

The tomato plants I started from seed did very well. They did so well that they have really out-grown their little flats. Which leaves me in a quandary. It's way too early to transplant them into the garden but I'd rather not transplant them into bigger containers only to transplant them again in a couple (well, more like three or four) weeks. I figure the less transplanting, the better for the plant. So I've been experimenting with various forms of row covers. I can buy row covers easily enough at the garden store but that's not half as much fun and it costs money. Where as if I try myself, it's a lot more interesting, I might learn a bit and it keeps the neighbours amused.

Not surprisingly, my first attempt was dismal but I did find yet another used for the frame of that silly portable green house of mine. That thing is becoming invaluable. I put it on its side to be the frame work and simply covered it with plastic and weighed it down with rocks. I planted 6 tomato plants. It looked ok but the wind played havoc with it and I lost all the plants except for the two closest to the frame. Well, I have lots of extra plants so it let's try something different....










The first not-so-great attempt. Those patches green you see in the garden are not weeds, but clover. I try to leave some clumps in because I think it is good for the overall health of the garden and the rabbits love their fresh clover!

I decided to put the frame down on its front and cover it and the two surviving plants with plastic. The wind can't easily grab hold of it this way. I can hear the wind try, the plastic flaps and the frame rattles but it holds steady and the wind is defeated. That solves the problem of keeping the two surviving plants alive (I hope) but I still have a flat of tomatoes that need transplanting.

I have a lot of discarded tomato cages. They never worked for me. They were fine for a few weeks then the tomato plants basically took over and the cages collapsed in defeat. That's why I switched to teepees. As it turns out, the tomato cages came in pretty handy as temporary mini green houses.

Saturday morning, P, teenage son, and I cut down the largest hoop leaving the two top hoops. We left 2 - 3 inches of wire from where we cut to poke into the ground. If I ever make more, I'll leave 5 - 6 inches just to make it a little more secure. Then we bent the top wires, which originally the ones that get stuck in the ground down, so they wouldn't pierce the plastic or poke an unsuspecting person in the eye. Now we have our frame to put an extra large freezer bag over and Ta-Dah! instant protective cover for the tomato plants. I might weigh down the bottom with little rocks to protect the frames from high winds. One thing I've learned is the winds around here never give up. I hope it works, I think I could get years of use out of the frames, I just might have to change the plastic ever now and then though the years.

Ordering Aromatherapy Stuff

I treated myself to an hour of bliss a couple of weeks back. When I first started with aromatherapy, one of my greatest joys was going to a aromatherapy shop and picking out the oils I needed. That always involved lot of chatting, sniffing and information gathering. A totally pleasant and almost spiritual adventure. I loved spending an hour or two in a fragrant, calm oasis that exists wherever essential oils abound.

I can't do that anymore because the one and only place here that sells aromatherapy products, while perfectly delightful, is more of a gift shop is limited in their selection of oils. But I have found the next best thing, mail order. After trying a few places, I find the perfect website to suit my needs. Essential Aura Aromatherapy has a great selection and are offer many fair trade, organic products. Perfect. So once, may-be twice a year, I'll go through all my oils and see what I'm running low on and what I need. Then I'll grab my trusty aromatherapy books and look at profiles of oils I might want to try. With list in hand, I'll go to the website and poke around there for a while. It's just joy, looking and reading and learning. I've been doing aromatherapy for ten years and am still learning all the time. Then I'll make my order.

Within a week, it comes. A plain brown package all gussied up with tape, labels and a glaring red sticker proclaiming fragile contents, handle with care. I open it up and enjoy old familiar scents and delight in new aromas. The oasis has arrived.

Note: I am in no way associated with Essential Aura Aromatherapy, I just love their products.

Early Edibles

I had my teenage daughter, T, and her best bud rake out the herb garden, or at least the remains of it, last weekend. The herb garden is turning into a perennial patch of comfrey and various mints, if it's invasive, it stays to do its own battle with the weeds. Among the various mints was a patch of chives, a good 6 - 8 inches long. Whoot. I love chives, they're a great substitute for onions. I ran out of my own onions a couple of weeks back and had to buy them. Which was pretty depressing because store-bought onions are really inferior in both taste and looks to mine (she says matter-of-factly, with no snobbishness or pride). But now the the chives have sprung up, I can use them pretty much wherever I'd use onions. The picture many not look like much, but the chives were great in the pasta salad I made that night.

Chives aren't the only thing springing up around here. Clover, dandelions and plantain are also making an appearance, much to the rabbits delight. They love their fresh greens. As the season continues, they will eat more and more fresh and less pellets. I think its better for them and they certainly enjoy it more. I think they can smell the greens when I bring the laden bowl down to them. I'll fill up the pellet dish first, the rabbits may give it a disinterested sniff or two but the rabbits will look at me expectantly, ears erect, eyes bright, and sitting with their front paws in the air... they know what's coming! Then I'll dump the greens and the rabbits dive into that sea of fragrant, fresh goodness. It may not look like much in the picture but the rabbits think it's divine.

The compost is also giving up its bounty as well. As I turn it, the worms wiggle and squirm. Now that's a treat only the chickens could love, and they do. They sure make short work of them. I'm positive the worms don't even know what hit 'em. (No picture because not only doesn't it look like much, it positively looks gross.)

So the bounty begins and the gifts are well appreciated by everybody on the DaM Farm. And expectations of more fresh produce bloom (cue Carly Simon's "Anticipation" now).

Not Exactly Like I Planned...

Spring is here and everything is bursting with new life except for a little acre or so in scenic PEI nestled in a little sheltered corner of the island. I've been have a heck of a time getting my new generation of livestock going here on the farm. Talk about a run of disappointments.

The rabbits were the beginning of the run. I have a young doe I've been trying to breed for forever. She just won't have anything to do with it. Just my luck to get a purist rabbit. The real disappointing thing is I kept her back from the last litter my dear Earl Grey sired before he passed away. She grew well and had a good body shape and nice personality but so did the other doelings from that litter. The reason why I chose her was because she looked very similar to Earl. Earl was a great rabbit and I wanted to keep his looks around. But she is not co-operating at all. I've tried everything I know of to get her 'in the mood' but nada, zip, zilch, nothing. Of the other four does I bred at the same time, only one had a viable litter. My oldest doe had one large dead kit, the other two did nothing. It was after a fairly long break for them and I know sometimes rabbits take a while to get back into breeding mode but I never had that problem before. So the rabbitry should be 'hoping' with new life but it is not. It's got some but no where close to where it should be.

The chickens are fairing worse than the rabbits! First there was that whole false broody thing where I lost the whole nest of eggs. Then I had an incubator fiasco where it shot up to 110F for some unknown reason but I strongly suspect the water I put in the tray with was may-be too warm. Whatever the reason, I didn't get one chick, not one out of 42 eggs. During the three week incubation period, I hoped against hope that something survived. Two more times the temperature shot up but when I tried another thermometer, the temp. was a perfect 99.5F So I'm thinking it wasn't the incubator but a faulty thermometer. In which case the eggs didn't hatch cause I cooled them down for too long. Losing a whole hatch of my own eggs is bad enough but I bought two dozen eggs, Delaware and Americauna, to complement my own. Losing those just added to the whole disappointment. So I should be having peeps all over the place and I have none, nada, zip, zilch.

That's how it goes sometimes. It's really nothing disastrous, more like a series of setbacks one after the other. The DaM Farm holds so many surprises and unexpected joys that I think I'm just not used to having a bunch of disappointments anymore. I can't decided if that's a good thing or not. Anyhow, onwards and upwards, pip-pip, whoot-whoot and all that rot. Disappointments never killed anybody, probably builds character...or dementia.