Tag: hobby

Vermiculture, or still playing with worms

J constructs a vermilculture box thereby making him responsible for 300 odd squirmy, slimy lives…

When D and I ordered the composter a year or so ago we had some trouble with the shipper not sending the the thing out for a month or so…  After numerous emails and a few calls to Amazon’s customer support people the composter finally arrived and with it, to make up for its delay, a worm composter or vermiculture box as well.

The Vermiculture box has been sitting in the garage in its shipping box since then.  Until today.  D had a pond to make and since she would be going to Ace and working out in the yard I figured now was a good time to finally get the thing put together and going.  Worm poo is fantastic apparently and I desperately wanted in on that action!

RANDOM FACT:  Worms can eat as much as their body weight in a 24 hour period!

So while D was picking up wife a wine barrel, some fish and a papyrus plant I got some worm take-out.  Once home I opened up the box and took at look at the box…  Everything looks the same here… and I only have half the instructions…

So what we have there is a water, or worm tea, collection tray, the bottom feeder tray, three additional feeder trays, a lid, two weed filters, and coconut coir.  Oh and a spigot for draining out the worm tea.  Once I found a complete set of instructions on the manufacturer’s website it wasn’t too difficult to assembly during which I soaked the coconut coir in some water.

RANDOM FACT: Worm poo is more commonly known as worm castings and worms can eat it too!  The more they eat it they better it is for whatever plants you decide to put it on.  Also, GROSS!

Now to add the damp coconut coir, mixed with some potting soil and food.  I put in some tomatoes, apple cores, leafy greens, and some figs.  Mix it all together and then add the worms!  I forgot to take a picture of everything mixed together with worms in it so you’ll have to use your imagination.

After I filled up the first feeding tray and added the worms I put on the second feeding tray and partially filled it with soil.  This vermiculture system works by slowly having the worms eat their way up through the boxes and then pulling out the lower ones and emptying them before placing them back on the top of the stack.  I’ve got to take care not to drown, cook, freeze, starve, or acid burn the poor beasties though so I’m sure micromanaging this all will be fun…

RANDOM FACT:  Worms will eat human hair?!

Finally, with all 3 feeder in I put in the last weed filter, which keeps the worms from getting out and other things from getting in and put the lid on it and placed it by the side of the house.  Where it should stay warm without getting too much direct sunlight.  I suppose during the winter if it gets too cold I can bring it into the garage.  The bins aren’t supposed to produce any odors.

Garden meet Dog

I’ve been gone for a while…  Real life has a way of making demands on one’s spare time and during the last month I haven’t had much time for anything, even my own life.  August is over though and not only do I have time to catch my breath but to update this blog too!  Lucky you!

So what has happened over the last month or so?  Not much personally, because I haven’t had time to do anything.  I did experiment with letting our dog Jake stay out in the backyard while I was at work.  Jake usually stays in his kennel during the day but I wanted to see if we could trust him out in the yard…  turns out we can’t!  I kept him out for three days for around eight hours a day and the first two he was an angel.  That third day, not so much.  It seems Jake got bored with lying around in the yard and chewing on his toys and moved on to exploring the garden…

See those large gaps in the greenery?  That is where a zucchini, cucumber, and pepper plant used to be…  Jake also ate several tomatoes and eggplants as well.

Luckily, Jake didn’t get his mouth on everything in the garden.  I still have plenty of heirloom tomatoes and some good-looking basil.  If the weather stays mild I believe we can get another dozen or two tomatoes out of the summer garden before it has to be torn out and the winter garden put in.

A Cycling Story in Four Parts

Part One:  The Bike

Part Two:  The Pedals

Part Three:  The Shoes

Part Four:  The Injury

FIN

So I bought a bike this weekend.  Not one for going to and from work or just putzing around town.  This is a serious bike for serious cycling!  Said bike also came with special pedals and shoes.  The kind you clip into.  This isn’t a big deal when you are cycling but it makes it difficult at times when you stop and need to stand.  I spent 20 odd minutes this evening practicing clipping in and out.  It didn’t seem to difficult, just a twist of the ankle and you’re free.  So I went on a quick  mile bike ride and everything was going great.  I knew I was in trouble right about the time I thought to myself, “Hey, this isn’t so hard.  Everything is just peachy.”  Very soon after, I hit a patch of grass, over corrected, tried to stabilize myself with my feet, realized they were attached to the bike and skidded to a stop mostly using my knee and thigh as a brake.   Things weren’t too bad and I mostly crashed in the “correct” fashion, laying the bike and yourself down on the ground.  Still the leg is scrapped, as are the shoes and the pedal.  The new bike (made from delicate aluminum and carbon fiber” seems alright so…

I’m going to count this as a win.

Continued Adventures in Gardening

Next time I write about the garden hopefully it is in the context of me gorging on its bounty! Considering we had a long winter and a cold spring, how early I planted, and the fact that this is a first attempt at gardening I’m impressed with myself. The garden really seems to be doing well, despite the tomato plants just sitting there not giving me tomatoes. I’m excited to see how much we get of the garden this year and how much more I can get out of it next year.

When did I last write about the garden?  In April, May maybe?  I don’t recall and despite that fact that right over there to the right of this text box is a tool to help me find it, or perhaps even a direct link to the entry I’m thinking of I’m not going to bother looking it up.  I’m going to go with it has been awhile.  How do I know?  Look at that picture up there!  Last time my tomato plants weren’t the same size as me, nor were the zucchini plants growing outside of the planter.

So what all do I have going on in there?  Besides the hyperdeveloped tomatoes and zucchini?  I’ve got some soybeans growing, which I’ll be eating as edamame.

The cucumbers are starting to come in, they are still tiny, around the size of an adult’s pinky finger

My pepper plant is really starting to produce, everything is still to small to eat but there are a lot of them on the plant.  I wonder if I should prune it back in order to make the plant focus on fewer peppers?

What else is there in the garden box…?  I have an eggplant as well and it’s started blooming but there isn’t any fruit on it, yet.  I didn’t take a picture of it.  I have some pole beans too but , they haven’t produced anything either.  The beans have grown all over their supports and have co-opted the tomato plants as well… I’m hopeful they’ll start producing soon.

Despite the monstrous size of my two tomato plants there still isn’t any fruit on them.  My tiny cherry tomato has started producing though

That is about it.  Next time I write about the garden hopefully it is in the context of me gorging on its bounty!  Considering we had a long winter and a cold spring, how early I planted, and the fact that this is a first attempt at gardening I’m impressed with myself.  The garden really seems to be doing well, despite the tomato plants just sitting there not giving me tomatoes.  I’m excited to see how much we get of the garden this year and how much more I can get out of it next year.

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