Worm Wee
As a household, we hate food waste and whenever we can, we try to minimise throwing out food. This typically means making sure we have used stuff before it goes out of date, being quite open to using stuff beyond its Best Before, and freezing any leftovers we have - yep, this includes kebabs!
Some waste is unavoidable, though. Whether it's the bits we trim off the fruit and veg we use, or the fact that the greens in our trug decide to hit turbo boost all at the same time, we do need to throw stuff out. This infuriates us! Being keen gardeners too - ok, so Sam holds most of the green fingers here - we would love to compost our food scraps and use them on the stuff we grow. You know, Circle of Life and all that?
Traditional composting is messy if you have an urban garden, and we've never been that successful at it when we've tried. The mice liked to nest under the compost bin, which gave Mitzy endless fun, but apart from that we didn't have much joy.
About a year ago, Sam read an article about worm farms. This is a form of composting that uses worms to break down your excess food. In return for feeding the wriggly little guys and gals, they produce wee and poo which is supposedly a fantastic source of nutrients for plants and vegetables.
So, last year we bought a Wormcity Wormery 75.
Initially we weren't very successful, so this Spring decided to move it to a more shaded location at the top of the garden. We soon saw some worm wee starting to leak out (see picture above) so tried to open the tap. It opened, but no liquid came out. Lifting the trays above the liquid collection reservoir up, I saw it was brim-full. I gave it a little shake and all of a sudden, the worm wee started pouring majestically out of the tap.
Quickly I grabbed a small watering can and collected the urinary goodness. That was soon filled, so had to stop, decant, and continue. The stuff didn't stop coming, and I soon had a 2L bottle of stinky effluent ready for dilution and use on our plants and veggies.
We've yet to harvest the poo, but will do so soon. For the time being, their wee will do us just fine. Thank you, you hungry little wrigglers.
Are the wee and poo equally good for your garden and if that is the amount of wee they produce, I am looking forward to the poo picture!
ReplyDeleteHow long did that amount of wee take to produced and if you are diluting it, roughly how many watering cans will you get from a 2 litre bottle.
This is all very 'good life' but equally interesting that there is a cool alternative to composting.
Like you, we don't like food waste either and we regulary use stuff after the BB date and even though you are not supposed to, we sometime go with stuff after the use by date, if it doesn't appear too minging! We never let this loose on the kids though and we've also found its best not to tell them if they are eating something after its BB date!
They seem to produce more wee than poo although poo is just compost really but really rich in nutrients. It took us a while to get our first batch of wee but now they won't stop and seem to empty every month. Thank goodness the vegetables seem to enjoy it!
DeleteEach month we fill a 2 ltr bottle and we dilute it into a 2 gallon watering can using about an 1/8 of the bottle each time. I have no idea if this is the right amount but it seems to work!
Sam