Because we compost and recycle, our household generates little trash. My compost bin is great; my plants love the “garden gold” produced! However, living in New England, we weren’t composting year round. What to do? Compost inside…with vermicomposting! It’s really worthwhile, and simple to do.
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
I wish I knew more about composting….I have two outside compost containers and I don’t know how well its working until spring. This past spring I found a layer of dry looking tomatoes but not much as far as fertilized dirt. I fill the containers , water a bit’ and leave the lids unlocked and open when its too hot. And was quite faithful about putting scraps in the bin. I see worms but nothing like your mini compost . I prefer to feed my worms the scraps and sometime I get a bountiful supply of worms and spread them around to other sections of my garden. I prefer to not add anything foreign to my garden.because when I have, I found I would get other forms of pestilence.
Every change you make to your soil affects it….its what I have learned over my lifetime of gardening-farming. When I brought some mulch in, I brought new pest and new weeds that have caused he nothing but troubles….good luck on your mini compost!
Hi Susana, you didn’t say what kind of containers your compost bins are. All compost needs some air circulating through it. Also, you want to balance your brown (dry, carbon-containing material) with your green (moist, nitrogen-containing material, and “turn” your outdoor compost from time to time. Try “chopping up” some of what you put in it, too, as large pieces might not break down as fast as smaller pieces. Having my worm bin inside does not keep me from composting outside, it is a compliment to it, and I definitely use the compost it creates! Good luck! Thanks for “stopping by”…Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Interesting – simply interesting!!
Hi Joan, So glad you enjoyed the post. I’ve had my bin several weeks now, and am surprised at how little effort it really takes compared to the reward. Let me know if you start a bin. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
What an interesting article! We used to raise fish worms in the 1960’s but they finally died out, or got eaten by fish. I don’t fish, but I’ve always loved worms, just to watch what they do with what we don’t want. They are the ultimate recyclers.
A dear friend, the late photographer Al Clayton, and his wife, Mary Ann, a food designer, produced a book called Dreadful Delicacies; you can guess the subject matter. I can still see him leaning against our kitchen counter saying in his very strong southern accent, “Now, you can eat a grubworm, but don’t you EVAH eat a red wriiiaahglah! That taste just haaayngs on your tongue for weeks!” I’ll just be happy to watch them. Thanks for the informative blog.
Hi Wayve, Love the comment! I agree with you…I’d rather watch the worms than dine on one, but I bet that book is really interesting reading! Thanks for putting a smile on my face today. Hope you drop by the blog again…Nicole
This is a really good tutorial about raising worm compost! The pictures are so informative and goes along with the well written commentary.
When I first heard about this book I was curious because the lady who wrote “Worms Eat My Garbage” was from my home town. It was so cool because as you read in the book, she taught students to use shoe boxes and the garbage the students generated to teach them about this. I’m so glad that book is still around.
The bins I use are commercial and catch the “liquid gold” ( worm tea : ) in the bottom of it which is a really good by product, too.
I did try a container with the holes in the bottom and didn’t realize there would be liquid. It made a real mess on the basement floor and my hubby (understandably) was not real keen on my continuing to use THAT kind of bin. But I think you could just put some kind of catch basin under the kind of container you use shoe box or storage bin and it would do the same thing.
Hi Pat, Thanks for the comment! I love the book, Worms Eat My Garbage! I think it is still the best one out there. I found it in my local library. As for the worms, yes, it gets moist on the bottom. I have mine raised up a bit on two boards, with newspaper underneath. You could put use another lid from a bin as a tray, too. I will ask Karlyn what she does to combat any liquid (and perhaps collect it for use) and get back to you here. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Yes, I’ll like to hear what Karlyn suggests. Always something more to learn!
I’m glad you included the website link to “wormladies”! I had to smile when I read the website address. When my grand kids were little they used to love to come and see the worms. Even the girls and not one of them ever said, “Eeeeeeeeuuuu”. lol
Hi Pat, Here is what Karlyn suggests:
‘To catch any of the liquid that drains from your bin, you can use a second tote cover, a second stackable tote or a plastic tray. If necessary, create spacers with lumber scraps or gravel so the holes don’t sit directly on the tray. The runoff is a great natural fertilizer and, as with many fertilizers, it requires some dilution, perhaps 10:1, water to “tea”.’ ~ Karlyn
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for sending that answer about the “worm tea” from her. I never knew that it needed to be diluted so that information is a treasure to have.
Love being a Farmgirl at heart! I married such a city boy. lol But my heart will always be in the country.
Smiles,
You’re very welcome, Pat! Thanks so much for reading the blog. One of the things I love about MaryJanesFarm is the idea that we can be ‘farmgirls’ no matter where we reside! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I so enjoyed reading your blog about “worm farming.” That’s what my second grade class and I call it. I’ve sponsored a worm farm in my classroom for the last 5 years. Every year we explore our worms, feed them healthy snack leftovers, tear up newspapers and then harvest their “black gold” for our school garden in the spring. The children take care of their squirmy pets and love it!!!
Hi Andrea, What a great class project! I love it! I bet the kids want to eat healthy snacks just to feed something to the worms, too. Thanks for reading and commenting. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Nicole,
This is AWESOME!!!! I cannot wait to do this. Going to include my grand-girls on this project. They love worms, so they will really love this! Super post and so informative!
Dori
Hi Dori, Thanks! Isn’t this a great thing to do with kids? If I had known how easy it was, I would have done it ages ago. Karlyn was so awesome to help me set this up! When my worms get overpopulated, I will pay it forward and help someone else set up a bin. Glad you liked the post. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I am still in the learning phase of earth worming and keep finding worms in the ‘worm wee’ catcher part of my bins. Really not sure why. Is there not enough food, is it not warm enough, is it too warm, is there too much or too little light? Please help, can’t figure it out.
Hi Alison, if worms are not staying where they belong it could be that there is not enough food or it is too dry or too wet. It should feel like the moisture of a wrung out kitchen sponge. Let me know if changing that helps. Good luck! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I need some advice.
I have two bins. One is a Worm Farm 360, square bin with 4 tiers. The other is a Can O Worms, 3 tiers.
The 360 has an excess of PotWorms. I’ve tried adding lime, egg shells, more paper and aerating. The red worms just don’t thrive. I feed them the same food as the I feed the Can, just smaller quantities. I did buy new worms, and they do appear to be living so far. Should I keep adding more lime? Try to remove the potworms?
The Can works great but recently I was checking the tiers and found literally hundreds of worms congregated in the very bottom, where there is no food, no nesting material, mainly just liquid. I moved them to the top tier. Why do they go to the bottom? Should I be checking this more?
Hi Sandra, I will check in with one of my worm “experts”, and see if they have anything different to say, but in my experience, when something like that happens, there is unbalance. I would say remove the worms (something I do every once in a awhile), and add more dry material if you see excess liquid. If they climb to the top, that usually means you have too much dry, but in this case, it seems the balance is going the other way, and you need more “dry” material. Let me see if I can find anything else out for you. Thanks for reading! By the way…you will probably find next week’s blog very interesting…Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Actually, I think I figured out that it was too dry. We run a dehumidifier in the room. I started adding water and things have improved. I’ve also started PH testing the soil. I added lots of lime during the time I thought it was too acidic, based on the little white worms. It turns out both bins are highly basic. Too much lime added. I’ve stopped adding lime and started adding more acidic things.
Hi Sandra, sounds good. Keep in mind, that with the worm bins, the worms will “tell” you if they are not happy by how they act – “clumping”, climbing out…that sort of thing. Usually means something is unbalanced, and in your case it was your dryness. Good luck! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole